BOOK REVIEW 'Just One Day'

Just One Day

By: Gayle Forman

Well hello faithful readers, I'm back! Yes after two long weeks your favorite teenage journalist is back and ready to be opinionated once again. As for my leave of absence, I had a very valid reason! These last two weeks I've barely had enough time to breath, let alone read, but all of that has calmed down and there is no excuse. Alright, let's get down to business.

When the novel opens, we're in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, (aka the birthplace for a little playwright named William Shakespeare, you may have heard of him) with Allyson Healey and her best friend, Melanie, taking their pre-college European Tour. It's their last night, and as scheduled by "Teen Tours!", they're going to see Hamlet and are going to have a grand old time watching as half the cast is dead by the end of the show, until a guy around their age just walks up and says he's performing in a free production of "Twelfth Night" and they should come see it. The two decide to ditch the Prince of Denmark and go with cute Shakespearean actor boy instead. He's fantastic, and ends their European Tour on a high note before they head to London to spend 3 days Melanie's cousin.

The next day, on an early train to London, Melanie falls asleep at their seats, so Allyson heads to the cafe car, and guess who just so happens to be there..... random actor guy! They start talking and as it turns out he does indeed have a name, and it’s Willem. After some minor flirting, including renaming her Lulu and calling her breakfast "confused", Allyson lets it slip that the Paris portion of their trip got canceled, and that was the part she was really looking forward to. Willem being the stranger turned gentleman he is, offers to take her for a day. To prove a point that she’s not just a goody-two-shoes Allyson turned Lulu agrees.

Things start of swimmingly in the City of Love until Willem starts talking and flirting with other girls constantly and then when they get chased by a gang that for some reason is after him, oh yeah and until he vanishes. Allyson just wakes up in the morning to find him MIA. Bum Bum Bummmmmmmmm...

The next half of the novel is all Allyson off at college and still reeling from her 24 hours in Paris. She doesn't know why Willem left, how he really felt about her, or even his last name for that matter, all she knows is he did leave, and now she can't stop thinking about him. 

The book ends on a cliffhanger, and I can't wait to read the next one! It comes out in October and the first left me with extremely mixed feelings about Willem. I can't tell whether or not to hate him. The author sends so many intentional mixed signals about the character, sometimes he's a jerk and sometimes he has some deep, adorable reason why he left, and I don't know what to believe!

The book was very beautifully written, but kind of slow at some points. I love the whole section in Paris, but after that there were parts that I really liked, but sometimes I was just ehhhhhhh. The characters personalities, development and the constant wondering who a person really is was my favorite. 

Pages: 368

Read In: 1 week

Rating: 7/10

Ages: 15- up

The Four Categories: romance, and high school problems

*Side note: This was supposed to be published two weeks ago, and I have no idea why it wasn't. So, to make up for my absence, here it is! Enjoy!*