Reviews with content warning for Infertility - One Day in December

Title: One Day in December
Author: Josie Silver
Genre: Romance
Rating: 2.5
Pub Date: October 16 2018

T H R E E • W O R D S

Slow-paced • Underwhelming • Multi-layered

📖 S Y N O P S I S

As Laurie sits on a crowed bus on a wintery day in December, she happens to look out the window and her eyes land on Jack. They share a magical moment, and then the bus drives away. Over the next year, Laurie will look everywhere for him to no avail. That is until, a Christmas party where her best friend Sarah introduces her to her new boyfriend, who just happens to be Jack.

💭 T H O U G H T S

One Day in December felt like a missed opportunity to me and I was actually disappointed because I really thought I was going to love it. At the start, I was invested in the story, and was curious to see where it was going to go. In my opinion it just went in the wrong direction. The plot was extremely slow to develop and I quickly lost interest. It's frustrating to me as a reader when a book is drawn out so much and when you get to the end, it feels rushed, which was the case here. Part of the problem with it could be that I did not like the characters, although Laurie did grow on me.

The portrayal of death and grief is the one thing that felt real to me in this novel, and for that reason alone I couldn't write the story complete off.

It was long. It was slow. It took me two tries to get through, and I ended up having to get the audio. It probably would have been a forever DNF if not for fulfilling a book club prompt. All that to say it wasn't my cup of tea. But do keep in mind I am in the minority here.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• fans of Love Actually

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"I'm so very tired of swimming. Most of the time I feel like the tide is going to pull me under, but here in Jack's arms I feel as if he's just reached over the side of a life raft and hauled me to safety."

Content Warnings

andrasterawr's review against another edition

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emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I liked this book but also found it very heavy and had to take a break at one point. Maybe it's because it covers so many years but a lot of bad/emotional things happen and in my opinion there isn't enough good to balance it out.

Content Warnings

thatsssorachael's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I don't know how this book got so many five star reviews, because it was a solid, generous, 4 for me.

The cheating/unrequited love from your best friend's spouse is....a lot to take in. The whole time I kept thinking how strange it would be to fully fall in love and NEVER move on from your bestie's boyfriend. Like after 9 years, one would think (hope) feelings would have changed or gone away.

The writing felt super juvenile in parts, and it almost felt like mid twenties Laurie was 18 years old.

I did think this was a fun, Christmassy read. I loved the structure of it, but it should have been shorter with a tad more drama and fall out.

Content Warnings

beccasbookcase's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

Content Warnings

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