A review by heyjudy
Just One Year by Gayle Forman

4.0

~4.5/5

This book… was absolutely perfect. It was everything it could have been in companion to the first novel.

I loved the first book, with Allyson’s growing up and becoming her own person. And while I went into this hoping that I would get more time with Allyson and Willem together, Willem’s story was just as good and just as important.

I loved seeing Willem grow, become who he needed and wanted to be, find his family again and see it expand. Finally decide to commit to something, decide that he wanted to act. And also to see him want Allyson, go after her, as best as he could, in the same way that Allyson did for him.

I think it’s important to note going into this series that, while it is a love story, and their impact on each other is definitely present and acknowledged, this series is even more than that, about these two characters growing up and finding themselves and their families, on their own. This book ends in pretty much the same spot as the first, with I think a step farther that makes this series complete.

Then there were the places that he went, and the things he did, and the people he met. I love all of the side characters, and the way they’re all shown and developed. Broodje, in particular, is awesome; I love him.

This was a perfect companion, and I love that this series let me fall in love with the characters individually, while making you eager to see them together.

[Read more at my blog, Geeky Reading!]