Review: Just One Day by Gayle Forman

Just One Day by Gayle Forman
Just One Day #1
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Published January 8, 2013
Hardcover, 368 pages

Overview:

When sheltered American good girl Allyson "LuLu" Healey first meets laid-back Dutch actor Willem De Ruiter at an underground performance of Twelfth Night in England, there’s an undeniable spark. After just one day together, that spark bursts into a flame, or so it seems to Allyson, until the following morning, when she wakes up after a whirlwind day in Paris to discover that Willem has left. Over the next year, Allyson embarks on a journey to come to terms with the narrow confines of her life, and through Shakespeare, travel, and a quest for her almost-true-love, to break free of those confines.

Review:

I adored Just One Day. Having read some of Gayle Forman's other books like If I Stay and Where She Went, I was expecting this one to be a little more on the somber side; I was pleasantly surprised to discover almost the opposite. While Just One Day does have its sad moments, overall, it has a very hopeful and uplifting tone.

Just One Day starts off idyllically: right away, the charismatic Willem is introduced and Allyson (or "Lulu", as Willem calls her) is whisked off to Paris for one perfect day--until it has to end. Allyson wakes up the next morning to find that both Willem and her new-found sense of courage have disappeared overnight. When she returns back to America, heartbroken and embarrassed about her "huge mistake," Allyson returns to all the comforts of her life before her trip. It's only months later, after a disastrous first semester of college and failing to fit in that Allyson realizes that maybe being daring and courageous on that one day in Paris with Willem was the best thing she ever did for herself. Even though Just One Day starts off as a romance, it turns into Allyson's year-long search not only for the elusive Willem, but for herself--and who she was when she was in Paris.

One of my favorite things about Just One Day was the scenery. Allyson's story begins in Europe and ends there too; everywhere she goes (especially Paris), the setting is so well described I can almost pretend I've been there before. I loved all the people Allyson meets through her travels, too--each one of them brings a new perspective to Allyson's life as she moves through her journey. There's a little bit of Shakespeare throughout the story, and also some really great ideas about who we are as individuals--if the people we pretend to be in different situations are who we really are.

Just One Day ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, but I was very happy with how it ended nonetheless. The sequel Just One Year (told from Willem's point of view!) is set to come out in the fall, and I will be eagerly awaiting it when it does. Until then, though, I'm still stuck in a kind of wonder from everything in Just One Day. If you enjoy books about travel, self-realization stories, or you're just looking for a good read, I highly recommend Just One Day by Gayle Forman. 

Overall rating: 5 of 5 stars.