A BOOK : One Day in December by Josie Silver

A few weeks ago I caught 10 minutes of This American Life’s Rom-Com episode on the radio and ever since I’ve been thinking about why I love Rom-Coms so much. They are my favorite brand of movie– there was a week last year where I watched You’ve Got Mail every. single. day. When I was sick recently I had the soft sounds of Serendipity playing in the background. I find so much comfort and peace in them, yet at the same time they fill me up with a childlike excitement for life. And I realized why.

They often have a feeling of magic and possibility to them. People risking it all for the chance of building something new with someone– a chance encounter turned into the potential of a life-changing moment — finding someone that you see and sees you — and so.much.more. One of my favorite parts of growing up was realizing that magic and possibility isn’t limited to romantic relationships, but in fact its potential exists everywhere: The intoxication of sharing secrets you rarely tell anyone, finding a story that resonates with something so deeply personal, and unexpected kindness are just a few of the many ways I come across this feeling. Recognizing this has made me appreciate rom-coms that much more — often they have an uncanny ability of packaging up that unbridled hope and excited disbelief so well, and typically in just under 2 hours you’re left with fuzzy optimism about the beauty the world contains.

I am digressing. We are here to talk about A BOOK. The above all is just to say…

…damn. One Day in December is a good rom-com.

Laurie spies Jack sitting at a bus stop reading from her seat on the bus. Their eyes meet. A spark flies. But time moves too quickly and before either of them can do anything, the bus is carrying the two apart and they’re left dealing of the aftermath of having an instant connection with someone and suddenly they’re gone seemingly forever.

Laurie spend an entire year with her best friend/roommate, Sarah, searching for her bus boy. Until finally… he shows up literally at her door… on the arms of her best friend as the boyfriend Sarah has been smitten over and so excited for Laurie to meet. There is no way Sarah could have known her Jack was Laurie’s bus boy. The book switches from Laurie and Jack’s perspective over the next ten years as they grow up, their friendship is built, and they work through the fallout of that split second connection they shared as strangers on that fated December day.

Once Day in December was the stomach butterfly variety of  cute with delicious tension and impossible situations and goodness gracious so much wonderful, beautiful friendship. I loved Sarah and Laurie’s friendship. Loved it. How they built each other up and ate disgusting sandwiches and tried to navigate difficult circumstances and most importantly how they 100000% loved one another and acted on that love. While technically Sarah is a secondary character, because of her importance to Jack and Laurie she was right up there.

I also loved how imperfect every one was. Every single character had me rolling my eyes or cringing at something they said or did. All of their identities were slowly morphing as they were growing older and they had to adjust emotionally as they came to terms with their realities. Love is never a game and watching the trio try to figure out how to protect themselves and one another was an unexpected appreciated bonus of this story. Plus there were at least a few moments that made me directly think of specific romantic comedies, which was fun.

Books like this make me really cognizant of the trust we as readers put in our author’s hands to take us on these emotional journeys that will often lead us to a broken heart (which is okay if done well — see my last book I raved on about) or a heart that is singing. If you’re in the mood for a little piece of heart magic from Silver and want to be treated well as a reader, One Day in December is a book that respects and honors its readers.