I only read the sample of first chapter, but was loving it from the first few lines. Lovely writing style, very lighthearted and humorous, yet oozing addictive characters. The fact that the “bus boy” was reading a hardback (and was engrossed in it) was enough for me! Shaping up to be a reminiscent of Notting Hill, with bad timing and love at first sight keeping readers turning the pages. Thumbs up for this romantic comedy 👍

This book was advertised as being a little bit like 'One Day", one of my all time favourite books so I was desperate to read this. I can see some simularities. The main character, Laurie, has fallen in love at first sight with a man at a bus stop. One problem, her friend is already going out with him. The tale is quite funny at times but I find it a bit sad. Personally if your friend is in a relationship with that person then leave it. Don't get involved. For that reason this story doesn't sit that well with me. It's not as sweet as one day and misses the mark.

Absolutely love this author! This is an amazing read, although predictable outcome, I still enjoyed every minute of it!

Although you knew from the beginning how this story would end, the story to get there was so good. So many times you thought will they or won’t they. It was most definitely a journey. Really enjoyed it

In a girl meet boy book it's a certainty that it's going to end up happily. The trick is to keep the reader interested enough to keep reading. It's the journey that's pivotal. Will it be too cheesy, too predictable? Laurie and Jack are extremely likeable characters who stand back, putting their own happiness to one side. You will them to be together because they belong together. Just when the stars are align,the chance disappears once more. An heartfelt story in which one i fully engaged (pardon the pun).

A book of comedyand farce, love and loss, joy and happiness. Runs the whole gamut of human emotions. Interesting concept

Please note that this book is not for me - I have read the book, and because i do not like to give negative reviews I will not review this book fully - there is no specific reason for not liking this book. I found it a struggle to read and did not enjoy trying to force myself to read this book.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused and thank you for the opportunity to read this book.

Warning: This book talks about love at first sight.

Pure and simple: I loved this book.

…and to be honest with you, it took me by surprise how much I loved it. It was a perfect book to read, with beautiful writing and fascinating story with feels that gave me shivers.

The story follows Laurie who, one day in December, sees a boy and falls in love. They didn’t talk, she knows nothing about him, but the chemistry and the connection they had by just looking at each other is too strong to forget.
She spends a year dreaming about that boy, trying to find him and believing they were made for each other.
One day, a year later, she happens to meet him, but as her best friend’s boyfriend.
Laurie keeps her secret with her because she doesn’t want to ruin her friendship with Sarah. However, erasing Jack from her heart is not an easy task.

Going into this book I thought it’ll be a quick, easy read. Boy, was I wrong!
I mean, reading this book was pure pleasure, but it was not a light read.
It talks about love, life and human relationships, and if you ask me, it stands somewhere on the edge between women’s fiction and general fiction.

We follow our characters during a decade and we see what they went through during that period of time.

This is pitched as a love story, and it is a love story, but it doesn’t talk only about romantic love.
It talks about different shapes of love: platonic love, love between lovers, friends, parents and children.

It also talks about grief, falling apart, life taking you different directions, marriage and human interactions.

The writing style is beautiful. Some scenes were so emotional and it takes talent to engage readers in a way Silver did.

The story is written in first person, following two POVs: Laurie’s and Jack’s.

The Christmas setting is captured excellently and the novel really gives you that festive vibe, even if the story itself doesn’t take time only during Christmas.

The only thing I wish for is an epilogue. I loved how the story ended, but I think with two, three pages more that talk about some time later it would be even better.

I loved this book so much more then I thought I would. It is now one of my favorite Christmas stories, if not even my favorite, and I would recommend it to everyone who believes (or want to believe) in love at first sight, likes to read about friendships and life twists and turns.

It’s a brilliant piece of fiction.

I’m far from a old romantic however this book had me in floods of tears and brought out the romantic side I never knew I had. This truly is a warming story that needs to be read in one go because you can not put it down.

It takes a good romance to melt this icy heart, I'm much more of a thriller/murder mystery type. This wasn't always the case, in my younger years I devoured what was quaintly referred to as chick-lit. So every so often I do feel like taking a break from serial killers and manipulative husband's etc for a little light relief. The sad thing is that they quite often leave me feeling a bit, well forgive me for the cliché but just a bit meh. Yeah it was nice, but I know I won't remember it in a days time. But I finished this two days ago and my recall of the plot and the pleasure the book gave me is still tangible. During a lovely bout of the flu this book brightened my day.

It's a classic love at first sight tale. Girl sees boy, boy sees girl but neither of them make a move. Time passes and they find each other....but he, Jack is introduced to his mystery girl, Laurie, by her best friend Sarah - as her new boyfriend and love of her life. Awkward. Obviously it was never meant to be after all. Was it? Well of course it was, but fate in this tale is a cruel mistress and has no intention of making this easy.

A light romantic comedy with plenty to make you smile, and to shed a tear. Highly enjoyable.

When Laurie is travelling home on a packed bus she happens to catch the eye of a man standing at the bus stop and it is love at first sight...... but who is he and how can she make contact again? She and her best friend and flatmate Sarah spend a year searching for him with no success until he comes into her life again....... as Sarah's new boyfriend! How can she tell her friend that this is the man..... she can't and so follows 10 years of the love triangle.

A lovely book with great characters but that only made it more difficult as you didn't want any if them to get hurt. Great book to curl up in front of a fire with.

A joyous, heart warming and very moving love story. Well written, feel good novel with likeable characters.
My thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I'm a sucker for a good love story and this is one filled to the brim with heartbreaking missed chances.

Laurie James is a 22 year old living life in London alongside her bff, Sarah. One day in December, Laurie is riding home on the bus when she sees a man out the bus window. And she falls in love. At first sight. Just like that! But she doesn't get off the bus and, just like that, he's gone.

Laurie and Sarah spend a year looking for mystery bus man, until Laurie finally finds him...on her best friend's arm...being introduced as Jack, Sarah's boyfriend. The book follows Laurie, Jack, and Sarah over the next ten years as they grow up, mature, learn to live with (and without) each other, and each find their own place in the world.

It's a bit sad at times (especially if you're like me and just want a happy ending and want it NOW) and drags on a bit, but is a wonderful cosy read for the holidays. And it's a great reminder that we can choose happiness for ourselves, even if it's a hard decision to make.

Overall a good read, and nice to read in the run up to Christmas too, being that there are many references to Christmas and New Year. I really liked Laurie's character (the female lead), and whilst I enjoyed hearing Jack's point of view (male lead), I felt he was under-developed.

I have read this type of story before, and this is not the best example of its type. I felt it was too long-winded, angst where there didn't need to be any, and I don't think Jack's emotions were drawn out enough. In fact, I felt the writer made Oscar, Laurie's husband, far more romantic than Jack. I liked Oscar!

Despite the story being drawn out, the ending was quite abrupt, although I did love the radio conversation.

Something that didn't feel quite right, all of a sudden we were told about Jack and Laurie's great friendship, but we weren't shown it all that much. I would have liked them to have more interaction.

Laurie is in her way home on a packed bus one day in December when a boy standing at the bus stop catches her eye - it is like nothing she has ever felt before but when she decides to get off the bus, it starts to move and the chance is lost. She then spends the next twelve months pining and searching for ‘bus boy’ and then she sees him but unfortunately he is her flat mate/ best friends new boyfriend and is clear they are besotted with one another. The book then progresses telling the tale of the bonds between the three friends and we share their laughter and heartache.

What an absolutely fantastic book - one of my favourite reads of the year. I think I went through every conceivable emotion - there were also times where I wanted to hug them, punch them or knock their heads together.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced read copy of the book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

Wow....loved loved loved this book. This so needs to be made into a movie. I fell in love with all the characters in this book. The complicated love triangle leaves you so confused, you want them all to be happy and don't want any of them to get hurt. The friendship between Laurie and Sarah is what every girl should have in their lives. Where would we be without our friends. This type of relationship is just as important as the love for any man and Sarah foregoes her own happiness out of love for her own friend. The relationship between Laurie and Jack is complicated but so special they are so meant to be together. Love at first sight does truly exist! I could not put this book down and think I need to start again now from the beginning. Come of film producers lets see what magic you can do turning this into the next big Christmas Movie...my popcorn is at the ready!

This is in my top ten of books I've read this year. Funny, moving, heartbreaking. I just couldn't put it down. I hope Ms Silver writes more books soon!

There's no such thing as love at first sight according to Laurie, a cynic when it comes to l'amour! That is until one evening in December whilst traveling home on the to deck of the bus, she gazes out the steamed up window and locks eyes with a handsome stranger sitting at the bus stop. In a moment of madness she wills him to get on the bus, but when it drives away without the handsome stranger, Laurie realises he might just have been the man of her dreams. She then spends the next year, alongside her best friend and flatmate Sarah unsuccessfully searching for Bus Boy. The following Christmas at their annual Christmas party, Sarah introduces Laurie to her new boyfriend Jack who turns out to be....BUS BOY! Unable to tell her best friend the truth and shatter her dreams, Laurie keeps the secret to herself, and there follows years of friendship and heartbreak.

I absolutely loved this book - when I initially picked it up, I thought it was going to be a sickly Christmas love story, as it was set in December, but it couldn't have been further away from a Mills and Boon if it tried!

The book was completely addictive and I found myself sitting at work thinking about the characters, itching to get on the train home to read a bit more, but then I realised that the quicker I read it the quicker the story would finish and I didn't want to leave Jack and Laurie.

Just when I sussed out where I thought the story was going...BOOM! It would completely change direction and I was off on a different journey!

You will love this book, but I should warn you - after reading it you will encounter a book hangover!

It has become one of my favourite books of 2018 - I LOVED IT!

Okay, you really do have to love romantic fiction to get the most from this. Whilst I really appreciate an element of romance in a story, I found this tedious at first. Somehow the idea of mourning a near-romance for months to this extent just didn't seem likely to me, but perhaps I'm just not as much into this whole romantic thing as I had thought - or hoped! However, once the story-line moved on it became more compelling and I basically enjoyed the journey Silver steers us along and wanted to see it play out through the thick and thin to the, perhaps inevitable but feel-good, happy ending.

For me personally I would rate this 3 stars but a think a more die-hard romantic would probably rate it 4 or possibly even 5.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Books for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

Josie Silver’s One Day in December is a book about love and heartbreak, friendship, loss and second chances. The two protagonists Laurie and Jack meet in December. Laurie spots him while sitting on a bus and their eyes lock. Instantly, they feel something. Laurie knows that this is love at first sight. Jack hesitates and by the time he makes up his mind to get on the bus, it drives away. Thus begins a story that takes place over a decade.

I loved so many things about this book. The writing style was easy to follow and the plot unfolded gradually. Each event in the novel revealed more and more about the strengths and weaknesses of the characters. Josie wrote the novel from the viewpoint of Laurie and Jake, which allowed me to deepen my understanding of the characters. Laurie was a good friend with a kind heart. Like any other human being, she had flaws too but I loved that she was never too proud to admit her mistakes. Laurie and Jack developed as individuals throughout the book. They experienced difficult circumstances and made drastic but important decisions. Jack wasn’t a knight in glittering armour. He had his troubles and didn’t up on life in the end. Laurie wasn’t a brave heroine in a typical way, but she’s witty. She grew into her braveness and so did Jake, which made them very human (and frustrating at times!). Jack and Laurie had dreams and they followed them.

The friendship between Laurie and Sarah’s was lovely to read and I could tell they had a firm bond. I liked the continual reference to their special sandwich and fact that I got to see them transition from graduates to adults in their early 30s.

For all the heartbreaking scenes in this novel, there is laughter and lots of love too. One Day in December is a touching love story worth reading.