I read this book in one sitting! I could not put it down! I had to know the how, why, who of it all immediately. It's like this book was written with me in mind. A snowy London evening, love at first sight and a torturous 9 years of what if. All of which are totally in reading wheelhouse. Josie Silver manages to capture the agony and ecstasy of it all seamlessly and the plot moves along at clipped pace without losing any of the character detail. I'm already telling everyone I know about the book and I am planning to include it on a NYPL booklist that I am writing.

Oh boy I loved this book. One Day In December is the perfect cozy Rom Com in book form. It’s Love Actually and Notting Hill and When Harry Met Sally and Briget Jones’s Diary rolled into one while still being creative and original.

One day on the bus, Laurie sees a man through the window and falls completely head over heels for him, a complete stranger. He’s outside, she’s inside. They don’t exchange words, they don’t wave, but they lock eyes and there’s an immediate spark. The bus pulls away, but she never forgets that man. She searches for him and longs for him for a year until one day, he’s right in front of her being introduced as Jack...her best friend’s wonderful new boyfriend. Excellent.

I don’t want to say too much about the plot and give anything away, but it tells a story of love at first sight, missed opportunities, friendship, loss, unrequited love, and growing up over the course of a decade. The characters are so relatable and vibrant and well-developed, and I genuinely cared about all of them and was sad when I had to say goodbye.

I recommend this book to anyone who loves a heartwarming love story and/or Nora Ephron movies, It’s the perfect autumn/winter read, but despite the wintry title, it’s not a Christmas story, so it’s appropriate any time of year!

What a cute romance book! This story gave me major Love Actually/Sophie Kinsella/Emily Griffin vibes. While it’s not technically a holiday book, this is definitely a good winter read as so many of the major moments of the book occur in December.

One Day in December actually takes place over the course of several years, showcasing a few key moments from each year in the main character’s lives. I loved this approach, and the opportunity to see their love and friendship grow and change over time. If you’re looking for a light-hearted romantic book this winter season, definitely give this one a read!

I am so conflicted over this book. On the one hand, there are moments of deep and very real pain that are written so beautifully that I couldn’t help but cry. Laurie is a fascinating and full character who is kind and good and generous, but who has made mistakes and can be selfish. We get to see her thoughts and hear who she is in an intimate and personal way. I really enjoyed her story and seeing the world from her perspective.

However. On the other hand, we have Jack. Jack is a jerk. Jack sucks. He does so much in this book that is mean and selfish and bad and very little that is kind or loving. There are certainly moments where he looks like a better person (really only where Laurie is involved), but I couldn’t get past the overwhelming tide of his terribleness. I so wish I could have liked him better because I think this book had a really interesting concept and set up, but from the very first time he’s narrating, I felt like he was both a caricature and just a bad person. I understand that his position is morally fraught (as is Laurie’s), but he does not change his attitude toward women until the very end of the book, about nine years into the story.

I think I would have enjoyed the book so much more if Jack were different. I thought the emotions that were written really honestly, but I just could not get past Jack. He was a misogynist and he does not deserve Laurie.

Warning: A box of Kleenex is required!



Seriously, some books need warning labels for tissues!



Again, I normally don't care for romance. But....Oh My Goodness! This isn't really a romance but yet it is.

Oh! Who am I fooling?

I WANT that kind of love!!

This is the best love story I've read this year. I'm going to rank it #1 of the year 2018. I know 2018 isn't over yet. But I'm saying this is the best romance of the year for ME!

I love how it started out. I smiled, I cringed, I laughed, I frowned, I muttered jerk, you fool, I cheered, I exclaimed, I cried and I bawled!

This started out as a love at first sight setting which bounded three people together down the road. This is the story not just between a girl and a boy but the special friendship between three friends during 10 years. Oh, how those relationships grew and made them strong. I love how it ended. It was just perfect.

This story will stay with me for a long time.

I wouldn't be surprised if this was made into a movie and no, it had better not be Netflix or Hallmark because this novel deserves much better!

You have GOT to read this. You'd be glad you did. I'm giving this book a 5 star rating!

I recieved this beautiful ARC from Crown Publishing Broadway Books through Net Galley in exchange for my unbiased and honest review. Thank you!

This title is reminiscent of several others of a similar vein. I kept reading to see how it ended. Would they EVER come clean and tell the truth and make things work? Would the friendships survive? Is there such thing as love at first sight?

Loved the story and first time reading this author. Laurie falls in love quickly and then has to hunt him down. The story takes you through the friendship, it’s a heart wrming story that you want to share with others.

4.5 stars

Do I believe in love at first sight? Eh, not so much. But was I completely charmed by Josie Silver’s new novel, One Day in December, which begins with two strangers locking eyes through the window of a London bus and immediately feeling a connection with each other? Yes, yes I was.

What initially seems like a silly crush with absolutely no basis becomes more solid once main characters Laurie and Jack actually enter each other’s lives for real one year later—when Jack shows up as the new boyfriend of Laurie’s best friend and roommate, Sarah. Laurie and Jack both make a split-second decision not to mention their previous missed connection to Sarah, and with that, the plot is fully underway.

Their story unfolds over the course of nearly a decade, as Laurie and Jack circle each other in orbits that frequently intersect but never fully come into alignment. Along the way, they deal with love and loss, career victories and challenges, friendship and fights. Though Jack, especially, can be immature and frustrating in his inability to confront things and talk about them in an adult manner, he grows up over the course of the novel.

Silver makes reference at the beginning to several well-known romantic comedies—Love, Actually in particular—and I can easily imagine One Day in December becoming a wonderful movie. If you’re looking for a book to curl up with on a snowy winter afternoon, this is definitely one to have in your TBR pile.

I really wanted to like this book. The premise was really cute and clever, and it felt like a Hallmark holiday movie, which I can be a sucker for. Sadly, I was drastically disappointed, and despite my best efforts, I gave up around the 33%. (I really did try and kept returning to it thinking if I gave it just another chapter it would pick up).

I rarely like alternating POV books, but it's not a deal breaker for me usually. But this book feels like it's entirely unnecessary, and the interior monologues of both characters feels so similar that it doesn't work. What's the point of having two differing perspectives where it feels like the same person talking? (Especially when you have a female and a male character who are pining for each other). I would sometimes forget whose viewpoint I was reading unless their name was on that page.

Sadly, this was a book that I was looking forward to, but instead it bummed me out.

This book surprised me a little. I was about 20-30% into it and was feeling like maybe this wasn't the book for me and I considered putting it down, but I wanted to finish it for a fair review and I was pleasantly surprised.

This is definitely chick-lit, so don't expect high literary classical fiction. Boy and girl make eye contact and fall instantly in love, girl searches for boy, girls best friend ends up dating boy for years and girl and boy are just friends, having missed their opportunity. Or have they? Fans of Jojo Moyes and Marisa De Los Santos would enjoy this read. I found the characters to be well developed and likable; they were all characters who felt real and 3D. Though I did find it was a bit slow at times, I don't feel like there were any parts of the story that were unnecessary. I loved the ending and felt like it made sense for the events and the characters in this world, though it definitely has some of the "chick-lit cheese" factor. I typically don't like books that span long periods of time, but this was well done and again, I felt it made sense and I feel like if it had spanned a shorter time period, the ending may not have been as satisfying.

This book is a great choice for reading around Christmas if you like to read books that have a certain "time of year" atmosphere to them, and if not Christmas then definitely winter. The book doesn't explicitly take place in the winter, but much of it does and it does have a "cozy" feel.

Overall, this book is a great choice for readers looking for something light, but not too fluffy, romantic and fun.

Romance and Christmas are two of my favorite things! The way three stories are woven together it gives off a Love Actually vibe which is one of my favorites! I highly recommend this fabulous read!

One Day in December is a quick read that I found very endearing. It is a sweet romance. This is my first book to read by Josie Silver. I liked her writing style which kept me engaged from page one. I look forward to reading more of her books.

One Day in December by Josie Silver
What it’s about:
Two people. Ten chances. One unforgettable love story.
Laurie is pretty sure love at first sight doesn’t exist anywhere but the movies. But then, through a misted-up bus window one snowy December day, she sees a man who she knows instantly is the one. Their eyes meet, there’s a moment of pure magic…and then her bus drives away.
Certain they’re fated to find each other again, Laurie spends a year scanning every bus stop and cafe in London for him. But she doesn’t find him, not when it matters anyway. Instead they “reunite” at a Christmas party, when her best friend Sarah giddily introduces her new boyfriend to Laurie. It’s Jack, the man from the bus. It would be.
What follows for Laurie, Sarah and Jack is ten years of friendship, heartbreak, missed opportunities, roads not taken, and destinies reconsidered. One Day in December is a joyous, heartwarming and immensely moving love story to escape into and a reminder that fate takes inexplicable turns along the route to happiness.
Why you should read it: There is nothing more satisfying than immersing oneself in a romance that takes you away from your problems and cares, and One Day in December is the perfect book for that. While our pragmatic mind might question love at first sight, or fated, meant to-be-love, these types of stories are catnip to our romantic soul. So, consider setting aside some time and prepare to be charmed as author Josie Silver takes readers on a captivating journey — where female friendship is as important as romantic love.
The story opens as our heroine, Laurie, has finally gotten off of work and can’t wait to start her Christmas holiday. She’s gotten on a crowded bus from hell, with weary workers and shoppers all struggling to get home and then this happens:
We stare straight at each other and I can’t look away. I feel my lips move as if I’m going to say something, God knows what, and all of a sudden and out of nowhere I need to get off this bus. I’m gripped by the overwhelming urge to go outside, to get to him. But I don’t. I don’t move a muscle, because I know there isn’t a chance in hell that I can get past anorak man beside me and push through the packed bus before it pulls away. So I make the split-second decision to stay rooted to the spot and try to convey to him to get on board using just the hot, desperate longing in my eyes.
He’s not film-star good-looking or classically perfect, but there is an air of preppy dishevelledness and an earnest, “who me?” charm about him that captivates me. I can’t quite make out the colour of his eyes from here. Green, I’d say, or blue maybe?
And here’s the thing. Call it wishful thinking, but I’m sure I see the same thunderbolt hit him too; as if an invisible fork of lightning has inexplicably joined us together. Recognition, naked, electric shock in his rounded eyes.
Of course, in a perfect world, our heroine and hero would meet up at the next bus stop. But that is not Laurie’s fate. As the new year rolls around, Laurie makes her New Year’s resolutions:
Just two resolutions this year, but two big, shiny, brilliant ones.
Find him, my boy from the bus stop
Find my first proper job in magazines.
Damn. I wish I’d written them down in pencil, because I’d rub them out and switch them over. What I’d ideally like is to find the achingly cool magazine position first, and then run into bus boy in a coffee shop while holding something healthy in my hand for lunch, and he’d accidently knock it out of my clutches and then look up and say, “Oh. It’s you. Finally.”
And then we’d skip lunch and go for a walk around the park instead, because we’d have lost our appetites but found the love of our lives.
Anyway, that’s it. Wish me luck.
And what a perfect hook for readers. Because you do wish her luck. And Silver’s wonderful storytelling just pulls you further into the story.
One Day in December has a charming love story, but will appeal to readers who enjoy women’s fiction, because while the romance is a big portion of the story, so is friendship and the struggle Laurie has in finding her career path.
In some of the blurbs, this novel has been described as a cross between Love, Actually and When Harry Met Sally. While it definitely has the charm and sweetness, in additional to the happy-ever-after of Love, Actually, in the storyline there is not much similarity, because this is not really an ensemble story. The storyline is much more likeWhen Harry Met Sally. Full of wrong turns and missed opportunities, which make the ending that much more rewarding.
Josie Silver’s debut novel,One Day in December, is an unmistakable winner.

I'm such a sucker for sappy, hopeless romantic situations where the star-crossed lovers play a will they or won't they that spans years. When Harry Met Sally is one of my all-time favorite movies. And when you throw in Christmas?? So when I read the plot of this new novel by Josie Silver, I knew it would be perfect for me. I read this one in day, totally setting aside the other book I was reading, even though it was really good, too. And while it's super schmaltzy, it was completely entertaining!

The idea of this was better than the execution. I mean, after spanning ten years, the end was abrupt and a bit of a let down. There was so much build-up and the relationships in this book felt very real but something felt off about the actual characters. Despite lots of internal monologue, I don't think I knew the characters at all. I knew their relationship more than I knew them. This will definitely work better for some than it did for me, so good luck!!

One Day in December came out last week on October 16, 2018, and you can purchase HERE.

I don't know if it's the movement of the arm across the glass or the flickering lights of dandruff-woman's earrings that snag in his peripheral vision, but he lifts his head and blinks a few times as he focuses his attention on my window. On me.

We stare straight at each other and I can't look away. I feel my lips move as if I'm going to say something, God know what, and all of a sudden and out of nowhere I need to get off this bus. I'm gripped by the overwhelming urge to go outside, to get to him. But I don't.

A feel-good love story just in time for the holiday season! This was a makes-me-smile book. My first read from this author, and it's a winner!

It is an easy read, as they story is easy enough to follow. It is also very reminiscent of Love, Rosie.

This book was cute. It's about a girl who sees a man from a bus stop and feels sparks and its love at first sight. Fast forward a year later, and her best friend/roommate introduces bus stop boy as her new boyfriend who she wants to marry. And then its years and years that go on with confliction, emotions, feelings, secrets, marriages. There were parts I really liked, and other parts that annoyed me, but overall I rate it 3.5 stars

Thanks to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for my free review copy of One Day in December. I really wanted to believe in love at first site from the first page only to realize timing played such a big part of the story. The timing is what kept me going and hoping that these characters would end up together. There were twists and turns which kept my attention in this romantic read. It is a story about love, loss, friendship, and making a way for yourself. I would recommend reading this book with a box of tissues at your side!

This book is warm socks on a cold day. It is the most snuggly of the snuggliest blankets. It is that first delicious sip of a wonderful caramel latte. It will warm your insides and make you feel utterly satisfied with the world.

Laurie is on a double decker bus and at a stop, through her window, she spies a guy. But not just any guy. Their eyes meet and something feels electric throughout her body. She knows he must feel it too. Before he can get on the bus, the doors close and Laurie leaves without her bus guy. She never forgets about him though and with the aid of her roommate and best friend Sarah, for the next year they look for him. As Sarah starts a new relationship with a wonderful guy, Laurie is left to wonder if she will ever see her dream bus guy again. When Sarah finally introduces her boyfriend Jack to Laurie, yes you guessed it, he is bus guy! Laurie loves Sarah and vows to keep it to herself. But it is hard to deny attraction, isn’t it? As the years go by, there are a lot of changes and a lot of people that come into their lives. I don’t want to spoil anything but the ending will leave you with all the feels! I imagine it on a big screen and yes, I am pulling the Kleenex out of my purse and crying like a baby.

Josie Silver has written one of the best romantic comedies ever! It is brilliantly funny. It is sweet and joyful. It is sad and tender. It is everything you want in a romantic story and more. I adored Laurie, Jack and Sarah. Even if, at times, I wanted to smack Jack upside his head. The friendship between Laurie and Sarah is wonderful, so much love there.

I picked this book up yesterday evening around 6 and finished it at 11:30 last night. That should tell you something! It is the perfect entertaining escapism. I look forward to whatever Josie Silver writes next and I will have my tissues ready!

Thanks to Netgalley and Crown Publishing for a copy of this wonderful book.