carpe diem ain't got nothing on Just One Day by Gayle Forman

I was drawn to this book because (a BUNCH of people recommended it to me and) I have this constant feeling that these tiny brief encounters in my life have greater meaning even when no one else seems to give them value. Just the blurb for this book made me feel like I wasn't alone in that. Actually reading it was like making a new friend. C.S. Lewis is credited with the quote: Friendship is born at that moment when one man says to another: "What! You too? I thought that no one but myself . . " and with every new emotion that Allyson shared, I had that feeling. Throughout the book, I connected with Allyson in profound ways. 

Goodreads calls this book sweepingly romantic and it is. I mean she has this fairytale day in Paris then spends a year recovering before deciding she has to go back and find that fairytale guy. But to me, this book was so much more than that. It was a novel about friendship - learning to grow with old ones and get close to new ones, family - finding the nuances of being an adult with your parents, responsibility - paying your own way to your dreams, and self-discovery - figuring out how the sometimes clashing part of your personality make you who you are. This book, for me, is about so much more than romance. 
Don't get me wrong, I was dying for her to find Willem. To know why he left her. To know anything more about him. To know if they still had a chance. 

But Gayle Forman did something amazing with my emotions in this book. I won't spoil the ending because you should ALL read it but it left me profoundly missing its entire cast of characters and thinking about my own life.

Go read it. NOW!


xoxoxL.S. Mooney