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rachcannoli's review
2.0
Ok, lemme break this down book by book since this is a compilation series, but I don’t 100% feel the same about each part.
First though, let me preface by saying this is very clearly a high school/middle grade read, I am def too old and jaded for this kind of starry eyed ridiculousness. I love a love story, but when it’s as far fetched as this with so many problems and insanely unrealistic expectations, I just can’t get behind it. Maybe if it was packed in a Prince Charming esk way, but this tries to read contemporary and just no no no. Anyways, onto each part.
Just One Day:
Basically this started off as a fixed time, 24-hour trope story of a European fling adventure. I can get behind this 100%, it’s basically my dream to go abroad and meet a gorgeous British or other similarly sexily accented man and run off into the sunset, I don’t know what girl doesn’t. Makes sense with the title too, one day sure. HOWEVER! Our protagonist is barely out of a high school and on a school functioned trip n just runs off with some random dude?! I’m sorry...NO! This is legit the prequel to murder stories...how did her teacher not find out?! There is no humanly possible way her friend could “cover for her”. And then when she finds out later her parents could sue!!! This girl is 17!!! Pretty sure this is a damn lawsuit waiting to happen! I went on a school sponsored trip in college and we were given a ton of leeway, but if my professor saw we’d run off to another fucking country I’m pretty sure he would have shat a brick! And we were 20/21! So no.
Also sure, is Willem adventurous and spontaneous and all European and gorgeous? Of course. But I still just got massive stranger danger vibes. Also the fact that he’d basically slept his way thru half of Europe. Like every damn place they went he hooked up with them. Don’t get me wrong, do what you want, but AGAIN 17 year old girl running off with this stranger who’s def older but who knows because he just lives some absurd vagabond lifestyle should not be romanticized! It just felt icky all over.
Remember when I said this was how it started though? YEAH! Half way thru, this girl wakes up after she slept with him to be completely abandoned with no clue where she is and not enough money to get home or even any knowledge of the language to work her way to the train station. I mean...c’mon. Everyone is like, girl...he used you for what he wanted n bolted. And yeah, def seems like that and honestly would’ve had a lot of respect for the book if that was the message. Like, yeah crazy adventures like this are fun but maybe don’t be a reckless moron so you don’t end up killed and floating in a river? Cool. BUT NO! This girl can’t stop thinking about him for an entire YEAR after! Like what?! She’s in college!!! I guarantee she has other shit on her mine. But no, decides she’s gonna work her ass off n save up money to find him and that’s the rest of this damn book.
I cannot condone this insanity. She makes it seem like some hopeless romantic quest when in reality this is so insanely unrealistic and problematic on far too many levels to count. I mean is this the mentality we really want young girls to be reading?! Basically she finds the fucker n thinks he’s moved on with 50 other girls, cuz duh y wouldn’t he? But then says screw it and shows up on his doorstep and that’s how the damn book ends.
So obviously I’m livid because after all that, you serious?! Luckily I had foresight to get this compilation book and here we go.
Just One Year
Imagine my surprise to not only have a book now from Willem’s POV but start all the way back at the beginning of the damn time jump from the other damn book. Surprising and not exciting at all, to say the least. And for as mysterious and alluring and spontaneous as Willem was in the previous entry, I could not stand his POV. None of his motivations make sense and I don’t find anything he did compelling or believable.
The drama from book one is Willem is always on the run because he doesn’t want to go home ever since his father died n nothing is the same. So sure, but that’s dumb. Somehow this dude just has an endless stash of cash from like one acting gig he had and just goes from place to place. But here’s the kicker, he never meant to abandon our protagonist from the last book cuz she’s speccciiaalllll. He got jumped (apparently skinheads followed him enough to jump him when he was alone in broad daylight n not hurt his girl but ok) and ended up in the hospital with a head injury and that was why he “abandoned” Allyson. Uh huh sure. So he spends this entire way pining for this girl. Mmmmmmmmmmm nah no, not buying it.
The bits about his family could have been interesting if they weren’t used as a cheap vessel to validate his stupid infatuation with Allyson, but no. Also every detour and thing he does just feels pointless. Like at one point he runs to Cancun in hopes of running into her since she mentioned they always go there but then just goes off grid for no reason. I just can’t. It also turns into some bizarre finding yourself on the road type story mixed with wanting to pursue the arts (which I thought he already was??) and it just doesn’t gel with any of the things it wants to portray.
But then again it ends with her just coming to his apartment but this time he kisses her. I straight up can’t face palm hard enough. You made me read an entire fucking book to see what happened next and it ends at basically the same spot?!?! I’m so beyond done.
And the thing is, Just One Day at least mildly works because the girl is super naive and young and American (look I am one, I know how stupid they can be), so yeah I get some of her decisions as dumb as they may be. But Willem just doesn’t follow this mold and I just believe nothing he says, so let me wrap it up with the cheese fest that is this little blip of an ending story.
Just One Night
It’s not even a book or a full story. It’s straight up just the author realizing what a blue-balls inducing romance tease she’s been and being like “oh damn, maybe I should tell my audience what actually happened” but not even having the motivation to do it in a real story so just took this like 25 page shit at the end and said “Um, yeah, here ya go”. Like...it’s told in 3rd person and so impersonally and doesn’t fit at all.
Basically it’s just the two love struck morons being like “I couldn’t stop thinking about you [despite not knowing you even a little bit at all]” and coming across all the dumb misunderstandings of their individual stories and how they both wanna be a thing and actually communicate. And of course this asshole now got a job that’s moving to NYC so he can act and be in America near her now and they’re all “that’s just a train ride away!” Awesome...wow...
If your heart is young enough or pure enough and sweet enough to believe this sweet drivel, my heart goes out to you and hold onto that legit as long as you can. The world is a shitty, cruel place and sometimes it’s really wonderful to escape into stuff like this if your able. Me? I am not one of those people anymore and I certainly did not find this charming. I give this two like a year tops before they become funny stories they tell their friends and future love interests later over coffee because let’s get real, this is as summer romance as you can get and they aren’t meant to last.
Like I said, this is clearly not meant for me, but it still makes me concerned at a lot of the shit they’re peddling at teens. I feel like they’re able to sort out reality for the most part, but oof there is just a lot of bad ideas in books like this and it really makes me question author taste level. Not for me, don’t really recommend, but I guess I get if those are able to turn their brain off and just fall into the journey. More power to you.
First though, let me preface by saying this is very clearly a high school/middle grade read, I am def too old and jaded for this kind of starry eyed ridiculousness. I love a love story, but when it’s as far fetched as this with so many problems and insanely unrealistic expectations, I just can’t get behind it. Maybe if it was packed in a Prince Charming esk way, but this tries to read contemporary and just no no no. Anyways, onto each part.
Just One Day:
Basically this started off as a fixed time, 24-hour trope story of a European fling adventure. I can get behind this 100%, it’s basically my dream to go abroad and meet a gorgeous British or other similarly sexily accented man and run off into the sunset, I don’t know what girl doesn’t. Makes sense with the title too, one day sure. HOWEVER! Our protagonist is barely out of a high school and on a school functioned trip n just runs off with some random dude?! I’m sorry...NO! This is legit the prequel to murder stories...how did her teacher not find out?! There is no humanly possible way her friend could “cover for her”. And then when she finds out later her parents could sue!!! This girl is 17!!! Pretty sure this is a damn lawsuit waiting to happen! I went on a school sponsored trip in college and we were given a ton of leeway, but if my professor saw we’d run off to another fucking country I’m pretty sure he would have shat a brick! And we were 20/21! So no.
Also sure, is Willem adventurous and spontaneous and all European and gorgeous? Of course. But I still just got massive stranger danger vibes. Also the fact that he’d basically slept his way thru half of Europe. Like every damn place they went he hooked up with them. Don’t get me wrong, do what you want, but AGAIN 17 year old girl running off with this stranger who’s def older but who knows because he just lives some absurd vagabond lifestyle should not be romanticized! It just felt icky all over.
Remember when I said this was how it started though? YEAH! Half way thru, this girl wakes up after she slept with him to be completely abandoned with no clue where she is and not enough money to get home or even any knowledge of the language to work her way to the train station. I mean...c’mon. Everyone is like, girl...he used you for what he wanted n bolted. And yeah, def seems like that and honestly would’ve had a lot of respect for the book if that was the message. Like, yeah crazy adventures like this are fun but maybe don’t be a reckless moron so you don’t end up killed and floating in a river? Cool. BUT NO! This girl can’t stop thinking about him for an entire YEAR after! Like what?! She’s in college!!! I guarantee she has other shit on her mine. But no, decides she’s gonna work her ass off n save up money to find him and that’s the rest of this damn book.
I cannot condone this insanity. She makes it seem like some hopeless romantic quest when in reality this is so insanely unrealistic and problematic on far too many levels to count. I mean is this the mentality we really want young girls to be reading?! Basically she finds the fucker n thinks he’s moved on with 50 other girls, cuz duh y wouldn’t he? But then says screw it and shows up on his doorstep and that’s how the damn book ends.
So obviously I’m livid because after all that, you serious?! Luckily I had foresight to get this compilation book and here we go.
Just One Year
Imagine my surprise to not only have a book now from Willem’s POV but start all the way back at the beginning of the damn time jump from the other damn book. Surprising and not exciting at all, to say the least. And for as mysterious and alluring and spontaneous as Willem was in the previous entry, I could not stand his POV. None of his motivations make sense and I don’t find anything he did compelling or believable.
The drama from book one is Willem is always on the run because he doesn’t want to go home ever since his father died n nothing is the same. So sure, but that’s dumb. Somehow this dude just has an endless stash of cash from like one acting gig he had and just goes from place to place. But here’s the kicker, he never meant to abandon our protagonist from the last book cuz she’s speccciiaalllll. He got jumped (apparently skinheads followed him enough to jump him when he was alone in broad daylight n not hurt his girl but ok) and ended up in the hospital with a head injury and that was why he “abandoned” Allyson. Uh huh sure. So he spends this entire way pining for this girl. Mmmmmmmmmmm nah no, not buying it.
The bits about his family could have been interesting if they weren’t used as a cheap vessel to validate his stupid infatuation with Allyson, but no. Also every detour and thing he does just feels pointless. Like at one point he runs to Cancun in hopes of running into her since she mentioned they always go there but then just goes off grid for no reason. I just can’t. It also turns into some bizarre finding yourself on the road type story mixed with wanting to pursue the arts (which I thought he already was??) and it just doesn’t gel with any of the things it wants to portray.
But then again it ends with her just coming to his apartment but this time he kisses her. I straight up can’t face palm hard enough. You made me read an entire fucking book to see what happened next and it ends at basically the same spot?!?! I’m so beyond done.
And the thing is, Just One Day at least mildly works because the girl is super naive and young and American (look I am one, I know how stupid they can be), so yeah I get some of her decisions as dumb as they may be. But Willem just doesn’t follow this mold and I just believe nothing he says, so let me wrap it up with the cheese fest that is this little blip of an ending story.
Just One Night
It’s not even a book or a full story. It’s straight up just the author realizing what a blue-balls inducing romance tease she’s been and being like “oh damn, maybe I should tell my audience what actually happened” but not even having the motivation to do it in a real story so just took this like 25 page shit at the end and said “Um, yeah, here ya go”. Like...it’s told in 3rd person and so impersonally and doesn’t fit at all.
Basically it’s just the two love struck morons being like “I couldn’t stop thinking about you [despite not knowing you even a little bit at all]” and coming across all the dumb misunderstandings of their individual stories and how they both wanna be a thing and actually communicate. And of course this asshole now got a job that’s moving to NYC so he can act and be in America near her now and they’re all “that’s just a train ride away!” Awesome...wow...
If your heart is young enough or pure enough and sweet enough to believe this sweet drivel, my heart goes out to you and hold onto that legit as long as you can. The world is a shitty, cruel place and sometimes it’s really wonderful to escape into stuff like this if your able. Me? I am not one of those people anymore and I certainly did not find this charming. I give this two like a year tops before they become funny stories they tell their friends and future love interests later over coffee because let’s get real, this is as summer romance as you can get and they aren’t meant to last.
Like I said, this is clearly not meant for me, but it still makes me concerned at a lot of the shit they’re peddling at teens. I feel like they’re able to sort out reality for the most part, but oof there is just a lot of bad ideas in books like this and it really makes me question author taste level. Not for me, don’t really recommend, but I guess I get if those are able to turn their brain off and just fall into the journey. More power to you.
henleymayabrady's review
emotional
lighthearted
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
sneakaneka's review against another edition
3.0
Was okay. Just didn't hit it for me all the other languages and Shakespeare references I didn't understand. Got better at the end when they finally met again but I can see why others would love it. Just not for me.
ladyceros's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
jens_bookshelves's review against another edition
5.0
This is the second time I have read this series and just noticed the "Adam Wilde" reference in Just one Year.... very clever and made me very happy. A reward for avid Gayle Forman fans!
I loved this series even more the second time around and is definitely my favourite work by Gayle Forman. Such a heartbreakingly beautiful book.
I loved this series even more the second time around and is definitely my favourite work by Gayle Forman. Such a heartbreakingly beautiful book.
samondemand's review against another edition
4.0
They should make this into a movie and it has a very interesting plot.
umberr's review
5.0
Loved first two books. But I feel that there shouldn’t be any 2.5th book. It killed the whole fantasising gist of the whole series.
But I highly recommend the first two books. You will fall in love with the characters and would connect with them instantaneously. You will know their longing and find yourself praying for them to meet again.
But I highly recommend the first two books. You will fall in love with the characters and would connect with them instantaneously. You will know their longing and find yourself praying for them to meet again.
chloeyoshi's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
iya_elle's review
3.0
Absolutely adored the first book because even though what Allyson did was kinda dumb, I enjoyed the self-discovery she went through for that year. I relate to her in so many levels especially in the process of coming to terms with yourself. If you feel like you’ve been living in your own shell, afraid of coming out to discover new places and things, you’ll see yourself while reading this. Maybe that’s why I love the first book. You know the feeling when you see yourself as that person? Where you hate her and rooted for her at the same time? That’s what you’ll feel if you see yourself in her. As she blossomed into that kind of person she wishes to be, it gives you hope that someday, you’ll experience that too. Another thing I adored in this book was the friendships formed along the way as well as mending the broken ones. Favorite character is Dee. Dee, you’re such a queen! I wish I have a friend like you. I love you.
The second book was told in Willem’s point of view. Although it’s refreshing to read about what happened to him after that day, I can’t help but feel that it was forced, uneventful, and boring which is a bummer since I liked him in the first book. There’s still a lot that happened on his side but it still was “meh” for me, hence, the 3 star rating.
Maybe you’ll love this book if you’re a hopeless romantic. Think of Paris and Shakespeare. Ain’t that perfect for one?
The second book was told in Willem’s point of view. Although it’s refreshing to read about what happened to him after that day, I can’t help but feel that it was forced, uneventful, and boring which is a bummer since I liked him in the first book. There’s still a lot that happened on his side but it still was “meh” for me, hence, the 3 star rating.
Maybe you’ll love this book if you’re a hopeless romantic. Think of Paris and Shakespeare. Ain’t that perfect for one?