Hooked on Books discussion

Members Starting the BR: bamaace83 / Chapter Champions
Challenge: Book Quest Adventures
Book: One Day in December by Josie Silver


Anyone is free to join in this Buddy Read! Happy Reading!

25% in

I really like this story so far. A few thoughts...

Laurie (view spoiler)[ why didn't she tell Sarah about Jack and the bus...this isn't going to end well (hide spoiler)]
Sarah (view spoiler)[ I feel sorry for her because her best friend is basically lying to her (hide spoiler)]Jack (view spoiler)[ he should have told Sarah about Laurie, and he actually let Laurie sleep on his lap (hide spoiler)]

50% in

I knew it would get messy

Jack & Laurie (view spoiler)[ them kissing was inevitable, and I'm glad they both felt remorse after doing so (hide spoiler)]
Jack & Sarah (view spoiler)[ just break up already!! (hide spoiler)]
Laurie (view spoiler)[ I'm glad she's going off by herself to try and get some distance from this and break up this ugly triangle (hide spoiler)]

2008 - 2010

(view spoiler)[ wow, I can't imagine falling for someone at first sight like that, just from a bus stop without any interaction... but now that he's dating her best friend!! Wild!

But I can understand why she didn't tell her friend either. yikes. what a rough position to be in

but yikes, they are doing some really shady stuff behind her back and it's awful. I could never. I WOULD Never. (hide spoiler)]

2011 - 2013

well (view spoiler)[ that seemed like silly timing on Sarah's part. how can she literally be mad at her, asking if she was just waiting to pounce on Jack when are celebrating Laurie getting married (and having moved on from Jack in the most obvious way)

this rift is silly and I'm disappointed in Sarah for actually missing the wedding. I assume Laurie will grovel back and Sarah will bless her with friendship again but I think it's over the top that Sarah is being like this

I'm glad Sarah and Jack broke up, they hadn't seemed happy in a long time. I'm also glad Jack got out of town (hide spoiler)]

2014 - 2017 (end)

(view spoiler)[ Ugh, I think that's just silly. I believe in love at first sight in that you get interested in someone
but I don't believe that Laurie was "instantly in love with Jack" and he with her just because their eyes met.

I'm glad they got there in the end, and I'm glad that Sarah got her happily ever after with Luke

and Oscar . . he probably went back to his ex who worked in the same side of the world as he did after his promotion. probably would have made his mom happy! lol (hide spoiler)]

Jammin Jenny wrote: "25% in

I really like this story so far. A few thoughts...

Laurie [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ I agree, if only they'd actually talked more in the beginning and Laurie had made her love for Jack more known - so many things could have been avoided (hide spoiler)]

Oh no, another 1 star rating, Trisha? I don't want to read SHARDS because that's a 1 star from you too and it's long!

I think this one will be a pretty quick read though, right? I hope. I'm so behind! We're getting our entire home re-piped and refurbishing our master bath to start. Then, hopefully, on to the kitchen. So we've had a lot going on here and our home is a MESS! I'll try to get to this one today. I think I have it from Libby.

Well. . .unlike Shards, many like this one so you might too! I just didn't understand the insta love on this one! Just ignore my 1 star on this one!! You just might like this one!

But Yes, I recommend skipping Shards! it's SOOO long!

70% (right after the wedding)

Sarah - (view spoiler)[I don't blame Sarah for leaving and being extremely mad at Laurie (hide spoiler)]
Laurie (view spoiler)[ told you so! I hope that she actually gives her husband Oscar a chance and really leave Jack behind (hide spoiler)]
Jack (view spoiler)[I'm glad he's moved and appears to be dating, but why is he so attached to Laurie (hide spoiler)]

Done!!

Well, I think it's worth more than 1 star, I gave it 2 stars.

I thought it was predictable, and the characters (view spoiler)[ were kind of whiny and emotionally not there (hide spoiler)]

Uh, not so looking forward to this now - lol.

I'm still in the library queue line for this title - 3 of 6 - so should get it before the end of the month.

That's crazy. It's an easy read once you get it.

So, I don't know how to do the spoiler things. I will give this one a 3. It wasn't my favorite but it wasn't terrible. I'll figure out those spoiler things to dive more into it but I feel this is your classic contemporary romance. You got two best friends who both have feelings for the same boy and then you get to see glimpses of their lives every year. It also showed how friendships evolve, some good and some bad, over the course of a time period. I usually give most of these type books a 3 star. They aren't my favorite but not terrible. I also don't like horror at all so that might be why my reading tastes are a little different. Now, let me figure out spoilers to tell how I feel about these characters.

Here's my quick review of these characters: (view spoiler)[ My view of Sarah was she was the friend everyone wanted to have when they were in college. Laurie didn't want to tell her about Jack because she didn't want to lose the one person she always knew she could count on. Typical in girl fashion, Sarah turned away when she found out the truth. I see these friendships play out a lot in some of my books but she found love and realized that she needed Laurie's friendship in her life. Jack was already in a relationship when he reconnected with Laurie and was stuck. I think he knew he was in a hard spot and didn't know how to get out of this. I was glad when they finally ended up together at the end. I hope Oscar found what he needed in life. Felt like he was just the middle of the sandwich for awhile and needed to move on and find his own happiness. (hide spoiler)]

Oh, no, 1, 2, and 3 star ratings? Ugh...

2008 - 2010

(view spoiler)[I think Jack should've have told Sarah for sure. But I also think that it follows the rule of girl code, so I have to agree with Trisha that I never could do that either...so I think it's so uncool that Laurie is doing what she is and not telling Sarah. Her love is 100% just made up in her head over his looks. (hide spoiler)]

2011 - 2013

(view spoiler)[OMG give me a break! They just needed to break up! Obviously Sarah and Jack just don't belong together so it's good that they broke up and stopped wasting time on their "relationship"!

But I have to agree with Trisha that it's pretty over the top how Sarah's reacted to the entire thing.

If Laurie had told Sarah how she felt about Jack from the get-go, they might've been able to talk it through. That being said, I think their "insta-love" was ridiculous. I literally had a friend YEARS ago who was engaged with a guy and broke it off because she saw a man in a small grocery store and they also "locked eyes" and she "knew he was meant to be with her." I thought she was crazy!!! She kept going back to that store in the hopes of finding him again because she really believed they were meant to be and she just couldn't get him out of her head. Poor Bob though! (hide spoiler)]

Finished

(view spoiler)[I am pretty character driven and I didn't care for the characters and nothing about them resonated with me. I also felt it was TOO silly how they had insta-love over nothing...absurd! All you can get with that kind of interaction is insta-lust or attraction but certainly not love. I thought the whole plot was silly and the characters were so immature. I just couldn't like this one but I thought it was OK

I can deal with an insta-love with some interaction and their relationship builds and grows, but I never saw that happen. She ended up with one tragedy after another and, in my opinion, they never had a lot of time together as a "loving couple" so I just don't get it. To me, this isn't a nice, second chance love story set during Christmastime when we hope for a HEA! (hide spoiler)]

I finished listening to this yesterday - I ended up giving it 3 stars. A lot of overly cheesy dialog here and there, all based on love at first sight - but nothing I found really offensive - lol.

Honestly, I think the narrators took it from 2 to 3 stars - I don't know. I'm a romantic at heart, and chemistry between 2 people is real - but a gut punch of love from just catching eyes with someone? Perhaps I'm a couple decades past believing in that :D

I think Sarah was my favorite character. Her not showing up for Laurie's wedding sucked though- I thought she would have showed up for the event at least. Until then, I thought maybe Sarah knew Jack was bus boy (as the author kept saying how Sarah was obsessed, etc.) and that was going to come out. But she's human, and got over it, and got back out there.

Basically, this book is a lesson in being honest, even when its tough. Just covering it up doesn't help - you can't heal until you clean the wound.

Did anyone have the song "If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with" playing in your head at times with this?
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HH3ru...)

Do you think love or marriage is a failure if it isn't with your 100% person?

Teddie wrote: "Do you think love or marriage is a failure if it isn't with your 100% person?"

I think it just depends on what someone is willing to live with. You can be with someone who is "good enough" . . .but are these the couples where someone cheats?

I'm with my 100% person so it's hard for me to say but now that I've had it, I can't imagine settling for less.

Trisha wrote: "I'm with my 100% person so it's hard for me to say but now that I've had it, I can't imagine settling for less."

Love that!

Maybe it's just the ability to know you've found the person who gets you, and you both make each other better people, vs always looking for that little bit more - the wisdom of knowing the difference.

I read this book a couple of weeks ago and just realizing that it is a Buddy Read!

I'm in the minority and didn't love this book. It's one of those ones where I feel like I read the wrong book or a different one than everyone else given all the high reviews it got.

Being British Literature, my expectations were really high--I expected to get a good fun romp of humor, snark, sarcasm, and more. I got none of the above. What I did get were boring one dimensional characters that I cared absolutely nothing about and an unrealistic story line that I rolled my eyes at more than once.

I just didn't get the 10 second glance that turned into insta-love from a double decker bus. Really? Sweetheart, it doesn't realistically happen like that. And then the year of stalking looking for this guy only to discover that the best friend is dating him. Then the ten years of foolish, unnecessary drama that followed. NOPE not buying into all that either.

Jack was a complete asshat and Laurie--hmmmm I don't even know where to begin with her. I just can't deal with the drama of cheating, stalking,lying, and other wrongful doings that occurred. The only character that I remotely felt anything for was Oscar. Bless his heart, I hope in the end, life treated him well.

I also thought the writing was poor. The dialogue was extremely cheesy and the author did more telling than showing. I needed this book for some challenges otherwise it would've been a quick DNF after about 10 pages or less. I rated it one star because I did like the covers. Would I recommend? NOPE--maybe only to readers who enjoy cliched romances or like the cheesy drama filled romances. Otherwise, avoid it!

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