Just One Day - Gayle Forman

Synopsis: When sheltered American good girl Allyson "LuLu" Healey first meets laid-back Dutch actor Willem De Ruiter at an underground performance of Twelfth Night in England, there’s an undeniable spark. After just one day together, that spark bursts into a flame, or so it seems to Allyson, until the following morning, when she wakes up after a whirlwind day in Paris to discover that Willem has left. Over the next year, Allyson embarks on a journey to come to terms with the narrow confines of her life, and through Shakespeare, travel, and a quest for her almost-true-love, to break free of those confines.
 (From Goodreads)

I feel like I've been waiting for this book my entire life and I didn't realize it until I picked it up. This book is why I read, why I'm always searching for a bigger purpose or meaning that can only be found in other stories. I'm in love with Just One Day in a way I haven't really been in love with a book before. It's not a first love, it's not a fleeting love, this is one that crawls into your being and ignites. I love it in a way that I want to keep to myself because it's almost too private, but at the same time I want to share this with everyone.

Theres so much more to this book than finding yourself or finding someone else, although that aspect of it is superb. It's about the importance of art and balance, or trying new things to figure out what it is you love. There are things you I took away from this story - things that I somehow always knew, but was never able to verbalize until now. Like - taking chances and paying it safe can both be the right choice, depending on the situation. You don't know what's going through someone else's mind unless you ask. And sometimes patience is key, because if you jump the gun you might miss out on an important fact -like Romeo and Juliet might have lived long, happy lives if they hadn't made such hasty decisions.

All the things you can learn from Allyson's story are reflected in the book itself. Sometimes it takes risks - I love the format - half of the story takes place in one day and the other half spans a year, emphasizing that the importance of time is sometimes eclipsed by experiences. Sometimes it plays it safe - like the typical "good girl" learns to loosen up a bit - something that happens often both in real life and in books. Allyson and Willem debate the difference between falling in love and being in love, a differentiation that surfaces constantly.  Falling in love is temporary, being in love is permanent. I fell for this book, and by the end I was in love. I have a new birthmark.

I have a feeling I could read Just One Day again and again and it wouldn't ever be the same experience. I want to read it in England after watching a performance of Twelfth Night. I want to read it in Boston while sitting in a coffee shop. I want to read it in Paris, sitting at the Sacre Coeur eating macarons. But I could still just be sitting in my living room or on the train and imagine I was in all of those places. It's powerful and immense.