Kira

Back in May, Just One Day by Gayle Forman rocked my world. The journey that Allyson went on, both with Willem and then on her own, had me gushing to anyone who would listen. It made me want to learn a foreign language, backpack across Europe, take a class in something I love, and then track down and attend a Shakespeare play no matter how far away it was. That book just spoke to my heart and it has a place on my ultra exclusive favorites shelf. I love that book. 

Yet what I didn't love about that book was the "door slammed in my face" ending. Allyson goes through this incredible journey of self-discovery and growth and then embarks on a huge adventure, one we are not sure she can succeed in, and just when it all comes to a  gut-squeezing climax, the book ends, leaving us all breathless, and agitated, and desperate to know "What happens next?!" 

So, it's no secret that I was excited for this book. I would even say it was one of my most anticipated books for the year. I have been dying to know what was in store for Willem and Allyson. Dying to know.

And you want to know what I know now?

Nothing.

Nada.

Zip.

Zilch.

Zot.

Nothing more than I did at the end of the first book. 

In fact, I just got to experience same the gut-squeezing gasp of disbelief that I had at the end of the first book.

Again.

Because this book ends in the exact. same. place. 

I have never wanted an epilogue so badly. Just a little glimpse, Forman, of their conversation, that's all I'm asking. Just a little taste of what happens to them after that moment. I am so so so disappointed in how this ended. 

So. Yeah. 

This is not my favorite book of the year.

But I'm still giving it three stars because for what it was, the story was well told and I'm sure there will be a lot of people who will enjoy it.

If you like personal-journey type books, and want to know what happened to Willem from the moment he left Allyson in Paris to the

then yes, you will like this. If you want to know more about what makes him tick and his backstory with his family, and what's the deal with Celine and Ana Lucia and the wake of broken hearts he leaves in his dust, then yes, you will like this book. If you want to read about whether or not he searched for Allyson, and what his search entailed, then yes, you will like this book.

But for me, I didn't really care that much about what happened to Willem during the year they were apart. The beauty in the first book was the transformation that Allyson went through and meeting Willem was the catalyst for all of that. 

I didn't care to hear about any of the girls he messed around with after he met Lulu, I just desperately wanted to know what happened after she walked through the door. I literally spent 99% of this book feeling anxious, waiting for a moment I knew was coming, and wound up skimming the majority of the second half until it all finally came together. To be fair, there were some things that came out at the end that allow us to make educated guesses about what comes next, but I'm still unsatisfied. 

 I wish someone would have told me I could skip the whole book because I was going to end up exactly where the first one left me. 

I want my freaking epilogue.