One Day. Twenty Years. Two People.

I'd been wanting to read this book since I read about it in Entertainment Weekly a couple of years ago, but I didn't get around to reserving it from my local library until a few weeks ago. Just in time for the movie right?

In my perpetual state of procrastination I found myself on Monday evening at page 60 with less than 48 hours to finish the book, and I'm glad that's how it turned out. I'm sure I would've loved the book all the same, but reading almost the entire thing in two sessions made it all the more enjoyable. Given that the story takes place on July 15th every year between 1988 and 2007, I think it might've been less emotionally profound had I spent days rather than minutes/seconds between the connected years.

From the back of the book, "It's 1988 and Dexter Mayhew and Emma Morley have only just met. But after only one day together, they cannot stop thinking about one another. Over twenty years, snapshots of that relationship are revealed on the same day - July 15th - of each year. Dex and Em face squabbles and fights, hopes and missed opportunities, laughter and tears. And as the true meaning of this one crucial day is revealed, they must come to grips with the nature of love and life itself."

The book took turns I was fully not expecting, but that I very much welcomed. I laughed out loud (so much so that onlookers at the gym made me explain what I was reading); I was shocked and inspired; and I found myself reminiscing about friends and loves from my past.

Emma and Dexter seem quite real. As characters in a story they are deftly developed. I was completely absorbed.

One Day makes the heart leap with anticipation, vibrate with laughter and completely stop in heartbreak.

Here's to hoping the movie directors/producers didn't completely eff up a great story.