"Knowing It In Your Kishkes"

"Knowing It In Your Kishkes"

• Aug 4, 2014

Just One Night by Gayle Forman

Release Date: May 29, 2014
Publisher: Penguin | Viking Children's
Pages: 40 pages
Source & Format: Bought; Kindle e-book
Amazon | Goodreads

Summary (from Goodreads)

After spending one life-changing day in Paris with laid-back Dutch actor Willem De Ruiter, sheltered American good girl Allyson “Lulu” Healey discovered her new lover had disappeared without a trace. Just One Day followed Allyson’s quest to reunite with Willem; Just One Year chronicled the pair’s year apart from Willem’s perspective. Now, back together at last, this delectable e-novella reveals the couple’s final chapter.

Brief Thoughts on Just One Night

I absolutely fell head over heels in love with Just One Day and Just One Year when I read them last year. While I had enjoyed If I Stay and Where She Went, I didn't connect to them the same way that I did to these stories. There was so much character growth in these books, and I just loved the way the books fit together so perfectly. The level of planning that went into plotting out these stories must have been unreal! I actually loved the way that Just One Year ended, but I know there were so many who were frustrated by it.

Just One Year was marketed in a way that implied it would pick up right where the first book left off, but that's not how the story is actually told. Just One Year gives Willem's side of the story - where he was when Allyson woke up to find him gone and how he spent the next year after they parted. I won't say how it ends, but I truly did love it. However, I understand the frustration with the ending based on the way the book was marketed.

And even though I loved the ending, I was ECSTATIC when I found out about the e-novella, Just One Night. Well, that might be an understatement. Seriously y'all, I squealed a little (lot) when I heard the news. I'm never going to say no to more Willem and Allyson! Anyway, this book downloaded to my Kindle while I was at BEA, and it was one of the first things I read when I got home.

I LOVED IT SO MUCH! It was a little piece of perfection, and I'm so glad that Forman + Penguin decided to release it. While the first two books were in first person, this one switches to third. It felt a little odd at first (only because I loved being in these characters' heads), but it made total sense why there would be the shift for this book. I did end up loving the narration - and I used my imagination to think about everything that was going through their heads (beyond what the narrator tells you).

Honestly, if you loved the first two books, there is no reason why you shouldn't pick this up. It didn't take me long to read, but I had a crazy grin on my face the entire time. The sexual tension, the hesitancy, the shyness, the swoons.... Whew! It's all there in full force, and I adored every second of it.

So Quotable

“And the kiss feels like something completely new. But it also feels like something deeply known.”