Just One Year by Gayle Forman

     Just One Year, by Gayle Forman, was almost the opposite in feeling that Just One Day was. In Just One Day, is was strangely happy, this one though, felt really sad. Just One Year starts us off with Willem in the hospital, the morning when we thought he just left. He has a concussion, a pretty big cut on his face, and is slowly trying to remember everything that happened. When he finally gets it, and goes back to the squat to find Allyson (whose name he doesn’t remember), she’s gone. He goes through the same emotional problems that she does with depression and needing to find himself, and eventually sets off to find her. There is one part where he comes frustratingly close to finding her, and it is honestly really hard to read. You kind of want to scream at the book in frustration and tell him “SHE IS RIGHT THERE! DON’T YOU DARE STOP LOOKING!” (Maybe I did this)

     I have to give this one a four. I really liked the strangely happy first one, but this oddly sad second one was sometimes hard to read. I honestly didn’t feel like Willem loved her as much as she loved him. It didn’t feel like he cared as much. It’s obvious that I am wrong, but it’s just how it felt, and maybe that’s what made it oddly sad. I liked a lot how he needed to change himself, and work on things a lot. I think that made him a much better character, and that was important to me, because for some reason I felt really protective of Allyson (it’s weird, I know). In the end, they find each other, I feel like you need to know that, because not being sure in the first book almost drove me crazy. I won’t tell you what happens when they actually do meet, but you do need to make sure you read Just One Night, the novella. That doesn’t give me nearly as much as I wanted, but it also gave me more than I expected, and I can live with it. 

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