One Day: Now a major Netflix series Paperback – 25 Jan. 2024

The story is quite engaging, with each chapter focusing on the same day of the year and it showcasing where the two main characters, Dexter and Emma, are at their points in life. What they're doing and how they change as time goes on. We see them weave in and out of each other's lives while also seeing how the two of them still have such an impact on each other as the years goes on.It's quite clear that they both deeply care for each other, but they're both at different points in their lives. They both go through quite a few hurdles before finally getting together. That being said, when they do get together, it is satisfying.Dexter is a very complex mess of a character. We get to see what he's like in his twenties and all the ups and downs he goes through, both personally and professionally. There were definitely times when you would question what he was doing sometimes, and the decisions he was making. He does eventually sort his life out and get a form of stability, but it is quite a slow burn.Emma, on the other hand, is the complete opposite. She's someone who just wants to get by in life. She goes through different jobs and experiences different relationships over the years, and none of them seem to satisfy her. Then, eventually, she settles on becoming a successful writer and, like Dexter, even gets some stability in her life. Finally.The last chapter of the book, where it goes back to 1988, was quite heartwarming. The ending to this story I found to be quite bittersweet.The Netflix adaptation I also thought was brilliant. It was a really satisfactory adaptation of the book. The main actors were really great and did an excellent job at portraying these two characters. I do think a couple of episodes could've been longer, and they could've added 2-3 more episodes to really flesh out certain parts of the book.That being said, I really enjoyed reading this book and watching the series. It's certainly up there next to Normal People in terms of love stories and book adaptations.

Like many others I read this because of the hype around the Netflix series; it seemed unavoidable. I would need to watch it or be left out of too many conversations; I dislike watching something based on a book without first seeing the source material. So I had to read it.I struggled through the first half which felt like that well worn RomCom yarn. Boy meets girl, they are in denial that they are in love, their individual fortunes wax and wane in perfect asymmetry, they each experience failed relationships in a sequence that ensures they are never both single at the same time, at times they are either each other's best friends or the unspoken tension between them blows them apart. And it is witty, not LOL funny but a nice understated cynical wit mostly spoken in a Yorkshire accent, which worked well for me and probably the main thing that kept me going through the first half. But it all seems to march slowly towards that inevitable conclusion that they will be together at the end…Well that isn’t quite what happens, it wobbles significantly from the standard story (no spoilers if you are interested read it yourself).The most obvious first difference from the standard is that it is spread out over a long time and told through the events of a single day each year. This does give the story from the start an edge, the frustration of their situation hurts more as it just takes so long and you need to do some work filling in the gaps.However the big difference from the standard comes after halfway through when it goes too dark for a light hearted read. One of the protagonist’s life takes a very uncomfortable downward spiral.And then there is the end… No spoilers, other than it is very good.For me it misses 5 stars because the first half just annoyed me. By halfway I had my 2-star review headed “over hyped RomCom” (no question mark) ready in my mind. This may be unfair as that distinct change in tone is one of the qualities but overall a book needs to be sensational to get 5 stars, for me this was merely very good.I have now seen the series and it does the book justice, the body language of the protagonists is exceptional (although I think they needed to make Dex physically age more). Very glad I read it first.

Reviewing this book based on buying it back in 2011 before watching the original movie. Was going through a David Nicholls marathon and was loving David's other books so bought this to read.Strong storyline, well written, ending not as you typically would expect so was worth the read. The way the characters are written it does make you want to read to the end to follow what happens. Without giving a lot away was refreshing not to see such a typical ending. Written in David Nicholls style so almost in third person. Chapters aren't too long to read so you would get through it at pace I would say.Definitely worth a read before watching the original movie that came out in 2011 or even the Netflix drama series version.