I was given One Perfect Day by Lauraine Snelling as a gift, and I began reading this book not knowing what to expect. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed reading One Perfect Day and loved how emotional the story was. *the book summary contains spoilers for anyone who hasn't finished the book.
One Perfect Day tells the story of two mothers on Christmas, Nora Peterson and Jenna Montgomery. Nora Peterson and her husband Gordan have two twins who are seniors in High School, Christi and Charlie. Nora is determined to make their last family Christmas perfect. Nora is already stressed when she receives news that Charlie has been in an accident. Nora, Christi and Gordan wait at the hospital, praying for a miracle, when their worst fear is confirmed.
Charlie has died.
Knowing what Charlie would've wanted, they decide to donate Charlie's organs and are forced to accept his death. Jenna Montgomery only wants her daughter's health this year for Christmas. Jenna's daughter, Heather, is losing her life to a heart defect she's had the majority of her life. Jenna knows that this is probably their last Christmas together, and wants to give Heather a memorable Christmas. Jenna and Heather's prayers are answered when the death of a young boy leads to Heather receiving a heart transplant. While Jenna and Heather begin their new joyous life, Nora and her family are trying to learn to live their life without Charlie.
Not only did this tell the story of one family's emotional Christmas, Snelling went above and beyond to include the story of a second family's emotional Christmas. These two stories were an emotional roller coaster, I didn't expect to be as emotionally invested as I was. When Nora fell into a depression following Charlie's death, I actually found myself tearing up and was unable to stop reading. I don't react to books emotionally usually, but the way Snelling wrote made it easy for the reader to be pulled into the book. Snelling focuses on Nora's thoughts while she is depressed, this really lets the reader connect to Nora because they are able to understand her thoughts. One of the most emotional lines in One Perfect Day, is:
"Tears leaked from eyes seared raw. Surely, there could be no more tears. Where did they come from? What well that knew no bottom"
This is one of the thoughts Nora has one morning while she is trying to force herself to wake up. This line really drew me in, the idea that Nora should be out of tears made me feel very sympathetic for her.
The connection between the two stories was thoughtful on Snelling's part and granted closure to both stories. I had anticipated a tearful meeting between the two mothers, I thought that they would meet and be able to comfort each other. While that would have made for a good ending, it would have been predictable and wouldn't be memorable to the reader. Snelling choose to go a different route with her ending, I was happily surprised by the ending and loved the hopeful tone it gave the ending.
I would rate this book exceptional due to the emotional content and the surprising connection. For anyone looking for an emotionally engaging book I would seriously recommend reading One Perfect Day.
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