One Day

Because star-crossed love makes you crazy—but in a book it's crazily addictive.

Not your average boy-meets-girl fairy tale, this novel about growing up, moving on and never letting go resonates with just about everyone who's had to struggle to find themselves as well as find somebody to spend their life with. The story is told in snapshot versions of the same day in different years, as Emma goes from student to Tex-Mex waitress to writer and Dexter goes from student to reality-TV host to down-and-out reality-TV host. How their relationship evolves and shifts over the course of two decades is interesting, but their well-written personal lives (flaws and all) are what really draw you in. While many parts are laugh-out-loud funny, at the center of this love story is a specter of loneliness about what in life can pass us by if we don't decide to do something about it. If you're looking for an honest depiction of romance that's still delicious and dizzying to read, this combines the best of both worlds.

— Amber Kallor