Okay Days

I can’t even put into words how sharp and beautifully put this book is! Sam and Lucas’s relationship is explained so perfectly, the way the friendship and relationship is explored and formed, the way everything is portrayed in this book is amazing! One of the best books I’ve read in a while!

For fans of Yolk by Mary HK Choi and Conversations With Friends By Sally Rooney, Ok Days follows the in-betweens of new relationships and the inevitable decline when two lives don't quite fit together, no matter how hard you try.

Counting down until breakup, the story spotlight is on Sam and Luc.

This novel is delightfully peaceful and captures the feeling of a sunny Sunday morning, when you are relaxed and calm and have leant into the weekend fully before having to go back to work. Through Jenny Mustard's writing we are able to see through both Sam and Luc's eyes and read how they feel about eachother in their own words.

Mustard explores the feelings and events that happen when you first meet someone- the slips from routine, the days that feel like jumps in time and seem to last forever but not long enough. The beautiful radiance of experiencing first time romance with a person that feels magical.

And what happens when the magic stops.

The languid, dreamy descriptions of drinking too much, doing too little and going to restaurants with warm lighting are depicted with such feeling and vividness which unravels in your mind like film tape.

Mustard is able to flick between past and present using the characters voices, making the novel feel like a discussion rather than a record and guide us into the feelings of Sam and Luc, and their sides of the events that broke them. But when the chapters that count down to their demise change, you are lead to wonder what will happen next as Sam and Luc's dynamic changes and they see other people but still feel drawn to eachother...

I really enjoyed the pace of this book as we read through Sam and Luc's relationship and I particularly enjoyed that it covered the phenomena of suspended time when you first meet someone and get together. Time seems a bit flimsy and simultaneously on pause but also not enough and you slip out of your routines to spend time with this new person. It was really enjoyable to relive in book form and I also loved that the chapter titles were countdowns to different defining moments in the pairs' relationship. Seeing their two points of views enhanced the story and have more depth to these moments and made me second guess my predictions for the ending and made it all that more satisfying to finish.

This is hands down one of my favourite books of this year. From page one I could not put this down, I loved every character in this book, they felt so raw and real. The writing was so beautiful and I just adored every second of it. Sam and Luc have my whole heart.

Okay Days follows Sam and Lucas, both in their late twenties, over a year beginning at the party at which they become reacquainted after ten years.
Sam is on a placement at a London marketing company thanks to a bit of networking through a friend’s mother. She’s Swedish-Romanian, from a large extended family in contrast to Lucas, an only child who lost his mother at twelve. The night they bump into other again sees the beginning of a fling they both know will end when Sam returns to Stockholm. As he heads home from saying goodbye to her, Lucas listens to Sam’s Spotify list and can’t quite bring himself to log out of her account. Neither, it seems, can quite let each other go, Sam engineering a brief reprise on a Greek island which leads to a decision, later upended by the first serious crisis in their relationship.
Alternating Sam and Lucas' narratives, Mustard cleverly structures her novel as two countdown sections so that we know we’re heading towards some kind of resolution but we’re not at all sure what it might be. Both are engaging and likeable characters, each very different from the other, yet they complement each other well. I found myself rooting for them as the novel follows the entirely believable trajectory of their relationship. An enjoyable, absorbing and ultimately cheering piece of fiction whose quiet jacket suits it well.

Oh my, this one hit differently!

I was really excited when Mustard announced she was writing her debut novel and knew I had to read it. But for most things I get excited about I was equally scared it would let me down…

But Mustard delivered a brilliant debut!

Sam is a 28-year-old Swedish woman living in London and working for a top marketing agency. During her summer internship, she falls hard for Lucas (Luc) whom she initially met as a teenager. Luc is trying to break into the corporate world but struggles without any professional network. Their relationship becomes the ultimate escape from reality, but they both know it can’t last… or can it?

Relatable in so many ways. Two lost souls trying to find their purpose and way in life. Fumbling with expectations and trying to shake the things that don’t work for them. From male body dysmorphia to women’s productive rights and the expectations of modern love.

This book is the ultimate read for any 20, 30, or 40-somethings. For anyone who feels lost, struggling to find home, and love. And maybe most for the dreamers who never really land. What is your escape and how do you get back to reality?

I really enjoyed getting swept into this story and London life. There were points where I felt the writing could have been improved and some sentence structures were a bit weird. But the story and characters were strong and entertaining.
I think this would be a magnificent summer read.
Highly recommend!

4.5⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for an advanced e copy in exchange for an honest review.

This may be the best literary fiction novel I have ever read, and the fact that this is Jenny Mustard's debut makes it even more impressive.

Mustard removes the common miscommunication trophe and highlights that the reason why her protagonists' relationship is so turbulent is because of differences both Luc and Sam are keenly aware of. Fundamental differences which are equally understandable and justified.

This awareness accompanies a lack of pointless, unrealistic arguments and provides a refreshing will-they-wont-they situationship tale that made me dread doing any distraction from reading. While centred around a romance, this novel explores immigration imposter syndrome, the death of a parent, and male eating disorders with delicacy and empathy. These issues were not discomfortingly described or portrayed in depth, but they were frequently discussed and I found Mustard's depiction of how two people may cope with these issues to be insightful and realistic.

My one issue with this novel the colloquial writing style, which made some sentences difficult to read. While I often adored Mustard's casual descriptions and felt the first person dual narration worked excellently for this novel, how thoughts and actions were written as one would narrate them in real life sometimes did not make grammatical sense.

In short, I adored this novel, struggled to put it down, and can't wait to get my hands on a physical copy and to read more of Jenny Mustard's work in the future.

Summary:

Okay Days tells the story of the relationship and love between Sam and Lucas.

Sam meets Luc while temporarily working a job in London at a top Marketing Agency. Their relationship has an expiry date when she returns to Sweden. But despite it all they can’t let each other go.

The story tells the highs and falls of their relationship.

Review:

‘So our working theory is that our differences would either hold us both back from the lives we want, or evolve us into calmer looser future selves? So either catastrophe or quite sublime?’

This is a refreshing, modern take on love and relationships in the real world. There is no ‘they lived happily ever after’ but the more realistic version means their love for each other means so much more.

I found Sam hard to like at first but as the book progressed, the author really brings her to life and shows the complexities of thinking that lead to some of the questionable decisions she makes.

I loved Luc and loved that he grew stronger as the story progressed. I wanted to shout at Sam to hold onto him tight and never let him go.

The side characters added to the story and I loved the friendship dynamic between them all.

An inspiring story about love, loss and maturing. I wholeheartedly recommend.

Fans of Sally Rooney will love this book.

I LOVED this book! Such a great modern love story with great characters, I especially loved Luc! At the beginning I thought I’d exactly know where this story would be going, and what the countdown was leading up to, but I was wrong. There was so much more going on and I really loved the past and present timeline. I feel like the book itself was to long for the story, if that makes sense. Shortening it would’ve made it even stronger. The writing style reminded me a lot of Sally Rooney, I really enjoyed it and already preorders a physical copy for my collection!

Sam and Luc are both struggling to find their way. The story centres on their relationship and the ups and downs. The descriptions of London are spot on. I could really feel the heat of a hot summer and picture exactly what it was like.
I can't say I warmed to Sam. She annoyed me a little bit. She seems quite self centered. The chapters switch between the two main characters and I preferred the Luc ones.
I thought the book was written quite cleverly in that I often felt it was going in one direction and then it changed.
I don't like to compare authors to others but it did give off strong Sally Rooney vibes.

Wow, what a piece of literary brilliance. Okay Days celebrates the mundanity of life, normalises struggling with mental health and epitomises the reality of hardships one faces when they branch out on their own as a young adult. The writing is relatable to the point where my heart broke for both the characters and my own self while reading.

I never quite understood what made a book someone’s comfort read, but in a heartbeat this became mine. I will be returning to this book many times over and recommending it far and wide.

Giving very much Swedish Sally Rooney vibes!! I loved the writing style and overall a really good read

Huge thanks to Netgalley! Saw a couple reviews on insta and wanted to get my hands on this book immediately. I LOVED THIS BOOK. I've recently been digging the no plot just vibes thing in books and the vibes in this book were immaculate ✨. Sam is in London only for a short time and then she'll go back to Sweden, her job and her life. In London she meets Luc, and she falls for him, the way he makes her feel, and the way he treats her. They are both very much attracted to each other and are sad about the fact that it's going to be a short lived relationship but decide not to be too smart about it and just live life as it is, with their little him and her traditions/routines. This book had Cleo and Frank/Alone with you in the ether vibes and that is exactly the kind of romance I've been liking lately.