Book Review: Always, in December by Emily Stone

Always, in December
by Emily Stone (Stone)

I don’t read many “romance” novels, usually just one or two around the end-of-year holidays, and even then they tend to be “general fiction” with a romance flavor. This year, I picked up a paperback copy of Always, in December in a local grocery store, mainly because the cover was appealing. The libraries do have this available, but only in eBook format from Overdrive/Libby.

 

Always, in December turned out to be a very powerful read for me, which left me both sad and hopeful by the end. Nominally a “Christmas” novel — the opening chapters are set during the holiday season, and there are some major scenes around the same time of the year, a year later, but a large portion of this novel is set at other times. But the holidays aren’t just window dressing.

 

Josie, the central character, feels disconnected from the holidays, since it was at Christmas that her two parents were killed in a car accident when she was 10, and she was raised by loving grandparents. She has a tradition of writing her parents a letter each year at Christmas and placing it in a public post box. As the novel begins, she’s facing a job crisis and this year’s letter tradition is interrupted when she runs into Max by accident on her bicycle. As part of her efforts to apologize, and to try to improve his dour attitude, she takes him for drinks, and something seems to “click” between them. When it turns out they’re both on their own in London over the holiday, they end up sharing more time with each other and developing an instant and deep attraction. But when Max disappears on her with a cryptic note, after they shared a perfect day together, Josie is devastated.

The bulk of this novel follows Josie’s next year, as lessons she learned in the short time she had with Max lead her down paths she never thought she’d travel, and he returns to her life in a moment when she needs him most…only with a twist she didn’t see coming.

 

This novel is filled with well-developed characters. I empathized with Josie and really cared what was happening to her. I summed up my reaction to the ending of this book by saying “Good fiction (especially novels) should make you FEEL something.” This book definitely engaged my emotions. For a debut novel (released originally in 2021), Emily Stone hit a home run…and she’s had two more novels since then that I can look forward to!

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try One Last Gift and Love, Holly also by Emily Stone.)

 

( official Emily Stone Instagram feed )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

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