Always, In December



To start us off: my latest read.  Always In December by Emily Stone

TRIGGER WARNINGS: DEAD PARENTS, BRAIN TUMORS

Honestly, this one gutted me.  I went into this story, thinking that this was going to be a light, breezy Christmas story (I like reading Christmas/holiday stories out of season so I can gauge whether or not I actually like the story or if I would've just been suckered in through the sentimentality of the season).  

Characters: Josie and Max.  

Premise: They keep running into each other throughout the year and fall in love.  

With this set up, you think "Oh a meet-cute that turns into more" No. First, she runs him over with her bike on her way to drop off her yearly Christmas letter to her parents, which he's understandably upset about.  Turns out that Josie has stopped celebrating Christmas since her parents' deaths when she was nine-years old.   I'm not going to judge her for that as I don't think I would want to celebrate ever again if I had lost my parents, so there's that drama. Because of this, Josie's Christmas isn't the best, and to top it all off, her boyfriend Oliver cheated on her with someone from work, which yeah, I'd be miffed too.  So you're really rooting for her to start something new with Max.  But then later in the year, she ends up giving Oliver another chance because....reasons...I guess? I dunno. 🤷 Throughout all of this, Max is being mysterious, and Josie overhears him arguing with a friend about that he hasn't told her/Josie something that he needs to tell her.  You don't find out what this is until the last part of the book, where he drops dead of an aneurism and it turns out that he had a brain tumor, news he had gotten prior to his and Josie's first meeting.

Look, if it was me with this news and I had just met someone, I don't know if I would've been able to tell them either.  I'm not gonna shame a dude for not wanting to kill the mood or stop an attraction from growing.  Do I think he should've told her?  Yeah, but you know what?  Dude's human and he was scared as heck.  I get that.

Now from all this, I'm sure you're thinking I must've hated the book, but nope.  I actually really enjoyed it.  In fact, I'd give it a solid 6.   I would NOT read this if I needed light and breezy, because this ain't that.




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