I was given an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I really enjoyed this book. It was very real, not sugary sweet or far fetched. I really enjoyed the different characters in the story and the way they intertwined.
There were some very touching moments in this book as well which moved me.
This book was so many things wrapped in one. But no spoilers here.
Highly recommend reading it.
4.5 stars

Such a beautifully written romantic story - a love letter to all.
I loved Max and Josie from the very beginning and have laughed ( Marshmallow sculptures ) and cried at every stage of their relationship. Emily Stone has written the most perfect story of love, grief and friendship and I was totally absorbed from the very beginning to the very end.

What a beautiful book. Romantic but heartfelt too. Josie writes a letter to her mum and dad at Xmas. Then she bumps into Max who's flight to New York has been cancelled. Didn't expect the ending.

I ended up DNF this book at 41%.

With a tagline like that I was expecting to fall in love with this gorgeously christmassy story and yet I was so bored! It was so generic, the characters didn't feel real. There was no passion, and even the emotional stuff fell completely flat so I decided to just put it down.

Always, in December by Emily Stone

This is not your usual love story. I needed a tissue or two - and I absolutely loved it. An ending I did not see coming.

Josie grew up living with her Grandparents as her parents were taken far too young in a car accident. Every year she posted a letter, addressed to them, telling them that she missed them. This particular year, when she left her flatmate to cycle off to post her letter, she crashed into a man alighting from a taxi, and this was going to change the course of both their lives.

Sometimes the fates conspire to put people in your path who are needed in your life, and if you don't listen, they keep trying.

A beautifully written book, with a very powerful ending. I loved it

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Always in December was gorgeous! It was one of those one in a lifetime type reads and was beautifully written and the love story was next level.
Premise Every December, Josie posts a letter from her home in London to the parents she lost on Christmas night many years ago. Each year, she writes the same three words: Missing you, always. But this year, her annual trip to the postbox is knocked off course by a bicycle collision with a handsome stranger–a stranger who will change the course of Josie’s life.

Josie always thought she was the only one who avoided the Christmas season, but this year, Max has his own reasons for doing the same—and coincidence leads them to spending the holiday together. Aglow with new love, Josie thinks this might be the start of something special.

Only for Max to disappear without saying goodbye.
I really felt for the heartache Josie endured with losing her parents especially around such a happy time such as Christmas. I love how Max unexpectedly came into her life and how they started a friendship out of their accidental meeting and then how it developed into something more. Also the secrets each of the main characters in keeping from one another and how they continue to be in and out of each other’s life keeps the reader guessing if they are truly meant to be. It was very well written. Very heartfelt and one of my favorites to date. I so look forward to Emily’s next book.

I would like to thank the author, the publisher and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of this book. I loved this book, the characters were great and the story was so believable I was in bits when I finished it and it is a book that will stay with me for a long time.

Well... that wasn't what I expected!  I expected a fairly light read, but the end completely threw me, I didn't see it coming at all.  As other reviewers have said, have a very large box of tissues to hand as you're going to need them.

The two main characters, Josie and Max, meet by accident one Christmas when Josie is out on her bike and literally crashes into Max.  They spend a night together but then Max just disappears.  Then over the year they keep bumping into each other in various places, New York, Edinburgh, at a wedding, and what starts out as quite a prickly relationship because of Max absconding slowly changes into something more.

There are a few misunderstandings around, and I do think Matt should have been a bit more honest about a few things.  I'm not sure I'd entirely call it a 'romance' as while there is obviously  a slow burning romance between Matt and Josie it's not really  the traditional sort with a HEA, so if you're looking for a romantic Christmas book this probably isn't it!

But saying all that this is definitely a page-turner and one of those books that I will long remember.

A great romance, with wonderful, well rounded characters. But be warned, it comes with a twist.
Spend a year with the characters, from a chance meeting to happily ever after.

Always, in December isn’t your typical escapist Christmas romance and covers more hard-hitting territory with its focus on living with grief, taking chances and the memories that we hold dear. Set over the course of a single year, playing out in London, New York and Edinburgh, and taking in drastic changes in the lives of both our main protagonists, the story is sensitively handled and ultimately uplifting.

In the week before Christmas Josie Morgan discovers that she is about to be made redundant from her marketing job and that her boyfriend of two years has cheated on her with a colleague. It’s not quite the sorted life she envisaged for herself as she heads towards thirty but nothing ever gets in the way of her December tradition of posting a letter to her parents who died in a car accident on Christmas Eve when she was nine years old. Unable to face returning to the village where she grew up with her grandparents she is spending Christmas Day alone in her London flat, that is until she collides with Max Carter and in an apology for leaving him flat out on the pavement offers to buy him a drink. Initially offhand, Max thaws over the course of a drink and reveals that he is also stranded in London following a cancelled flight to New York. Agreeing to meet the next day they end up spending a wonderful Christmas together only for Josie to wake up and find Max gone on Boxing Day with no note or means of contact left behind. But four months later, a chance second meeting, this time in New York sees Josie and Max come face to face once again..

Whilst the story held my interest I wasn’t invested in either Josie or Max, possibly because I found it hard to give credence to the supposedly intense connection they had struck up in the course of just a handful of meetings, most entirely random, spaced out through a year particularly given Max seemed rather a closed book. The bulk of the story is narrated from the perspective of Josie whom I found both well-realised and likeable. I found Max rather more bland and the idea that he would have been unable to make contact with Josie, either by letter or have a serious conversation at any point during the course of an entire year became a little exasperating. That Josie hadn’t demanded Max explain his hasty exit after their first meeting, or he provide an explanation was also a little difficult to swallow, especially given how hard it would then be to then trust him. I also found Max’s reveal, on which the entire novel turns, bizarrely abrupt. For me neither character particularly stood out and given so many romance novels hinge on a series of chance meetings, there was nothing about Always, in December that elevated it to a must read. For me it was a solid and inoffensive story of love, lasting grief and cherished memories.

Read and reviewed in exchange for a free copy. I liked the concept of this (and love a Christmas romcom in general), but unfortunately the book just didn't do it for me. It started off well, but the jumping around of time and narration didn't flow well and made it hard to follow, meaning I didn't care much for the characters and was fairly uninvested in the story.

Every year at Christmas time, Josie posts a letter to her parents who died several years ago. This year has been a tough one after a messy break-up with her boyfriend. When Josie goes to post her letter, she ends up in an accident on her bike when she bumps into Max who is stuck in town after his flight has been delayed.
Josie feels incredibly guilty and resolves to show Max around and make it up to him and as she starts to spend more time with Max, the easier the holiday begins to feel but is it really going to be that simple?
I really loved the story but was absolutely blindsided by the plot-just wow! Absolutely incredible. A must read!

Always, in December by Emily Stone.
After splitting up with her boyfriend Josie meets Max who is in London because his flight has been cancelled due to bad weather.
They strike up a friendships that is on and off for some time.
A slow moving story that was quite sad in parts.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is one of those books that I couldn’t stop thinking about after I finished it. I loved it but I had all sorts of emotions to deal with.
It should come with a “tissue warning” - Do Not Read Unless Tissues are Present. I thought I was going to read a cute Christmas romance. Yes, it’s partially set at Christmas, and it’s a romance, but it’s so much more. It’s a discussion about death and how it affects us, amongst other things.

Josie lost her parents at a young age, in a car accident on Christmas Eve. Ever since, Christmas have been a holiday to be endured, not enjoyed. She sends a letter to her parents every year. On her way to mail the letter, she literally runs into Max, who is on his way to New York to see his parents. They spend a magical holiday going to Christmas fairs etc., and spend nights together. On Boxing Day, Josie wakes up and Max is gone.

They see each other out of the blue over the next year in different cities, and as the next Christmas approaches, will they be together again?

I can’t say enough how beautifully written this book is. The characters are well drawn and felt like friends. Remember the tissue warning as you read this one. 5 stars.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I always think of Christmas reads as light frivolous things. Something to binge on between basting the turkey and wrapping the presents. There's nothing light or indeed frivolous here. More like dark and haunting Stone has raised the bar for Christmas fiction and, dear reader, it's skyscraper high. To say more would spoil the plot but, if you like Dani Atkins, you'll love this.

It may still be summer but I am very ready for the festive season to start. Now that I’ve read this tearjerking, life-affirming book, I’m very much in a Christmassy place right now.

Josie has always found Christmas difficult. Her parents died on Christmas Eve when she was just nine years old and every year since, she has written and posted a letter to them. One year on the way to the postbox, her bicycle veers off course crashing into a handsome stranger on the pavement. Max was on his way to New York to spend Christmas with his family but when his flight gets cancelled, he is put on stand-by and sent back to London, which is when Josie quite literally knocks him off his feet. Both alone for Christmas, they decide to spend it together and both of them feel it could be the start of something. But then Max leaves without explanation, leaving Josie heartbroken and confused. Over the next year, fate keeps pulling Josie and Max together but Max is hiding a dark secret that means that goodbye is never far away.

Josie is haunted by her parents’ deaths and although she was given a wonderful upbringing by her dad’s parents, there is always something missing within her. At the happiest points in the novel, Josie often reflects on her memories of her parents and wonders how they’d feel about how she turned out. From her uncertainty about her career to reluctance to acknowledge her talents, Josie is very much of a lost soul and a lot of this probably comes from the devastation she went through as a child. She deserves nothing but the best and I wanted nothing more for her.

Max is simply wonderful. He’s kind, thoughtful, handsome and so incredibly likeable. I know that I was seeing him through the eyes of the woman who was slowly falling in love with him but I really was falling for him alongside Josie. I couldn’t work out why he seemed to be disappearing all the time and I prayed that it wasn’t for evil reasons. However, the truth was even more heartbreaking than I imagined and I’m not sure there could have been a sadder ending.

There are some very beautiful, romantic scenes in this novel that thoroughly transported me both mentally and emotionally. Dancing with your favourite human in a quiet London street in a soft snowfall is the stuff of dreams and I was completely caught up in this moment with Josie and Max. My heart swelled, my body was flooded with a warm fuzzy feeling and my mind was at a complete stand-still (which it literally never is!). Emily Stone did such a wonderful job of capturing moments of real magic and welcoming her readers into them. It was such a joyous escape!

Part of the book follows Max in New York after he has left Josie and London behind. He can’t stop thinking about her and there is a scene where he thinks he sees her in a crowded part of the city. He dodges past people trying to catch up to her but when he eventually does, he realises that it isn’t her at all. This could have come directly from a Richard Curtis film and indeed, so much of the book has a glowing cinematic edge to it. That persistent longing for someone coupled with having suffered a life-changing loss is something that so many of us can relate to, so I’m sure a film adaptation could work so well.

Although it is largely a sweeping, tragic story, there are also moments of humour. Josie and Max find themselves at a wedding in Scotland, where Josie is seated next to Rob, an eligible bachelor, who she isn’t particularly interested in. So, she tells him elaborate, fantastical stories about herself for a bit of fun but Rob seems to lap it up, providing a hilarious exchange. We don’t see a lot of Josie’s witty side but it’s really lovely when it does make an appearance!

A family emergency brings Josie back to the village she grew up in and this is where the Christmas vibes are really amplified. I could smell the gingerbread baking, feel the chill in the air as Josie showed Max the village Christmas tree and hear the buzz of a community coming together and celebrating. Despite reading this book on a pretty warm day, I wanted nothing more than to cosy up with a fresh baked good in front of a festive film.

I had no doubt that Josie and Max were perfect for each other. They just seem to fit together so exactly and they were more than a match for each other in kindness, loyalty and warmth. This is why I couldn’t understand why Max didn’t seem to agree with me. When the bombshell hit, the breath flew out of my lungs and tears spilled out of my eyes. I can usually predict what’s going to happen in stories like this but apparently I completely missed the clues in this one. I didn’t see this gut-wrenching twist coming at all and I was left reeling in shock right before finishing it.

Always, in December is an incredibly romantic, soaring tale of true love that packs an enormous punch. It’s beautifully written with fantastic characters and grips you right from the start. With a strong emotional charge and the power to take you away to a magical Christmas bubble, fans of Josie Silver and Richard Curtis films will want to tell Santa to put a copy of this one in their stockings this year!

A beautifully written tale, have to agree with other reviews, it did make me teary & remind me of important people in my own life that I have lost.
Lots of twists and turns along the way, which will keep you hooked to the last page

What a fantastic debut novel.

Such a lovely, well written book. I loved the characters and the plot. Tears were aged and I think this book will stay in my mind for a long time.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this debut novel before publication day.

The story starts with Josie having issues at work, in her love life and facing a Christmas alone. If that isn't bad enough, she knocks a pedestrian over when cycling.

However this crash leads to Josie making some important discoveries about herself, and getting to know Max.

Josie has been avoiding Christmas since a tragedy hit her family on Christmas Eve - there is plenty of heartbreak in the story, but also there is happiness with friends, new adventures and opportunities, an emotional rollercoaster ride.

Excellent debut novel. I look forward to reading more in the future.

Always in December by Emily Stone thank you #netgally
We meet Josie who is a guarded girl, having had her heart broken by her cheating ex Oliver. She lives with her Friend Bia. Due to the tragic loss of her parents, Josie has a very special bond with her grandparents.
One December evening she literally bumps into the handsome architect Max. Max even made my heart skip a beat. He is beautifully written and even some of his behaviour is not as awful as if someone less kind had done those things. It's a story of loss, love and love being the most Important feeling in a person's life. Regardless of age and situation. The book takes us to Bristol, London, New York, Scotland...
I laughed, sighed and cried with this story. At one point, ok two points I felt punched in the gut.
Beautifully written, a recommended read. 👌