READERS GUIDE

Questions and Topics for Discussion

1. What holiday traditions are important to you, and why?

2. Hannah claims she’s an expert at crafting depressing playlists. What songs are on your “feeling sorry for myself” playlist?

3. Hannah and Finn initially bond over their shared experience of not having other family to share Christmas with, but eventually come to be each other’s “person.” Have you ever had a friendship like this? If so, what differentiated your elevated level of connection with this person versus with other friends?

4. As Hannah and Finn embark on their post-college careers, Finn is full of confidence about his future while Hannah doesn’t have much direction. After a couple years, though, it’s Hannah who has found success and Finn who feels lost. Do you think that affected their friendship? Have you ever experienced a similar role-reversal in one of your friendships?

5. Hannah feels like her friends have less time for each other as their priorities shift and they become busier with work and relationships in their thirties. How do you prioritize and make time for your friendships in your own life?

6. What do you think of Finn’s mom? How do you imagine Finn’s relationship with his mom will continue to evolve?

7. When Hannah and David drive back to the city after Thanksgiving with his family, they have a fight about Hannah’s plan to spend Christmas with her friends. David feels that as they become more serious as a couple, they should spend holidays together. Hannah feels that this final Christmas with her friends is too important to miss. Whose side did you take?

8. Finn fears that he will not be able to make close friends after moving to LA, and even if he does they won’t be as close as the friends he already has. Do you feel like it is harder to make friends as an adult than in earlier stages of your life?

9. When Finn tells Hannah that Brooke had actually gone on a trip to honor their mother, Hannah rethinks many of her assumptions about Brooke’s grief. Did that information cause you to see Brooke in a new light? Did it change your perception of Hannah?

10. Hannah’s fears about losing her Christmas tradition are inextricably tied to her fear of losing the family she’s built with her friends. At the hospital, Priya and Finn suggest to Hannah that unwavering traditions aren’t what defines their bond. What do you think makes a family?

11. When should Finn and Theo have come clean about their feelings for one another? Did you see a missed opportunity during their years of friendship, or do you think that the timing played out for the best?

12. From her hospital bed, Priya tells Hannah, “You don’t want to be happy. It’s like you’re allergic to happiness.” Do you think Priya has a point? Are there ways that your own fears hold you back from happiness?

13. If you could plan a no-holds-barred holiday adventure in your favorite city, what would you do?