Emily Stone really knows how to pull at the heart strings and this book is no exception. This book dives into complicated feelings of grief, guilt, anger and forgiveness of oneself and others. If you are looking for a lighthearted, holiday romance, this is definitely not that, but if you are looking for a book that makes you feel all the emotions the characters are feeling, then this is the book for you.

A really sweet little novel that isn't really Christmas themed. I loved the main characters, especially the quirky Emma, and the story.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting access to this book in exchange for my review.
I liked the first quarter or so of this book, but after that unfortunately the story got to be a little boring. I seem to either love Emily Stone's books or not love them and unfortunately, this was a miss for me. With that being said I’m still open to reading other books by her.

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I have loved the other books by this author. She’s such a talented writer. This book was mostly fluff, which isn’t a bad thing! It didn’t grip me like the rest of her books though.

Emily Stone is Christmas queen! I LOVED this story SO much. It was the perfect first book of Christmas and gave me all the feels with laughs and tears in abundance. Stone knows how to write stories and characters that not only tug at the heart, but inspire self reflection. Thank you Emily for a story that left me a kinder person to myself and to those around me. I will read anything she writes!

Emily Stone skillfully explores the power of fate. The story revolves around finding oneself through the journey of acceptance and forgiveness, in her unique style. The book not only delves into second chances in matters of love but also in the realm of family. Stone does a commendable job portraying the complexities of fate and the opportunities for redemption in both aspects, but also the complexity of the characters. Really loved this one, must read.

Another hit from Emily Stone! I absolutely love her heart-felt stories, especially reading them around the holidays. She has a way of sucking you into the story and falling in love with the main characters. I have read her other novels and her latest LOVE, HOLLY does not disappoint! As we move further from holiday season, I still think it can be enjoyed throughout the year. Thank you NetGalley for the eARC!

Holly's life was going pretty well....she was teaching, enjoyed art, nice boyfriend......

In a moment, that all changed due to a car accident. Fast forward, Holly's roommate suggests a "Dear Stranger" letter writing 'club' of sorts to help process her grief. Coming into the holiday season, Holly receives a letter from 'Emma' (who has cancer) that describes a cafe Holly was at before the accident. Even mentions an estranged grandson that Holly is sure can't be the stranger she met at the cafe!

On a mission to be with Emma and help her reconnect with her estranged grandson, Holly drives to the village with the cafe. This small act leads Holly down a path of friendship, love and healing.

Author did an amazing job with the characters and developing/showing their relationships blossom. Due to this, there were parts that felt like they went on a ways, but totally necessary for the complete story. Loved the happy endings :)

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.

3.5 stars (it's 2024 and my dream for half stars still has not come true) that I will round down. This was a very nice, easy read. There is a little angst in the relationship between the two main characters for sure, and there are unresolved issues they both have, but it was very enjoyable watching them come together and grow into their relationship.

This book was so cute! I had a hard time deciphering between the 2 main characters at first because their stories were so similar but once I got in it, it was so easy to follow. I loved the storyline and how the writing style was set up. We saw so much character growth throughout the novel too.
and I love that the author added a "one year later" those are my favorite.

Love, Holly was super sweet and a delightful read! Holly is dealing with the aftermath of a car accident that left her estranged from her once close family. In an effort to mend her broken heart, she participates in the lonely-hearts Christmas exchange. But when Holly receives a letter from Emma, she can’t help but intervene. Determined that if she can’t fix her own problems, she can help Emma repair her’s. Written with a slew of fun and fabulous characters, Love, Holly tackles serious and complicated issues of death, infertility, family, love and friendships with a delicate and endearing tone. While it’s centered around the holidays, I truly believe that Love, Holly can be enjoyed anytime of the year!

A sincere thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ever since a car accident tore her family apart, Holly has been part of a lonely-hearts holiday letter–writing club. Usually, the letters go unanswered. But this year, the letter Holly receives is different; not only is the letter full of a grief she knows all too well, but its writer Emma mentions a place that Holly has visited. When she realizes that she might actually be able to find the letter’s author, Holly becomes determined to reunite Emma with her estranged grandson, Jack. When Holly finally tracks him down, she remembers that she’s met Jack once before, and their connection was electric. The spark between the two of them is still there—until a misunderstanding risks their romance and his strained relationship with Emma. But Holly is determined; if she can fix Emma’s family, she might also be able to fix her own.

Thank you @netgalley, @penguinrandomhouse, and @emstonewrites for the ARC! Finally getting into some holidays reads! This was an emotional story full of both grief and hope. Holly was a great character and I really felt for her as she grappled with her guilt and her grief while trying to move on with her life and find joy. I appreciated her bluntness as I am also a very blunt person lol. I really loved Holly’s friendship with Emma and how they were both able to help each other confront the grief and harder things they were going through. I also really liked that the story focused on how people can feel alone over the holidays, especially when dealing with loss. There were definitely a few moment I got teary, especially towards the end of the book! But the story was full of heartwarming moments and overall had a hopeful tone so it was a great holiday story. Love, Holly is out now!

LOVE, HOLLY is my first read by Emily Stone and I couldn’t have loved it more 🥹

My thoughts:
-not a feel good holiday read
-story about loss, grief, fate
-romance is secondary, but I loved the MCs meet cute & relationship 🫶🏻
-very emo read

Although the story starts at Christmas time, it follows the MC through the whole next year so it’s not necessary to read during the holidays. I’m not normally one for emo reads, but this was so well done
and I can’t wait to read more by Stone in the future ☺️

Thank you Random House- Ballantine for the arc.

Thank you to NetGalley and Putnam for the eARC of Love, Holly! Emily Stone knocks it out of the park again with the perfect emotional holiday read. It’s become a tradition for me to read her newest novel each holiday season and I don’t see that stopping anytime soon. I loved the characters and their relationship. This was magnificent! A wonderful story.

Emily Stone does it again with this adorable holiday read. I learned from her first book that even though the cover is cute, you can expect some level of "deepness" to her books. While this one was heavy between cancer, losing a pregnancy, and a car crash there were equal parts of heartwarming moments. I really enjoyed the letter aspects and almost wish there had been more of that, somehow? I enjoyed the characters, getting to know Emma, and allowing her and Holly to find themselves again through each other. These book was emotional and gave me all the feels. But please, know if you read this to check the content warnings and know it's not a light and fluffy book! Fabulous nonetheless!

"𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭—𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳."

Add this book to your TBR right now!! I had this on my list to read last month but I got a little burnt out on cutesy holiday romances so I put it off. Well DON'T let this adorable cover fool you like it did me. 1- it's not overly Christmassy so it can be enjoyed any time and 2- romance is not the main plot. I would call it contemporary fiction with a sprinkle of romance. I went back and forth between rating four or five stars but any book that makes me ugly cry deserves five because I am not an overly emotional person 😂

Holly is involved in a tragic accident and 3 years later is still unable to forgive herself. Alone for Christmas again, she's encouraged by her friend to write a "Dear Stranger" letter, which is essentially an anonymous penpal program for lonely-hearts people. The letter that Holly receives ends up being not so anonymous as she recognizes the cafe described, and she decides to seek out the author. What follows is an incredible story of fate, found family, friendships, forgiveness, grief, love, and second chances at happiness.

I think this would be a great book for a book club as I have so many more thoughts but I don't want to spoil anything by sharing here.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Dell for providing me a digital reviewer copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

I feel mixed about this one because I truly loved her other two books so much that this one just fell a bit flat for me overall. The cozy vibe was good and it delivered a sad story which is the trademark of her books!

This was my first by this author and I am happy to say that I am interested enough to read more!

I thoroughly enjoyed this read and while it's not your typical love story, it was deeply rooted in acceptance and overcoming grief. We have our main character, Holly, dealing with the aftermath of a tragic accident that took pace 3 years prior and ends up writing letters to anonymous strangers through a grief program. She receives a letter before Christmas from someone else who has had a tragedy and decides to go on a mission to find them. The stranger ends up being a woman named Emma who is alone and battling cancer. Holly shows up at Emma's one Christmas and the two strike up a friendship. Holly learns that Emma has a grandson who she wants to connect with again named Jack. The twist is that this Jack is the man Holly ran into the day of her tragic accident 3 years prior.

Holly's determination to solve Emma's familial problems while ignoring her own was a source of constant frustration within the story. I found myself begging her to take her own advice. Unfortunately, this didn't take place until the very end of the story which was a great relief but I wish it happened sooner. Overall, Holly was not a very likable character for the most part but given her passion for helping Emma and the character growth she goes through in the story I found myself empathizing with her.

Jack is a newly divorced man working at a firm he hates and after a tragic accident with his father when he was boy has not spoken to his grandmother, Emma, for more than 20 years. He finds himself staring Holly down after 3 years of first meeting her when she comes to his office. Rather than telling him she is there on a mission to reunite him with Emma, Holly lets the chemistry these two first felt 3 years prior get the best of her and instead ends up on a date with Jack. The two hit it off and are both so into one another. It's a classic right person, wrong time story. Once it is revealed that Holly knows Emma, Jack explodes with anger and the two don't speak for months. They go back and forth between the two of then in the book over spans of months to reconnect and eventually, Jack learns that Emma has cancer and comes to see her after she falls ill on a trip to Italy with Holly.

The romance aspect of this one is a slow burn and when Holly and Jack finally come together, they decide to actually not be a couple due to Emma. They want to put her first as her cancer is stage 4 and her time is limited. Jack moves to the same town as Emma and quits his job to be near her and help out. Holly and Jack still hold a real burning desire for one another but cherish Emma so much. It was beautiful to see. Holly does solve her own familial issues after all, and like I said, a bit too late, but overall glad she too gets the closure she needed.

It is a sad story full of grief, tender moments, written letters, difficult family dynamics and obstacles, and learning to forgive yourself. While I did complain a bit, I found some parts of this story so moving and beautiful that I audibly gasped. Very tender, very sweet, perfectly flawed, just like real people are.

Liked, didn’t love and this is mostly because there’s very little romance in this book, more women’s fiction, yet the cover lends you to believe it is a holiday romance. Regardless of what genre we are considering it to be, I found it repetitive in parts, there were too many coincidences and some of the plot line was very predictable.

Don’t wait until next xmas to read this! This book was a wonderful, heart warming holiday read! Timing is everything in this story of love, forgiveness, and second chances. Holly is having trouble finding her way in life when an unexpected encounter leads to an event that changes the lives of her and her family forever. She soon discovers that she is not the only one struggling to move on from the past and cannot resist her need to meddle. On her journey in helping others, she finds her way to her own personal healing. Definitely have a tissue or two ready. This story gave me all the feels with unexpected twists, sparks of romance, and a satisfying ending. This was my first time reading a book written by this author, but will not be the last! If you liked The Collected Regrets of Clover, you should give this book a try ! Thanks so much to Netgalley and Randomhouse Publishing Ballantine, Dell for this digital copy in exchange for my honest review.