I am temporarily having to dnf this one at 55%. I was just not enjoying it and I believe that is because I wasn’t in the mood for this one. I thought it would be a cute lighthearted read. It actually is quite heavy and depressing. I believe I would love this one if the timing was right. For now, I’m tabling this read for a later date.

When picking this one up, don’t expect a light read. It is very heavy on family loss, two terrible car accidents, a miscarriage, and an overall depressing atmosphere.

** five stars simply because my mood is the only reason why I’m putting this down**

This book was just okay. I liked how it started, but the plot quickly got repetitive, and the romance will give you some whiplash as it’s never the “right” time 🙄 Holly and Jack were both immature at times, and I wasn’t really a fan of them. I ended up skimming a lot of it just to finish (I was also running out of time before our book club meeting, so my fault).

I liked Emma, the grandmother, and the letters in the story. Emma and Holly had an interesting connection as they both went through similar traumas (this book does have some depth with its topics), but I found Emma to bring some humor to keep it lighter.

Thank you Random House publishing for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own!

This story follows Holly, who is still haunted from one Christmas eve when she got into a car accident with her sister. Now her family does not want her to come to any of their holiday festivities. As it was quite traumatic though her sister is still alive. Holly is a part of a lonely hearts holiday letter writing club. It is meant to be a way for those who are lonely during the holidays to send a letter to a strange and possibly not feel so lonely. However, when the letter Holly gets this year references a place that she knows. Holly realizes she could help fix this broken family. She also realizes that she has met the writers grandson that is mentioned in the letter. The chemistry between Holly and Jack is still present even all those years later. Will fixing this family help Holly fix her own problems like she thinks it will?

This was a cute Christmas story. I enjoyed the character development. I thought the main character,, really grew through the story. I really like when stories can show that people can grow and get even better. I thought the romance was cute and unique. There are not many stories that are told about the holidays in this way.

Content: swearing, car accident, injuries, estranged family

Read if you enjoy:
Christmas Romance
Second Chances
Letter writing
Strangers to Friends
Character development

Lots of triggers but I liked the realness of holidays bringing up triggers for so many. Lots of grief explored while also exploring love. That’s real life.

Emily Stone has done it again with an AMAZING new book! I was already a huge fan of her after reading One Last Gift last year, and now i am an even bigger fan. I highly recommend this book to anyone who needs a comfort read because that is definitely what Love, Holly was for me.

This book follows a woman named Holly, after a Christmas time tragedy turns her world upside down. While grieving her loss over the course of several years, she connects with a woman named Emma, who is also grieving, alone, and dying. Holly and Emma quickly become close friends and help each other through their grief. The more time goes on, the more Holly realizes that her life is intertwined with Emma's in many more ways than she realized. Could connecting with Emma bring her back to her estranged family and help her find the love of her life?

I absolutely love the world that Emily Stone created. I quickly became attached to Holly's story and rooted for her to find love and reunite with her family! I honestly couldn't put this book down. I highly recommend!

Thank you Netgalley for the free ebook!

#emilystone #loveholly #holidayromcom #grief

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an arc of Love Holly by Emily Stone. All opinions are my own.

This holiday romance dives deep into grief and loss and fate. It was much more serious than I expected from the cover, but wonderful nonetheless. I love the way the final third of the book was wrapped up. Overall good writing.

I adore this author. Always need to bring the tissues. This was no exception. My freaken heart! Review to come!

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC. This book was set around Christmas but it wasn’t a holiday book. It was about people coming together after family estrangements caused by trauma. It was about forgiveness and healing. It reminded me of The Holiday because two strangers met under interesting circumstances and created love and a new family of sorts. The Dear Stranger program sounds lovely but I think it would be great if all of those lonely people had an in person place to go to so that they weren’t throwing their sorrows out into the universe to go unanswered. Luckily, Holly sought Emma out because of clues in her letter. I loved the fate aspect of this book and I also liked the art connection, though I felt the identity of Mirabelle Landor was pretty clear from the beginning. It was a bit of a tearjerker at the end, but overall it was a lovely feel good book.

Oh Emily Stone. Another devastatingly beautiful novel filled with so much feeling. Heavy and charming and thought provoking and warm and difficult and heart wrenching while also heart warming. I loved Love Holly, just as I have every other book by Emily Stone, and I will keep thinking about this one for a while.

Having read Emily Stone books previously I knew this book was going to be a tear jerker. And it delivered. I loved the sister relationship in here. It reminded me of my own and I felt really connected to them.
Holly and Emma’s relationship I also loved. I like how their friendship grew through their own hardships and that they found each other at just the right time.
Jack was perfect. I love how confident he was and patient with Holly. I liked that their relationship wasn’t easy but they made it work. This book had a lot more depth to it than just a holiday romance.

Unfortunately this one fell a tad flat for me! I’m a mood reader, so maybe I just wasn’t in the mood for this type? But I think the writing style ultimately wasn’t for me. None of it felt very realistic, and honestly the relationship felt a bit forced to me. I’ll still try other novels by this other but this one didn’t make me as giddy as I hoped.

Obsessed with this story - it ripped my heart out of my dang chest! The cover is so cute and I love it, but it's not as cutesy as it appears to be. Inside, the pages made me so emotional (which is an instant 5 star for me)

There are a few books that you know you will want to re read during each Holiday season and this is one of them. Such a heartwarming story that I absolutely enjoyed!

Holly was such a delightful character. I really enjoyed that she wanted to help others while not really feeling like she knew what she was doing with her own life. My favorite part of this book was Holly writing letters to deal with her grief. The pacing was a little off for me at times and the triggers were a bit strong for my liking. I also thought this would be more of a Christmas-y/Holiday book but it really just took place in December.

Trigger warnings include: cancer, death, miscarriage, and fertility issues

This book is so wonderful in so many ways. The way it tackles grief and trying to deal with it, or rather not process it. The way it shows redemption and putting in effort to fix relationships that have fallen off. How fate may or may not exist but there is a reason for everything and we are all connected. The beauty that can come from despair. It was so great to not only see these topics covered, but see them handled and resolved in an adult manner, rather than just brushing them off to the side. This may be marketed as a Christmas book, but it is for sure a year-round book. There are bits that everyone can relate to and recognize as something that affects them in their own lives.

I love Emily Stone's Christmas books so much! This one is a great combination of romance and women's fiction with a focus of grief and loss. The journey that Holly has with her older friend Emma is moving. I love the way that they found each other and healed from their trauma through their friendship.

If anything, this only got 4 stars because of Jack and Holly's relationship. It was super frustrating at times with some of the miscommunication. I found myself actively rolling my eyes at times.

But honestly, if you're looking for a romance that has that holiday feel, this one is great.

This was a sweet and cute holiday romance. What we've come to expect from Emily Stone. I would have liked less time to have passed between the meet ups of the two mc's.

This book is beautifully written! Be sure to grab some tissues as you read. Love, Holly has themes like grief, trauma, severed family ties, and cancer, so it’s not light or fluffy! However, it is a book that makes you exhale afterwards and be thankful for who you have in your life.

Really enjoyed it, and I loved the ending.

This was such an emotional but heartwarming holiday story! This is my first Emily Stone book and now I’m excited to read her previous holiday reads! I really loved the message of forgiveness and hope and the way Stone wrote about grief and loneliness. Yes, it was melancholy and heartbreaking at times but it added depth that I usually prefer in romance books. It also had one of my favorite romance tropes - second chance. I definitely recommend.

Love, Holly is more than a Christmas book. It is filled with so much heart and soul that you will instantly fall in love with all of the characters. Emily Stone really adds that extra depth to her romance stories. This book is filled with love, loss, grief, friendship, romance, and of course love. Emily Stone is an auto purchase for me and I would recommend this book.