Emily Stone’s "Love, Holly" is the bookish equivalent of that rom-com you accidentally stay up until 2 AM watching: heartwarming, just emotional enough, and packed with lovable chaos. Meet Holly, who—thanks to an awkward car accident on Christmas Eve years ago—is basically queen of messy holidays. To cope, she joins an anonymous holiday letter-writing club (because nothing screams emotional stability like spilling your feelings to complete strangers). But when her latest holiday pen-pal turns out to be Emma, a sweet older woman desperate to reconnect with her grandson, Jack, Holly’s life goes from festive to complicated faster than you can say "Hallmark movie."

Holly is instantly relatable—the kind of friend who'd bring wine and tissues to your house and make everything hilariously worse before making it better. Her bond with Emma is heart-meltingly charming, mixing genuine emotion with sass, humor, and plenty of witty banter. And Jack? He's basically that guy you'd swipe right on twice: emotionally complex, annoyingly attractive, and tangled up in Holly’s past. Stone has a knack for blending laughter and tears, with enough comedic misunderstandings and romantic tension to fuel your Christmas movie marathon.

Awarding "Love, Holly" a festive 4 out of 5 stars, this cozy read hits all the right notes of forgiveness, healing, and how beautifully weird life gets when you stop running from your past. It’s the literary equivalent of holiday comfort food—sweet, a bit spicy, and guaranteed to leave you smiling long after the final page. Prepare to feel emotionally festive, moderately inspired to write letters to strangers, and deeply tempted to send a holiday card to your ex’s grandma (just kidding—maybe).

TEARS WONDROUS TEARS WHY DO INCONSTANTLY
COME BACK FOR MORE WHEN I KNOW EMILY WILL HURT ME

BEAUTIFUL STORY 10/10

The cover absolutely reeled me in and the obvious reason as to why I opted in grabbing this arc. (which btw thank you for that Netgalley!!)
Anyway, finishing this book was a chore for me and it was all due to Holly.
While the romance was cute, Holly was just a bit flat for me as a character and that was the reason as for me giving it such a low rating.

I LOVE Emily Stone's holiday books. They are one of a kind and all must reads. This one was a bit slow at the start, but was still a good, quick read.

Heart-breaking and sweet, this book was a moving read, just in time for the holidays. The cast of characters were meticulously planned and paired for a heart-wrenching plot. Would definitely recommend to a friend!

A fluffy holiday romance is what I thought I was walking into, but it definitely was not that! With heavier and deeper themes, this was not the fluffy romance that you'd think it would be based on the cover. There are lots of sad pieces throughout and the emotionalness of the characters definitely superseded any happiness from the storyline. Second chances, forgiveness, and pushing past grief to be able to enjoy your life again, these themes were present throughout the entire book. Wished for more happiness throughout, but really did enjoy the (albeit predictable) twist in the story to keep me hanging on. Thanks for the opportunity to read.

After suffering a tragic car accident, Holly finds herself feeling isolated and misunderstood. When she receives a letter from another lonely stranger at the holidays, she finds herself inclined to reach out. Little did she know, they are connected in ways she could not have imagined. Holly finds herself on a challenging path of healing and rebuilding connections that adds all the feels during the holiday season.

This was a sweet holiday read. Emma and Holly's connection was heartwarming and, at times, challenging - as all good relationships are. I enjoyed how they pushed each other to grow and do the hard things in order to heal and move forward. I found myself frustrated with the characters at times and just wanted to shout into the pages to forgive each other and communicate, but that's all a part of the ride.

Thank you to Dell and NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I read some reviews that said this one has a very sweet conclusion, but I honestly couldn't get past the amount of deceit. DNF @ 25%.

*Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this title. All thoughts and opinions are my own and were in no way influenced by receiving this copy.

DNF 39%. And I'm so sorry. I just didn't vibe with this one. Holly wasn't a great narrator and I didn't love her choice of actions (hunting down Jack without consulting with Emma first). And all the talk of fate and things being meant to be was clearly setting up their many future run ins.

Plus I'm also mad at Lily. Don't get me wrong, losing the baby had to be DEVASTING. But Holly was clearly not at fault for EITHER car hitting them. Idk, that annoyed me.

This was a lovely and meaningful story about grief, healing, forgiveness, and fate. This is my third book by Emily Stone and I have enjoyed each one.

Emily Stone books are always so fun and heartfelt around the holidays. Love, Holly was such a sweet story about sadness and finding karma connections through something sad. Fantastic read!

IF YOU NEED AN EMOTIONAL READ, THIS IS THE ONE.

Thank you so much to Ballantine/Dell | Random House Publishing for the eARC of this one.

When I tell you this book made me super emotional, I'm not lying. The Love, Holly letters almost did me in. I know the grief of "losing" a sibling who is still alive, so this one hit close to home for me. Add in Jack and his grandma, Emma, and their family grief and loss, and you've got yourself a tear jerker.

I LOVED the theme of friendship in this book. There was a ton of examples of why human connection is so important to people. Add in the elements of loss, grief, dying, and sickness, and this book just hits you in all of the feels.

While it starts and ends at Christmas time, I would not call it a Christmas book. This story goes through every season and month of a year, navigating some tough losses through every season of life.

This is solidly a 4.25 star read. I went in expecting romance, and while romance was in there, this story was so much more than that! It's marketed as general fiction, romance, and then women's fiction, but I think the romance was the last piece of this story (although I enjoyed that part a lot).

Honestly, I’ll read anything that Emily Stone writes. Love, Holly is a deeply emotional and hopeful Christmas story about family, connection, and fate. I could not put this book down as I was eager to see how the story would unfold. While this book is classified as romance (the slowest burn and delightful chemistry), I would say this is more women’s fiction much like her other books. I loved reading about Holly’s journey, and the different plot twists, and I appreciated the communication and no use of the miscommunication trope. I highly recommend this heartwarming and engaging read, particularly if you're a fan of Sophie Sullivan, Josie Silver, and Beth O’Leary.

I absolutely adored this book. I was so emotional reading this. Happy and laughing one minute and almost in tears the next. Great holiday read without a ton of holiday "stuff" thrown in your face. This might be my favorite Emily Stone title yet.

Every one of Emily Stone's books has gutted me. Tears are shed at some point during the book with an unexpected twist. I liked this one, but I loved her first two. This one had some things that took away from the story for me. Maybe for others this was a positive and I could see others feeling that way. For me, I felt the author was trying to 'shock us' by being stingy with revelations. Since One Last Gift was so successful based on a surprise ending, I think the author feels she needs to do that every time. So some major information that was needed for the story was given out in small bits and pieces to have all these little 'reveals' throughout. Personally, it made it feel more gimmicky to me and I think the story could have stood on its own with some of that information being given to us in a way that didn't feel so piecemeal.
I do love the emotional journey that Emily Stone takes us on with her writing. She can take the most difficult moments in someone's life and bring the reader right alongside of them and encourage empathy for her characters and feel connection with them. I love this about her books. And she succeeded in doing that again, with Dear, Holly.

Actually 4.5⭐️

I loved Love, Holly. Once I started it, I had trouble putting it down.

I really appreciated how Emily Stone didn’t have one of the main characters omit information too long, and instead had things play out in a way and timeline that felt real.

This novel 100% made me cry, but it was worth it.

I will definitely be recommending this.

For the last couple of years, my holiday tradition has included reading whatever book Emily Stone has written and having a good cry. Can someone go ahead and make the movie adaptations? Love, Holly is a tender addition to Stone's list.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me.

A heart warming, cozy holiday romance. Holly participates in a Dear Stranger program where she writes to anonymous pen pals to help cope with her grief during the holidays. When she feels a connection to one of the writers, she sets off to find her. What she discovers is more than she ever imagined. All the characters are bound by grief, loneliness and finding forgiveness, in which they could only do with the help of each other. Cant wait to read more books by Emily Stone during the Holiday season!

Love, Holly by Emily Stone. Pub Date: September 23, 2023. Rating: 4 stars. In this novel, the reader is taken on a journey of one woman's life following a tragic car accident involving herself and her sister. It was around Christmas when this happened and since then, she has not spoken to her sister due to feelings of guilt, responsibility and her sister's blatant disregard to wanting to maintain a relationship. The book takes the woman on a journey of self discovery through an unlikely acquaintance with an older woman. Through this connection she finds love, forgiveness, and grace. I absolutely adored this novel. Thanks to #netgalley and #randomhousepublishinggroup for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

This was a Hallmark movie in book form (which is even better in my opinion). I loved the holiday vibes. I loved the letters that were exchanged and thought it made it even more magical. I also love the serendipity aspect as that’s always my favorite when it comes to holiday romance.