Love Holly was a cute, sometimes sad and all around lovely book.
Holly is dealing with the loss of her sister. Not a loss in the traditional way but more a falling out with her sister after a tragedy that occurs one Christmas.
Jack is also dealing with some complicated feelings towards his estranged grandmother.
Fate has brought Holly, Jack and Emma (Jack's grandmother) together to heal and begin again.

I would definitely recommend this book if you enjoy second chances.

I don’t know how but this book was heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time. Really most of the book was terribly sad but such a beautiful story I hardly minded. It’s a story of forgiveness and letting go. And I think we could all use some of that in our lives. And at its heart it’s a story about family and letting people into your life. A wonderful book. I can’t wait to read Ms Stone’s next one!

4.25 stars!
Save this for Christmas because this is a great emotional read for Christmas. I know that once the snowy weather hits, then you will feel that emotion rising up to your throat. The second chance romance and a bittersweet ending was such a perfect combo for tears so have your tissue next to you. This story was emotional heavy so please know that in mind before proceeding! Thank you Netgalley and Publisher for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Between Always, In December and One Last Gift, Emily Stone has a choke hold on holiday stories that are both hopeful and deeply emotional and Love, Holly is no exception.

Holly Griffin meets a handsome stranger on the night before Christmas Eve but a tragic accident keeps them apart. That's the one-liner but Holly's story is steeped in grief, fate, romance, found family, estranged family, and a guilt so heavy that it sometimes weighed on me, as the reader.

As with all of Stones books, it is also hopeful and full of sweet moments with longing glances, playful banter, and characters so full of life that you feel as if you know them.

Cathartic and life affirming. Five Stars.

Thank you to Emily Stone, Random House Publishing Group, and Netgalley for a complimentary eARC of Love, Holly in exchange for my honest review. I honestly loved it.

I fell in love with Emily Stone's work when she released Always in December - a book that broke both my heart and my tear ducts. I braced myself for the right moment to pick up Love, Holly and I absolutely loved it as well. With some heavier topics that Stone handled with deft and care, Love, Holly was another winner for me.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

This was really good! I was pulled in from the very beginning. I couldn't put this down. I love the development of the story and characters. I have been reading a lot of fantasy recently, and getting into a romance really brought me back and reminded me why I love them. I thoroughly enjoyed Emily's other books and I fell in love with this one too! Emily has an ability to take you and really put you into the story. I felt like I was experience this in real time with them and I loved it. If you enjoy YA contemporary or romance, definitely grab this one!

LOVE, HOLLY review

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25/5

📬Two of my very favorite things are Christmas and saaaad books. You might be thinking those two things don’t go together, and to that I say you muuuuust read an Emily Stone book. This is my third book by this author and I’ve really enjoyed all of them! They’re all saaaad and cover heavy topics but are so beautifully written. While part of her books always take place close to Christmas, the bulk of her books occur throughout the year so they aren’t strictly holiday reads!

📬Here’s a summary of the plot:👇
Holly is in a horrible car accident on Christmas Eve and it changes her life forever. Now, a few years after the accident, she finds herself once again alone as the holiday season rolls around. She signs up for a program that pairs up lonely people to write anonymous letters to each other to share their grief. But Holly can’t help but feel the urge to track down the writer of the letter she received. Holly is hopeful that if she can fix this stranger’s problems, she might be able to fix her own. But Holly and this mystery letter writer have a hidden connection that will change both of their lives forever.

📬LOVE, HOLLY is definitely my favorite of Emily Stone’s books! I knew this one would be sad but omg I crieddddd at the ending (even though I knew it was coming 😭). I truly love how her books are (slightly) holiday themed but not overly cheesy like so many Christmas books tend to be. 🫠 Overall, I’d definitely recommend this one and will 100% read any future books this author writes! Consider me officially a part of the Emily Stone fan club 🙋‍♀️

📬Thank you to @penguinrandomhouse for my digital copy of this one! LOVE, HOLLY published earlier this week and is available now! 💖

This was an absolute delight, start to finish. Following Holly’s story, as it led her to Emma and (back to) Jack…and healing all of their pasts…it was a beautiful story of forgiveness—forgiving others and forgiving ourselves. And the love story between Holly and Jack was just perfect with sweet moments throughout the book. Gosh I just loved this book. So much heart.

Emily Stone is going to be added to my favorite authors list for sure.

Love, Holly is the latest book from Emily Stone, and it packs an emotional punch! I love Stone’s books because they always take me on these emotional journeys where they break my heart into a million pieces but then slowly but surely put it back together again. I’m not entirely sure why that kind of read appeals to me as much as it does, but boy, do I love it!

Holly has been estranged from her family ever since a devastating car accident tore their lives apart. As a way to feel a bit less lonely, Holly joined a lonely-hearts holiday letter writing group. Every December she sends an anonymous letter to a stranger who is also alone at Christmas and she receives one as well. Because the letters are anonymous, it’s a way for the senders to really just pour out their hearts. When Holly receives her latest letter, there’s something different about it. First, the sense of grief in it speaks to her because it is so much like her own. The letter writer, whose name is Emma, is also estranged from her loved ones, in particular, her grandson, who she has not seen since he was a little boy. But second, the letter mentions a place Holly knows all too well because it’s near where her car accident took place. Holly realizes she might actually be able to find this letter’s author and makes it her mission to find Emma and help her reunite with her grandson, not realizing how life changing this same mission will be for her as well.

One of my favorite parts of this story is the bond that forms between Emma and Holly, once Emma gets over the shock of learning that her heartfelt letter was not anonymous after all. Emma becomes the family that Holly has been estranged from and the two of them are really able to support each other through their grief and form a beautiful friendship. I also loved that there’s an element of kismet to the story in that through meeting Emma, Holly is also reintroduced to Jack, a man she met and found herself quite attracted to the night of her car accident. Jack had given Holly his phone number that fateful night but it was lost in the accident. It turns out that Jack is also the grandson Emma has been estranged from for so many years. As you can imagine, the story becomes an emotional roller coaster as these characters deal with long-buried emotions and try to find a path forward. I adored all of the characters and cried for them so many times as I was reading and hoping for reconciliations all around for both Emma and Holly.

Love, Holly is just such a beautiful story. The writing is gorgeous, filled with those raw emotions that just grab your heart and won’t let go, and the characters are so well-developed and their experiences feel so authentic. If you’re into stories about love and forgiveness, and about families, both real and found, then this is the book for you!

I’ve heard wonderful things about Emily Stone’s novels and after reading this, I fully understand why people love her work so much! 4 stars!

This was such an emotional rollercoaster. I had forgotten what the story was about when I started reading it, so getting to that scene in the beginning where everything changed absolutely shocked me. I don’t tend to read Holiday stories very often, but I did love how emotional and vulnerable this was amidst the Holiday season. I think it’s portrayel of how difficult the Holiday season can be for a lot of people was very realistic. I appreiated how this wasn’t all feel good vibes in the Holiday season, but more talking about the layers underneath it and how it can be lonely and difficult to get through them. It was sad, you guys. Sometimes it even felt TOO sad. But it also felt very, very real. I think its depictions of relationships, especially difficult and tense ones with family, was brutally honest and authentic. It drove me crazy and I had so much sympathy for Holly and Emma. Stone does a wonderful job at getting you to empathize with characters and helping you understand everyone’s perspective. Even though I was frustrated with how the people in Holly and Emma’s life had treated them and the directions of where their lives went in turn because of it, it was difficult to villanize anyone in this. Everyone’s feelings were valid and I think it gave a real life take on how situations like this can play out.

This was truly a wonderful, heart wrenching story about family and forgiveness. If you want a Holiday love story that is emotional, even slightly toooo emotional, I’d say give this one a chance! It’s definitely not all cozy, fuzzy feelings, but it is one that is honest, vulnerable, and sweet. I loved the characters and Stone’s writing so, so much. Strongly recommending this to anyone who loves reading moving and heartbreaking stories!

As always, thank you to Ballantine Dell for the chance to offer my feedback! This is now available and I hope everyone picks it up for the Holiday season! Emily Stone, you’re writing is beautiful and I’m officially a devoted fan! Looking forward to reading more of her work!

This is such a beautiful book. There are elements of holiday (mostly in the timeline) but it is really a a story about love, loss, heartbreak, and recovery. There are very heavy plot points including a devastating car crash and a fractured family but the overall feeling while reading is one of hope. One of the main characters, Emma, is dying and the journey for her throughout the story really touched me. I also felt deeply for Holly as she tried to find forgiveness for herself while seeking it from her sister. Lily, Holly's sister, was a hard character for me to relate to because her anger felt a bit misplaced to me but overall that struggle to connect made the story even more powerful for me. There is also a beautiful, slow romance involved! I loved seeing Jack and Holly find each other (and then find each other again). This is such a sweet book and definitely not just for reading in the Christmas season. It will resonate with readers all year long. Thanks to Emily Stone, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Dell, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I would like to start off by thanking Random Penguin House for the e-ARC. I started off really enjoying this read, and really wanted to love it. I just could not continue to finish this one. I found myself skimming alot, and I was beggining to get bored with Holly and Emma. I am DNF (did not finish) this book for now, and maybe I'll pick it up again.

After a tragic accident that tears her family apart, Holly is sad and lonely, especially around the Holidays. She joins a Dear Stranger letter campaign to help lonely people feel not so lonely, and this year she receives a letter back. The letters are meant to be anonymous, but this year Holly feels compelled to seek out the author of the letter she received. Its writer is a prickly older woman recently diagnosed with cancer and estranged from her grandson, her only living relative. Holly is determined to reconnect the two before it’s too late. This was my first book by Emily Stone, so I had no idea what to expect coming into it. There was a lot of heartache here, but these sensitive topics were handled with so much care and compassion. Grief, regret, resolved misunderstandings, romance and found family make for a sweet holiday pairing.

This was a sweet story and I enjoyed getting a taste of the holidays early in the fall was just what my heart needed.

The characters were great together and I love this author’s work.

Thank you for this eARC copy.

3.5 stars thanks to Netgalley and a huge thanks to Random House for sending me this ebook. I will start off saying that I really loved this story I loved the concept and how it was written I also read loved and sobbed with the authors prev book One Last Gift. But for some reason I could not vibe with Holly I found her way above stubborn and felt that she was given so much room for she to grow and she did not. I was still yelling at my phone at 90% in the book for she to get it together. I still enjoyed this book but many not as much as I could had the FMC been a different one.

I really enjoyed this author’s other book, Always in December. It was emotional and it kept me on my toes and it made me an absolute wreck.

I was excited to get a chance to read another emotional read by this author and while I enjoyed the storyline, I just couldn’t really grasp the characters, nor did I feel a connection with them.

Some things dragged on, and I was expecting a little more emotion and I wish we had more between Holly and her sister. I felt that part was a little too rushed for me.

Overall I would rate 3.5 stars, anything 4 star or less I do not like posting on my social media.

This book is VERY emotional. If you understand that going in, I think you'll enjoy it. The cover makes it seem like a holiday romcom romp, but really it is not. The beginning starts like one because there's a Christmas village, and a meet cute in a coffee shop, but then tragedy strikes before any romance can begin. The more important relationships in this book are between Holly, the main character, and an older woman named Emma, who is sick with cancer. Holly is still grieving the loss of her family, and reaches out to Emma. There's a whole anonymous letter writing plot point, that that's less important than Holly and Emma really caring for each other and understanding the true meaning of family. Holly does have a romantic storyline eventually with her meet cute Jack, but that takes place a bit later on, and honestly, is not as important. So, if you're looking for a heartfelt book that is not as romantic as usual romantic comedies, this one has a lot of depth.

Thank you NetGalley for the digital ARC of this book.

Oh my heart!
I’m a huge Emily Stone fan and I was so excited when I revived an early copy of this book. It did not disappoint.
•
Holly and her pregnant sister are in a life altering car accident 3 years ago. Ever since, nothing has been the same. Holme has been estranged from her family ever since. To help her cope with this pitfall Holly joins a letter writing club where she receives a letter from Emma. Relating to her story, Holly decides to track Emma down. This will set off a series of events that no one suspects.
•
I loved this book. It was beautifully written and while many tears were shed I adored this bittersweet ending. Deserving of all the stars. I absolutely loved it and can’t recommend it enough.

*thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

WOW. Speechless. This is the feeling I always have after reading Emily Stone’s books.

I read the synopsis of this a while back before I requested the e-arc on NetGalley, but didn’t refresh myself before jumping into the book & I feel like that’s the best way to do it.

The way the author is able to cover such deep topics in her books while also focusing on the romance as well, is just incredible. I loved seeing Holly’s personal growth throughout the book & watching her develop such a strong relationship with Emma and Jack. AND all the ways they connected?! Amazing.

Definitely don’t let this cover fool you though - because even though some parts of the book take place around the holidays, I wouldn’t by any means call it a holiday romance. It is a strong and moving contemporary fiction 👏🏼

I cannot wait to read the future books by Emily Stone 🤩

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for offering me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When I saw the offer to read Emily Stone’s newest novel, Love, Holly, I was thrilled. I loved both Always, in December and One Last Gift.

Each December since the car accident that divided her family, Holly writes a letter to a stranger who is spending the holidays alone. When Holly receives a grief-filled response to one of her letters, she is determined to find the sender and reunite her with her estranged grandson. Through the relationships she forms, Holly must examine her past and how it has affected her life.

I absolutely loved all the characters in this book. Holly is so vibrant and I could really empathize with her situation. I especially loved the friendship between Holly and Emma. This story was beautifully told and captured the feelings and experiences of someone with a loved one facing a cancer diagnosis. I enjoyed the Jack and Holly’s encounters. This book had me laughing and shedding a few tears. It is just as great as Emily Stone’s other stories, so if you are a fan, be sure to grab this one!