Do you believe in serendipity? After this book, you might want to.

This is such an onion of a story. You go into it thinking it’s about Christmas, but then it’s also romance, but also emotional; so many facets to each character.

It was a slow start, but once I finally met some more characters, it got going. I really like the relationship of Emma and Holly as they both navigated their grief. This really makes you sit back and realize that everyone’s personal grief is a different journey.

This story is more than just love between partners, but also love between siblings, friends and family. It makes you a bit introspective thinking about what has happened to your own relationships over the years and makes you also wonder if/how serendipity has played a role.

Having read other work by Emily Stone, I was ready for a new tale!

Thank you so much to the author, Emily Stone, Random House Publishing Group, and NetGalley for the eARC of Love, Holly in exchange for my thoughts!

When Emma’s neighbor suggests she send an anonymous letter to a writing club aimed at those feeling alone around the holidays, she never expected anyone to reply let alone track her down.

Love, Holly is a contemporary, stand-alone romance. This book (like all of Emily Stone’s books) is a bittersweet mix of beautiful friendships and mournful tragedy.

I appreciate the underlying reminder found throughout the storyline of how difficult the holiday season can be for some. Both Emma and Holly estrange themselves from family members not out of hatred but out of love.

If you’re for a holiday read that is more on the raw and honest side, this may be a good fit for you.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballentine (Dell)!

“You said we don’t know each other, but I do know you. I know the way you fall even when there is nothing to to trip over. I know how you hate brushing your hair more then I thought anyone could hate something as minor as that. I know how you light up when you talk about teaching …”

This book was just delightful. Found family, cozy closed door romance, will they won’t they, and secret Dear Stranger letters. This book does have some elements of grief and death that can get your emotions flying but overall it has a HEA (Happily Ever After) and I enjoyed the relationship between Holly and Emma, Jack’s Grandmother, quite a bit.

Thank you @ prhaudio for a copy of Love, Holly. Stone does it again in writing a book that tugs all the emotions. This story deals with some heavy topics such as grief and mending strained relationships. Holly is likeable character and I enjoyed seeing breakdown the surliness of Emma and their friendship. I loved Jack and reading his healing process too. Stone always writes stories that reminds us that holidays may be difficult for some.

Another great book from Emily Stone. This story is one of the top Holiday season books I've read so far. Letter writing is one of my all-time favorite things in a book, and this one did not disappoint. Highly recommend for cuteness, deep emotions, and a beautiful holiday romance.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital ARC of Love, Holly in exchange for an honest review.

Fate is defined as the development of events beyond a person's control, regarded as determined by a supernatural power. Do you believe in fate?

Love, Holly is a story about three people who are brought together exactly when they need each other. This story will break you heart, piece it back together, give you all the feels and have you rooting for love.

I've read every book published by Emily Stone, and this novel is my absolute favorite read. This touching Christmas story features characters you will care about with their real life struggles and emotions. One moment can change so many things in life - was this truly fate for Holly, Jack and Emma?

Thank you Random House for the complimentary copy.

🎄Happy Pub Day & Book Review !!!! 🎄

Love, Holly by Emily Stone
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

It’s Christmas time and a horrible crash turns Holly’s life upside down. She joins a letter writing club called “Dear Stranger” to help others feel less lonely during the holiday time. 📨
She receives a letter from Emma and she automatically feels a connection. The events following make them feel closer in ways they can’t explain and are just what each other need.

Emily creates characters than make you feel like you are going through the emotions along with them. She can transport you in a way that makes you lose yourself in the book. I love how the characters change over time. You can see how in one moment things can change right in front of your eyes.
I loved the characters and how their relationships grew! It was such a lovely story and the letters made me cry. I think it was so heartfelt and genuine that when you read them you can feel what they are feeling. It was an amazing Christmas Story 🎅🏼🎄

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the ARC.

💭 Do you have a favorites Emily Stone book? Mine is Always In December.

Adorable, heartwarming holiday read!

Perfect for my holiday loving heart. There however is a few heavier topics in this book, it’s not all warm and fuzzy. It has depth.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read and review.

I enjoyed this story of Holly, meeting Emma through Dear Stranger letters, and then befriending her. There are parts of the book set during multiple different Christmases, but overall I felt it was more a women's lit book about friendship, family, illness, and reconnecting, and the bulk of it takes place during other times of the year. There was a bit of romance, but more of Holly and Jack figuring out what is important to them in their lives.

Love, Holly
Emily Stone
4⭐️
This was a cute Christmas romance that touched on deep life experiences and grief. There was an undertone of “fate” and how it brought certain people into each others lives and it was really sweet. It wasn’t your typical Christmas romance, which was a great thing, I think.

4.5 stars

What a beautifully written story about love, loss, fate, guilt and forgiveness.

Its Christmas Eve and Holly and her pregnant sister on in a horrible car accident. It been three years and everything has changed since that fateful night, she and her family are not as close as they once were. A “Dear Stranger” letter arrives and it’s enough to cause Holly to track down the writer so that they too, don’t feel alone on Christmas... which is how Holly has felt for the last three years. You see, the writer, Emma, and Holly have a lot more in common.

I loved watching Emma and Holly together. They were both good for each other in their growth. It truly is a beautiful story that is interconnected in so many amazing ways. You should definitely one click this today!

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing – Ballantine for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Great premise but absolutely horrible writing make this book a hard pass for me. Do yourself a favor and save your money

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the ARC!

Holly has been spending Christmas alone ever since a car crash changed everything for her family. Every December, she writes a letter to someone else who is also spending the holidays all alone, As a part of this letter-writing club, she also receives a letter every year from a lonely anonymous sender. This year is different though as she deeply connects with the letter that was sent to her by Emma. Emma references a place that Holly knows and Holly gets the idea to try and find Emma to help her reunite with her estranged grandson. Turns out that Holly has actually met Emma's grandson, Jack, before and they had a great connection. Will Holly be able to help fix Emma and Jack's problems while maybe also fixing her own?

This is a beautiful read dealing a lot with the heavy topic of grief but mixed in with hope and healing as well. It was very emotional at times and you could almost feel the emotions of the characters coming through the pages. Just a note that this might be a tough read for someone with a family member struggling with cancer (like me) so just be prepared!

I have read books by Emily Stone before and know she writes a tearjerker like no other, so I was both ready to read this one and nervous to feel all the feels.

Holly is in an accident with her sister, causing the sisters to stop speaking for several years. She is now part of a lonely hearts writing group, where they write anonymous letters to unburden themselves over the holidays. This year, Holly recognizes the place the writer is writing from, and becomes determined to patch things up for Emma (the writer) and her family.

The book has Stone’s usual beautiful writing, some great characters, and a strong premise. The bond that grows between Holly and Emma was beautiful to behold and felt like it was fated at various times in the story. The two women are clearly thankful for someone to open up to and share their personal grief over family issues.

Of course there is a love interest, and he is a great one. Jack isn’t afraid to say what is on his mind, he is open hearted and warm, and he is willing to drop things to help when needed.

I was perplexed at some of Holly’s initial actions and quite annoyed with her at times, which is what led me to dock a star. I also had trouble with her separation from her sister and the massive miscommunications happening in various parts of the story. I’m glad those issues were dealt with in a great way down the line, but they made it a bit tough for me to like Holly initially.

I loved the overall themes of forgiveness, found family, and the importance of not taking things for granted. Those are great reminders for us all.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Ballantine- Dell for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you Dell and Netgalley for the ARC!

Emily Stone is a fav author of mine because I’m a sucker for sad girl romances and she never disappoints on that front! This story is full of heartache, grief, forgiveness and healing. This story is so much more than just a romance, her books are always about love in general in how it also relates to family and friends as well. You won’t want to miss out on this one this holiday season when you need something that isn’t light and easy. This one will make your heart squeeze in the best way!

I would like to thank Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for allowing me to read this before it released (today!!!) •• My only reason for giving this book 3⭐️ is because its written in third person and I don’t love that.

Love, Holly is such a cute Holiday Romance read about grief, fear, forgiveness and family estrangement. Every winter Holly spends time writing to another person who is also spending the holiday alone. She ends up writing to Emma who is desperate to reconnect with her grandson, Jack. Holly does everything she can to reconnect them and quickly realizes that she knows Jack. She met him years prior. Will there still be sparks? Guess you'll have to read to find out!

Love, Holly released today! 🎄❄️

Heartwarming, emotional, and tender!

Emily Stone is quickly becoming my go to cozy holiday author because she sure knows how to tug at all the heart strings! This one was a solid 4 star story for me.

Holly and her older sister, Lily, are driving to join their parents at a holiday cottage for Christmas. They stop for coffee at a festive looking cafe and admiring a piece of art in the window, Holly bumps into a man knocking his coffee onto the floor and staining his shirt. At first blaming him for the spill she realizes it was her fault and offers to buy him more. As they chat for a few minutes, they end up laughing and he tells her his name is Jack and writes his phone number on her coffee cup. But as Holly and Lily are leaving the cafe, they are caught in the middle of an accident and end up in the hospital. While neither is injured badly, Lily says that the crash made her miscarry. She is furious at Holly and blames her as they were having an argument when the crash occurred.

Three years later, Lily wants nothing to do with Holly no matter how many times she has apologized to her. Now, Holly is a teacher at a school in Windsor and knows that getting together with her parents and Lily would be awkward so she does not spend Christmas with them.

Since the accident, Holly has joined the Dear Stranger club where anonymous people write to a member of the club confessing what is on their mind and sharing their personal heartbreak. This year, Holly gets a letter from a woman who signed her name and mentioned the cafe where Holly met Jack several years before. With nothing else to do on Christmas Eve, she decides to drive there and talk to the sad woman hoping to help her. But things don’t necessarily go as planned.

This is a heartbreaking and sad book that, for me, struggled but had a fairly happy ending. Anytime I open a book and cancer is mentioned, I cringe. As a survivor myself, it’s difficult to read about it. I enjoyed the author’s book “Always in December” but hope future books will be more uplifting.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

If you like your heartstrings to be pulled, you can count on Emily Stone to make it happen. Love, Holly is a novel about finding forgiveness and love amid grief and estrangement, and it had me feeling all the feelings!

Holly met Jack moments before it became the worst day of her life, but she’s never forgotten the connection they made. Two years later she returns to the café where they met thanks to a letter she received from a stranger. Holly doesn’t believe in fate, but life seems determined to prove her wrong.

Don’t let the cover of this one mislead you, while the beginning and end of the novel take place over Christmas, it’s not really what I consider a full-on holiday book. It’s a nice mix, especially if you’re someone who prefers just a touch of the holiday theme, or if like me, you’re reading it months before the holidays. But I did feel like this was a cozy read, even though it deals with some tough subjects. It felt loving and compassionate. And the ending was beautiful.

Holly’s journey takes her to various places throughout the book. From London to Venice to Ireland, and I enjoyed all the different settings. Especially her time spent in Venice, with her descriptions of the canals, cafés, and shops. And while the book is mostly from Holly’s point of view, we do get some chapters with Jack’s point of view, too, which is always nice. Stone’s previous two books were closed door romances, but I would call Love, Holly a cracked-door romance. It’s not very explicit, but it’s not exactly fade-to-black, which worked nicely with her gentle writing style.

Love, Holly is primarily a book about grief, but it’s also a book about miscommunication or lack of communication. And it’s one of my least favorite tropes. It can get tedious or frustrating. But the communication issues in this novel made more sense with such a weighty subject like grief, which needs time for healing. And while I enjoy Stone’s heartrending books, I would still love for her to write a mostly happy book. She always has a few moments where I find myself laughing out loud, and I find myself wishing for more laughter!

I’ve enjoyed all Stone’s books, but her debut Always, In December remains my favorite. Maybe it’s just the nostalgia of the first book?? Although, I think Love, Holly may be her best written one yet. I can tell that she’s growing as a writer with each new book, which makes me even more excited for her future projects!

On the way home for Christmas, Holly has the perfect meet cute with a guy in a cafe and it looks like this cute romance may take off from the very first pages of the book, but minutes later tragedy strikes and everything changes for Holly. Years later Holly writes a Dear Stranger letter and receives one of her own, instead of reading her letter and moving on, Holly takes it upon herself to help ‘her Stranger’. One thing leads to another and the web that ties everyone together is revealed. Holly doesn’t believe in fate, but after everything she discovers in her search for forgiveness, it’s hard not to.

From the first pages of this book I thought this was going to be a cute holiday romance with little else, but boy was I wrong! Love, Holly is an emotional roller coaster ride in the best kind of way. It is sad, happy, empowering and inspiring and I couldn’t put it down. I immediately felt connected to Holly and loved her and the other characters that popped up throughout her journey. This book was so well written and laid out in a way that are it so easy to follow as so much time passed. I don’t have a single complaint or critique about this story, it absolutely beautiful and I loved every second of it. I highly recommend this as a read this holiday season! I can’t wait to see what else Emily Stone has written!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC version this great book!