Holly doesn't believe in fate like her sister Lily does. While on their way to their parent's house for Christmas, they stop for coffee. Holly literally bumps into Jack spilling his two coffees. The two spend a few minutes talking and laughing and Jack writes his number on Holly's coffee cup. After Holly and Lily leave the coffee shop, Holly is distracted while driving and is hit by another car. This event sets off a series of events as Holly tries to piece her life back together after the accident. She starts writing letters through a Dear Stranger program where she can anonymously correspond with other people that have tragic events in their lives. After her longtime boyfriend breaks up with her, she decides a new tactic is in order for her life. Holly is a likable character with flaws, of course, but she is more realistic that way. After trying to track down one of the people she corresponds with, she ends up in the same coffee shop where she was the night of the accident. Is this fate? I couldn't put the book down and look forward to reading more books by Emily Stone.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the opportunity to read the ARC of Love, Holly.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. Too early for Christmas book, never. I read this as a Christmas in July book and I really enjoyed it.

Emily Stone has a way of bringing emotion to each and every book that she writes. Love, Holly is no different.

Holly was in a terrible car accident with her sister three years ago. An accident that her sister will not stop blaming her for, leading to no communication. Since then, she's been apart of an anonymous writing letter club. This club writes letters to another person who will be spending Christmas on their own. Everyone's identity is supposed to be unknown. Yet, something is calling to Holly this time as she knows where the correspondent is. Not only that, but she believes she can help the writer, Emma, come back with her grandson, Jack. Jack, someone she has met before in a coffee shop the day of the accident.

Love, Holly is a contemporary read that pulled at my heart strings and had me reaching for the tissues at some points. Emily Stone writes with heavy topics but often does so with care. Cancer is a heavy trigger warning in this book along with spending holidays alone thus, if you feel this may affect you PLEASE make sure you are taking care while reading this novel.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the ARC!

This book focuses on mirroring stories of grief around the holiday season. Emma and Holly both have a fractured family due to unforeseen circumstances. I do appreciate the telling of how those with grief navigate the feeling of guilt and loneliness especially around Christmastime.

However, there was some vagueness around what particularly happened in Holly’s family for the first few chapters. It wasn’t until the forth or fifth chapter that I had understood what great loss Holly had experienced.

I love a good story of friendship between an older wiser person and a younger one trying to find their way. Despite some of the heavier topics discussed in the book, I loved the bond that Emma and Holly shared and fostered with each other. They were able to help each other navigate their grief and still move forward with each other’s help.


TW: miscarriage, car accident, infertility, parental death

When Holly receives a letter that reminds her about a day in her past, she takes matters into her own hands and at the same time ends up changing her life and her future.
Love, Holly, takes the reader on a journey through grief, love, and redemption and makes one wonder if they shouldn't be more forgiving when accidents happen and mistakes are made.
Overall, this read was okay. I did find it took me a very long time to finish and there was a lot of extra in the book that didn't drive the story forward. It was a likable story and had a satisfying, if not predictable conclusion.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for providing an unbiased review.

4.0

This is a story about how two people and their families can be remarkably intertwined. Okay, I’ll say it. Serendipity.

The story starts out with a fun meet cute and the sisterly bond of two characters headed to family on Christmas Eve. But soon, a tragedy strikes and made me wonder if I was up to reading further. Tragedies aside, I’m also not a fan of stories jumping ahead several months, let alone years, especially when the characters have become estranged and miss out on major events. It’s also annoying when there’s a bit of a cliffhanger, only for the story to pick up later without addressing the proverbial elephant left behind.

Soon, however, the other key characters from the beginning are forgotten, and you get to know present-day Holly and all her quirky, but lovable traits, and she quickly dives into a situation that is funny, endearing, and a bit heart wrenching.

For a somewhat complicated set of reasons, Holly is on her own for the holidays, again. She has joined a scheme where lonely people send an anonymous letter to another lonely person who has signed up. You never know the person or where they live. Coincidentally, Holly recognizes the location mentioned in the letter she received, and her sender atypically signed with her full name. The writer’s situation is seeming quite dire for an older woman alone, so Holly decides that the stars have aligned, and she can be the person her letter writer needs in this time of trial. Chaos ensues.

This story is as much about friendship and the family you make, as it is about romance between two people at different stages but destined to unite, all of which is a great way for Holly to avoid the hurt and rejection she feels with her own family.

4.5/5 stars

This is my third Stone book, and I have thoroughly loved each one.

Holly is recovering from a tragedy three years ago and becomes involved in a lonely-hearts letter-writing club. Each December she writes one letter and receives one from an anonymous person sharing deeply personal thoughts about their loneliness. This year the letter she receives is different…it’s signed and mentions a café that Holly has visited. She decides to return to this small town and track down Emma, a woman suffering from a long-standing family heartbreak, in the hopes of providing some aid/comfort. As she’s trying to convince the crotchety, reclusive Emma to let her walls down, she meets her estranged grandson Jack, another re-acquaintance from her initial visit to the café. As she works to help her new friend through grief and regret, Holly also begins to heal and start the journey toward forgiving herself and reconciliation.

This one is both heartwarming and heartbreaking filled equally with laughter and tears, and while the issue of Fate and serendipity is prominent, there are still some surprises along the way. I loved ALL of the characters, but the Holly/Jack/Emma threesome were especially poignant and real.

Beautiful writing, and definitely recommended.

My sincere thanks to the author, NetGalley and Dell for providing the free early arc of Love, Holly for review. The opinions are strictly my own.

Emily Stone excels again at crafting a heart wrenching novel set amidst the holiday season. If you've read any of her previous works, you'll know that Stone's books deal with heavy and emotional topics, and Love, Holly was no exception,

Our protagonist, Holly, meets a cute stranger at a coffee shop on Christmas Eve before a terrible accident turns her whole world upside down. 3 years later, she receives a Dear Stranger letter from another person spending the holidays alone and Holly decides to track the author down to help reunite her with her estranged grandson. Little does she know that said grandson is the stranger from the coffee shop.

Love, Holly shines with the characters, their relationships and their self-reflection. Many of the rash decisions the characters make and the blame/finger-pointing they do at the beginning of the book are a bit frustrating. However, they are human and imperfect, and their growth throughout the book is worth it.

This book will be a great one to start your holiday reading when you're ready to do so later this year. While Christmas plays a role in the story, there is much more to it than the holiday. If you prefer lighter holiday books, this one may not be for you. But if you are looking for something touching, I definitely recommend that you pick this one up.

Pub date: September 26

CW: car accident, pregnancy loss, grief, infertility

A heartfelt read about loss, grief, family, friendship and love. While I was able to predict most of this book, it was still an enjoyable story that touched on relationships of all kinds.

Absolutely loved the writing and character development within the story. I completely love this author and the stories she is able to create. I would most definitely recommend this book!

What a sweet book! I feel like one can always count of an Emily Stone novel to warm your heart, and also to fearlessly touch on deep themes. I love the found family theme of this book, and also the forgiveness motif. It has a perfect dose of romance, with beautiful relationship themes that have nothing to do with romance. Grief and mourning (as always with Emily Stone) are an integral part of the story. While it is being marketed as a Christmas book, it's not overly holidayish. (Not a word, I know...)
Similar to Josie Silver and Sophie Cousens, this is a lovely read any time of year.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Beautiful story that is so much more than just a holiday romance. Holly is dealing with her feelings of grief and family estrangement when she joins a program to connect strangers by letter writing. The holidays are hard for people who are alone and Holly ends up receiving a letter from Emma, who is dealing with cancer as well as her own family estrangement. Holly decides to go and meet Emma and try to help her. While their relationship starts off as prickly at best, the friendship that unravels is my favorite relationship in the book! Their friendship provides support, love, laughter and healing.

Not the light chick-lit book I originally thought it would be but what a wonderful surprise this book ended up being!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Ballantine for the ARC.

This isn’t your typical happy go lucky Christmas time story. This story is about so many things- feelings of loss, guilt, struggles, abandonment, love and forgiveness. Holly has been estranged from her family for years and takes part in a letter writing campaign during the holiday times. When the letter she receives this year triggers memories and emotions from her fateful day, Holly tracks down her letter writer and inserts herself into her life. Reluctant to include Holly in her life, Emma relents and finds she gains back some that she’s lost and helps Holly along the way as well.

Holly can definitely be pushy from time to time but you can tell it comes from a caring place. She carries around a lot of guilt and struggles to see through it but with help from Emma she reaches the other side and starts to live life again.


Thank you @penguinrandomhouse and @netgalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

This was my first book by Emily Stone, so I had no idea what to expect coming into it. The writing style drew me in fairly quickly, but the plot was much heavier than I would’ve guessed just based on the cover (I know I shouldn’t go in blind, I will never learn). Within the first few chapters we dealt with, a car accident, a miscarriage, death of a loved one in a different car accident, cancer, and abandonment by family members. Not all of this was on page, but it was still heavy and emotional.

I enjoyed some characters more than others. I wasn’t super invested, but ultimately wanted everyone to get a happy ending. Which is not always the case for me if I can’t connect with the characters.

Overall, I wanted this to be a lighter and holiday-ier Holiday Romance. It wasn’t that for me, but It could absolutely be something for you if you prefer a more emotional story. I definitely agree that it’s more General Women’s Fiction than it is Romance and I know there is an audience for that. So, don’t rule this out because it didn’t work for me. Just be careful if those topics could be triggering for you.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.

I thought this was going to be a lighter, rom-com read. It was quite emotional and sad. The book should be described as women’s fiction as the story is a lot deeper and emotional than expected.

Thank you to NetGalley and PRH Audio for the complimentary copies of this book. All opinions are my own.

Love, Holly by Emily Stone is a book full of hope, reconciliation, and family. This emotional story follows the lives of Holly, Jack, and Emma as their paths cross in multiple seasons. All three characters, having experienced loss, realize their need for each other and for forgiveness.

While this book is marketed as a romance with a focus on Christmas, I don’t think those elements play a very big role in the story. I still enjoyed it, but I would classify it as more of contemporary fiction with a focus on character growth.

What really made me enjoy this story was the characters and the relationships between them. I loved seeing them forgive and grow to love one another.

While this book is filled with hope, it is quite a bit sad at times and deals with some heavy topics such as cancer, death, grief, and infertility.

I would recommend this book to someone who enjoys a focus on characters over plot, second chances, the importance of family, and England as a setting.

Also, if you’re a fan of audiobooks, I really enjoyed listening to the narrator for this book. I think she did a great job with the voices and had a British accent, which fit the setting.

Just rip my heart out! While this didn't make me cry like Always, in December, I still had some emotional moments. Holly and Emma's connection might have been my favorite relationship- more so than Holly and Jack. Holly is healing from her own emotional rifts in her family while also trying to help Emma reconnect with her grandson. The way Emily Stone connects these stories just made it all the more emotionally richer for me as a reader. I just loved this book, and she is quickly becoming an automatic add to the TBR list for me.

Well, this is my first Emily Stone novel and I wouldn't say I'm disappointed.. but, it just wasn't what I expected. I went in totally blind (like I always do) and loved the first few chapters. Until I realized that this wasn't going to be the type of romance I normally read. Emily Stone, you shattered me.

Overall, I did end up liking the book. Some of the banter and snarkiness is what kept me going (I LOVE IT). But the topics of grief and loneliness were not for me. I wanted something a little more light hearted.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group, Ballantine, Dell Books for this advanced reader copy.

I love Emily Stone's books!

After reading Always, In December, I knew I would be entering some emotional territory every time I picked up one Stone's books. But, I also knew that the journey would be worth all my tears. Why? Because her stories are full of hope and warmth.

When I read the synopsis for Love, Holly, I thought this would be the one. The happy-go-lucky book. Oh, was I wrong. I was sobbing less than 10% into it, but I read on because I knew good things were on the horizon, and I was not wrong.

There were a few things that really grabbed hold of me in this story. One major thing, was the way the universe brought certain people into Holly's life. She was devastated following that tragic car accident which forced a wedge between Holly and her family. Being cut off from her family for years, she resorted to writing "Dear Stranger" letters. She poured her soul into those letters, and in return, she received a Dear Stranger letter back. The objective was to make the participants feel more connected and less alone, but Holly recognized something in the letter she received, and it prompted her to search for its author.

This brought Emma into Holly's life. Emma was a fantastic older woman who became so important to Holly. They related to each other via their estrangements from their own families, but at least now, they had each other.

Maybe Holly could not make amends for what happened with her sister, but she was determined to find Emma's grandson and hoped for a reunion. This brought Jack into Holly's life, and it was a very special kind of happenstance that delighted me. I loved the energy between these two, and they were both at points in their lives where they needed the other for support and companionship. Alas, it was a bumpy and rather emotional road for these two, but I delighted in every bit of it.

This was a beautiful tale of grief, loss, and guilt. But, it was also about love, "family", connection, relishing every moment we are gifted, nurturing one's passion, and forgiveness. Love, Holly was a touching tale that was elevated by an unlikely friendship and a sweet romance. I will forever look forward to shedding tears as I read an Emily Stone book.

This story is a wonderfully warm and heart tugging journey of a few love worthy tortured souls. You truly feel the pain they have endured and root for them all through this touching journey of love and acceptance.