While the plot was engaging and fun, it fell flat at times and didn’t feel unique. The town and side characters were nice, but often detracted from the main characters. I also didn’t connect with them until almost the end of the book, which made it a struggle to want to keep reading. I neither loved it, nor hated it.

This book is a holiday read with a grumpy/sunshine trope.

At times, I did feel like the 'grumpy' was taken a bit too far and he was quite mean, particularly to Holly (who was supposed to be the love interest).

The use of the town name 'Mistletoe' also felt a little bit lazy.

I thought this was a cute read with a kinda messy plot. There was just a lot going on with the pranks, YouTube videos, secret living arrangements, jealousy and bachelor/bachelorette party, and somewhere along the way the Christmassy romance vibes got overpowered. I would've liked more of Holly and Declan together, both banter and spice, to be fully invested in their love story. Now I'm more intrigued to find out what happened to some of the other characters 😅

It's still a light, quirky and entertaining read and I'm very happy to check off my first Christmas read of the season!

Holly has such a great spirit and sunshine in human form, and Declan is the epitome of grumpy. And I loved watching their prank war, and seeing the development from enemies to lovers.

It was great to be back in Mistletoe and catch up with all the previous characters and glimpse into how their lives are now.

Declan's shy, cautious relationship with people made me feel sorry for him, and want him to just let people in and trust them, especially since they were so nice (mostly) !

If you love Christmas, grumpy vs Sunshine, a touch of spice, enemies to lovers and small town then this is the book for you.

Along Came Holly was super cute. I was looking forward to a book about Holly and Declan but it was not as strong as There's Something about Merry. I did enjoy revisiting the town of Mistletoe and getting to see the human side of Declan. I don't know if the pranks made sense for the story but I guess that is showing Holly's personality. I would definitely recommend this series.

Review: Along Came Holly - Codi Hall

I was lucky enough to receive this book as an ARC.

This is Book 3 of the Mistletoe Romance Series!

Holly Winters is not about to let her grumpy neighbor Declan steal her holiday joy…even if he does look rather handsome under the mistletoe. Holly Winters owns the jolliest holiday shop on Main Street and this season is shaping up to be the best yet. The only pit in her figgy pudding? Declan Gallagher, the owner of the hardware store next door. He's the scroogiest man in all of Mistletoe, Idaho. Then Holly's revenge prank escalates into an all-out war with her Grinchy neighbor, and the situation turns sticky when she realizes she needs his help. Declan can't believe the nerve of his oh-so-cheerful neighbor hiring him to set up her holiday lights display, but the money is too good to pass up. Despite his utter loathing of excessive decorations, he throws himself into getting the job done, only to encounter sabotage at every turn. To his astonishment, Declan finds himself championing the very woman who used to get under his skin. Then one rooftop kiss has him thinking maybe the season's traditions aren't as heinous as he believed. Declan's heart has grown three sizes since Holly came along, but how can he admit he's falling for the one woman he shouldn't want?

🥰Enemies to Lovers

This book had me hooked from the beginning!! I loved the angst and tension between the two characters!!

I loved Holly and Declan’s characters! I really loved the storyline of Declan helping Holly change the type of social media content she filmed.

I definitely recommend this book!! I cannot wait to go read book 1 and 2 of the series!

Rating: 4 / 5⭐️’s

The story follows Holly who owns a Christmas shop in the town of Mistletoe. If you are familiar with the other two books in the series then you know that Holly is Merry and Nick’s sister. 

Next door to Holly’s Christmas shop is a Declan’s hardware store that his father owns but he now runs since his dad is unable to now. 

Declan is a Scrooge. He doesn’t like anything about Christmas, from the decorations to the loud Christmas music. Declan and Holly begin bickering with one another over it and then it turns into a prank war. 

The prank war was hilarious. From the window displays, to the glitter explosion. It will have you laughing out loud. Holly is such a lovable character. I love how she was able to break Declan out of his cold Christmas-less shell. 

This book is the third in the Mistletoe series however, this can easily be read as a standalone. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I had fun and throughly enjoyed this festive Christmas novel. Holly and Declan are both funny and likeable, well developed characters.
I rooted for them and enjoyed the story.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

A cute festive read with a rather classic trope of a grinch-like character. A bit conventional. I was hoping for a stronger concept. But given my current string of Christmas reads the genre seems to leave little leeway for off-the-beaten-tracks storylines.

This was such a cute Christmas-y romcom! I read it outside on a chilly day with a blanket, to maximise the cute, cozy vibes, but I could picture reading this with a mug of hot chocolate by the light of the Christmas tree. This is the third book in the Mistletoe Romance series, but it can be read as a standalone; I haven't read the first two, but I plan on it now! Read if you enjoy opposites-attract, dual POV, small town setting and a prank war that leads to ~feelings~. Best part? No third act breakup

This books has all the Grumpy/Sunshine feels and I loved it all. I'll always love a book that has the Grumpy/Sunshine trope in.

I absolutely loved Holly and Declan. They were just fab characters.

All the fun, humor, cuteness, and predictable goofiness of a Hallmark movie, but with a little spice.

*I received a free ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

I really enjoy this series, and this latest installment was all the cozy Christmas vibes. The best way I can describe this book (and the rest of the series) is if Hallmark Christmas movies had seasoning. There's a little but of spice for the romance lovers, but the vibes are overall sweet and cute and cozy. I definitely recommend "Along Came Holly" and the rest of the series for your Christmas/holiday reading list!

Along Came Holly was a cute christmassy romcom and my first read by avoid Hall. There wasn’t really anything I specifically didn’t like about the book, I just struggled a bit to get into the dialogue and found certain parts of the book lagged and could have been shorter. I’ve heard her other Christmas themed books in this standalone “world” are super cute and might still check them out.

I found myself laughing a lot at all the christmassy names… they live in Mistletoe and there is a Holly, Merry, Chris, Nick, Noel, etc. just a bunch of perfectly themed character names haha.

Thank you Codi Hall, Sourcebook Casablanca and NetGalley for the arc! It was a fun book that has me closer to my upcoming holiday spirit.

3.4 stars

"Every time you’d step into me with those dark, sexy eyes and that smart mouth running circles around me, all I could think about was how much I wanted to take you behind that counter in your shop and fuck the anger out of both of us.”

This is the third book in the Mistletoe Romance series and in the past two books, we’ve been getting little snippets and sneak peaks into Declan and Holly’s relationship. Declan and Holly are the perfect example of an enemies to lovers romance! With Holly and her sunshine attitude to Declan‘s grumpy one, they’re constantly bickering with each other. It doesn’t help that their businesses are next-door. After Holly having enough of Declan‘s attitude to her holiday music, she decides to prank him. That of course evolves to Declan and Holly having prank wars. I loved that you would get these little cracks into Declan‘s personality, and that you could see the good side to him. I swooned at all the sweet things Declan would do for Holly. This romance has the force proximity trope with Holly giving Declan a place to stay in her house, and also the enemies with benefits trope. I also loved that there’s no third act break up in this romance once the characters finally get together!
While this book can totally be read as a standalone, I definitely recommend reading the first two books in the series as they’re amazing!

Read if you like:
3rd person dual POVs
Enemies to lovers
Business neighbors
Enemies with benefits
Grump x Sunshine trope
Open door romance
Small town romance

Along Came Holly is one of the best holiday rom-com's I've read in a while. I adored Holly and Declan, the prank wars had me cackling, the banter and tension are top notch. It's also full of heart, seeing Declan make peace with his parents was the sweetest. There's also no third act breakup (I don't mind those but I know others do). I am a monster who reads series out of order, so I can confirm this works as a standalone, however, I loved Mistletoe and all of the characters so much I will definitely be going back for the others. I'm also ready for Christmas now despite the fact that it's only mid September.

This book was laugh out loud funny while sweeping me away in the perfect chemistry of Mistletoes jolliest resident Holly and bah humbug neighbor Declan. We revisit the Winters family in the third of this series. Holly, who has never been one for relationships finds herself at a crossroads between her professional life and personal life. After irritating her grumpy business neighbor with her holiday music Holly retaliates and sets off a prank war that was super funny! You root for this couple the whole time and the author knows exactly when to crank up the heat to keep you pulled in!

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks for this digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I've read all three titles in the Mistletoe Romance series, and I can say with confidence that this was my least favorite. I really wanted Holly to be my favorite, actually — something about her personality is so fun to read. She's a very confident woman who knows what she wants and is unapologetically herself. However, I found myself kind of bored and not as invested as I was with the prior two siblings.

I think it takes a little too much time for the story to truly get going. There's too much back and forth for too long that I started to lose interest, and when they finally got together...I wasn't really into it. I also didn't care much about Holly's internet career, and I felt like there were no real stakes for her personally.

I like the town of Mistletoe and the series as a whole quite a bit, but something about the third book just didn't do it for me. It was fine overall, but something in the story was definitely lacking.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for this ARC of Along Came Holly by Codi Hall. This was a cute rom-com. I felt it was a little slow at times, especially in the middle of the book, but it was still cute. I liked the one main character, Holly, probably because she loves Christmas like me! The other main character, Declan, not so much. I would recommend if you like rom-coms, grumpy/sunshine romance, some spice... oh and cats! 😊

This was an adorable grumpy/sunshine, enemies to lovers holiday romance. I had no idea this was book 3, but it read fine as a stand alone. I had no issues diving into it, and adoring these characters

This book follows the youngest sibling, Holly. Holly LOVES Christmas, and her neighbor (owns the shop next to hers) Declan doesn’t.
Which causes some major issues between them.

Overall it was a cute holiday read that gives major Hallmark movie vibes; and was an enjoyable read.