Reviews

Along Came Holly by Codi Hall

_basicbookworm's review

4.0

Holly is the owner of a holiday shop and gets involved in a prank war with her scrooge of a store neighbor, Declan. But in the midst of this prank war, Holly realizes she actually needs Declan’s help to set up her holiday lights display. He agrees to help, even though he hates the holidays, but the two face one mishap after another along the way. These challenges force them to come together and make Declan see Holly and the holidays in a different light.

The Mistletoe series has brought me all the holiday joy over the past few years and I was so excited to get Holly’s story. While this one didn’t capture my attention as much as the first two, it was still super cute and a fun read! This story had the steam, the wit, and the holiday sparkle I have come to love from this series and Declan was the perfect Grinch to Holly’s jolly. It was fun to see their relationship progress and even more fun to see glimpses of the relationships and characters from the first two books.

Thanks to Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley for the advance copy.

ashleyreadsmore's review against another edition

lighthearted slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

1.0

Found out I’m not always a fan of enemy’s to lovers. It was an easy read to start off the new year and come off the holiday season high though

allisonshack's review against another edition

4.0

Rating: 10/10
Spice: 3/5

mxllelaue's review

2.0

Trop long pour rien.

msuttle12's review

5.0

I adore this series. It makes you want to live in Mistletoe. This grumpy/sunshine really grown on you. How can anyone be a scrooge when they are with Holly.
This series is great not just for Christmas season. I love Christmas stories year round.

jensreads13's review

3.0

cute christmassy read! but proposals at other people’s weddings make me cringe no matter what sorry (not main couple btw they’ve never done anything wrong in their lives)

grace_reads13's review

fast-paced

3.0

amandadunn_'s review against another edition

3.0

Another goodie from Codi Hall - I have really enjoyed this series! I loved Holly's 'takes no shite' attitude and think Declan has been the best lad of the gang!

andysreads's review

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

gwendolyn_kensinger's review

3.0

The story was fine. I enjoyed it but I feel like there was too much going on and it distracted from the romance. Holly and Declan are opposites in every way but sometimes opposites attract.

This is a contemporary Christmas romantic comedy featuring the “enemies to lovers”, forced proximity, and grumpy/sunshine trope. Themes include family roles, marriage and divorce, Alzheimer’s, social media and privacy, growing up, miscommunication, appearance versus reality, and loneliness and isolation.

Holly Winters runs a holiday shop located next to her grumpy nemesis Declan. Their hostility towards each other ends up starting a prank war, but when Holly desperately needs help setting-up her Christmas lights display, she hires Declan, the only handyman available on such short notice. Forced proximity from working together and then being in Holly’s sister’s wedding party together causes the pair to form a truce and develop temporary enemies with benefits agreement. However, the pair starts to doubt the temporary status of their arrangement when real feelings start to emerge. I didn’t feel as connected to and invested in Holly and Declan’s story for some reason, especially in comparison to There’s Something about Merry. I do have high hopes for the first book though. Maybe I’ll get around to reading that one next year. I do suggest reading the series in order, but it’s not totally necessary.