Emily Stone continues to wow every year with these holiday books that manage to simultaneously rip your heart out and uplift your spirits. Don’t let the holiday theme scare you off until next Christmas, the actual holidays played a very small role and I think this book will be a hit year round.

TW: terminal illness, infertility/miscarriage, death of a parent

Content Warnings

binreads's review

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Alexa, play invisible string by Taylor Swift.

This book was beautifully written and I highly recommend it. Don't let the cover fool you, it is a deep story that covers grief, sorrow, and picking up the pieces along the way.

I picked this up for my holiday read of the year, not expecting just how intense this book was going to be. It wasn't just another holiday romance but a story that dives into the deepest depths of human connection. It made me laugh, made me cry and even made me angry. The story takes over the place of a year, and does time jumps which didn't bother me at all.

It encapsulated the love between many different relationships: friendships, romantic partners, siblings, family etc. I would happily read this book again.

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apoppyinthewind's review

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emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

TW: Grief, car accident, miscarriage, death, cancer, estrangement

A bit of a heavy Christmas read that was at times quite emotional for me so heads up. If you're looking for a lighter Christmas read you might want to look elsewhere. That said, it captured the experience of grief in a compassionate, vulnerable way that balanced well with the romance plot. While I was rooting for Jack & Holly from the start the ways they separated and came back together multiple times felt organic & understandable. Both characters had to deal with trauma & grief and it made sense for them to put the breaks on their relationship multiple times to make sure each was in the best head space for pursuing each other. Especially given the bizarre twists of fate that threw them together.

If you're in the headspace for a romance that also deals with the above-mentioned aspects, I would recommend checking this one out.

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cheypreston's review

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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hheartbooks's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

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

Content Warnings

rachrreads's review against another edition

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medium-paced

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

5.0

I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Wow this was absolutely beautiful.

Holly has felt alone ever since a car accident tore her family apart three years ago. This year she gets a letter from a woman named Emma. In the letter a cafe Holly had visited prior to her accident is mentioned, along with Emma’s full name. Holly tracks Emma down and tries to heal the rift between Emma and her family after a similar accident.

Holly tracks down Jack, Emma’s grandson, only to realize this is the same Jack she ran into— literally—at the cafe three years prior…

This was a great story of love and loss. Of healing after a horrible accident. Emma and Holly become such great friends and bond through their shared experiences.

** slow burn romance, fade to black **

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lololovesthings's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

4 stars!

Emily Stone is the kind of author who will punch you in the stomach with sadness only to lift you back up again with the holiday spirit, strong connections, and her incredible writing. I loved her book "One Last Gift," and "Love, Holly" is also wonderful. Stone takes big, tough issues like death, grief, estrangement, and terminal illness, and combines them with holiday cheer, second chances, fate, and grace to make one heck of an emotional book. I laughed and cried while reading this one. This is not your typical formulaic love story. It takes its time unfolding to the point where some readers may even call it "slowly paced." I, for one, was along for the ride as main character, Holly and Jack, find their way back to one another through a series of serendipitous circumstances. Stone weaves such a delicate tale of sorrow and reconnection that I found myself fully immersed in this book from start to finish. I think it might be Stone's best book yet. Don't go into this story expecting a light holiday affair; it gets pretty grim and troublesome, but rest assured, she steers the ship back around to happiness eventually. I also love how each of Stone's novels involves letter writing in some capacity. There are some miscommunications in this book that may rub readers the wrong way, but they weren't so annoying that they turned me off from the story as a whole. All in all, read this if you need a good cry this holiday season. I loved it!

Thank you to NetGalley, Emily Stone, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, and Dell for the complimentary ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.

Content Warnings

rachelshubin's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Love, Holly is my second Emily Stone novel and it was so well written. It’s a tender hearted story that deals with very heavy topics like car accidents, parental death, cancer, and miscarriage, to name a few. I think her books would be better characterized as women’s fiction with a dash of romance.

I didn’t find this book to be particularly sad as Always in December. It starts and ends at Christmas time but has scenes in almost all the months of the year, as it’s set over two years. I liked the time organization and what was a real treat was that we got dual POV of both Holly and Jack! The book was significantly improved by knowing Jack’s thoughts.

Grief and found family are the major plot points of this story. The way we deal with grief, the mistakes we have to overcome, and the power of forgiveness is especially important to this story. Fate and healing, as well. I was a little sad at the end, but we do get good closure!

Thank you very much to NetGalley and Random House/Ballantine/Dell for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review

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