A review by gwendolyn_kensinger
Along Came Holly by Codi Hall

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.