📩📩📩1/2
LOVE, HOLLY
Emily Stone
Dell
Publication Date: September 26th, 2023
400 Pages
Goodreads | Amazon
I read and enjoyed both Always, in December andOne Last Gift by this author so when I saw her newest book I couldn’t pass it up. I guess it’s become a tradition for me to read an EMily Stone book every holiday season. Love, Holly or The Christmas Letter as it’s known in the UK is less a book about Christmas though as only two sections take place in December. But what it is about is family, friendships, relationships of all kinds and second chances…not just of the romantic variety.
Our three main characters, Holly, Emma and Jack, have felt a lot of loss and grief over the years and all three are trying or have tried to work through it. It is only when they all come together by chance (or is it fate) that they finally figure out how. These are well-developed characters that have fully fleshed-out background histories that explain their behaviour and decisions. They are very self-aware and learn from their mistakes. I love how Holly uses letter writing to get through her grief and help deal with loss.
I can’t bump this up to four stars though. I found it repetitive in parts, there were too many coincidences and some of the plot line was very predictable. Would I read another Emily Stone holiday story next year? You betcha!
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