Love, Holly by Emily Stone was the first ever holiday romance I have ever read, and I was not disappointed. When I first decided to pick up this book, I thought I was signing up to read a fluffy and feel-good novel. While the book did have elements of this, the book surprised me by being so much deeper and emotional than I thought. 

This novel revolves around two people: Holly and Jack. Both of these characters share a similar traumatic experience that binds them together when they meet. 

To begin the story, the reader learns that Holly is apart of a “Dear Santa” program where people who are alone for Christmas write a letter to a stranger to feel less alone and in return they get a letter back. Holly is one of these people, yet the reader might wonder why she is all alone. The book answers this question right away by revealing that Holly got into a car accident on Christmas Eve a few years prior. In this car accident, her sister, Lily, miscarried her baby; Holly was driving. Lily blames Holly, and so does Holly.

Holly writes and receives a letter just like every year since the accident, but to her surprise, the letter she receives is from a woman whose family also blames her for a car accident. Holly immediately feels sympathy for the woman, so she tries to find her to let her know she is not alone. Later on, the reader finds out that the “woman” is actually Jack’s estranged grandmother. 

The books does a tremendous job at conveying Holly’s guilt and emotions. There were a few times where I was close to tears. 

The romance in the book was also very engaging. The only thing that made this book a four star instead of a five star was that I thought the ending of the book could have been better written. I felt that the resolution between Holly and her sister could have been longer. After four years of not talking, they forgive each other in like five pages. It felt a little anti-climatic, in my opinion. 

Other than that, the book was a journey that I was glad to be on. The themes of fate and forgiveness were beautiful and inspiring, and I highly recommend reading Love, Holly.