Book Review: Love, Holly by Emily Stone

Love, Holly
by Emily Stone (Stone)

Emily Stone is one of a wave of hot young authors writing general fiction with strong romance overtones. Each of her first three novels has been connected, in some small way, with the Christmas season, although the plots and settings were not limited to that seasonal niche.

 

In Love, Holly (British title “The Christmas Letter”), Holly is a young woman who has retreated from friends and family following a tragic car accident and the resulting recriminations. However, she is participating in a “Dear Stranger” letter writing experiment — in which she writes an emotional letter to a complete stranger who is by themselves during the holiday season, and she receives one in return. Only…she recognizes landmarks mentioned by the other anonymous writer, and believes she might be able to held that stranger be reunited with a grandson they’ve been estranged with for decades.

 

But in the process of succeeding at that question, Holly encounters a man she met three years earlier and then lost touch with — someone she hasn’t been able to forget. And the rekindling of that relationship, in parallel with helping to track down the missing grandson, may also force Holly to come to terms with her own fractured family relationships.

 

Emotional, engaging, story, with fascinating characters. So what if there’s too much “coincidental” crossing over of stories…it still ended up being a “feel good” story in the end.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Always, In December and One Last Gift, the only other two novels by Emily Stone to date.)

 

See Scott C’s review of Always, In December by Emily Stone in the December 2023 Staff Recommendations here on BookGuide!

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

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