Three years ago, Holly and her sister Lily were in a car accident on Christmas Eve that changed everything. Now, estranged from her family, Holly is part of a lonely hearts holiday letter-writing club where she writes to a stranger who is spending the holidays alone and receives a letter in return. The letters are anonymous but this year, Holly recognizes a place mentioned in her letter and she sets off to find the author, Emma, in the hopes of bringing her a little joy this Christmas season.
I picked this book up to read in December as part of my annual holiday reads. I didn’t get a chance to get to it last month so I decided it would be the first book I read in 2024. I have to say, as a book that is marketed as a Christmas story, the only thing Christmassy about this book is that it starts and ends in December. The bulk of the book takes place throughout the rest of the year. That was a bit of a bummer.
However, I really liked this book. Emily Stone wrote a beautiful story about grief, loss, and second chances. All the characters were well developed with lots of backstory and history. I loved the relationship between Holly and Emma and how it grew throughout the book. I couldn’t figure out if Holly was being pushy or kind when she set off to find Emma, but I’m glad she did.
The romance was nice and I loved the little twists of fate that kept bringing Jack and Holly together. I wasn’t sure how Jack was going to fit into the story but I thought his story arc was perfect.
I didn’t find this book as sad as some of the other books by Emily Stone I’ve read, but it was still a bit of a tear-jerker.
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