The Holly Dates

5 stars!Nearly a year ago, Holly was left at the alter when her fiancé ran off with her best friend. It was the Christmas Eve that broke her heart and as the date approaches once again, she is not only dreading it but she also doesn’t want to be alone. She is determined to have a date for Christmas so she gets on a dating app and starts swiping right.The Holly Dates a lighter side to this author's writing and but it still gives us so much heart with some heartache mixed in. It’s not as angsty as her other novels but it still kept me captivated and invested from the first page to the last. It’s clever and witty, and so much fun!Holly and Kai are so good together and I loved the meet-ugly and the instant annoyance they felt towards each other because I knew their story would be an entertaining one. The start off like oil and water but as they bicker and get on each other’s nerves, slowly they get to know each other and become so much more than just friends."Holly and her laughs felt like medicine to my soul, and I didn’t even know my soul felt sick."This is not an instalove story and we actually have Kai helping Holly find her forever date. She strikes out until Kai picks the guy. Things take a turn when Holly thinks this guy may be “the one” but Kai thinks the opposite.I adore Holly and Kai and love that they can be themselves with each other. I thoroughly enjoyed the banter, and how when feelings grow, they don’t really know what to do about them. It’s not until they realize that the one you should be with is the one who truly sees you that they understand the love they both deserve.“Don’t do that, Holly,” I whispered, lacing my hands together in my lap.“Don’t do what?”“Read the parts of my book that I don’t share with people.”“It’s a good book, Kai. I’d wish you’d let me read it all.”They are there for each other, through the bad, the break downs, and finally when the walls they put up around their heart come down. Each had their own heartbreak and they help each other get through it when their pasts resurface.I also have to add that I loved the secondary characters, especially Kai’s brother, her family, and their friends.Overall, story is such a wonderful read and not just for the holidays. My heart was full by the end and the epilogue was perfect.

A "meet-ugly" followed by a restaurant/bar owner watching a desperate woman try to find love with the apps. His bartop is witness to all of her bad first dates and eventually, his antagonism for her starts to turn. He finds himself offering advice with a side of snark, but also starts to help her on her man-quest and they begin to become friends.Kai is handsome, burly, sardonic, grumpy, closed-off, and thinks his heart is damaged beyond repair. His past romantic life and even childhood have made him cynical, jaded, and emotionally unavailable.Holly is a romance author who has been hurt so much in the past that she finds it hard to believe she can find true love no matter how many dates she goes on. But she pastes on a smile and continues on her mission. She is lonely, awkward, quirky, smart, emotional, bubbly, scared, and hopeful.They are a pair of damaged individuals desperately in need of a connection but also terrified to put themselves out there due to self-worth issues and fear of rejection. Their back stories are unique and hurt them. Both are grieving past relationships but he turned darker while she maintained her light. But things start to get a bit messier once Holly starts finding some dating success and Kai finds himself not liking it all.I totally fell for the broody Kai especially when I got to see his vulnerability and sweet inner core. I loved his relationship with his younger brother, Mano, and how Mano sometimes is the voice of reason with these two having communication issues. Holly just kind of infiltrates their lives with sunshine, but she is a bit oblivious to what is really going on and is very emotional.Faking it for a holiday should be an easy way to try things out, but if they could just let themselves communicate and be vulnerable, they have the potential for a whole lot more.This is a sarcastic, witty, enemies-to-friends-to-lovers, faking-it, grumpy-sunshine, holiday romance with humor and heart. This book is a rom-com, but it also has some deeper emotional tones and there are some twists and surprises. I adored these characters and it was a sweet holiday read with so many layers to the story.

This was a delightful holiday rom-com. It had all the holiday feels with a splash of humor and tons of romantic moments. Brittainy always has great messages in her books and they're always full of emotions. This one might not be quite as angsty but it did have some sad moments.I loved the beginning of this book and how Holly and Kai met and the circumstances that occurred after that. I love a good grumpy/sunshine trope and Kai and Holly embodied that. The first half was great; the second half left much to be desired. It was just filled with so many unnecessary drama and the whole MJ thing was just annoying. I honestly hated how straightforward Kai was in the beginning of the book but then became a chicken in telling Holly how he felt. It really felt like too drastic of a personality change for Kai that I had a hard time wrapping my head around it. I understand that they both have a bad relationship history and were hesitant but it just got ridiculous at one point. Holly was cute and quirky and I loved her character but she was sort of full of blinders for most of the book. Like she couldn't reason things out very well and was blind to lots of things. It did frustrate me a bit. There are some sweet moments but sometimes they seemed overly cheesy and made me cringe. But I still loved the ending and overall story.Overall, this is a good light-hearted holiday romance book. Was it the best one I've read? No. But it was good and I did enjoy the book. If cheesy, romantic books perfect for the holidays are your cup of tea, this is the book for you. There were some parts that could have been refined more but it was a cute holiday read and definitely put me in the holiday mood!