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Holly Freakin' Hughes Kindle Edition

4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 2,691 ratings

A fun romantic comedy about a woman down on her luck and a handsome, mysterious stranger.

"People like you don't fall in love with people like me."

Meet Holly Hughes, a moderately successful teen advice columnist living in a studio apartment on the Upper East Side with her boyfriend Stephen. She has it all, but at the ripe age of thirty-one, she wants more. She wants to be married, she wants a family, and she's going to have it all with Stephen.

At least, that's what she thought, until Stephen announces he's gay, and the domino effect of unfortunate events begins. She soon finds herself unemployed, single, and living in her sister's house on Long Island, working as her niece's babysitter for less than minimum wage. She's pretty certain she's destined to live in the Land of Mediocrity forever.

And then, her niece runs face-first into a tall, handsome man at the bookstore.

Holly Freakin' Hughes is an HFN title about acceptance, feeling good enough, and the reality that the grass isn't always greener on the other side.

NOTE: This book contains some strong language and sexual situations. Age discretion is advised.
Popular Highlights in this book

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Kelsey Kingsley grew up in the great state of New York, and still lives there with her family and a cat named Ethel. When she isn't writing her fingers to the bone, she enjoys a good (or bad) book, reruns of Frasier, ruining the lives of her Sims, and singing and dancing in the kitchen. She somehow survives off a diet of tea, doughnuts, and French fries. However, she hates cheese and listening to people chew. You've been warned.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B073N7F364
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ (August 1, 2017)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 1, 2017
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1.5 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 339 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 2,691 ratings

About the author

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Kelsey Kingsley
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Kelsey Kingsley is an author of angsty, emotional, character driven romance novels. She lives in New York with her family and a cat named Ethel. She loves music, makeup, tattoos, and watching Frasier reruns. Kelsey is a Slytherin. She also curses a lot but won't apologize for it.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
2,691 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers enjoyed the book and found it fun to read. They described the storyline as cute, sweet, and within normal romance standards. The characters were relatable and easy to like, with substantial growth. The humor was lighthearted and humorous situations provided comic relief. Readers praise the writing quality as easy to read with well-laid-out descriptions. They loved Holly's character and felt emotional connections between them.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

111 customers mention "Enjoyment"111 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the book. They find the characters relatable and easy to like. The story is described as light summer reading with comic relief. Readers appreciate the great banter and fantastic characters. Overall, they describe it as a lovely debut by Kelsey Kingsley.

"...At different times I wanted to slap both of them. It was fun, sad, emotional, sweet, angst filled, and hot watching their story unfold,..." Read more

"I really enjoyed this book. The story offered a perfect balance of emotion, drama, poignancy, humor and vulnerable heart...." Read more

"...Great read!" Read more

"...checked all of the boxes: sweet, funny, smart, charming, sensitive, successful and insanely attractive...." Read more

92 customers mention "Storyline"83 positive9 negative

Customers enjoy the storyline. They find it cute, within normal romance standards, and a beautiful love story with great characters. The story has a perfect balance of emotion, drama, poignancy, humor, and wit.

"...It was fun, sad, emotional, sweet, angst filled, and hot watching their story unfold, evolve and devolve. It keeps you on your toes...." Read more

"...The story offered a perfect balance of emotion, drama, poignancy, humor and vulnerable heart...." Read more

"Sweet, funny, and full of heart Light and easy read. The story line flows nicely and I had a hard time finding a good place to take a break...." Read more

"...Anyway, other than those issues, I did very much like the HEA ending, and the writing was good overall...." Read more

46 customers mention "Character development"39 positive7 negative

Customers enjoy the relatable and likable characters. They appreciate the honest expression of feelings by the male character, who is sensitive and normal. The realistic portrayal of ordinary people and compassion are also appreciated.

"Loved it . Couldn't put it down. The characters were great. Loved all the Details giving I could picture the moment when things were happening...." Read more

"...Such beautiful words, and real, loveable and relatable characters. Joy, fun, pain, love, hope...this book has it all..." Read more

"...It shows perfectly who each character is, and, you get to meet, Esther!" Read more

"...in a matter of hours, the author manages to pack a substantial amount of character growth...." Read more

46 customers mention "Humor"46 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the book's humor. They find the tone humorous, with a light touch and a witty voice. The characters are described as quirky but believable. The dialogue flows naturally like normal conversation.

"...The story offered a perfect balance of emotion, drama, poignancy, humor and vulnerable heart...." Read more

"Sweet, funny, and full of heart Light and easy read. The story line flows nicely and I had a hard time finding a good place to take a break...." Read more

"...pretty much the perfect H in that he checked all of the boxes: sweet, funny, smart, charming, sensitive, successful and insanely attractive...." Read more

"...help make this book all the more “realistic”, lighthearted and funny! Can say so much more but don’t want to spoil it all for the readers!..." Read more

46 customers mention "Writing quality"36 positive10 negative

Customers find the writing quality of the book good. They say it's easy to read, with some surprising twists. The words and scenes flow smoothly, with great descriptions that help readers visualize things clearly. Readers appreciate the well-crafted characters and story development. Overall, they find the book a quick and enjoyable read.

"Sweet, funny, and full of heart Light and easy read. The story line flows nicely and I had a hard time finding a good place to take a break...." Read more

"Loved it . Couldn't put it down. The characters were great. Loved all the Details giving I could picture the moment when things were happening...." Read more

"...It’s a perfectly written, modern, love story, not only between the 2 main characters but between the protagonist (Holly) and herself...." Read more

"...There were a few grammatical errors and a couple of egregious spellings that should have been caught by an editor - those just bounce me out of the..." Read more

18 customers mention "Love for holly"18 positive0 negative

Customers enjoyed the relatable and lovable character of Holly. They found the story lighthearted and enjoyable.

"...times I wanted to slap both of them. It was fun, sad, emotional, sweet, angst filled, and hot watching their story unfold, evolve and devolve...." Read more

"Sweet, funny, and full of heart Light and easy read. The story line flows nicely and I had a hard time finding a good place to take a break...." Read more

"...he was pretty much the perfect H in that he checked all of the boxes: sweet, funny, smart, charming, sensitive, successful and insanely attractive...." Read more

"...Such beautiful words, and real, loveable and relatable characters. Joy, fun, pain, love, hope...this book has it all..." Read more

17 customers mention "Emotional content"17 positive0 negative

Customers find the book emotional and heartfelt. They say it's funny, sad, and full of heart. The characters linger in their minds and the drama is steamy.

"...times I wanted to slap both of them. It was fun, sad, emotional, sweet, angst filled, and hot watching their story unfold, evolve and devolve...." Read more

"I really enjoyed this book. The story offered a perfect balance of emotion, drama, poignancy, humor and vulnerable heart...." Read more

"Sweet, funny, and full of heart Light and easy read. The story line flows nicely and I had a hard time finding a good place to take a break...." Read more

"...Lots of longing, some drama, some fairly steamy scenes...." Read more

29 customers mention "Pacing"18 positive11 negative

Customers have different views on the pacing of the book. Some found it engaging from start to finish, with a satisfying story that gripped them from the first page. Others felt it was uninspired and boring, with characters lacking depth and being juvenile and dumb.

"...This was actually quite a lot of fun along with the silliness and fluff. It was written with a light touch and a humorous tone...." Read more

"I enjoyed this story. It had a great beginning but then it just dragged and dragged...." Read more

"...This book was fluff, but very refreshing and fun fluff. Exactly what I needed!" Read more

"I was super excited to read this book. Somehow this was both a refreshing and underwhelming read...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on April 11, 2018
    I loved this book. Yes, that’s my opening statement. I could stop right there and say get this book and read it, That would be enough. I want to do more justice to the author. This book touched my heart from the opening page. The second episode is probably more common than most people would think. It touched my heart deeply cause I know people involved in such a situation. You don’t bounce back easily from this situation on any side.
    Holly is freakin adorable. She’s also a mess, insecure and it would seem full of bad juju.
    Brandon is heartbreakingly handsome, successful, got the world by the tail and still is carrying around more baggage than the baggage handlers at an airport. You would think with all this going on it would be not the best coupling. Guess what, that’s what they thought too. Law of the Universe sometimes has other plans. No one said the journey would be easy or even that they’d reach that destination. At different times I wanted to slap both of them.
    It was fun, sad, emotional, sweet, angst filled, and hot watching their story unfold, evolve and devolve. It keeps you on your toes. The secondary characters will keep you entertained as well. You may even find yourself saying, “Yeah, I know her”.
    This is an extremely fast read. Once you start you’ll want to keep going...I did. So my advice is read this story cause it’s Freakin Good!
    5 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2020
    I really enjoyed this book. The story offered a perfect balance of emotion, drama, poignancy, humor and vulnerable heart. My own heart aches for these two, the pain that they half endured and the mistakes they made along the way. Would I say this book was perfect? No, because I thought it just came across as just to real and genuine. And it is for sure the one thing that real life and love certainly aren't is perfect and that's perfectly OK. I do admit that there were a couple of things about this story that I wasn't a huge fan of. However, those I mainly chalked up to my own pet peeves and preferences, so I tried very hard not to judge the book to harshly because of them. All together I thought that this was a very satisfying read.
    One person found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2018
    Sweet, funny, and full of heart
    Light and easy read. The story line flows nicely and I had a hard time finding a good place to take a break. Poor Holly is down on her luck and seems to be terrible at relationships but great at friendships. Brandon is absolute perfection, which is the only clue that lets us know this book is fiction. I found myself relating to Holly more than I care to admit. She isn’t full of herself or overly confident and Brandon, oh my gracious, I freakin my have a heart hard on for him. Esther, Holly’s neighbor, is secondary character perfection! This little old lady and her filthy mouth had me wishing I had my own Esther! Great read!
    14 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on January 19, 2018
    This was a pretty fun + lighthearted romcom that was enjoyable for the most part. Loved Brandon - he was pretty much the perfect H in that he checked all of the boxes: sweet, funny, smart, charming, sensitive, successful and insanely attractive. However, for me it was almost like he was too perfect, whereas the main character, Holly, is kind of a disaster, and honestly, I had a hard time figuring out what Brandon saw in her. I understand that she was going through a tough time, but I found myself thinking, "my gosh, woman, pull yourself together!" throughout the whole story. They did have good chemistry, which made it slightly easier to understand, but in the end, it just didn't seem super believable that he'd be interested, let alone in love with her.

    But the biggest issues for me with this book were: 1) Holly choosing to enter a relationship with Ben & continuing the relationship when she knew (and admitted!) from the start that it felt "wrong", and that she had zero feelings for him. It just sort of made her seem pretty desperate, needy, and weak, which made her a little unlikeable for me. And 2) Holly's reaction to finding out Brandon was famous was so over the top and ridiculous, even though I KNEW she'd react that way (it was pretty much alluded to during the story whenever Brandon got nervous about "telling her everything"... as a reader, you knew the s**t was going to hit the fan). But what bothered me is it's not like he lied about anything, Holly was just apparently too caught up in her own BS to do a quick google search on him during the entire time they knew each other (which is odd, considering how much she loves to read, you would think she'd be interested in her new author friend enough to possibly check out his work?). And considering he just wanted to be a normal person, it would have been super douchey if he were to go around telling everyone he meets, "so, you DO know I'm famous, right?" I mean, he told her his name, that he was an author, that he lived in a nice house, and he drove a custom luxury vehicle, so it's not like he intentionally mislead her or hid his identity... With all of the info that she had, and given her interest in him, you'd think she'd be curious enough to look him up at some point, right?? Point is, he didn't lie to her, he just didn't spell everything out. Holly's dramatic reaction and feelings of betrayal seemed misplaced to me - I mean, being shocked & needing time to adjust I'd understand, but her reaction seemed excessive.

    Anyway, other than those issues, I did very much like the HEA ending, and the writing was good overall. An enjoyable read if you're looking for a cute, lighthearted (if a bit unrealistic) story!
    20 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2023
    Loved it . Couldn't put it down. The characters were great. Loved all the Details giving I could picture the moment when things were happening. kept me wondering. Didn't see Holly being so upset when she found out Brandon was a famous writer. He told her he was a writer. The twist is always a good way to keep the readers not wanting to put the book down. THANKS

Top reviews from other countries

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  • Michelle
    5.0 out of 5 stars Funny & Sweet But Still Brings The Heat!!
    Reviewed in Canada on December 17, 2018
    I had this hanging around on my kindle for a while before I started reading it and now I'm sorry I didn't start it the minute I got it! I love it when a book I know nothing about blows my socks off!! I empathized with Holly and her career and romantic struggles (Nothing worse than being friend-zoned...ugh) and Brandon is my new favorite book boyfriend!! I found the story believable, funny and sweet. One tip though...if you ever have the same "turkey problem", I know from personal experience that you can still eat that bird and no one will ever know ;)
  • Kindle Customer Nic X
    5.0 out of 5 stars Who knew bookshops are where it's at?
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 24, 2020
    After reading Warrior Blue I moved onto Holly Freakin Hughes.... Well what can I say....
    It's a story written from both sides. You hear Holly and Brandon reveal their thoughts and insecurities to the reader in the private confines of their individual chapters, which are cunningly labelled by the author, just so you don't get confused.
    I love the fact that you see the conversations between the characters and you get to know them and want to be part of their lives.
    I think all us single gals dream about meeting a guy like Brandon, and in a bookshop no less, maybe I ought to get out more?
    If only what we read can be real life too??
  • Pru
    4.0 out of 5 stars Loved it
    Reviewed in India on March 15, 2020
    Good romance. Loved it despite too much use of "people like you". The hero and heroine were not as perfect as those we usually find in most romantic novels, which felt a bit more realistic.
  • AVFB
    3.0 out of 5 stars Ok.
    Reviewed in Brazil on April 17, 2018
    Comprei o livro porque curti a capa (quem nunca?).
    Porém, algumas coisas me incomodaram nele:
    1. A personagem principal (Holly) tem 31 anos e é frustrada com a vida que tem. Se sente inferior, mas não gosta quando acham que ela é, de fato, inferior pela profissão que tem. Só que em nenhum momento do livro ela faz alguma coisa pra mudar isso. Esqueceram de avisar pra ela que se tá ruim, ela tem que agir pra mudar, não é mesmo?
    2. Apesar de 31, é extremamente infantil. Alguns momentos do livro age como se tivesse 16 anos. Irritante.
    3. Instalove. Não curto. O personagem principal (Brandon) mal conhece a menina, e já a ama. Forçado.
    4. Desesperada pra casar. Chega a ser chato.

    Agora o que mais me incomodou:
    5. NÃO TEM EPÍLOGO! (Alô autores, por favor não façam isso) Tem prólogo de 5 anos antes, mas não tem epílogo. Odeio quando simplesmente a história acaba, e não podemos ver como os personagem estão anos depois.
  • Kindle Customer
    4.0 out of 5 stars I was totally sucked in
    Reviewed in Canada on March 6, 2021
    Totally believable characters and struggles. I loved hanging out at the book store with them! This was well written and simply fun to read.

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