[2] Holden was born and raised in Cleckheaton, West Riding of Yorkshire.
[3] One of her responsibilities at the title was ghostwriting a column on behalf of socialite Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, an experience which Holden says influenced her first novel, Simply Divine.
[3] After over a decade focused on the genre, Holden turned her attention to historical fiction.
[5] Her subsequent novel, The Duchess, released in 2021, focused on the life of Wallis Simpson.
[6] As of 2015[update] Holden is married, has two children, and lives in the Derbyshire Peak District.