Title: The Afterlife of Holly Chase
Author: Cynthia Hand
Publisher: HarperTeen
Published: 24 October 2017
Pages: 400
Another book I read over the Christmas Holidays, and it was a fun, easy read, which was the whole point. So, I guess technically it served it’s purpose. However, I wasn’t as blown away as I was hoping I would be.
On Christmas Eve five years ago, Holly was visited by three ghosts who showed her how selfish and spoiled she’d become. They tried to mend her ways. She didn’t. She died. As you can already tell, this is a retelling of A Christmas Eve, as now Holly works for the top-secret company Project Scrooge, as the Ghost of Christmas Past. Each year they save another miserly grouch. And each year, Holly stays frozen at 17 while her family and friends go on living without her. Yet, this year is different, as the Scrooge this year doesn’t fit the usual model of the Scrooge. Holly decides to become friends with him but has to keep it from everyone else at Project Scrooge, as it’s against policy. Of course, feelings start forming between Holly and Ethan.
The story is pretty much a typical YA romance book with ghosts thrown in for a good twist. Holly realizes that she needs to be honest with Ethan to save him, which she does, but then in the end she ends up back in her bedroom five years earlier. The Christmas day she died. She then goes on to make amends and fix the things she needs to fix. Not only does she make amends with those in her own life, but she even goes to save Ethan’s dad, the big turning point in Ethan’s life and what made him turn into his grandfather.
She does go to find her boss and ask him about what happened and the readers find out that this year’s Scrooge wasn’t really Ethan but Holly. Her boss tells her that they never give up on a Scrooge. All in all, the book gives us that nice, warm, Christmasy feel that we all want around the holidays.
Happy Reading Lovelies!
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