Review: THE AFTERLIFE OF HOLLY CHASE by Cynthia Hand

"I just think, we don't get promised anything good in this life. Bad things happen all the time. They're happening right now, somewhere out there. They'll keep happening. Who knows? Maybe this moment, right here, is as good as I'm every going to be."

It's almost Christmas, so you need a book that takes place on Christmas Eve today, right!? THE AFTERLIFE OF HOLLY CHASE by Cynthia Hand is a perfect choice this month. While not a retelling of Charles Dickens' famous A CHRISTMAS CAROL, it's very much inspired by the classic novel.

In life, Holly Chase was a vain, narcissistic person who very much resembled a Scrooge. On Christmas Eve, she was visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. She thought it was a joke and didn't believe. Now she's dead and working for The Scrooge Project as the new Ghost of Christmas Past. Even in her afterlife, she can't get away from Christmas. She's been dead and on the job for five years now. Everything is ho-hum, and she's never quite adjusted to her new life.

This year's Scrooge is a seventeen-year-old boy named Ethan----the same age Holly was when she was chosen as the year's Scrooge. She finds parallels to her own life and feels connected in a way she never has with previous Scrooges. Can she save Ethan before he makes the same mistake she did?

Light, breezy, and funny, this book flew by. I did a buddy-read with my co-worker, and we were both amused and ultimately satisfied with how the book turned out! Holly isn't the most likable character in the world, but honestly? She's not supposed to be. She wouldn't have been a Scrooge in real life if she was! But it's interesting to see the changes she goes through when trying to connect to her current Scrooge and....really, I can't say more. It's REALLY hard to talk about this book without spoilers, to be honest. It's just one of those books.

The good news is that the book is a stand-alone, and laced with humor. It's the perfect book to curl up with this holiday season, especially because it's an original tale and not a direct retelling.

THE AFTERLIFE OF HOLLY CHASE by Cynthia Hand was published by HarperCollins on October 24, 2017 and is available at bookstores everywhere.

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