She didn’t. And then she died.
Now she’s stuck working for the top-secret company Project Scrooge—as their latest Ghost of Christmas Past. So far, Holly’s afterlife has been miserable. But this year’s Scrooge is different. This year’s Scrooge might change everything.
An imaginative riff on an evergreen classic, The Afterlife of Holly Chase is a witty, poignant, and insightful novel about life, love, and seizing second (or third) chances, and will appeal to readers who love books like If I Stay and Before I Fall. (Pub Date: Oct 24, 2017)
Honest review based on an ARC provided by Edelweiss. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.
After failing to recover her ways, seventeen-year-old Holly Chase has died and now taken on the role as the Ghost of Christmas Past. She works in the very same centenary supernatural company that had tried to save her, which is in charge of trying to change the life of a Scrooge per year. After five years on the job, this year's Scrooge touches her in a way no other ever did and things start getting too personal putting the whole project at risk.
I had previously read The Last Time We Say Goodbye by Cinthia Hand and, while I wasn't that fond of the book I really wanted to read more by her. Well, this was an interesting experience. I took long to decide whether this deserved to be rounded up to 4 as it isn't a simple 3 but then I noticed my indecision was proof enough it only deserves 3 stars. So let's call this a 3+, okay?
The story is lots of fun and I really liked how she built the whole Project Scrooge idea. There were a lot of details that even feels a little like a waste for a standalone. I loved how there are actual people working there and not only the deceased. And searching for all the connections with A Christmas Carol felt a little like a detective book. They need to find a representation of each of the characters from Dickens's novel in people surrounding their current Scrooge. The idea was quite exciting, especially as they discussed possibilities for each of them.
On the other hand, the book had some strange flaws for an experienced writer. Some scenes seriously deserve a rewrite if not a total cut and to make things worst, one them is exactly the beginning. Holly tells the story of her own Christmas intervention by the spirits from Project Scrooge so quickly it felt like I was in fact reading a summary and was left a bit dizzy from so much information I had no idea if they were useless or not. For a beginning, that is sure to give a terrible first impression. Unfortunately, Hand repeats this mistake some other times, though I might have not felt bothered hadn't it been for the beginning. I understand the book wasn't exactly short and all the information was indeed given, but there are more subtle ways to accomplish the same.
Holly was a nice character in the present. I liked her. And for this very reason, I didn't buy much her past as a Mean Girl. There were five years, yes. There was a number of pranks of her intern, yes. But I still couldn't feel the transition, as I think that was essential to the plot. The only way she really showed it was the voice of her late stepmother, which was if not enough just some comical relief. At the same time, I liked how she wasn't some irritating teenager. Actually, if you think well and sum 17+5, she wasn't a teenager anymore. Cinthia Hand got the right way to portray this twenty-two seventeen-year-old.
And her romantic pair Ethan... he was weird most of the times. I do think it was on purpose but it was hard to understand how he could make Holly feel so attracted. I did get that she'd break rules to get to know him, but not that she'd be actually in love. The more she got to know him, the less I liked the guy. Hand could have developed a little more his redemption, in my opinion.
At last, the ending of course. I liked the idea but I didn't like the execution. I finished the book with a lot of questions pertaining details of how we went from A to B. But I liked B—the conclusion. It was a good way to solve the problems and it wasn't surprising, since the author hints that along the novel.
In all, I will still read more from Hand but I expected the depth and care I had seen in The Last Time We Say Goodbye. However, and unlike the predecessor, this was much more fun to read. It's like she fixed here whatever had bothered me in the other. I'd say if she could pick her qualities in each of them, she'd be able to write the perfect YA. It's not really memorable. And yet, a nice read for anyone.
Rating: 3 out of 5.
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