The Afterlife of Holly Chase by Cynthia Hand
(Format for this read: Audiobook)
I have a hard back book I have been reallllllllyyyyyy struggling thru the past couple weeks, yall.
It is taking me eleventy billion forevers to push thru those pages…and hopefully in the next few days I will be done and yall can hear alllll about it.
Since I always have AT LEAST two books going at once–an audio one and a print one–when I finished “Anxious People” on audio (go read my review on that gem if you haven’t yet….it’s a glorious book) I knew my next download had to be something light and not so serious since my print book is kinda depressing and dystopian and obviously making me read at sloth like pace.
ANYWAYS….
So for my next audio read I searched under the category of “Christmas.”
I am trying really hard to get myself into the Christmas spirit this year….
Usually that isn’t hard to do….most years I am ready to bust out the sparkly garland, turn on the Christmas carols and deck my halls as soon as Halloween is over.
Not the case at ALLLLL this year for all the obvious reasons that 2020 has heavily laid upon us….depression, anxiety, not being able to be with family, cancelled events, etc etc etc
Kinda hard to find the joy, isn’t it?
I thought…what better way to get my yuletide spirit flowing than hearing a good ol’ Christmas themed novel?
So search I did.
When this YA book popped up I was like “Yep. This is it. THIS is what I need in my life right now.”
Here is the official description:
“On Christmas Eve five years ago, seventeen-year-old Holly Chase was visited by three Ghosts who showed her how selfish and spoiled she’d become. They tried to convince her to mend her ways. 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…”
This isn’t just an average retelling of Dicken’s classic….I would say the author just uses the basics as an outline and guide…and then fills in the rest with her own creative spin on things.
(BTW I truly love Christmas Carol retellings….hands down my fave one EVER is The Muppet Christmas Carol because DUH…..MUPPETS RULE ALL)
Holly is the typical rich ‘mean girl’ kind of teenager that makes a great modern day Scrooge….and she is what is considered a “failed” Scrooge. In her stubborness, she doesn’t listen to all the warnings the various ghosts give her on Christmas Eve…..she doesn’t change and then she dies….
and then is fated to go work alongside the very guides she snubbed.
I love the way the author modernizes this tale by making the whole Project Scrooge company….complete with ghosts as “employees” (although there ARE a few NOT dead people who work there too), production and research teams, and even cool gadgets and inventions used to learn about each year’s “Scrooge” and to aid them in helping them change their ways on the big night—Christmas Eve.
Holly is lonely and bitter and doesn’t really believe in the mission of the company OR the job she has been assigned to do.
She’s been pulling along for five years….stuck living as a kind of “half ghost”, eternally the age she was when she died, which was 16.
But then everything changes when a friendly college student intern named Stephanie starts working alongside her who is DETERMINED to be her friend…
And then Project Scrooge starts working on their new Scrooge for the year which is quite the deviation from the norm….
The Scrooge is a teenage boy named Ethan…who happens to be QUITE hot.
Things get REALLY muddled for Holly then…and she begins questioning every action she takes.
Lessons are learned and people are changed just like in the original Christmas Carol…but in this story, it is not always who you think it will be OR in the way you think it will happen.
There are definitely some predictable plot lines (yall know there will be SOME kind of romantic situation)….I mean, it IS a YA book after all….BUT there are some interesting and unexpected twists that I did not see coming!
It was a heartwarming story that does indeed make you feel the joy and hope that the Christmas season can hold…but the story also takes time to delicately deal with grief and loss and the effects it has on a child.
The story also reinforces the idea that we are all connected to each other and even our self focused and self guided decisions can affect many others…both negatively AND positively.
This was an enjoyable novel, perfect for the season….it is a quick and easy book whether you listen to it or read a physical copy.
If you’re looking for a good little fictional holiday escape, you will find one here with Holly!