'The Afterlife of Holly Chase' by Cynthia Hand is a modern take on the famous classic 'A Christmas Carol' by Charles Dickens. In her version, Hand explores the aftermath of a "Scrooge" that did not change her ways after being visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present & Future. Holly Chase is spoiled, greedy & selfish. She does not care about anyone, but herself & this does not change after the ghosts show her who she has become. Thus, after she dies, she's stuck working for "Project Scrooge" as the Ghost of Christmas Past. Even after years of working with the company, Holly is still a selfish brat. However, all of that may change when Ethan Winters is chosen as the latest Scrooge. Holly immediately relates with also spoiled, greedy & selfish Ethan, but will she be able to put her own interests aside in order to save him from making the same mistakes she did? Is this Scrooge capable of change?
This book is not perfect by any means. It has pacing & character development issues and the plot is a little predictable. HOWEVER, I still enjoyed it a lot. It's a fun & cute short story that's perfect for a pick me up, especially during the Holidays. It also communicates the message of 'A Christmas Carol' in a much simpler & fun journey. Furthermore, the characters in this book are more relatable & thus the author's message is better received.
I recommend this book to anyone looking for a fun sweet read, especially during the Holiday season. I also recommend that you read or, at least, watch 'A Christmas Carol' by Dickens before reading this book since there are many references in it that may be confusing and/or hard to understand otherwise.
A More In Depth Review
***SPOILER ALERT***
I loved the premise of this book. I thought it was extremely creative to create a whole company that’s in charge of helping people save their souls by using ‘A Christmas Carol’ as their inspiration. The romance was cute, and all the characters were very funny and interesting. I especially enjoyed reading about Holly’s relationship with her father and Ro and I would have liked to read even more about it. The story is also short which is a plus for those looking for a quick and heartfelt read. However, even though I enjoyed it a lot, I have to admit that it could have been better developed.
First of all, I wasn’t a fan of the time jumps and the weird pacing they created. I think it was a little lazy to fast-forward the plot so many times instead of actually using the time to develop the characters, which in my opinion were pretty underdeveloped. The story would have been better if we got to know more about the most important characters in the story, especially Ethan.
I am at a crossroads with Ethan’s character. I liked him a lot. However, I feel like I wasn’t supposed to like him as much as I did. Like Marty and Grant, throughout most of the story, I was extremely confused as to why he was even a Scrooge in the first place. Besides a couple of memories in which he was an ass to those around him, Ethan was the perfect gentleman. He never treated Holly or those around them wrong. He was kind, funny and sweet. And I know he wasn’t a “real Scrooge” but if he was supposed to be a mirror image of Holly in order to help her, I feel like he would’ve actually had to have been on the same path as her and thus a Scrooge. Therefore, I would have liked if we had seen glimpses of his misgivings while he was with Holly. Besides making him a more realistic character and Scrooge, it would have also helped in the development of Holly’s characters. Seeing glimpses of her bad qualities in Ethan would have helped her realize her own flaws. And it would have been great if we would have seen more of Holly’s path towards changing her ways throughout the book. The moment at the end where she FINALLY puts Ethan before herself was amazing, but I think it would’ve been better if we had actually seen her battling to do the right thing more. I mean, she didn’t even think about how Ethan would die if they failed ONCE until the very end. Her character change came a little abrupt, which I believe could have been easily avoidable since the story is told from her point of view.
I was also able to predict most of the “reveals” in this book. From the beginning, I think it was a little obvious that Boz and company were conspiring to help and reform Holly. I also guessed that Stephanie was Dave’s daughter and that she was the Ghost of Christmas Past that visited Holly on that faithful night. However, even though I already knew where we were heading, I very much enjoyed the author’s reveals.
I debated for a long time whether this book was a three or four star read and finally decided on 3.5 stars. Most of this book is a three-star read, however, the ending was four-star worthy. While I was not a fan of the going back in time scheme, I LOVED Holly’s interaction with Ro and her dad at the end. It brought me to tears. I was also a huge fan of Holly’s final words with Boz. These small interactions made me forget all about the time travel & out of the blue character change in Holly. I only wished we would have gotten to see her with Stephanie one last time.
I also liked a lot that Holly and Ethan did not end up together. I think that they were destined to meet and help each other grow as people, but I do not think they were meant for each other. In my opinion, any relationship that starts based on lies cannot flourish. And there were so many lies in this one. Holly basically became another person when she was with him. Moreover, the fact that she had access to all his memories and thoughts and used it to further their relationship was super weird.
Lastly, I read ‘A Christmas Carol’ a long time ago and thus don’t remember much of it. Therefore, I found it a bit confusing when character names of that story were used on this one. Cynthia Hand gave a little explanation of who some of them symbolized, but she didn’t for most of them. And this made it confusing to figure out what they were talking about.
Overall, as I said before, the book is not perfect. However, it’s a very entertaining, funny and cute heartfelt read. Therefore, I think anyone looking for an easy going read would definitively enjoy it.
Favorite Quotes
“Without stories, we’re all just lonely islands. Stories let us see and hear and feel what someone else does. They build bridges to the other islands.” -Rosie Alvarez
“It’s the way we’ve always done it, so we always have to do it that way.” -Holly Chase
“You can accomplish a lot just by listening to someone…Sometimes all a person needs to turn themselves around is on good friend.” -Holly Chase
“It (love) can teach us to sacrifice what is in our own best interest for the sake of someone else.” -Boz
“Ethan can’t fall in love. He can’t fell love. Not anything true. He’s not capable of loving another person. To love, you have to think about more than just yourself. You have to consider the well-being of someone else. From what I understand, Ethan hasn’t considered anyone but himself in a very long time.” -Blackpool
“But love doesn’t always have to be about the happy ending. Love can be about beginnings, too.” -Holly Chase
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