The Afterlife of Holly Chase

by Cynthia Hand

[Kat @ Novels & Waffles]

"Falling in love can help us to see the things in life that are truly important. It can make us want to be better people. It can teach us to sacrifice what is in our own best interest for the sake of someone else."

This book has been on my TBR since last Christmas. I wanted to read it then – BECAUSE THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT IS STRONG WITH THIS ONE AND I NEED ALL THE GINGERBREAD COOKIES, SANTA HATS, AND RED-RIBBONED-WREATHS IN MY LIFE – but somehow I just didn't get around to it. *insert very loud sigh here* So this year I was DETERMINED to read it. And I did. Obviously.

While I was about as excited to start reading this as a toddler on Christmas morning (I mean it's written by one of the Lady Jaines!!! But wait, there's more: it's also a super-creative reimagining of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. You don't see that everyday, so YAY for creativity points!), it didn't quite live up to my great expectations (hahahahahsobs. I will refrain from any more Dickens puns. Probably).

Sure, the premise was fun and original, but some aspects of the plot were stilted and unbelievable (which is kind of saying something, considering this book is all about time travel and ghosts – which, in case you haven't noticed, aren't ranked very high on the believability scale). The mix of normal and paranormal felt awkwardly handled, and I'm still confused about how Holly was dead, but not dead? That explanation fell flat for me, as did much of the other clumsy worldbuilding.

The characters and relationships saved the book. Holly, though purposefully written to be an unlikeable character, wasn't as big of a hum-bug Scrooge as I thought she would be. Yes, she was selfish, but I still ended up liking her well enough to stick with it until the end All in all, while this story's premise was creative and unique, the handling of the worldbuilding was not as strong as I would have liked. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't something to go sing door-to-door about.