The Afterlife of Holly Chase
Ratings50
Average rating3.9
A fun twist on A Christmas Carol. A sort of Spirited! meets teen romcom. Recommending to my tweens as well.
holy fuck—i started crying at chapter 27 and don't stop until the end. this book was so much more than what you think it's going to be. it was so worth the read.
4.5/5 stars
This was really cute and I enjoyed the overall message! At some points the main character was a bit immature because it's YA and while I think it's intentional it did annoy me sometimes. I do think overall this is a Christmas reading must!
Fuck me, I cried! This was so good. the plot was really fresh even though it's a retelling. The relationships were amazing. The ending was absolutely satisfying. This was one hell of a read. It even got me feeling a certain type of way about Christmas and I don't even celebrate! I fucking loved it.
Fuck me, I cried! This was so good. the plot was really fresh even though it's a retelling. The relationships were amazing. The ending was absolutely satisfying. This was one hell of a read. It even got me feeling a certain type of way about Christmas and I don't even celebrate! I fucking loved it.
I really enjoyed this! I should probably start by saying I'm a big Christmas Carol fan, so I loved the existence of Project Scrooge! This was a very unique retelling of a Christmas Carol that I wasn't expecting going in, but I'm so glad it was unique!
This book was really cute and the perfect type of read for the Christmas season. I'm a sap so I did tear up a couple times and I really felt the Christmas Spirit while reading this.
I like the writing and the concept but besides that, none of the characters stood out to me and the plot didn't astonish me. I also didn't like that there's a romance thing going on. I thought that the story would focus more on Holly's character development. Although it did, but not until she met Ethan and it took her five years to realize that she was a terrible person back then, in which I thought was ridiculous. I can see why so many people love this book and I get it but it's just not for me.
HOLY SHIT. BEST BOOK I'VE READ ALL YEAR, HANDS DOWN. I can't even begin to describe how much I loved this book, but looking through my progress comments might help you out in that department. I just- Shit. Wow. I'm so speechless, like I don't have the words, I'm just- I am- this is- wha-
Amazing. Just absolutely amazing. Just so fucking incredibly amazing. I loved it. I loved it. I loved it. I loved it.
And yes, I did read this in one sitting in the middle of the night. I think I started at midnight or 1am and then finished just before 7am so... safe to say, I'm gonna die tomorrow because no sleep. Totally worth it. Wow wow wow.
I would like to thank Kindle and $2.49 for this wonderful holiday experience.
This was a super cute read. I recommend it for anyone who won't dwell on clichés. I don't think it'll change your life, but it was quite enjoyable and sweet. I saw the twists almost from the start, but that didn't take away from the story in my opinion.
~Review first appeared on The Bent Bookworm!~I love the original A Christmas Carol, so I was super excited when I realized that this retelling was by Cynthia Hand, one of the lovely authors of My Lady Jane (which is AWESOME and if you haven't read it what are you waiting on go now). If you haven't read the original but have seen a movie adaptation, you'll still “get it” for this book...if you haven't read or seen it you might not enjoy it quite as much, but it's all somewhat explained within this particular story.When I started reading this, I was about 20% through when I whined on GR that the main character, Holly, was just soooo unlikeable. Well, she's supposed to be a FAILED Scrooge – which means she was visited by the three ghosts of Christmas, and refused to head their warnings – so naturally she would be unlikable. I get that. But I just couldn't get on board with her at all! I didn't care that she'd been yanked from her life at an unbearable young age, I couldn't care less about her dingy little apartment, and I really really REALLY hated how she treated the other people she worked with. Given that it was a Scrooge story though, I kept going. Also, yes – Holly has had to deal with the loss of her mother, which royally sucks no matter how rich and pampered you are. She didn't deal well, because none of the adults in her life dealt well. It definitely contributed to her being the way that she is, BUT...we all have choices, and we can't blame other people for the choices we make ourselves.Ethan, this year's chosen Scrooge of Project Scrooge, had me scratching my head. Because yes, while he's cold and kind of jaded for a seventeen year old, he's not...THAT...bad. I kept expecting him to do something truly despicable but it never really happened.The modern twist on the Christmas Carol story was really fun and original. I loved it. It kept me reading even when Holly had me pulling my hair out. Also, her ex-best friend, Ro, kept me reading because I was so hopeful that somehow, someway, beyond the grave, they would reconcile.“He said, ‘Without stories, we're all just lonely islands.'...Stories let us see and hear and feel what someone else does,” she explained. “They build bridges to the other islands. That's why stories are so important. They create true empathy.”Yes. YES. This is why we read. This is why we read stories about people outside of our own little bubble, it's why we read stories written by people who are different than us. We read to relate as well as escape. Ro, girl, we need to be friends.I was not okay with the way Holly manipulated everything to suit her own feelings and desires up to the very end. I mean...had she not learned ANYTHING from death? Apparently not. She literally put her feelings and desires and emotions ahead of everyone and everything else. BUT THEN.The entire trajectory of the story changes in the last few chapters. It was so unexpected and the ending was SO DAMN REFRESHING I could have cried. It was so, so much better than I was even hoping. It added a half star onto my rating for this book, because it dared to be different and it actually resolved so much.4/4 stars, definitely recommend especially if you like the classic A Christmas Carol.Blog Twitter Bloglovin Instagram Google+
What a beautiful cover. And the title was also very intriguing. Well, that were my reasons for reading this book. I didn't expect much from it. And I wasn't disappointed at all. It turned out to be a very decent story.
When I started reading it I was very sceptic. While reading the first chapter I was like: OMG, here we go again. Another retelling. But I was actually surprised at how it turned out. And some parts of the ending were not so usual for YA books.
As for the main character, Holly Chase, she is a brat and not ashamed of it. I can't say that I liked her, but she was okay. I was glad that she was growing even if she physically couldn't do that.
Despite the story being the retelling, I truly appreciated the way it was done. And how unexpected and original some ideas were. However, for some reason, I've been reading this book for 10 days. It's not like I was too busy, but I just wasn't engaged in the story that much.
That's where I would like to say, that it is very important to read the book at the right time. The Afterlife of Holly Chase is a great Christmas story and I'm sure, that I would enjoy it in December much more.