A review by savannah_trosper
The Afterlife of Holly Chase, by Cynthia Hand

3.0

I love books that are a retelling of a classic story. I love how authors are able to take these stories that are already loved by everyone, and put a whole new spin and meaning to it, thus, drawing even more people in to love this story. In this instance, this author gave a more modern theme to this retelling of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. This story had death, romance, despair, sadness, and everything else the original story-line has. What makes this story different is that the Scrooge is a girl, a 17 year old dead zombie girl! That definitely took me by surprise! Also, they give this idea that a business named Project Scrooge is actually the brains behind everything the Scrooge goes through on the night of Christmas Eve. I have to admit that I loved the story telling aspect behind this book, it was very well thought out and each character fit their role perfectly! The ending did catch me off guard, but I believe that it made the book all that much better. Not every girl ends up with their love interest, but in the end, Holly was better off by reestablishing her bond with her father and her best friend, and even though she will not get to have the relationship she wanted, she did change Ethan's life for the better! I would give this book a 8/10 recommend, and I definitely would recommend this book to anyone who love the Hallmark Christmas movies, because if this book could be made into a movie, that is exactly what it would be!