Genre: Fantasy / Paranormal / Contemporary / Romance
Book Type: Audio
Author: Cynthia Hand
Narrator: Erin Spencer
Pages / Length: 416 pages / 10 hours
Publisher: HarperTeen (November 6, 2018) / HarperAudio';.........
Book Description:
Before I Fall meets “bah, humbug” in this contemporary YA reimagining of A Christmas Carol from New York Times bestselling author Cynthia Hand.
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…
The Afterlife of Holly Chase is a witty, poignant, and insightful novel about life, love, and seizing second (or third) chances, perfect for readers who loved Before I Fall or Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares.
Thoughts: This was a quick-read re-telling of a modern day A Christmas Carol, and I loved it. I loved the different scrooges and liked that this was a story on character. I liked how the story-lines with Holly and Ethan crossed, and also how they tied up in the end. This is a good reminder of the actions that you have on others, and how you treat others affects more than just that one person. This is, also, one of my favorite Dickens Tales, so the modern twist re-emphasizes what a classic the story is, and is such a good reminder to be a good person and treat others with kindness while you have the time to do so.
Favorite Quotes:
⛓️ "You loved Rosie, but you let her go because she didn't fit in with the image you'd built of yourself." (page 14)
⛓️ She leaned forward with her elbow on the table and put her chin in her hand. "What's it like, being dead?"
I shrugged. "Boring. When you're alive - really alive, I mean - you change, a little bit every day. But when you're dead, nothing really changes. You're just the same, day in and day out." (page 150)
⛓️ "Do all the Tiny Tims die?" Stephanie asked quietly.
"Not all," Boz said. "But if the Scrooge doesn't repent, there is always a negative impact to the Tiny Tim. It's not just about the Scrooge, you see. It's about every person the Scrooge touches. A ripple effect, as you said. We call this the Tiny Tim Factor." (page 202)
⛓️ "Maybe it's about our chances of success. The people of Ethan's generation - and, ok, my generation, I'll admit it - don't believe in magic. We don't believe in the supernatural. We believe in special effects. We've been watching movies all our lives. Nothing seems new or shocking or awe-inspiring to us anymore. So when we show up in Ethan Winter's bedroom on Christmas with our dog and pony show, do you really think he'll take it seriously? No. He won't believe it. And because he doesn't believe it, he won't change." (pages 243-244)
⛓️ "Yes. I'm dead, and I'm also damned," [...] "I'm doomed to wander around this pathetic excuse for an afterlife, watching the world pass me by. Watching, always watching. Never doing anything, ever again. Just watching. Seeing all that I could have done."
He stood up and crossed to the other side of the room, his chains dragging on the carpet behind him. "I was a fool," he said mournfully. "And now I'm paying for it."
[...] "What do you mean, you're paying for it? What's with the chains?"
The old man picked up a length of the chain and held it out. "I made these," he said. "I couldn't see them at the time, but I was forging them, link by link, all my life." He smiled, showing brown, decaying teeth. "Do you like them? Do they look comfortable to you?"
"No, sir."
"You should pay attention, then, because you're working on your own set of shackles." (pages 307-308)
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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