A review by oashackelford
The Afterlife of Holly Chase by Cynthia Hand

5.0

On the Christmas Eve before her seventeenth birthday Holly Chase was visited by three ghosts. They told her that if she didn't change her Scroogey ways that she was doomed to walk the afterlife as the consequence for her actions, but she didn't believe them, she didn't change and then she died. They took pity on her however and made her their new Ghost of Christmas past. Her job is to sift through the memories of the new scrooges and find meaning in them so that the ghosts can put them back on the right path. This year, however, the new scrooge is a really cute teenage boy that Holly can't help but see herself in. Will she and the other ghosts be able to put him on the right path? They hope so, because every scrooge deserves a second chance.

I don't think I have ever read a modern reinterpretation of the Christmas Carol before and I didn't really know what to expect from it, but I loved it. I think that the author did a really good job not spending too much time on what happened on Holly's night as the Scrooge, or what a brat she was, but on how she had changed and what her job as the ghost of Christmas past entailed and the mechanics of her new life. I think this is the perfect book to read leading up to Christmas if you love a Christmas Carol and if you enjoy reinterpretations of old book.

But seriously, I think this is one of my favorite books that I have read so far this year.