Blog

A young adult contemporary reimagining of ‘A Christmas Carol’

Hello and Welcome!

I hope you’ll forgive my lack of enthusiasm tonight.. I’m a bit under the weather at the moment and have so little energy for much of anything. Great time for reading but, still, it’s never an enjoyable feeling.

I’m just going to get straight to it..

While the first half of this book starts out pretty slow, once it does pick up pace, it becomes a pretty interesting story to follow. The way the author ended it was a bit of fun to me, probably my favorite part, I loved the ‘not so fairy tale’ happy ending thing going on.

Possible Spoilers Ahead!

---

(Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. Any purchases made through my links may earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you.)

The Afterlife of Holly Chase by Cynthia Hand

First line: The first thing you should probably know is that Yvonne Worthington Chase was dead.

A gender swap reimagining of the ‘A Christmas Carol’ about a young woman who was given a chance to change her naughty behavior but didn’t, died, and became the next Ghost of Christmas Past.
Now Holly must do for others what she never learned for herself, to change, and with the new Scrooge this year.. she may just learn the meaning of Christmas after all.

Four Stars!

An intriguing combination of science and magic.

Characters:

Yvonne Worthington Chase
Died a forty-something hair stylist for the rich and famous of Hollywood. Cause of death: vanity and plastic surgery. Survived by her film director husband, Gideon Chase, and teenage stepdaughter, Holly. Is one of those characters that barely makes an appearance.

Holly Chase, ‘Havisham’
Sixteen. A year after Holly’s mom died of cancer, her dad married Yvonne, and she became the perfect stepdaughter. Holly tried everything to become an entitled carbon copy of Yvonne.. and succeeded. It’s that arrogance and stubborn pride that sealed her fate. Now Holly spends her afterlife as The Ghost of Christmas Present, The Lamp, helping others do what she couldn’t for herself.

Dave, ‘Copperfield’
The Ghost of Christmas Past, The Clock

Blackpool
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, The Hood

Mr. Sikes, ‘Boz’
Holly’s boss and the Head of Project Scrooge, an agency dedicated to helping others get a second chance at living better, brighter, happier lives.

Stephanie, ‘Dorrit’
Holly’s new intern, a sophomore at NYU, and just the kind of energetic happy person that Holly can’t stand. (she’s actually pretty suspicious.. and adorable.)

Ethan Jonathan Winters III:
The new Scrooge. Young, rich, and attractive as all get out.. but he never seemed to fit their ideal of a Scrooge to me.

Still, one thing was perfectly clear: I was the villain here. They thought I was a bad person. They—and who was they, anyway, who was orchestrating this?—thought I needed to change who I was.

Holly Chase is a spoiled brat
She attempted to emulate her (recently deceased) stepmother, whom she saw as untouchable, someone who always came out on top.. and if a few people get some hurt feelings along the way? So what? It’s not her problem.
And she knows she’s acting horribly but, really, she just doesn’t care. Not until the night her lifelong best friend finally gets tired of her behavior and ends their relationship.. breaking something in Holly she refuses to acknowledge.

Until Christmas Eve comes around
That night she’s visited by three ghosts and given an opportunity to change her ways. But Holly doesn’t take, what she deems is, ‘the Hallmark reject of a bad dream’ seriously. Instead, mocking and making fun of the spirits and their attempt to show her the harm she’s done. Not even when the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come predicts her imminent death does Holly really believe.. but she will.

Five years later
Holly is now the latest Ghost of Christmas Present.. a punishment for her refusal to change her ways that has done little to improve her attitude. But there is more to this afterlife than Holly knows and she’s about to find out first hand that maybe, just maybe, there’s more to life than money and status.

---

Overall:

I wasn’t sure what I was getting into when I picked up this book but it was surprisingly more interesting than I thought it would be. A reimagining of ‘A Christmas Carol?’ I mean, how much can you really do with that, right? A lot, apparently.

The author took a classic and put so much of a spin on things that it’s kind of crazy, and yet, the moral of the story remained. This story is about second chances.. About finding the good in life, acknowledging that our actions can have serious, negative consequences for those around us, and always.. always remembering that each moment is precious.

I think my biggest hang up with this book was that there are so many designations for each of the characters that it was sometimes difficult to keep up with.. and I have a pretty good memory. Okay, I have an excellent memory, still, this was a lot. Bigger fans who know the names, titles, and connections of the original characters in ‘A Christmas Carol’ will probably have less trouble.

You can tell a lot of work was put into the idea behind this book. I’m impressed by the many fascinating ways in which the author blended the old favorite with some very new, and unique, twists. The characters are interesting, though, maybe not so deep.. The pace allows you to easily sink in between each page and (the best part) the ending left me grinning like an idiot, if only because of it’s ingenuity.

Altogether? I was surprised and satisfied by this book. I will look forward to reading more by Cynthia Hand.

---

Thanks so much for reading, I hope you found it helpful!

Have you read this book? Do you enjoy the old favorites reimagined?

Follow Read Betwixt Words on WordPress.com