My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I think this might be my last Christmassy read for this year.
I'm glad that I read it right after finishing A Christmas Carol, because the worldbuilding for this story is adapted from this well-known classic.
Holly Chase is a selfish, self-involved bitchy teenager. She's spoilt and treats everyone like garbage.
During Christmas Eve, she gets a visit from three ghosts, but instead of listening to their warnings, she still acts the same. And dies.
Five years later, Holly lives in New York and is now part of Project Scrooge. She's the Ghost of Christmas Past and her latest assignment might actually get through to her...
This book started out really well. It was quirky and fun. I didn't like Holly much, but it was mostly easy to ignore her because of the clever worldbuilding taken directly from the pages of Dickens.
However, the deeper I got into the book, the more my attention faded. Holly just wasn't a nice character, and by the time we're supposed to see the changes in her, it was much too late in the game. So I wasn't convinced.
Another issue I had was her love interest. Every time she interacted with Ethan--the male equivalent of her--I found myself skimming forward. I just didn't feel their connection, especially since everything she does is a lie. Not to mention that while she spins lies around everyone, she can't deal when it's done to her. The hypocrisy got on my nerves.
Also, the time jumps often felt weird. Like I was missing chunks of story that happened off page and only got via Holly filling in the blanks. 😒
And then there's the ending, which pretty much cancels out the thing I struggled with the most! So, what was the point?
It's disappointing that everything I liked about this book at the beginning ended up becoming the story's weakness by the time I reached The End.
Unfortunately, how things turned out just didn't click with me. Instead, it made me realise that the last half of the book was a chore to get through, only to lead me down a dull path to a very unconvincing redemption for a character who didn't deserve it.
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