Reviews with content warning for Bullying - The Afterlife of Holly Chase

Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

The Afterlife of Holly Chase by Cynthia Hand

6 reviews

sxndaze's review

hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

holly chase is insufferable but that’s the point isn’t it? the growth she experiences makes it an excellent read, but it was definitely hard to get through at times. the story excels when it’s not about the romance and it focuses on literally anything else like the systems and holly’s life.

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doodeedoda's review

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emotional lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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lauren_shilling's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This book was good, and I enjoyed it. When I first started it, I thought it was going to be a huge disappointment, but it ended up getting so much better. I thought I didn't like where this story was going, but I actually ended up hating it a lot less than I thought I would, and as time went on, I found I actually started to love how that particular aspect of the story was handled. I loved it especially at the end. The main character, Holly, was just a bad person all around. This was to be expected going into it, as she is a failed scrooge that did not want to change. I loved watching her growth throughout the story and how she learns to see points of view of the world. I was bored of the story at times, and I will say sometimes there were time skips that bothered me a little bit. I know why, because this book does span a long period of time, but I feel like the skips were done and explained away lazily with a quick recap of anything that had happened during that period. Other than those little things, though, I really enjoyed this book, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a fun Christmas story!

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mari_pita's review

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reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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book_sense's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I am unsure about how to rate this book. The first hundred pages, though slow, were a solid 3.5 for me. Then the book progressed and it turned to 4 because Holly was interesting to read about. She was funny and sarcastic plus the whole scrooge premise was really interesting. Then came Ethan Winters and slowly my rating fell back to 3 because that dude honestly had no personality. He was a completely unbelievable 17-year-old. Like I understand if he was a complete dick. It would have made sense. But the way he acted with other people and then with Holly simply didn't add up. His character didn't make any sense. Neither did their relationship because everything was so instant. There was no pinning or angst. And the way Ethan fell in love with Holly just proved how out of character that was. By the time we reached the end of the book, I simply wasn't invested in their relationship, neither did I care. The whole speech Holly gave to Ethan, was a big eye-roll moment for me. But then the ending, the twist, and turn really notched the rating back up to 3.5. It was a whole lot of Christmas cliche but the last twenty pages really made me smile. So that's the rating. A 3-3.5. I don't know. The book had so much potential but the execution didn't really work for me.

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brookey8888's review against another edition

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funny inspiring lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I really enjoyed this! I actually teared up at the end which surprised me. I really liked Holly as a main character with her dry/sarcasm humor. I liked the friendships she formed and her found family. The romance was cute but honestly not a main part which I didn’t mind. I thought this was an interesting retelling because she didn’t get saved, and it goes from there. I did see the ending coming, but I still enjoyed it and like I said I cried. I would recommend this to read during Christmas time.

Reread still really enjoyed it but this year sucks a lot, so I’m not really in the Christmas spirit.

Reread: lol I cried again reading this which surprised me because I feel like I wasn’t loving it as much as previous. This is still cute and I like the twist on it.

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