My Rating System5 stars--WOW4 stars--would read again3 stars--was good, won't read again2 stars--read it, but didn't enjoy it1 star--didn't finish, it was so awfulDo I need to read books before this one: noCliffhanger: noSummaryHolly gets a Scrooge intervention. Her Marley is her stepmother, Yvonne, who carries miles of pearls, one for each soul she could have touched for good and didn't. The Ghost of Christmas Past shows her how happy she'd been before her mother had died, how good a friend Ro had been to her and then when Ro dumped her as a friend. That's when Holly realizes this is like that Christmas movie, so she must be dreaming. The Ghost of Christmas Present shows her how classmates talk about her, how her housemaid needs kindness. She doesn't laugh at the Ghost of Christmas Future because he's scary, but she doesn't take him seriously, either. "Is this the best you can do? Because this is such B-movie material. I’m practically Hollywood royalty, you know—my mother was a famous TV star, and my dad is a director, so I know the business. And this whole thing is obviously fake." When Holly wakes up, she thinks it was the most psycho dream ever. Six days later, Los Angeles has a freak cold snap, an icicle breaks, causing a series of events that ends with Holly getting run over.She wakes up. “Am I . . . dead?” I whispered. “Yes.” Boz didn’t sound too broken up about it. “And no.” I stared at him. “What does that mean?” “It means,” he said matter-of-factly, “that while you are working for us, for however long that may be, you are flesh, and not spirit. You are alive. But to everyone outside of this company, you are very much dead. Dead as a doornail, as they say.” Holly is now the Ghost of Christmas Past for the New York office of Project Scrooge.Five years later, Blackpool (Future) has identified Ethan Jonathan Winters III as this year's Scrooge. He's 17, the same age as Holly (she's a well preserved zombie; her body resets every day); Holly relates to him in a lot of ways. Dave (Present) announces this is his last year because it's time for him to move on. New this year is Stephanie, Holly’s assistant; Holly worries she's being replaced and will subsequently be sent to hell.EvaluationWow. I'm not sure how to review this, it's so ridiculously good. I laughed, I felt nervous, I happy cried, and I sad cried. My heart was filled, wrung out, and filled again. I ended the book yearning, like Scrooge did at the end of his, to repair relationships, to lighten someone else's burden, to feel happier. Can there be a better book than one that leaves you thinking, "God bless us, everyone"? Especially as I'm reviewing this in 2020.RecommendationAbsolutely everyone needs to read this book. Multiple times. This story captures the very essence of why we celebrate Christmas, without being preachy.Favorite QuotesThey thought I was a bad person. They—and who was *they,* anyway, who was orchestrating this?—thought I needed to change who I was.I’d told Dad that [It's A Wonderful Life] was lame, but I’d secretly loved it, especially the romantic parts, the parts where it’s like George and Mary can’t help but fall in love with each other. That’s how it felt like love should be—inevitable. Irresistible. Written in the stars.You can try to keep the worst things down inside you. You can shove them away, not think about them, not deal. But they bubble up to the surface. They always do.“Without stories, we’re all just lonely islands. Stories let us see and hear and feel what someone else does. They build bridges to the other islands. That’s why stories are so important. They create true empathy.”Love can be an excellent motivator for change. Falling in love can help us to see the things in life that are truly important. It can make us want to be better people. It can teach us to sacrifice what is in our own best interest for the sake of someone else.“A loving heart is the truest wisdom.”This was what love felt like, wasn’t it? The way my heart pounded and my chest felt like it was being squeezed? The way his face had become everything beautiful in this world? The way his laugh made me feel like I could fly?“All right, enough gratitude,” grumbled Blackpool. “I thought there was going to be pie.”I was getting so sick of Blackpool casting his doom and gloom around the office like so much tragic confetti.I was so lost I needed a map for this conversation.My eyes filled with tears again. Who knew that a well-preserved zombie could cry so much?“Hey, you’re not an angel, are you?” he asked me. I smiled. “Maybe I’m something like that today.”Possible Triggers (spoilers)Sex: kissesLanguage: 0 F words, 37 Lord's name in vain, 0 S wordsViolence: car accidentsCritique (spoilers)If it's 5 years ago, who's the Lamp for those Scrooges? Has Dave moved on, or is he reliving those 5 years again?Does Holly tell her dad to make Evangeline's Well?