You Had Me at Halo

I found out about newly published author Amanda Ashby through the amazing website/blog called Free Book Friday, that is founded by author Jessica Brody. I'm so glad that I read and even heard the wonderful podcast interview of Jessica and Amanda about her first novel You Had me at Halo. Listening to the podcast about how Amanda came to write her first novel was so wonderful to listen to and understand how the concept come to be. I had to find out more about this novel and to get it immediately so I can read it. I also recommend that you all listen to it also so you can decide for yourselves if you agree with me about this book and Amanda Ashby's inspiration for writing it. I'm glad that I bought this book because it didn't disappoint and now I'm a fan of Amanda Ashby's work and I look forward to any of her future novels. Especially since I found on her website that she will have a Young Adult novel called Zombie Queen of Newbury High, about high school kids and zombies, which is a wonderful combination in my opinion. Now for the book I thought that Holly Evans is such a wonderful character that needed a reality check and her dying and then coming back in a man's body is a BIG reality check. Holly seemed like a self-involved person with only her own personal gain on the top of her list and she doesn't seem to notice anyone who isn't of her status level. So here comes in Vince Murphy the computer geek who use to be friends with Holly when they were children until he moved away. They also work for the same company but don't hang with one another because they are both in totally different status levels at the company. These two characters are very different but yet so much alike that they completely make a wonderful couple together but don't know it. Holly has some mortal baggage to unload first, starting with the matter of how she died because she drowned in her bathtub under suspicious circumstances, but she did not kill herself. Holly had too much to live for, from her recent promotion to taking the next step in her relationship with her boyfriend who also works with her at the company. Her life had a few loose ends in her life but her heavenly shrinks wants her to resolve them before she can get into any of the upper levels of heaven. He says she has to return to Earth to straighten things out but the problem is, she'll need to borrow someone's body to do so, and the body in question belongs to none other than computer geek Vince Murphy. Although Vince was supposed to have vacated the premises, he apparently never got the memo because he was only unconsious for a couple of hours before he came too with Holly in his body. This was one book that I will always remember and will always treasure because it was funny, romantic and exciting to read. I really had a hard time putting the book down the entire time I was reading it and by the time I finished it I really wanted Amanda Ashby to have written a sequel because it looked like Holly's life w

Holly Evans has died and gone to heaven - well, Level One of heaven anyway - and is watching her own funeral. She complains about the outfit she's been buried in and the fact that everyone believes she committed suicide. And if she'd only read the rule book, she would know that talking is not allowed at funerals. She also learns (something else she missed by not reading the rule book) that she can't advance to the upper levels if she's holding on to "earthly" baggage. So her heavenly shrink offers her the opportunity to return to earth for two days to resolve any outstanding matters, including discovering who killed her. The catch is, she has to return in someone else's body...someone who has recently died. Holly is placed in the recently departed body of Vince Murphy, someone she knew and worked with and someone who had attended her funeral. She's just getting used to the idea that she's in someone else's body, someone else's MALE body when Vince comes to. Apparently there was some confusion and he hadn't really died, he'd merely passed out. Since the alternative was to "waste" the time she was given to resolve matters and get nowhere, both she and Vince agreed that she could use his body for the duration of her time back on earth. Holly only has two days to resolve all her earthly issues and she has an agenda - apologizing to her boyfriend for the fight they had on the day she died and finding out who killed her topping the list. Both of which are made harder by the fact that she's not in her own earthly body. But through it all Vince has graciously put his life on hold to help out Holly. Which causes her to wonder why she never really noticed him before and feel like she missed out on knowing him better when she was alive. Will she be able to do everything she needs to do and how will she make it up to Vince for all he has sacrificed for her? Jennifer O'Connell mentioned YOU HAD ME AT HALO on her blog and it peaked my curiosity enough that I checked out the author's, Amanda Ashby, webpage. I read the first chapter and it looked promising so I bought the book. The characters were so endearing and the story so compelling that I couldn't put the book down. I was so rooting for Holly and Vince but, given the situation, didn't know how Ms. Ashby was going to bring the book to a satisfying resolution. Well, without giving anything away I will say, I needn't have worried. I read the book in an afternoon and absolutely loved it from beginning to end and will definitely be keeping a look out for future books by this author.

I started this book thinking "I'll just read the first chapter because I have other stuff to do." Then I kept going until I finished the entire book! You Had Me at Halo is fun, witty, charming and touching all at the same time. It's a very sweet life-after-death romance and certainly worth picking up.

Debut author Amanda Ashby had me hooked from the first line. Ashby takes us on a humorous, heart-tugging, heaven-to earth-ride with Holly Evans. Holly always wanted to understand men better but hitching a ride in her co-worker Vincent Murphy's body isn't exactly what she had in mind. While working out her earth-bound issues, Holly realizes you can't always size someone up by the kind of tie they wear. I laughed out loud several times while reading this and cheered for Holly when she finally came to her senses and realized her life really started when she died.

Holly Evans is unhappy to be dead at twenty-two years old and mortified having attended her own funeral. Her heavenly shrink grants her a forty-eight hour reprieve with two stipulations. First she must make a heavenly effort to clear up the tiffs she had with friends and family, etc; second she must use someone else's body whose soul has just vacated the premises. Holly enters the corpse of recently deceased computer nerd Vince Murphy; only there is a minor problem. Vince still lives so she shares his body, which irritates him no end. However he agrees to help her with her cause. Meanwhile Holly realizes that the biggest mistake of her life when she was living was not realizing how nice yet strong Vince is. This delightful after life fantasy is entertaining and amusing as Holly and Vince will remind readers of the terrific 1980s Tomlin-Martin film All of Me. Readers will laugh out loud as the geek and the dead chic chick battle for control of his body and their relationship even as an odd attraction forms. Amanda Ashley provides a charming offbeat tale. Harriet Klausner