You Had Me at Halo

I won Amanda Ashby's You Had Me at Halo in a recent contest. When I read it, I discovered it was a real treat: 4 out of 5.

Holly Evans has just seen her own body laid to rest, and if it had been up to her, she wouldn't have chosen that particular dress for the event. Still, she could live with that (so to speak), if it guaranteed a quick jump to Level 3 of the afterlife, which she hopes will feature both reruns of Friends and reunions with long-lost loved ones.

But Holly has some mortal baggage to unload first, starting with the matter of how she died. Yes, 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 big step in her relationship. OK, her life had a few loose ends, but whose doesn't? Holly's heavenly shrink isn't buying it. He says she has to return to Earth to staighten things out. The problem is, she'll need to borrow someone's body to do so, and the body in questiion to none other than computer geek Vince Murphy. Oh, and although Vince was supposed to have vacated the premises, he apparently never got the memo.

Now Holly has forty-eight hours to resolve her issues while sharing arms, legs, and . . . other things with a guy she barely noticed when she was alive. But the real surprise is what life has to offer when you have only two days to live it.

You Had Me at Halo is a delightful story about Holly's search to discover what happened to her and her struggle to resolve some of the things in her life. As the blurb and cover suggest, this is a story with a lot of humor. The scenes where Holly, in Vince's body, has to convince her friend that she's still alive. Sort of.

There's definitely some humor about what happens when two people share a body. And Vince . . . I simply adored him. What a sweetheart! He's a wonderful illustration of the idea that still waters run deep. He helps her throughout her search for answers.

You may wonder if a happy ending is possible in such a scenario. Wonder no longer: it is. I was generally pleased with the ending (spoiler ahead), although I wished Vince hadn't lost his memory of their time together in the process.

Ashby has created a story that's sweet and fun. I'm looking forward to seeing what she comes up with next.