You Had Me At Halo [Paperback]

Amanda Ashby (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 7, 2007

Holly Evans has just seen her own body laid to rest. Now she would like to move onto the afterlife. But apparently she has some mortal baggage to unload first, starting with the matter of how she died. Her heavenly shrink isn't buying that she didn't kill herself- and says she must return to earth to straighten things out. The thing is, she needs to borrow the body of computer geek Vince Murphy to do it. 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 while she was alive. But the real surprise is what life has to offer when you have only two days to live it.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

It's The Lovely Bones meets Bridget Jones in this fluffy take on what happens after death. Holly Evans, an airy 22-year-old recently deceased by supposed suicide, lingers in Heaven's "Level One, having to put up with all of the horrid rejects while people like her parents were up on Level Three probably wearing lovely white togas and bathing in chocolate." Luckily, her afterlife "spiritual realigner" (think: shrink) sends her back to Earth for two days to purge her soul, clear up the circumstances surrounded her alleged suicide and confess to her boyfriend Todd that she wants to marry him. The catch? Her vessel is Vince Murphy, a guy from the IT department. As the clock ticks, Vince and Holly psychically chat in Vince's head while ticking off the items on Holly's to-do list. The peachy conclusion isn't unexpected, but it's not quite expected either. It's a fun, witty traipse through the afterlife.
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About the Author

Amanda Ashby was born in Australia, but has spent the last ten years dividing her time between England and New Zealand. This is her first book.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: NAL Trade (August 7, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451221354
• ISBN-13: 978-0451221353
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,011,390 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was born in Australia but have spent the last ten years dividing my time between England and New Zealand. When I'm not moving, I like to write books (okay, I also like to watch television, eat chocolate, and sit around doing not much, but let's just keep that between ourselves, shall we?). I have a degree in English and journalism from the University of Queensland and am married with two young children. My debut book, You Had Me At Halo was nominated for a Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award and I now write young adult and mid grade books for Puffin.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitely not DOA, August 18, 2007

By 

Stephanie M. Hale "Stephanie Hale" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: You Had Me At Halo (Paperback)

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.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars delightful after life fantasy, August 11, 2007

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: You Had Me At Halo (Paperback)

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

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars If you want this one, buy it used., August 2, 2009

By 

Lebenankh (Oak Ridge, TN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: You Had Me At Halo (Paperback)

I had just finished reading something that was sort of heavy, so I thought that a fluffy chick-lit book would be a good follow-up. However, a few pages in to "You Had Me At Halo" I could tell why it was on the Borders clearance table. After a while, I did get used to the rhythm of the book, but the evolution of the story was so obvious I could have stopped reading it just a couple chapters in.

I realize this was the author's first book, but there were places where her thought seemed to be "Oh, I forgot to mention this, I'll just put it in now" or even "I don't know how this should happen, so it just will." Even if this is forgivable, that's no excuse for the editor to have been asleep.

If you're looking for a really light read, this isn't bad, but if you're used to a story that has some good developement I would stay away from this one.