Book: The Hollow (Jessica Verday) Stand-Alone or Series: Series,The Hollow #1)
Pages: 513
Genre: Young Adult
Preview at Google Books
Description (From Goodreads): When Abbey's best friend, Kristen, vanishes at the bridge near Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, everyone else is all too quick to accept that Kristen is dead and rumors fly that her death was no accident. Abbey goes through the motions of mourning her best friend, but privately, she refuses to believe that Kristen is really gone. Then she meets Caspian, the gorgeous and mysterious boy who shows up out of nowhere at Kristen's funeral, and keeps reappearing in Abbey's life. Caspian clearly has secrets of his own, but he's the only person who makes Abbey feel normal again...but also special. Just when Abbey starts to feel that she might survive all this, she learns a secret that makes her question everything she thought she knew about her best friend. How could Kristen have kept silent about so much? And could this secret have led to her death? As Abbey struggles to understand Kristen's betrayal, she uncovers a frightening truth that nearly unravels her—one that will challenge her emerging love for Caspian, as well as her own sanity.
So, just for the record, I really wanted to love this book. The book description made it sound dangerous, exciting, suspenseful and romantic. I had a lot of expectations going into it and unfortunately I was extremely disappointed with the book.
First of all, it was not all at what I expected. From the title and description, I was expecting lots of paranormal/supernatural activity, but there was hardly anything paranormal/supernatural about this book. Honestly, when I saw that it was called the Hollow, I expected witches; which is my fault, I shouldn't assume. But, then the main character, Abbey, is really into making perfumes and mixing herbs and what not, so I definitely thought it was witches, but no. The Hollow simply refers to the setting of the book, the infamous, Sleepy Hollow. Again, one would think the book would be crawling with supernatural activity..
Although I expected the book to be something other than what it was, I still tried to keep an open mind. I read and love plenty of books that deal with everyday circumstances, so I thought I may still enjoy the Hollow. But I could not connect to the main character, Abbey or her love interest, Caspian. Unfortunately, I found them both one dimensional and their romance underwhelming. In fact, I thought Caspian was a creeper from the beginning. I get that he was suppose to be mysterious and all, but honestly, he was just stalker-ish. He shows up at Kristen's funeral and then goes to the collation. He shows up in the basement, when Abbey is alone, and tells her he came for her... but he has never met her before. Anyone else have red flags going up? Then, it took over 150 pages for them to have really any interaction at all after that and then Caspian would randomly appear throughout the book. Then, after they've known each other for like 2 weeks, and interacted for a grand total of like 5 hours, they are desperately in love. I hate when romances are rushed like this, it is just so unrealistic.
The pacing was also a huge problem for me, which is a huge problem with a book this size. There are 500+ pages and it takes forever for anything to happen, and I mean anything. There is hardly any character development, mystery or suspense throughout the book. The mystery with Abbey's dead friend is kind of one the back burner throughout the book. In fact, the big secret Kristen was hiding was not that shocking. I mean, it could be a secret anyone has. I don't want to spoil anything, but its really not that big of a deal.
Overall, I had a very, very, difficult time finishing this book. I don't know if it was simply that I was expecting something else from it or what, but I did not enjoy it. The characters fell flat for me and the pacing was completely off. I will not be continuing this series.
First of all, it was not all at what I expected. From the title and description, I was expecting lots of paranormal/supernatural activity, but there was hardly anything paranormal/supernatural about this book. Honestly, when I saw that it was called the Hollow, I expected witches; which is my fault, I shouldn't assume. But, then the main character, Abbey, is really into making perfumes and mixing herbs and what not, so I definitely thought it was witches, but no. The Hollow simply refers to the setting of the book, the infamous, Sleepy Hollow. Again, one would think the book would be crawling with supernatural activity..
Although I expected the book to be something other than what it was, I still tried to keep an open mind. I read and love plenty of books that deal with everyday circumstances, so I thought I may still enjoy the Hollow. But I could not connect to the main character, Abbey or her love interest, Caspian. Unfortunately, I found them both one dimensional and their romance underwhelming. In fact, I thought Caspian was a creeper from the beginning. I get that he was suppose to be mysterious and all, but honestly, he was just stalker-ish. He shows up at Kristen's funeral and then goes to the collation. He shows up in the basement, when Abbey is alone, and tells her he came for her... but he has never met her before. Anyone else have red flags going up? Then, it took over 150 pages for them to have really any interaction at all after that and then Caspian would randomly appear throughout the book. Then, after they've known each other for like 2 weeks, and interacted for a grand total of like 5 hours, they are desperately in love. I hate when romances are rushed like this, it is just so unrealistic.
The pacing was also a huge problem for me, which is a huge problem with a book this size. There are 500+ pages and it takes forever for anything to happen, and I mean anything. There is hardly any character development, mystery or suspense throughout the book. The mystery with Abbey's dead friend is kind of one the back burner throughout the book. In fact, the big secret Kristen was hiding was not that shocking. I mean, it could be a secret anyone has. I don't want to spoil anything, but its really not that big of a deal.
Overall, I had a very, very, difficult time finishing this book. I don't know if it was simply that I was expecting something else from it or what, but I did not enjoy it. The characters fell flat for me and the pacing was completely off. I will not be continuing this series.
3 comments:
ooo I liked this book but I agree with you about the pacing. I am still planning on reading The Haunted because I think the series has a lot of potential even if the Hollow was as great as I had hoped.
I am a new follower. Thanks for adding me on goodreads too.
Agreed! I didn't what so ever like this book. It was like it was trying to get somewhere, then BAM.. no where!! :)
Thank you so much for the honest review. I haven't read this yet, and I probably won't be picking it up. It doesn't sound much like something I'd enjoy.
Post a Comment