The Hollow by Jessica Verday

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.
(synopsis and cover photo taken from www.goodreads.com) 


MY REVIEW

I loved this book, but I’m having a really hard time reviewing it without spoilers.  So, in the interest of being spoiler-free, I might not give enough information.  Just go get this book and read it anyway!

I bought this book at the Decatur Book Festival, where I was lucky enough to listen to Ms. Verday speak and then get my book autographed!  And yes, the book has been sitting in my TBR pile since September.  Why?  Not sure.  But I’m very glad that I just pulled it out last week and decided to dive right in.

First of all, the covers, both hardback and paperback, are absolutely GORGEOUS!  I love those dark and foreboding midnight blue covers and this one is no exception.  Not that the cover has anything to do with the epicness contained within, but it’s always nice to have pretty packaging.

I really liked the novelty of this book.  It’s very different from what I’ve been reading (vampires, werewolves and witches, oh my!) and so it was quite refreshing.  Also, I like the tie-in with The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.  All Americans know (or should know!) this story, so it was nice to see it worked into a modern re-telling.  However, I have to say that at the end of the first book, I don’t see how on earth this story can have a happy ending.  I can’t wait to see what the author does with this plotline.

I liked most of the characters.  Ben is a great character and I hope to see more of him in the sequel.  I definitely do NOT like Abbey’s mom though.  She seems really selfish and inattentive.  And then there’s Abbey.  I’m not sure how I feel about her.  I like her.  She’s a very sweet girl, but there were times in the book when she seemed almost dim-witted.  I just wanted to grab her and shake her and make her see what was right in front of her face!  She was sort of like those dumb girls in bad horror movies that move closer to the suspicious sound and end up being chopped to pieces by the maniac.  Seriously.  This girl had some real self-preservation issues.

The plot was interesting and unique, but there were some times in the middle of the book where it seemed to drag a little bit and I got frustrated.  Of course, I think that some of that was because Abbey kept making some dumb decisions and it was hard to watch her keep on doing it.  But the storyline still managed to keep my attention and I found that I cared so much for the main characters that I just couldn’t put the book down, even when the plot wasn’t that exciting.

Overall, this was a very good book with a unique plotline and interesting characters.  It should appeal to any readers who like history, ghost stories and a little angst!  If I were grading this book, I would give it an A-.