Review Detail

 I must admit Ive been dying to read this book since last year when word leaked out. In some areas The Hollow impressed me but in others, it fell short.

First off judging from the summary you can presume that the story will heavily revolve on the death of Kristen or some feature of her correct? Sadly it was about 10% Kristen and 75% Caspian swooning, 5% Sleepy Hollow legend, and 10% daily life activity.

Just chapters after the funeral with Kristen, Abbey somewhat falls in love with Caspian. I was a bit shocked and miffed at this development. Even more so when Kristen is practically dismissed for the next couple of chapters while Abbey continues to swoon over Caspian. Verday though manages to deal with Abbeys grief in the middle of novel of Kristen while inserting several flashbacks of their friendships throughout some chapters. We then get a peak of Kristens secret diary and a mystery D whom Kristen falls in love with. We dealt with that for about a chapter then nothing more until seemingly the last few chapters (only about a line or two). Its all very much frustrating.

I enjoyed the little tidbits of how Abby creates perfumes, the fact that the author talked about the Legend of Sleepy Hollow for readers who may have never heard of it, and the many twists. The old couples? Yup. Caspian? Yup. Abbey running away when nothing makes sense? Definitely yes! Seriously Im tired of people poking their noses into things that you shouldnt. You know those scary movies where youre screaming at the screen No! You stupid idiot, run! Dont open that door! From that moment on I gained respect for Abbey (too bad it was like the last chapter when it happened).

And finally Caspian. I liked him in the very beginning with his weird, funky do (very pale yellow with a jet black streak) but then he plummeted on my like scale. The twist in the end I should have expected&.

The secrets and mysteries of The Hollow are never fully answered. It just builds and builds, up until the point where Im frighten that Verday may not be able to answer them all...or at least to the expectation that the readers may want.

Overall: A many missing holes.