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A review by awallbookwork
The Hollow by Jessica Verday
5.0
Changed from a 5 to a 2.
I first read this book years ago as a freshman in high school and I remember absolutely loving it, so much so that I remembered it being my favorite book series and I picked it back up to reread for the first time.
Boy, have my standards changed.
The sole reason this trilogy stands out in my mind is the romance. I remembered it being a very gentle and sweet romance, very contrasting to the rough too-cool-to-care snarky romance dynamics that seem to dominate most YA novels and it was refreshing. While I agree with that to a certain extent, I now am old enough to see that there is also no substance to this romance so my main reason for liking it has pretty much flown out of the window.
There are so many problems with this book, I don't even know where to start.
Firstly, the plot. This book markets itself as a paranormal mystery romance.......Well, they got the romance part. Literally nothing paranormal happens until the last 50 pages so don't count on that.
As for the mystery, I was EXTREMELY disappointed by how little they focused on it. Like the whole thing about Kristen's death is that no one knows how it happens. They know that she slipped and fell off a bridge that she, a local, knew not to be on in the first place, but no one seems to be very concerned as to the circumstances about how this happens. Then Abbey finds these mysterious diaries where Kristen wrote about her toxic relationship with this older man named D.
I thought this diary would make Abbey quite concerned, because the relationship between Kristen and D seems quite abusive. He's presumably quite older than her and it doesn't sound like the relationship is good for Kristen's self esteem, he's pressuring this underage girl to sleep with him, he's adamant about keeping their relationship a secret, and then when Kristen becomes insistent on telling Abbey, she leaves to meet with him one night and mysteriously goes missing for 2 months and they find her body after they hold a funeral for her?? And not only does Abbey not seem to find that terrifying or even slightly suspicious, she feels angry and betrayed at KRISTEN about keeping secrets from her and is apparently so pissed that SHE NO LONGER WANTS TO KNOW HOW OR WHY HER BEST FRIEND DIED???
And the diaries are hardly ever even brought up again, they just continue on like they never mentioned them and she'll only bring them up every once in a while.
The vast majority is spent on Caspian. At first, I thought the thing with Caspian was sweet. YA protagonists are rarely ever given the chance to be boy-crazy without the text making fun of them for being a teenager, so I was on-board at first. And then it started getting weird.
Abbey is almost qualified as a risk for stalking at this point. She apparently cannot eat, sleep, or think straight when she isn't with Caspian and it's really very creepy to be honest. Many of the declarations she makes about Caspian are so startling that it would take me out of the experience and I would just have to stare at the page for a little.
Caspian is nice, but he's quite boring. He doesn't really have a personality, he's just generic teen heart-throb and I found myself either skimming or frowning at their interactions most of the time.
I wish Abbey had other friends as well. It's kind of weird that both she and Kristen only had each other as friends and apparently literally every single person at her school has their nose so stuck up in the air that they all don't want to be friends with her.
I don't get why the Ben character is here. He's really annoying and they keep making him have this strange unnatural personality that I guess is supposed to come of as quirky and spontaneous in contrast to Caspian, but it just comes off as irritating. Also, I think they're trying to set up a love triangle with the addition of Ben, but it's just super weird cause he clearly has a thing for Abbey's dead best friend so like....yikes.
Abbey is also quite boring. I get that she has a lot going on, but I feel her she should be quite fluid and dynamic because of all of the warring emotions going on inside her, but none of those emotions are really explored unless they relate to Caspian, and overall, I just didn't care what happened to her. Because of that, when she did have an emotional moment, I was at such disconnect with the character that I couldn't understand her emotions and her outbursts would seem so dramatic to me that they were just downright silly. The prom dress scene has got to be one of the worst things I ever read, and it had absolutely no bearing on the story.
The ending scene also felt way too dramatic. Especially because the entire climax of the book is just Abbey finding out that Caspian is a ghost. Back when I was 14, I'm sure that blew my mind, but now I was just like "That's it, that's the big moment?" while Abbey is having a complete and total melt-down that really just seems unwarranted.
The pacing of the book is terrible and honestly the only major plot points of the book that don't have to do with Abbey and Caspian's relationship are Kristen's diaries and they drop that pretty quickly.
Honestly, the most interesting relationship was Abbey's relationship with her parents. They're all clearly very distant with each other and this sudden unfolding of so many tragedies in Abbey's life suddenly forced them to try to be more there for their daughter even though they have no idea how and they clearly don't want to and I think that's a really interesting dynamic that they could have explored more. Also, I wish they had've called an ace an ace with Abbey's mom.
Despite how much the book tries to tell you otherwise, she's really not that great of a mom, especially at the beginning, and I wish they would have shown her trying and improving to be most sensitive and respectful of Abbey's feelings. Also, I wish they had've shown Abbey trying to rebel against her parents more. It would have been way more interesting, explored some more good family dynamics, added some spice to Abbey's character, gone in line with her grieving teenager thing, and would have overall made the book and her character a lot lot more believable.
Also the Legend of Sleepy Hollow barely related to the book? Like I don't get the point of involving the legend when it didn't really have anything to do with the book besides her visiting Washington Irving's grave. And finding out that Nicholas at Katy were the Headless Horseman and Katrina Van Tassel was so underwhelming and predictable, because it doesn't really have anything to do with the story.
This would be better if they marketed it completely as a romance book, so I would have known not to reread it cause I'm no longer the target demographic.
Not even mad, just disappointed mostly. Probably will read the other books in the trilogy cause I already own them and have nothing else to read right now so might as well.
I first read this book years ago as a freshman in high school and I remember absolutely loving it, so much so that I remembered it being my favorite book series and I picked it back up to reread for the first time.
Boy, have my standards changed.
The sole reason this trilogy stands out in my mind is the romance. I remembered it being a very gentle and sweet romance, very contrasting to the rough too-cool-to-care snarky romance dynamics that seem to dominate most YA novels and it was refreshing. While I agree with that to a certain extent, I now am old enough to see that there is also no substance to this romance so my main reason for liking it has pretty much flown out of the window.
There are so many problems with this book, I don't even know where to start.
Firstly, the plot. This book markets itself as a paranormal mystery romance.......Well, they got the romance part. Literally nothing paranormal happens until the last 50 pages so don't count on that.
As for the mystery, I was EXTREMELY disappointed by how little they focused on it. Like the whole thing about Kristen's death is that no one knows how it happens. They know that she slipped and fell off a bridge that she, a local, knew not to be on in the first place, but no one seems to be very concerned as to the circumstances about how this happens. Then Abbey finds these mysterious diaries where Kristen wrote about her toxic relationship with this older man named D.
I thought this diary would make Abbey quite concerned, because the relationship between Kristen and D seems quite abusive. He's presumably quite older than her and it doesn't sound like the relationship is good for Kristen's self esteem, he's pressuring this underage girl to sleep with him, he's adamant about keeping their relationship a secret, and then when Kristen becomes insistent on telling Abbey, she leaves to meet with him one night and mysteriously goes missing for 2 months and they find her body after they hold a funeral for her?? And not only does Abbey not seem to find that terrifying or even slightly suspicious, she feels angry and betrayed at KRISTEN about keeping secrets from her and is apparently so pissed that SHE NO LONGER WANTS TO KNOW HOW OR WHY HER BEST FRIEND DIED???
And the diaries are hardly ever even brought up again, they just continue on like they never mentioned them and she'll only bring them up every once in a while.
The vast majority is spent on Caspian. At first, I thought the thing with Caspian was sweet. YA protagonists are rarely ever given the chance to be boy-crazy without the text making fun of them for being a teenager, so I was on-board at first. And then it started getting weird.
Abbey is almost qualified as a risk for stalking at this point. She apparently cannot eat, sleep, or think straight when she isn't with Caspian and it's really very creepy to be honest. Many of the declarations she makes about Caspian are so startling that it would take me out of the experience and I would just have to stare at the page for a little.
Caspian is nice, but he's quite boring. He doesn't really have a personality, he's just generic teen heart-throb and I found myself either skimming or frowning at their interactions most of the time.
I wish Abbey had other friends as well. It's kind of weird that both she and Kristen only had each other as friends and apparently literally every single person at her school has their nose so stuck up in the air that they all don't want to be friends with her.
I don't get why the Ben character is here. He's really annoying and they keep making him have this strange unnatural personality that I guess is supposed to come of as quirky and spontaneous in contrast to Caspian, but it just comes off as irritating. Also, I think they're trying to set up a love triangle with the addition of Ben, but it's just super weird cause he clearly has a thing for Abbey's dead best friend so like....yikes.
Abbey is also quite boring. I get that she has a lot going on, but I feel her she should be quite fluid and dynamic because of all of the warring emotions going on inside her, but none of those emotions are really explored unless they relate to Caspian, and overall, I just didn't care what happened to her. Because of that, when she did have an emotional moment, I was at such disconnect with the character that I couldn't understand her emotions and her outbursts would seem so dramatic to me that they were just downright silly. The prom dress scene has got to be one of the worst things I ever read, and it had absolutely no bearing on the story.
The ending scene also felt way too dramatic. Especially because the entire climax of the book is just Abbey finding out that Caspian is a ghost. Back when I was 14, I'm sure that blew my mind, but now I was just like "That's it, that's the big moment?" while Abbey is having a complete and total melt-down that really just seems unwarranted.
The pacing of the book is terrible and honestly the only major plot points of the book that don't have to do with Abbey and Caspian's relationship are Kristen's diaries and they drop that pretty quickly.
Honestly, the most interesting relationship was Abbey's relationship with her parents. They're all clearly very distant with each other and this sudden unfolding of so many tragedies in Abbey's life suddenly forced them to try to be more there for their daughter even though they have no idea how and they clearly don't want to and I think that's a really interesting dynamic that they could have explored more. Also, I wish they had've called an ace an ace with Abbey's mom.
Despite how much the book tries to tell you otherwise, she's really not that great of a mom, especially at the beginning, and I wish they would have shown her trying and improving to be most sensitive and respectful of Abbey's feelings. Also, I wish they had've shown Abbey trying to rebel against her parents more. It would have been way more interesting, explored some more good family dynamics, added some spice to Abbey's character, gone in line with her grieving teenager thing, and would have overall made the book and her character a lot lot more believable.
Also the Legend of Sleepy Hollow barely related to the book? Like I don't get the point of involving the legend when it didn't really have anything to do with the book besides her visiting Washington Irving's grave. And finding out that Nicholas at Katy were the Headless Horseman and Katrina Van Tassel was so underwhelming and predictable, because it doesn't really have anything to do with the story.
This would be better if they marketed it completely as a romance book, so I would have known not to reread it cause I'm no longer the target demographic.
Not even mad, just disappointed mostly. Probably will read the other books in the trilogy cause I already own them and have nothing else to read right now so might as well.