silver_ethereal 's review for:

Hollow by Karina Halle

DID NOT FINISH: 76%

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DNF @ 75% 

I have loved a lot of Karina Halle's works and was extremely excited for a dark academia Sleepy Hollow retelling with queer rep. Unfortunately, a lot of Hollow felt exactly that...hollow. 

I didn't feel like much (if any) tension existed between Kat/Crane before they were suddenly all over each other. Especially with a teacher/student dynamic (which to me usually means some combo of will-they-won't-they/close call/forced proximity/reluctant participation/seduction tropes) this made everything feel so flat and rushed. 

The first 'encounter' with Kat and Brom was my first pink flag... Then the horse scene? I could see something like that being so good and spicy, but it was so abrupt and the logistics of it seemed impossible. I DNF'd after the first real sex scene in the stable. The author warned there were elements of dubcon and that it is a 'dark romance', but based on the connection and relationship Kat/Crane had up until that scene, I found him deciding he needed to immediately dominate her like that really off-putting. Especially with no prior build up to that - which could have been so cool if Halle had dropped in teasing moments between them before that. Anyway, I digress.

 

There was a lot of potential here. I sort of wish the story was just about Crane and Brom. My favourite part was the flashbacks to how they met - that was the most intriguing part of the story to me! 

This one just wasn't for me.