Review: The Hollow

by Jessica Verday
publisher: Simon Pulse
date published: September 1, 2009
format: hardcover
pages: 513
source: library
Amazon / Goodreads / B&N
challenges: Goodreads 2011 Reading Challenge; 2011 YA Reading Challenge

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.

What I Thought

I borrowed The Hollow from the library on a whim. Imagine my surprise at finding out that Jessica Verday is a semi-local girl and is from a town about one hour away from my own. I had hoped that this fact would bode well for the book. Although vicinity has nothing to do with a book's quality, I thought it would be pretty interesting to have the author of a book I enjoy nearby, since book tours rarely seem to come near here. However, it doesn't seem that it was meant to be.

I had a very difficult time getting into this book. For the majority of the story, the most supernatural thing about it was the location: Sleepy Hollow, NY. I kept expecting for things to begin happening much earlier than they did as far as the book's description as being a paranormal romance went. When things did finally come to a head, the book was nearly over and I was left thinking, "That's it?" The revelation just lacked the punch that was really needed to make it earth-shattering news. Another issue I encountered was the relationship between Abbey and Caspian. It just didn't feel very believable to me and I could not get past the fact that Abbey went along with the flirtation so long without asking about such mundane facts as Caspian's last name. I also found several other components of the relationship hard to believe, though I am forced to leave those components out for fear of making this review too spoiler-heavy. Suffice it to say that I was not a fan of this pairing.

One thing that I did not have a hard time with was Abbey's grief for the loss of her friend, Kristen. I found that I was easily able to relate with her on that count, having lost a friend of my own five years ago. Her devotion to the memory of her friend was touching and watching her go through the stages of grief was absolutely heartbreaking. I felt for Abbey very much and wondered how she was going to get through everything going on in her life. Abbey's grief process was probably the only thing I found anywhere near believable about this book.

I'm not sure what else there is to say about The Hollow. It was okay on some levels and just not altogether appealing on others. I don't feel compelled to buy the other books in the series, but might consider checking them out of the library should they come available. I initially thought to give this book 3 hoots, but the more I thought about it, the more dissatisfied I became. I thought it had great potential, but could have been much better than it turned out. I give The Hollow 2 hoots.