Review: The Hollow

Book Description:
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.

My Opinion:

Would you look at that cover? It's got to be one the best covers I've ever seen. Beautiful. As soon as I saw it, I had to read it.

I loved the setting and therefore the feel of The Hollow. This book portrayed a town with the romantic, small-town feel that made me want to pack up my bags and move to Sleepy Hollow-- the abode of the legendary Headless Horseman. I thought that was a very intriguing setting choice. I mean, the main character Abby gets to hang around graveyards (no, she's not a vampire or vampire slayer), talk to Washington Irving's grave, and learn about The Legend of Sleepy Hollow while the leaves turn on the New England trees and town celebrates it's historical importance. I don't think a setting can get better than that.

But truthfully, I'm afraid that The Hollow didn't really live up to its gorgeous cover. I had trouble finishing it. It was an extremely long book--about 550 pages. I felt like not that much happened in those pages. A lot of the book was just Abby's day-to-day happenings. There wasn't a real sense of urgency throughout the book, and although there were some nice descriptions I was a bit irked by the over usage of gerunds. However, I felt like there characters were realistic: Abby was a bit whiny but I thought she was fleshed out well. And her hobby of perfume-making was absolutely fascinating. I had no idea people actually made perfume for fun! I also thought that it was great that Verday created a character that had ambition in their life--in Abby's case, she wanted to open a perfume shop.

I wasn't a huge fan of Abby and Caspian's relationship (which by the way is what the book is really about--Kristen's death is a subplot, not the main conflict in the book) because the dialogue between them was a bit cheesy. I've never heard any teenagers talk to each other like that, but perhaps it just came across that way to me. The book really didn't pick up the pace until the last fifty pages or so, but the ending was so abrupt that it left me feeling confused. But I suppose I can chalk that up to the fact that there's two more sequels coming up.

I really wish I could've enjoyed The Hollow more. I was disappointed with some aspects of the book, but the cover is gorgeous and it has a lovely setting.

I give it a 4/10