Review: The Hollow by Jessica Verday

The Hollow by Jessica Verday
My rating: 1 of 5 genies
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Romance, Ghosts, Paranormal, Mystery
Published: September 1, 2009
Pages: 513
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Source: Library Loan
Format: Hardcover
Purchase At: TheBookDepository.com or Amazon.com

Goodreads Summary

A love like no other...

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 Thoughts

Where to begin? 'The Hollow' had me at its great cover and back story, I mean mysterious good-looking strangers and weird deaths are the stuff of greatness, right? Nope, I'm afraid I was wrong on that one. I really tried my best to get into this read because I hate not finishing a book! It makes me feel like I've given up and I'm an optimist so there's always that hope that somewhere along the pages it WILL get better. Wrong. The romance was not believable for me as I felt the 'connection' between Abbey and Caspian was weird with a capital 'W' and creepy with a disco ball Sparkly-Cullen.

I mean good-looking guys are all good and well, but seriously? One who randomly appears right where I am in the BASEMENT of my supposed 'dead' friend's house, one he claims he didn't know, and also at the CEMETERY for said friend's funeral?? It's perfect that he asks her to meet him there the next day, it solidifies his creepster status, but also portrays Abbey as the girl who eagerly rushes off to meet him there.

She doesn't even know the stud well enough and hurriedly FOLLOWS?!! No. No way. It was unrealistic and too sudden, so much so that Abbey looked desperate. There, I said it. The writing at the beginning was good enough, even a little quirky and had me chuckling a bit, but as It went on I just couldn't do it.

I get that she lost her best friend and Verday did an excellent job of portraying her loss, but really can't the protagonist be a little more interesting? I picked up 'The Haunting' and wanted to read that, but from my experience with 'The Hollow' I don't think I'll bother. Plus, the image of Caspian's hair was impossible to summon! A single black streak across white hair?! I think I got a headache from just trying to grasp that image...oops, there the *snap*,*crackle*,*pop* of my brain frying goes again! Maybe it's just me but this wasn't one to talk about. Sorry Verday!

This was just not my book, not recommended. 1/5 genies!