The Hollow

Quick Facts: 

• Title: The Hollow

• Author: Jessica Verday

• Lexile Rating and age range: 770L / 14-18 yrs old

• Genre: Teen Paranormal Romance

• Setting: Sleepy Hollow, New York

• Point of View: 1st Person

• Main Characters

• Abbey: She had just lost her best friend and is trying to go through her junior year dealing with the guilt. Along her journey she finds a new love, but with the secrets surrounding her will it last? 

• Caspian: He is the new boy that has caught the eye of Abbey. Mysterious and gorgeous, he is everything Abbey wants, but he is keeping secrets. Will that be his doom?

• Supporting Characters

• Kristen: Best friend that has pasted away. 

• Ben: Classmate that has a thing for Abbey.

• Nikolas: Graveyard caretaker with his own secrets. 

• Katy: Nikolas's sweet wife. 

My Opinion and Grade: 

This story intrigued me with just the title "The Hollow." I have always been a huge fan of Washington Irving and this young adult book that centered around the setting of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow made it a must read. Verday takes the actual legend and weaves it into a love story of a grieving teenage girl, who lost her best friend. "The Hollow" is the first book of a trilogy that follows Abbey through her grieving, her first love, her first heartbreak, and a fate that the reader would never see coming.

Jessica's style of writing will really appeal to the average teenager, because it is written just like teens now-a-days speak, so it is consistent with the narrator, who is our main character, Abbey. Even though there is a paranormal twist to the story, she still goes through everything that girls deal with when finding love. There are the questions about if he is mad or if he really likes you? Should I call him? Should I wait? The book will suck you in and you won't be able to come up for air until you finish and even then you will be crazing more!

I would give Jessica an A on her first book for the trilogy. The flow of the book was great and the way she presented the trilogy conflict didn't miss a beat. Like I said already you will be begging for more of Abbey and Caspian's story as soon as you finish the epilogue.