The Hollow

The Hollow
by Jessica Verday

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. (description from Amazon.com)

After having met Jessica Verday on the Ghost and Graves tour at the Otis Library in Norwich, CT, I had to read this book. The setting, in Sleepy Hollow (yes, of the famous legend!) made this book! It was just the right amount of spooky and fit beautifully with the grieving tone of Abbey's mourning.

Abbey spends her time making perfumes, preparing her business plan, and hanging out at the graveyard. (The descriptions of the perfume making process totally drew me in and now I really want to go and try it out myself!) Though others think her a "freak," Abbey's withdrawal makes sense and feels right. Plus, what everyone else doesn't know is that she's no longer hanging out at the graveyard or by the Crane River alone.

I really liked Abbey's relationship with her parents, her new friend Ben, and with Nicholas and Katie, the cemetery caretakers. Each felt spot-on for the point Abbey's at in her life. The only relationship I sometimes questioned was the one that develops with Caspian...in part because Verday does some excellent foreshadowing and I kept picking up on the fact that things were not as they seem! I liked the romance, but sometimes Abbey just got a little melodramatic for me...I also felt like there were moments when I wanted her to be bolder, but then again there were moments when she was way more direct than I ever could be!

All in all, I will definitely need to read The Haunted A.S.A.P. since this one ended with a great cliffhanger. If you love the paranormal, check this book out...and then you might even want to reread The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. I know I'm going to... :)

Full disclosure: Book signed by author at event, audio book sent to review for AudioFile