Review: The Hollow by Jessica Verday (Audiobook)

The Hollow by Jessica Verday

The Hollow Series #1

Published September 1st 2009 

by Simon Pulse

Audiobook: September 1st 2010 

by Blackstone Audio, Inc.

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.

Wow… wow… wow.

This book is something I wasn't expecting at all. And I don't know yet if those "wow" are good or bad… or maybe they are both… What I want to say is that this book can be good or bad… it just depends of the way you look at it.

The story started really good. Abbey is a young girl who is passing through a bad moment. Her best friend vanished at the bridge near Sleepy Hollow Cemetery and everybody thinks that she is dead, something that Abbey cannot accept. She is trying to get used to her new life, a new life without her friend, Kristen.

The good thing about this, is that Abbey's character is realistic, you can feel her pain, her frustration…she is suffering, she feels bad, and you can feel those emotions, too. The bad thing is that a lot of people can get tired of those feelings. The story continues telling you over and over again her monotonous life. Wake up, go to school, talk about mom and dad, feel sorry about yourself and Kristen and go to sleep. So, this can be really tiring to read.

But of course, there is a lot mystery that keeps you motivated to read. What happened to her friend? Was an accident, or was something else? Who is that hot and mysterious guy? And everything about Sleepy Hollow Legend was amazing… I didn't know that story until I read this book, so everything was so new to me and so different. 

The only thing I didn't like too much about the story, is that it takes a lot of pages to see the development and the story ends abruptly, leaving you with a lot of doubts and unanswered questions, which I suppose will be answered in the following books. 

About the audiobook:

I'm not a huge fan of audiobooks, and is because sometimes after spending a lot of money (Audiobooks are expensive) I end up hating the story because I didn't like the narrator.  And this has happened to me on several occasions. I needed to stop listening and look for a printed version or an e-book. So I wasn't sure whether to buy it or not. But I'm glad I did it. The narrator, Cassandra Campbell is just amazing. I'm one hundred percent sure that if I were reading this book instead of listen to it, I wouldn't finish it. The intonation and the way she narrated the story was just phenomenal. I really enjoyed it, and I hope to listen more books narrated by her. 

I really like it!

Jessica Verday wrote the first draft of THE HOLLOW by hand, using thirteen spiral-bound notebooks and fifteen black pens. The first draft of her New York Times bestselling second novel, THE HAUNTED, took fifteen spiral-bound notebooks and twenty black pens. She spends her days and nights buying stock in pens and paper. She lives in Goodlettsville, Tennessee with her husband. Find out more at jessicaverday.com

Cassandra Campbell has recorded nearly two hundred audio books and directed many more. She has been nominated for and won multiple Audie Awards, as well as the prestigious Odyssey Award. She has received numerous starred audio reviews in both Publishers Weekly and Library Journal as well as thirteen AudioFile Earphones Awards. Cassandra was also named a Best Voice by AudioFile for 2009 and 2010