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This was one of my top five ‘must read’ books for 2021 and I was not disappointed at all!

When I first came across ‘House of Hollow‘ I knew I would absolutely have to read it, also, it was a gift from my husband for my birthday. I do have to say.. it was worth the wait! I’m so glad it met and surpassed my exceedingly high expectations.

Soon I’ll be getting it flowers and whispering sweet nothings.

There has been a lot of positive feedback from readers in the reviews for this book and now I finally understand why! Sutherland’s brilliantly rendered characters will entice you with their beauty.. and capture you in the dark mystery of the Hollow sisters.

“Strangeness only bred strangeness, and it felt dangerous to tempt fate, to invite in the darkness that seemed already naturally drawn to us.“

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House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland

Publication date: April 2021
Pages: 231
Genre: Fiction, Young adult, Mystery, Horror
Standalone (What!?)

First line: I was ten years old the first time I realized I was strange.

Grey – the oldest, left home at seventeen, a renowned designer known for her distinctly morbid style.

“She moved through the world like no other woman I knew.
“What you don’t understand,” she said to me once when I told her how dangerous it was, “is that I am the thing in the dark.””

Vivi – the wild one, she left home shortly after Grey, now the lead in a world famous rock band.

“She collected each wolf whistle, each smacked butt cheek, each groped breast, kept them all beneath her skin where they boiled in a cauldron of rage that she let out onstage on the strings of her bass guitar.”

  Iris – is the good girl, she just wants to be normal, but there’s nothing normal about these girls.

“I fell somewhere between my sisters. I didn’t actively try to wield or waste my beauty.”

---

Three girls visiting Edinburgh with their parents disappear in an instant, and the parents who were standing only feet away, are left devastated and confused. The area they went missing should have made it impossible to vanish without warning but.. they were simply there one moment and gone the next.

Miraculously the girls are found, naked and without memories of where they’d been, and return home to overjoyed parents. But something has changed.. the girls are different now.
Their eyes have darkened to black, their hair white as snow.. and they hunger.

What happened to the Hollow sisters? Where were they taken? And why? What has changed them so drastically that their own parents show signs of fear and uncertainty?

---

Five Stars!

This book was very strange, and yet, it was also uniquely captivating.

 “She slammed through the world, a tornado in the form of a girl, and left a trail of destruction behind her.
I wanted to live in her skin, to know what it was like to be as beautiful and mysterious as Grey Hollow.“

Iris about Grey

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About the book:

Something terrible happened to these girls.. the sisters disappeared as children and came back transformed. Their eyes and hair have changed, no food satisfies their hunger, and a steady stream of odd occurrences follow in their wake. Their father is dead, by his own hand, and the relationship between the mother and daughters is fraught with tension. They once called her mum but not any longer. She fears Iris being around her sisters, there’s something wild about them, making ‘Cate’ nervous and overprotective.

Why is Cate so worried? Worried enough to track Iris’ whereabouts. She’s uncomfortable, almost fearful, of Vivi and Grey (mostly Grey) but.. why?

Grey’s been keeping secrets, a lot of secrets, and now she’s missing.. leaving Iris and Vivi to follow the little clues left behind.

Will they find her in time? Or is it already too late?
Is what happened before happening again?
What does Grey know that they don’t?
And why are they being hunted?

Overall:

This book has a little bit of everything I look for in a good story. Well fleshed out characters that are, somehow, creepy And attractive. The fascinating dynamics between the sisters is addictive, you want to know more, you need answers. Sutherland creates this incredibly beautiful imagery with her writing, it just sweeps you away and, next thing you know, you’ve devoured it whole.

Liked: Liked? I loved this book. Nice pace. Easily kept my attention throughout. Sutherland’s darkly captivating writing flows flawlessly from one scene to the next and was truly a pleasure to read. The almost constant mystery of the girls, and what happened to them, will keep you deeply immersed in their story until the very end.

The relationship between the sisters is a devoted, almost living thing, their loyalty to one another without question.

Disliked: I only have one real complaint and I’m not going to ruin the book for you by plastering it all over here but.. Wtf was up with that ending? I mean.. Really? Not cool, Sutherland, not cool.

Also, Iris shouldn’t be in charge of coming up with the plan.

Hadn’t I seen that in a movie or read it in a book? It had worked then—why wouldn’t it work now? 

Curious yet?

I really loved this book and would definitely recommend it. If you like strange, haunting, and mysterious stories that follow you long after reading: This is absolutely for you!
And.. even if you don’t like any of those things? I would still suggest giving it a chance!

Thank you for reading!

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