Hollow

Hollow by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti was this close to being an all-time favorite for me. For most of the book, I was completely hooked. It’s dark, immersive fantasy.

I loved Ferris Creed. She isn’t your standard sword-swinging heroine. She’s bookish, clever, and fiercely loyal, and the way she walks into something deadly with that quiet, stubborn resolve made her so easy to root for. Hendrix fits this story perfectly. He’s a morally blackened fae anti-hero who’s possessive and intense, but with just enough humanity underneath the damage to keep me from writing him off.

Their dynamic made the book for me. The slow burn is full of sharp banter and tension that actually feels earned. It doesn’t read like a fluffy fantasy romance. It’s messier than that, like two broken people latching onto each other in a trauma bond way. Every betrayal pulls them tighter instead of pushing them apart, and that kept me glued to the page.

The cursed, sentient forest is immersive. For about 95% of the story, I was all in.

But the last stretch stumbled for me. After such a carefully built plot, the final 5% felt rushed and overloaded, like a bunch of new pieces got dumped on the table at once. Instead of feeling satisfying, it left me confused, and it dulled some of what I’d been feeling up to that point.

Written in the reader's own words and published by the reader.