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Bittersweet in the Hollow by Kate Pearsall

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I absolutely loved this YA horror set in Caball Hollow WV (heck I read a chunk of it while IN Caball County WV). This rural folk horror subgenre is one of my favorites and I very much liked Linden and her family, a family who had lived in the area for generations and they all have their form of magic. Linden's sister can detect lies for example. Linden reads (and projects) emotion.

The story opens a year almost to the day since Linden disappeared into the woods only to come back with next to no memory of what had happened to her and the town decided she merely got lost and frightened while participating in a local ritual of baiting the Moth-Winged man (a spin on Mothman which is huge here). It caused a rift between her and her friends, especially her boyfriend, Cole, the mayor's son and everyone's golden boy, the boy who shouldn't have survived his heart defect but did.

One of Linden's friends, a young lady who did escape the town via a scholarship is back wanting to talk to her but disappears just like Linden did, only she's not as lucky. Her death has echoes of Linden's disappearance and the disappearance of a young boy some 20 years before. Linden and her family try to work out what is going on, how is it connected to Linden and before the town explodes (mostly at them because their 'powers' are an open secret.

I loved Linden though I would have liked more definition of some of the characters like her sisters. I did have some quibbles, like Linden realizing something is important to the case but not telling anyone but Cole seeing as her dad IS the detective on the case. (though later it seems maybe she had but off page), or why she was so convinced Cole didn't like her any more. There is some explanation but it comes late in the game and doesn't seem to be how Cole feels judging by his actions on screen. The thing that bothered me most was the danger of losing the farm. I'm like you've lived there for generations, did they build a new house that needs a house payment? (I was thinking this because we have two generational houses in my family and we would be in no danger of losing them in a month because we're out of work, maybe when taxes came due) It seemed tacked in there to up tension but it felt unnecessary.

Still, it's a solid debut and I will be hunting for her next book.



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