Bittersweet in the Hollow by Kate Pearsall
Series: Bittersweet in the Hollow #1
Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers on 2023 October 10
Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal
Pages: 384
Format: E-book
Source: Borrowed from Public Library
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In this beautifully dark and enthralling YA, four sisters with unusual talents investigate a mysterious disappearance in their secluded Appalachian town. For fans of House of Hollow and Wilder Girls!
In rural Caball Hollow, surrounded by the vast National Forest, the James women serve up more than fried green tomatoes at the Harvest Moon diner, where the family recipes are not the only secrets.
Like her sisters, Linden was born with an unusual ability. She can taste what others are feeling, but this so-called gift soured her relationship with the vexingly attractive Cole Spencer one fateful night a year ago . . . A night when Linden vanished into the depths of the Forest and returned with no memories of what happened, just a litany of questions--and a haze of nightmares that suggest there's more to her story than simply getting lost.
Now, during the hottest summer on record, another girl in town is gone, and the similarities to last year's events are striking. Except, this time the missing girl doesn't make it home, and when her body is discovered, the scene unmistakably spells murder.
As tempers boil over, Linden enlists the help of her sisters to find what's hiding in the forest . . . before it finds her. But as she starts digging for truth--about the Moth-Winged Man rumored to haunt the Hollow, about her bitter rift with Cole, and even about her family--she must question if some secrets are best left buried.
Can someone please remind me why it’s always the young adult girls have the sole wisdom, experience, and intuition to solve a long forgotten murder that led to a series of murders in the present? Why is it that a bunch of experienced and highly competent officials of the Sherriff Department are at a loss and grasping at straws at something that they are supposed to be good at? These are my key takeaways after reading Bittersweet in the Hollow.
Bittersweet in the Hollow is not a bad book per se but it’s mediocre in a lot of ways. First and foremost, the issues I mentioned in the above paragraph. Caball Hallow is your typical small town wherein everybody knows everybody, wherein the origins of its residents are still as familiar as the back of their own hands. And their Sheriff Department is headed by someone renowned to be the best in his field. And yet, the Department looked like a joke following cases of murders, vandalism, and missing persons. As a reader, there is only so much suspension of disbelief that I can do for an entire story. And while we’re at it, it’s even more unbelievable for someone like Linden, our heroine who’s more interested in baking and cooking than playing sleuth, to unravel the truth as her personality and experiences doesn’t just coincide as someone intuitive and magically gifted enough to be the one solving the case. I mean, it does not just make sense, you know.
Aside from Linden’s unbelievable competency for paranormal sleuthing, the romance and character development of all characters seemed a bit off. Cole is a good guy and had done nothing wrong but I can’t understand why Linden has an unnecessary animosity towards him in the beginning. And yeah, the way the author designed their attraction towards each other is so half-baked that it should have been scrapped entirely from the whole story. It was not adding anything substantial and would have given the author more room to develop the characters especially Gran, Mama, and Linden’s three siblings.
Bittersweet in the Hollow is not without its redeeming qualities, however. I did enjoy the plot and even if I already had a good guess about the killer, I still had goosebumps when everything was revealed at the end. The author was at least good in strategizing where to insert the red herrings for maximum scare factor. The Appalachian Mountains also made for a good setting that’s eerie and magical that added to the kind of atmosphere the author is trying to establish. I’ve never been to the place but it does really gives me the creeps. And well, the tidbits of witchy information scattered across the book helped the story give off that mystical tone.
All in all, three stars for this book because the pros and cons evened out at the end ultimately. Read at your own risk.