Bittersweet in the Hollow (Bittersweet in the Hollow, #1) by Kate Pearsall

The story moves at a fast pace with likeable (original) well developed characters. The plot is compelling leading up to a slow burn. The magical abilities of the James family adds an air of mystique to an already intesnse plot.

Overall I found Bittersweet in the Hollow very enjoyable. I look forward to the next installment in the series. I highly recommend to those who enjoy a good magical mystery. Perfect for fantasy lovers as well as crime/thrillers. ( )

Bittersweet in the Hollow is set in the small, isolated Applachian town of Caball Hollow which is encompassed by the National Forest. The story follows Linden James, her three sisters and their family. The James women all have a special "gift"; Linden's is being able taste the emotions of those around her.
Linden is haunted by the events of the summer solstice a year ago, when she vanished into the forest overnight, emerging traumatized and with hazy memories. Now, a year later, another girl goes missing, and is found murdered.
Linden and her sisters gradually unearth the tangled web of secrets and hidden motives in Caball Hollow. The world building is detailed, and characters are colorful and well-developed. The sensory descriptions of food are particularly vivid. This dark fast-paced YA thriller combining mystery, horror, folklore and a touch of romance, grips the reader from the beginning, the tension mounting with each revelation and twist. I completely devoured Bittersweet in the Hollow and absolutely recommend it. ( )

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/bittersweet-in-the-hollow ( )

Excellent! I enjoyed this so much. "Bittersweet in the Hollow" has an awesome, entrancing setup, and it follows through with an engaging plot. It's a little slow to start, but I really enjoyed the time it spent establishing Linden, the main character, her sisters and friends, and the love interest Cole. Linden went missing a year ago, and she can't remember anything that happened during that time. Now that another girl has not only gone missing like her, but turned up dead, she decides to try and figure out what's going on herself. With some help, of course.

I savored this book. Linden and her family have magical abilities, and I really enjoyed this mix of fantasy with the mystery at the heart of the story. Linden being able to taste emotions is not the most exciting ability though, and I feel like more could've been done with the magic present overall.

A belated but very happy review for Bittersweet in the Hollow, Kate Pearsall’s debut novel (and potential start of a series..?!). I decided to sit on this review for a few weeks because A. I’m super busy and B. I wanted to sit with it for a while. Aside from Skyla Arndt’s Together We Rot, Bittersweet is my favorite YA read of 2023! Let’s talk about it.

What I Loved:
1. The imagery throughout. There were quite a few fantasy elements here that I felt Pearsall completely nailed. Most notably were the physical landscape imagery and Linden’s unique ability to TASTE feelings. That’s right. The author managed to tackle a multitude of different feelings and pair them with a wild assortment of tastes. Girl. It delivered.

2. The TWISTS. I’m going to be real. I really thought this one was predictable and half the book I was like I KNOW WHO DID WHAT and boy howdy was I wrong. We love a good bait and switch maneuver, I completely fell for it and ate it up. The actual twists were so much cooler than anticipated, even when certain elements were predictable they were the elements I WANTED to be predictable.

3. Potential for a series. I know. I said it. Little Miss Notorious “I’m so sick of YA stand-alone a being dragged out into trilogies” said it. This one was a complete banger and I 100% need a sequel (which we are most likely getting!!!)

I won’t go into too many more specifics on Bittersweet in the Hollow - more like sweet and full (get it?). I will say one of my favorite things about this novel is actually it’s biggest critique. A lot of Southerners have pointed out how inaccurate and stereotypical our characters are be it southern accent, lingo, or feelings towards things like hot weather. I would counter this by saying Pearsall actually wrote this book after being inspired by growing up with her mother’s storytelling. Even though this isn’t a perfect representation of a large generalization of people - which is virtually impossible to achieve - she took something she grew up loving and essentially wrote a love letter to it. I think that’s about the best thing an author can do.

Alright, that’s it. Happy reading! Pick this bad Boi up for the spooky season and let me know what you think.