The Hollow Girl by Hillary Monahan is a YA Paranormal Horror that will surprise you.
**Trigger Warning: Rape**
“Five boys attacked her.
Now they must repay her with their blood and flesh.Bethan is the apprentice to a green healer named Drina in a clan of Welsh Romanies. Her life is happy and ordered and modest, as required by Roma custom, except for one thing: Silas, the son of the chieftain, has been secretly harassing her.
One night, Silas and his friends brutally assault Bethan and a half-Roma friend, Martyn. As empty and hopeless as she feels from the attack, she asks Drina to bring Martyn back from death’s door. “There is always a price for this kind of magic,” Drina warns. The way to save him is gruesome. Bethan must collect grisly pieces to fuel the spell: an ear, some hair, an eye, a nose, and fingers.
She gives the boys who assaulted her a chance to come forward and apologize. And when they don’t, she knows exactly where to collect her ingredients to save Martyn.“
This book blew me away!
See this is what happens when you barely read synopses. You can get completely blown away by what the book actually turns out to be like.
Before I get too into the review, I want to make sure that you are aware of the trigger warning with this book. If you are sensitive to rape, this may be the book to pass up. The writing can get intense at some moments which can lead to strong emotions, so please read with caution.
With that said, I highly recommend this book! Coming into it, I thought it was just going to be a typical YA horror novel. It was not. It was more than that. The writing in this book blends rape culture into a fantasy AND paranormal AND horror setting. I felt like The Hollow Girl really embraced each of these genres.
The writing expresses very intense emotion that just leaves you with a sense of really taking something away from the story. And this isn’t just something that is embraced with the actions of the five boys. This book is probably the BEST revenge story I’ve read in my life. The rage just takes you whole and you feel like you are there.
But this book isn’t just about the rage. There are moments where you feel the slow-burning relationship that is brought out in the book. The differences in the main characters interactions is like a total 360 and is expressed beautifully in the writing.
I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars and has become one of my favorite books of all time. Nothing in this book seemed to be overbearing in that there was a balance between all the elements of romance, fantasy, horror, paranormal, and rape-culture.
I read this book in a manner of hours. There may be harsh, traumatic content explored, but it was overall captivating.
Published: 10 October 2017
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Genre: Young Adult Paranormal / Horror
Pages: 272
How I Read It: eArc from NetGalley
*Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Nothing in my reviews have been influenced in any way.*
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Until next time..
Happy Reading,
