There was much boing on in Rhonda Parrish’s YA debut Hollow, which takes its time revealing its supernatural story, around 30% before anything much happened. That is not to say what went before was not interesting to read, as we are introduced to sixteen-year-old Morgan who has a difficult home life. Her mother is in a wheelchair and suffers from depression and her little brother died in the same accident, as a result Morgan looks after her little sister. She is also bullied at school by an ex-boyfriend who spreads rumours about her, something she really struggles with. Her only form of escape it with her best friend and through her hobby, running. This was all very easy to read, with snappy engaging dialogue, with Morgan an easy character to spend time with.

The story takes a turn for the supernatural when she discovers an old camera in an abandoned hospital, which has strange qualities which seem to suck the goodness from people if they are snapped. Morgan’s first photo is of a squirrel, which quickly goes mental. It picks up the pace in the second half, but I liked the balance of school stuff, the new love interest and the teenager trying to do the best for her family. It takes its time revealing what happened with the ex-boyfriend, in the form of a sexual assault, but it fits well into the wider story. Much of it is very reminiscent of the famous Point Horror novels of the 1990s and I think lots of teens might enjoy this.

Hollow was an okay book. The story was great unlike anything I had heard of before. However, it fell flat. I felt like chapters were missing when, in reality, it was just written that way. The beginning was promising but it digressed through the end. It left major gaps in the middle of the story, and ultimately left me unfeeling. The ending really didn’t feel wrapped up for me, it felt like the author just finished it, in whatever manor she could.

Thank you NetGalley for the free ebook in exchange for an honest review!

I really enjoyed this book, I wasn't expecting it to be so deep, with many important topics like bullying, rape, guilt. The characters are very consistent and it is easy to identify. Descriptions are vivid and beautiful. I recommend it !

Morgan's life is broken apart after a tragic car accident kills her little brother and damages her mother's spinal cord. On top of that her ex-boyfriend is spreading horrible rumors about her and she and her one friend are the "odd men out" at school. Running helps, and Morgan runs around the abandoned and creepy old hospital every day to clear her mind. One day she ducks into the old building while hiding from the menacing ex-boyfriend and finds an old Polaroid camera being guarded by a mysterious grey and white Magpie. Morgan wants that camera, and after tricking the Magpie, she gets it. Finally Morgan can indulge her love of photography with a real camera, not an iphone. This is something Morgan will soon regret.
Strange things happen to anyone who's photo is taken with this old Polaroid. Sinister, scary things. Could it actually be true that a camera could steal the soul?
I enjoyed "Hollow" and one of my favorite characters was actually the mysterious Magpie.
#netgalley #Hollow

Hollow is an incredible novel about how guilt can shatter your whole life. When Morgan finds that camera and begins to capture people with it they change... except do they really or is it her who changed? I found the entire story to be spellbinding and couldn’t put it down !

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I loved this book from beginning to end! It’s a must read if you love horror books and is throughly written out by the author. I forgot that it was even YA. I still wanted more at the end, with being a quick read of only 171 pages. The author made the characters feel very real, and I loved the main characters best friend Severn who does anything to protect her and is there for her when no one else seems to be. Synopsis: The main character is going through a dark time recovering from a car accident that killed her younger brother Aric and paralyzed her mother. She is trying to find her way as a sixteen year old teenager in high school and dealing with bullying from her ex-boyfriend Keith and his friends trying to ruin her reputation, the “guilt” of being raped, and with the tragedy that destroyed her family that day in December. She uses running and photography as a way to escape her reality. On her usual running route she passes an old abandoned hospital that holds the towns famous ghost story of a man named Dr. Woods who haunts the building and kills anyone who enters. While one day running she sees Keith coming down the street in his Trans Am and she trespasses inside to get away from him, finding a camera from the 80’s that visualizes in the psychiatric ward. Soon she realizes that something is wrong with the old Polaroid camera. When she takes a picture of something/someone they turn into an aggressive version of themselves. Throughout the book the author uses a type of bird called a Magpie to symbolize good and bad omens and to take the shape of her younger brother Aric that was killed that night in the car accident as a way to show that even though he’s gone physically he is still with her, and the myth that by taking a picture of someone it can steal their soul. Thank you to @Netgalley and @TychebooksLTD for allowing me to read the book and do an honest review.

Morgan is sixteen, and Amy, her sister is 7. There was once Aric, a little brother. But a tragic car accident has shattered the family. Suddenly, her brother’s dead, her mom's a quadriplegic and paralyzed in more ways than one. Her dad consumes himself with long long hours at work.
Then there is high school which is its own special kind of hell, where her ex-boyfriend thinks it’s fun to spread rumors that shred Morgan’s reputation and bottoms out her already low self esteem.
Her home is located by an old abandoned, burned out hospital that once housed a psychiatric ward. The hospital is said to be haunted and cursed even from the day it was being built. A bizarre set of circumstances lead Morgan to venture into this scary place. Morgan is a photographer and when she happens upon an old Polaroid camera in one of the creepy rooms, she is intrigued by the relic. She takes it home and now her luck goes from bad to worse.
Amazingly, the camera works and is loaded with film. After taking a few pictures Morgan begins to realize that after she photographs a person or in one case an animal, they become corrupted versions of themselves. It's like the camera steals their goodness, their essence, and leaves them hollow.
The weirdness really heats up when Morgan arrives home one day to find that her sister has used the camera to take a selfie.
Can Morgan will find a way to reverse the effects of the cursed camera and save Amy, before her already-fractured family completely self-destructs.

This reminds me of The Twilight Zone or in more modern days a Black Mirror episode.
I think the YA audience will be drawn to this high school drama/thriller.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.

TW: rape, bullying, depression, death

SPOILERS AHEAD

Morgan's life changed when, in a car incident, her little brother Aric died and her mother was paralyzed. Now her mother is depressed and can't function, her seven years old sister, Amy, is suffering and her father is distant, while at school her ex boyfriend, Keith and his friends harass her, spreading rumors and slut-shaming her. The only person who has her back is her best friend Sevren, but she can't find the courage to tell him what happened with Keith and to be honest with him. Feeling hollow and guilty, Morgan decides to visit tha haunted hospital and finds an old camera, that will change everything.

The book's premises were really interesting and I was attracted by idea of a camera that can steals people's goodness, but I didn't like the outcome so much, because I wish it would have been better developed.
Morgan, the main character, is traumatized, she feeling shamed and guilty and she can't stand how her family life turned out since her brother died. She feels trapped. The discovering of the camera and its powers makes her feeling ever more guilty and responsible.
It didn't happen much in the book, and, for me, it was a bit rushed, above all the ending; I wish they author would have better explained things about the camera, its powers, the hospital and so on, above all how Morgan will deal with her traumas. Putting Keith's traumatic's past was a bit useless, for me, the usual trope of a bullied bully, but at least Morgan didn't justify his behaviour. I found frustrating the lack of action in the book.

Still, the story is simple, while dealing with important issues and the characters are relatable, even though Morgan's situation is very frustrating. The story is creepy and interesting in its interity and Morgan, Sevren and Amy are cute characters. Morgan is trying to find a way to cope with her traumas.

I wanted to take a chance on a YA horror book by a Canadian female horror author. However, I could not get into this one, so I'm choosing to DNF it without leaving any public reviews. This just is not a book for me.

I’m not sure I would call this a horror novel, but it was definitely suspenseful. Maybe because it’s young adult it’s less graphic than I was expecting, but that is a positive. Morgan is an interesting main character and it’s hard not to empathize with her situation and her day to day teenage anxieties. This was a solid, fast read that kept my interest right to the end.

I picked this book, in the horror category, based on its cover and the description. I failed to notice it was a YA novel. I also failed to notice it while I was reading it. It’s something I only noticed when I started writing this review.

Hollow being a YA novel explains why it’s devoid of violence or, at least, of gore. It explains why it is psychological horror which, as we all know, is the best kind of horror there is.

Morgan is a teenager attending high school. She doesn’t have it easy. Her family is in tatters, following a car accident that cost them her brother’s life and her mother’s legs. Life at school isn’t better, as her ex-boyfriend and his clique makes it their mission to bully her, and spread nasty rumors about her.

For a teenager, high school life can already be psychological horror.

The book is written in the first person, in a very believable manner. Thoughts and feelings are racing through Morgan’s mind as they’re bound to do in a teenager. This makes for a fast paced reading and I was so invested that, having read a quarter of the book, I had already forgotten it was supposed to be an horror novel.

That is, until Morgan enters a Silent Hill-esque abandoned and presumably haunted hospital, all the way to its former psych ward, in which she founds an antique camera (antique for a YA, not for me - a Polaroïd from the 80s).

This camera has the power to suck all good out from people. She unknowingly uses it on some classmates, and her sister takes a selfie with it, thus making an already hard situation effectively turn into a nightmare.

Hollow should, unfortunately, resonate with a lot of young (and less young) adults. high school isn’t always an easy place, and Morgan has to process a lot of angst and guilt. The « cursed » camera serves as a device bringing her face to face with herself, and we’re left to witness if she will overcome her problems ,or drown in them.

This book is more character study than horror, as it should, and a well crafted one too. Would be a shame to restrict its reading to the YA crowd, so indulge yourself however old you are.

Thanks to Tyche Books Ltd and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for this unbiased review.