This book had a lot of dark buzzwords going in for me, including this cover. While I loved the sisterly bond between the characters, this story overall did not have the payoff that I desired from it.

Phenomenal young adult gothic horror! I had no expectations going into HOUSE OF HOLLOW but had heard others be blown away by it. I was blown away as well and could not put this book down!

Iris is a fabulous protagonist. Sutherland did a great job of making a likable character who is imperfect. Iris is a character that you know will grow into her skin (unintended pun there) by the end of the novel. I loved her growth throughout the novel and to see her become confident/sure of herself by the end of the novel. I also enjoyed the other characters Sutherland put in the novel especially Vivi and Tyler. I want more of all of them!

The novel was fast-paced without feeling rushed. It was a page turner but I still needed to soak in every word. I've never read a novel like this and I feel like it would be a great adaptation for tv or a streaming service.

I would recommend this to everyone who wants a young adult novel that's like nothing they've read before.

“‘What you don’t understand,’ she said to me once when I told her how dangerous it was, ‘is that I am the thing in the dark.’”

If that doesn’t already make you shiver, then just wait. There’s something so beautiful and empowering about this quote, yet it’s dark and ominous at the same time—and I think that description summarizes the novel as a whole as well. House of Hollow reminds me of Lana Popovic’s Wicked Like a Wildfire (another novel for fans of complicated mother-daughter relationships, lush imagery, and speculative twists) except a thousand times creepier.

Despite their introductions as the stereotypes of the model, rebel, and teacher’s pet, respectively, the three Hollow sisters, Grey, Vivi, and Iris, are unnaturally linked. That doesn’t mean, however, that they don’t communicate like teenagers. From the start, I adored the banter between Vivi and Iris. They make dirty jokes and tease each other mercilessly, all while acknowledging that there isn’t something exactly right about their family—including their older supermodel of a sister who disappears on her boyfriend Tyler for days at a time, their father who “lost his mind” after they were abducted as children, and their mother who hates being called Mama. Even when the sisters participate in seemingly harmless activities, such as visiting a club, there is this otherworldly tension that underpins their actions. The girls are as much of a mystery as is the horned man stalking them.

House of Hollow started off sinister, and it became downright creepy. There were scenes that made me squirm because they were just that well-written. The gruesomeness is always accompanied by beauty, however, and I loved how this paralleled the subtle depictions of the false perfection of social media and the press. Although I did predict one of the major twists at the end, a second twist succeeded it—one that I had sort of suspected but not really realized until that moment—and blew me out of the water.

“Some people go missing because they want to; some go missing because they’re taken. And then there are the others—those who go missing because they fall through a gap somewhere and can’t claw their way back.”

Unfortunately, I can’t give the book a full five stars because I wanted a bit more in terms of the development of certain characters, specifically Tyler Yang, Grey’s boyfriend who falls in with the younger two Hollow sisters as they search for Grey. The reader does learn about tragedies from his past, but I felt like his normalcy only served to contrast the Hollows’ strangeness rather than to mature his own storyline. I also wasn’t a fan of his fate at the end at all, though I don’t want to spoil why. Similarly, I found Grey Hollow fascinating, even just when learning about her from Iris’s perspective. The reader is limited by Iris’s naivete, however, and I think it would have been interesting to explore a few scenes where the reader has Grey’s knowledge.

Still, I physically gasped multiple times while reading this book, and I could vividly feel all of the conflicting emotions that Iris experienced as she uncovered the truths of her and her sisters’ existence. House of Hollow is a lush, creepy novel about sisterhood, survival, and gaps in the universe, and it might just linger on in my nightmares for days to come.

*Disclaimer: The quotes in this review are from an uncorrected proof and are subject to change.

(B+) 86% : A really dark twisted fairy tale.......
ARC provided by author/publisher in exchange for an honest review. this Does NOT affects my rating.

TW: Sexual Assault, Graphic Murder, Blood, and Gore
Read Again: Probably Not
Buy for a Friend: Yes

Non-spoiler Section 📕
Wow, this book was absolutely dark, twisted, creepy, and just the right amount of tension to keep you on the edge of your seat.

We start off the story with the three Hollow Sisters. They went missing ten years ago for 31 days. The returned, but none of them can seem to remember what happened to them during those days. However one of the sisters goes missing and the thing that has been buried for ten years, starts to come back to haunt them. Together they must work through the darkness of their past to truly be safe. From here the story gets darker and takes normal fairy tale ideas and twists them to fit the darkness of the story and the characters.

This story was dark, lush, and intense. I will say the beginning was a little slow, but it started to pick up a good 15-20% through the book. From there, it was non-stop. I mean there were so many twists, turns, and loops that my brain was practically buzzing with how amazing this book was. The authors writing style is honestly so unique. They way she writes about life and death, decay and growth is amazing. The moment you open the book you are captivated by the story of these three girls. The author did an AMAZING job portraying these characters, this plot, and the ARC's that each character goes through.

I thought the characters were well developed and included a diverse range of people. There's an Asian MC, shoutout to my boy Tyler Yang, and members of the LGBTQ community. Sutherland did a fantastic job with this book.


It did take me a moment to get into the story, but after the initial few chapters it really took off. I think there are some really nice themes in this book and a lot of character growth that applies to life today. I would definitely recommend this book to a friend who likes thrillers, dark stories, and lots of plot twists.

Also can we just take a second to appreciate how beautiful this cover is, I mean truly it is amazing.


Now let's move on to the spoiler section of this review. If you plan on reading this book I wouldn't read any further, unless you are like me and like to have things spoiled.

Spoiler Section 📖
This book was interesting. There was a nice variety of characters and they all dealt with the trauma in their own way.

Grey used it to fuel her. She was going to do everything she could, be everything she wanted. I think maybe it's because she didn't want those girls lives to go to waste. I honestly don't know. Her character was one of my favorites. Now you might think I am crazy after saying that, but she was really interesting to learn about. Her character Brought up the question, how far are you willing to go to live? I think people will go any length to stay alive and that is just what Grey did.

Vivi, I liked Vivi's character. I think she had one of the best Arc's in the book. She went from this person who used drugs, sex, and alcohol to hide from her past. If she didn't remember is she didn't have to deal with it. However at the end of the book she learns that she can't escape it and works through the problems. Which she eventually quits her bad habits and comes clean.

Iris, I also think she had a great Arc. She went from letting things happen TO her to making things happen. She learned to defend herself. I will say, I felt so bad for this girl. Her entire life was a lie. I felt like at the end of the book I was questioning if she was even guilty. I mean she didn't remember it at all and she barely had any part in it. However at the end I don't know if I would have chose to stay with Cate. I mean I guess having a daughter is better than having none, but still the situation is quite precarious.


Overall this book was a really interesting read. It was out of my normal genre and I loved it. I would def. Recommend to a friend that loves horror. It was a great story and overall I am happy that I read this book.

What a wild, disturbing ride this book was! The body horror reminded me of Wilder Girls a bit, the doorway magic reminded me of the Wayward Children series, and the adventure was quirky like The Hazel Wood. What I’m trying to say is, I liked this one a lot!

I appreciated that the author didn’t shy away from being brutally gross at times, and that while this was a horror story, there was some humor to it. The exploration between the sisters’ relationship, as well as between them and their parents/classmates/etc., was also very interesting. It kind of brought in a true crime element, seeing how the sisters navigated the world after disappearing and coming back.

While I can’t say I didn’t see the “twist” coming, I was mostly in denial and it was a terrible surprise anyway. But when I say terrible, I mean that in the best way!

It’s hard reviewing books like this, because I don’t want to give away any details, and the story really is in the details. But I def recommend it!

CW: death, murder (on page), suicide (off page but talked about), attempted rape, alcohol and drug abuse, body horror and gore

TW: suicide, sexual assault, gore and body horror.
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HOUSE OF HOLLOW follows three sisters, Iris, Vivi and Grey. When they were children, something terrible happened to the three girls that left them with identical scars at the base of their throats, and no memory of how they got there. Iris has always tried to ignore the strangeness that is her life, but she can’t run from it any longer. Grey is missing. A man with horns is hunting the three sisters, a corpse falls from Greys bedroom ceiling, and dark memories are coming back. What happened to them as children? And what has Grey hiding?
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I’m stunned! Sutherland is so incredibly talented. This story is fully immersive, and the atmosphere is haunting. I was hooked from the very beginning and could not stop reading until I had the answers I needed. Sutherland does not shy away— this story is creepy, morbid, and completely fascinating. I couldn’t look away. I’m a little torn on the ending. I like the way it ends, but also... please, tell me more! I want to keep going! Overall, great story! I can’t wait to see this cover all over Bookstagram. This is something I’d like to reread in October!
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4.5/5 stars, HOUSE OF HOLLOW by Krystal Sutherland is available April 6, 2021!
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Thank you to Penguin Teen and Netgalley for the eARC to review!

Not going to lie, I was in the mood for a book exactly like this when I picked it up and it couldn’t have been more perfect for my mood. This is a deliciously creepy and twisted fairy tale-like story of three sisters who disappear in the blink of an eye from a street in Scotland, only to return one month later with no memory of their time gone. Their story instantly became a news frenzy with the girls at the center of the storm. They were stalked, assaulted, accused of lying, and threatened. When their parents are proven by authorities to have nothing to do with their disappearance and winning a large defamation suit from a newspaper, the girls begin attending an expensive and prestigious private school where the abuse continues. Grey and Vivi quickly leave school to pursue modeling and musical careers, but Iris stays and tries to be both the perfect daughter and perfect student. But there’s nothing perfect about any of the sisters. Upon their return on that cold, rainy night, the girls changed. Their hair turned white and their eyes became an inky black and they developed a constant hunger. The girls know they are strange but only Iris tries to fit in.

Now, ten years after their reappearance, Grey, the oldest of the Hollow sisters is missing. Leaving behind a bizarre set of clues, Iris and Vivi must find their sister before it’s too late for all of them. Along the way, they discover that their connection to the supernatural is far greater than they realized and they are far from the only ones looking for their sister.

I thoroughly enjoyed every single page of this gruesome thriller. It’s dark and twisty and plays with the concept of power so well. These sisters know they are different and strange but it’s so much darker than that. They have the ability to compel people which sounds like an incredible power to have, until it goes too far and makes people obsessed with them. This power helps both Grey and Vivi in their modeling and music careers, but for someone who is quiet and mild-mannered like Iris, it’s frightening. This book is incredibly dark. Very quickly we learn the girls’ father dies by suicide and was obsessed with the idea that the girls were not his daughters. Cate, their mother, is estranged from both Grey and Vivi is hyper protective of Iris. This dynamic makes it incredibly difficult for Iris to maintain relationships with her sisters and she is constantly pulled between the two relationships. All three girls are also incredibly beautiful and they use that beauty to manipulate others. When the girls discover that Grey found where they were held during their disappearance, they also discover more about their time there and it’s the darkest thing possible. I cannot emphasize enough how dark this book is, but if you can handle it, you won’t be disappointed.

This is a fast read. I was immediately engrossed in the story and intrigued about where the girls had disappeared and what happened to them while they were there. I couldn’t wait to see how everything was tied together and how far the author was willing to take this story. Iris and her sisters were great characters. You can feel how abrasive Vivi and Grey found their home life and how much of a mediator Iris plays for the family. Cate, their mother, seems so cold and distant but you soon realize how much she has to cope with and it’s all a defense mechanism. I really liked how the author made Grey’s boyfriend completely immune to her supernatural charm. It made for a great and snarky dynamic between him and the other two sisters.

If you love dark fantasy, twisted fairy tales, and deliciously dark YA, this is definitely one to try.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title. All opinions and mistakes are my own.

A dark, twisty modern fairytale where three sisters discover they are not exactly all that they seem and evil things really do go bump in the night. I think that says it all. A beautifully written dark, gothic and atmospheric fairytale. I loved the story and the sisters, Iris, Grey and Vivi Hollow. The storyline kept me guessing all the way through. This book has me both drawn to and wary of old doorways. If ever I come across one, I will immediately think of this book.

Thank you to Penguin Teen and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Three young sisters go missing and show up a month later with no memory of what happened. Ever since their disappearance Grey, Vivi and Iris have been different. Identical scars on their necks, hair that turned white and eyes that go black. Years later, while still strange, the girls have flourished, Grey a famous fashion designer, Vivi a talented bassist, and Iris on her way to being the first to attend college. Unearthly and powerful, Iris believes her sisters to be untouchable, but when Grey fails to show up at Vivi’s concert and a man with a skull mask appears to be following them, Vivi and Iris know that it is time to find answers of their own. Krystal Sutherland spins a very eerie gothic mystery with language both disgusting and haunting as she leads you to the mysteries behind the door.

I got this ARC during North Texas Teen Book Festival from Penguinteen via NetGalley.

House of Hollow really excels at aesthetic. In the book club I attended, the author and other readers mentioned the movie Midsommar. I've also seen that movie and I concur that the feeling of dread while surrounded by beautiful nature scenes and florals is exactly what House of Hollows contains. However, I do think House of Hollow is almost more blatantly sinister in tone, with rot and decay on full view for much of the book. Tl;dr: this book is great if you love creepy atmosphere.

I did like how Iris was definitely normal--a foil to her super worldly and weird sisters. I did think this made her point of view a little boring at times since we didn't get to see the coolness of Grey and Vivi too closely (they don't live at home anymore), but made it easier to connect to the perspective character. It also made some parts of the story even scarier because I just wanted this poor teenager to be okay.

And speaking of scary, wow. Adult horror doesn't scare me (the aforementioned Midsommar was really fun but not super scary to me) but I got to the ending of this book a little late at night and had a bit of an existential scare. Definitely look at trigger/content warnings for this one if you're not a big horror reader. I don't want to give away the "big twist" everyone is raving about, but it's a doozy, and I ate it up.

I would recommend this book if you love dark fairy tales, stories that get a little weird, and/or horror.

Phew that was something. The element that stood out the most for me was the setting and the atmosphere, which is a critical part of the story. House of Hollow is set in London and Scotland, and Sutherland's writing transports readers to these places. I could so clearly see the locations, and her descriptions were so vivid that I definitely got all of the disgusting details, so for better or for worse,

That being said, I didn't have the best grasp of the characters. I felt like there was more telling about the characters (also through Iris Hollow's eyes) than readers picking up certain things themselves. Out of the main characters, I probably had the weakest grasp on Tayler. Because of this, I didn't really get a holistic and physical picture of the characters; I was drawn into the story more through the setting and plot.

Otherwise, House of Hollow is a truly addicting story that keeps unfolding layer after layer. After you read it, you'll probably have a different opinion of my choice of peeling back and unearthing these complexities 👀. I started House of Hollow on (a) Wednesday and finished on Thursday. It's no joke that I flew this story. I have so many unanswered questions that were kind of answered by the end, but then again, this book is not the "ends with a perfectly placed bow on top" kind of book.

Review posted on GoodReads (March 24, 2021)
Review linked below.

4/5 stars!

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Teen for sending me an E-ARC of this book for an honest review.

This book was so interesting. Going into this book, I didn't really know anything about the plot or the synopsis. All I knew was that it was a thriller and that the cover was beautiful... Honestly, I am so obsessed with this cover.

This story pulled me in from the very first page. Sutherland's writing was beautiful and lyrical, and the intricate world that Sutherland created was so alluring. This book is beautifully dark and mysterious, and I loved every moment of reading it. I think that part of the beauty of this book is not knowing that much before jumping into the story, so I am not going to say much more—just know that the plot takes so many different turns that weren't predictable at all. It was such a fun read.

Thanks for reading!
Caden

This book... It's dark. It's morbid. It's gory.

It has this amazingly macabre mood through the entire story. The descriptive writing is perfection and the details are on point. That's why I'm so incredibly disappointed to give this book any less than five stars.

But, the story is so slow. And maybe that's because it jumps back and forth between what's going on in the present to what one of the sister's remembers in the past, it got a bit jarring and terribly repetitive! It got to a point where I was just waiting for the story to end. The way it unfolds is lackluster, I really craved more depth.

All in all, I didn't hate it, but I wouldn't read it again.


Thank you to PenguinTeen via NetGalley for an e-ARC to read and honestly review.

Quick Stats
Overall: 5 stars
Characters:5/5
Plot:5/5
Setting:5/5
Writing:5/5

I… I’m genuinely at a loss for words. Don’t read this book if you’re prone to nightmares. Do read this book if you liked The Hazel Wood, or if you like twisty, sometimes grotesque horror novels.
I’m thoroughly freaked out, but it was so good. I could not put it down to the point that I read the whole book in one sitting. The intrigue hooked me from the first page; I simply had to know what happened. And let me tell you, I was not expecting what happened. At all.
From the start, I loved the characters. Iris was relatable and real, and her sisters where interesting and well developed. Every character I read was well rounded and interesting. The plot was…well, I don’t know how to put this delicately…it was a mindfuck. I was freaked out, confused (in the best way), and needing more every step of the way.
Sutherland’s writing was flawless. She writes creepy really well.
Definitely don’t read this if you’re easily spooked, but if not, I highly recommend it.
I do need a nice fluffy romance to recover though.

This story is told from the perspective of Iris the youngest Hollow sister. The three sisters are all different but have always been close. When Grey goes missing they do all they can to find her with the clues they have. This book is filled with suspense and keeps you guessing. After about halfway the book picks up from starting out slowly. There were a few different genres presented such as fantasy, suspense and magical realism. This book is pretty dark and there are some gruesome scenes. And the ending is a shocker. 3 1/2 stars
I will post my review on my Instagram page and good reads closer to pub day.

This book is so hauntingly beautiful and I wasn't expecting the horror aspect, but it did not disappoint! I like how it is family-oriented but with a twist which, speaking of twists, I did not see any of it coming!

House of Hollow is genuinely the most haunting, darkly beguiling, compulsively unsettling book I’ve ever read. It’s a story of sisterhood and empowering women, while also being a story of monsters and terrible things that happen in the night. We follow the first-person perspective of Iris Hollow as she tries to pretend that her life is normal, that there is no mystery surrounding her or her sisters. However, when her oldest sister goes missing, it’s up to Iris and her middle sister Vivi to find her.
The author has a lush, atmospheric writing style that created vivid pictures in my head (for better or for worse). The entire story is a dreamy nightmare that you can’t help but consume as quickly as possible. Its weirdness only escalates the farther you go. I loved it*.

*sometimes i think that i’m too slytherin for my own good
There were times when I was reading this when I had to take a break because I was getting too creeped out. To be fair, I was reading it in the dark (on my phone) so that probably didn’t help. But that’s one of the things I appreciated most about this book: it didn’t pull punches just because it was a YA book. There were parts that were shockingly dark and twisted, moments that cannot be described as anything but breathless horror. However, this is also a book about family and sisters and love and being a girl in a world that can hurt girls so very easily.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this. Would it be magical realism trying too hard? Would it be a confusing mix of supernatural and normal thriller elements? In the end, this truly felt like a cult classic horror fairy-tale. Every story beat is brilliantly plotted, as we go from slightly creepy to downright horrifying. Even the cover takes on a new meaning after finishing the book, for as good as the build-up to the climax is…the ending takes the cake. I didn’t guess the plot twists fully, although I saw hints of them coming. But gosh dang was the ending done well.

I can say with certainty that this is the best horror book I’ve ever read. I don’t want to give too much away because this is something that simply needs to be experienced. I loved the complexity of every single character, and the web of relationships tying them together. My one complaint is the treatment of a certain POC character. The ending leaves things a bit ambiguous in that regard but still.

So that’s it! I’d be surprised if this isn’t one of the standout books of the year, because it is that good. Overall, this is a solid 4.5/5 stars.

*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me an advanced copy of this book to review

This book is all the things that I love in books. It is weird, like super weird, it has a strong sister relationship, it has an unexplained magic system, and it has a plot twist that I did not see coming at all.

After their disappearance 10 years ago, the Hollow sisters have never been the same. Their hair turned white, their eyes turned black, and they had this strange quality about them that drove people a little crazy. Now both of Iris' older sisters have moved out and are famous but when their oldest sister disappears they know something isn't right.

As they unravel the clues she has left behind to help them find her they realize that everything may not be as it seems and that she may not be telling them the truth about what happened to them all those years ago.

I honestly do not know how to talk about this book without giving anything away but it is so freaking crazy, and a wild ride of weirdness and I loved every minute of it. I was constantly thinking about this book when I wasn't reading it. It will most likely be one of my top ten books of the year and I'm still thinking about it almost a month later.

This book did a great job of keeping secrets from the reader that even if you can kind of guess, you don’t know the whole thing and have to keep reading to find out more. The whole concept is so unique that it stays unpredictable no matter how much of the story you kind of start figuring out.
It’s also creepy in a way that isn’t horror-esque, but that you still don’t necessarily want to go to bed after reading parts of it.
There were just a couple of things that didn’t quite work for me. There is kind of a significant plot hole, in that how much of Iris’s childhood she remembers actually changes during the story. It’s a minor detail, but still a plot hole. The other aspect of the story that I thought could have been improved was that Iris is a bland main character. I can kind of forgive it that, since it’s hard to avoid bland main character syndrome when the story is much more about the plot than the main character, but it’s still so noticeable when she is surrounded by characters who are so much more interesting.

From the very first page, I knew this book was going to be one of my favorite reads of the year so far. Turns out, I was right! I loved getting to know Iris, her sisters, and the strange world that springs up around them.

The writing is lyrical and gorgeous, but straightforward enough that I didn't feel bogged down in descriptions or weird metaphors. Every turn of phrase created an overall atmosphere of dread, death, and rot that I totally loved even as I became more and more unsettled. I've never been a huge fan of straight-up horror, but the horror elements worked really well for me here. Yes, there are some gross parts, but I thought there was a great balance between the fear factor and the emotional resonance of the story.

I love any book with a strong mystery thread, and this one had me whizzing through the pages to find answers to the strange goings-on. There were a couple of twists that I did NOT see coming at all! Everything felt pretty nicely wrapped up by the end, but I appreciated that a few of the answers weren't completely handed to me on a silver platter, because I liked the lingering air of mystery at the novel's conclusion.

Overall, anyone looking for a dark, gripping, atmospheric read reminiscent of Wilder Girls should definitely check this one out!