Thank you to Kiersten Modglin, Dreamscape Media, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to a free eaudio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"Psychological thriller"? Not even a little bit. This is 90% an angsty, melodramatic love triangle among two brothers and a girl they grew up with. It's YA playing dress-up in grownup clothes. You could say the mystery is present throughout, but it mostly takes the vague, baiting form of "until THAT day" and "after IT happened" for a big chunk of the beginning. It's never the focus.

Guess what? I. Hate. Love triangles. The blurb says nothing about a love triangle. I thought one of the brothers would be Carmen's first love and heartbreak and the other one would have something to do with a sinister secret. Which is kind of not really half accurate.

Thank god it's a short book.

And the reveal of the big bad and the truth? Are you kidding me? The setting up of the main red herring was decent, but the true culprit had no foreshadowing. The opposite, actually. Very lazy. The secondary red herring was okay, except that scene in the water. You know, when they're drunk and swimming at midnight, because that sounds safe. That scene needs to go the way of the dodo, because wtaf? It serves no purpose but to make the reader uncomfortable, the love interest sound like a creep with creepy friends, and Carmen seem less respectable. It just hurts the reputations of the characters and the book.

Shall we discuss the jackholes who are the characters? Jack (no pun intended but we'll go with it) is one of those indecisive entitled brats who wants to have his cake and eat it too. And by cake I mean Carmen. He's the ultimate player and what's so damn sad is that I don't think he means to be, it's just who he is. He may not be a horrible person but he's definitely not someone you want to try to have a relationship with; his grass may not be green enough on any given day. Until he's horny, then any grass will do.

Dean's supposed to grow on the reader as his knight-in-shining-armorness becomes more apparent. Um, no thanks. He's a martyr and wants you to know how endlessly he's suffered on your behalf, even though you were oblivious to his thoughts and feelings. He might wait a while before outright telling you, but he'll watch you with longing from afar. "You and Jack were the same age and great friends, so I decided for you that you should have nothing to do with me." Excuse me while I genuflect.

In complete honesty I hoped so hard that Carmen would realize she deserved better than either brother and wash her hands of both of them. Speaking of---Modglin does her damnedest to make Carmen relatable, and I suppose she is on some level. But I wanted to her realize that both brothers were yanking her around and put a stop to it. But it never occurred to her that it was toxic. She---all of them---just fell into the same pattern as before and played the same damn games. Barf. Also Carmen seemed to want to blame everyone else for everything shitty in her life. The more time I spent with her, the more I didn't want to spend more time.

Aside from that, I'm trying to imagine finding the mutilated body of a good friend on my parents' acreages and if the trauma would be so great as to keep me from wanting to come home for ten years. That's tough, but I daresay not. I mean if my parents could go on living there knowing a murder might have occurred on their property---a remote, locked-up, and forgotten part at that---I hope I'd at least have the balls to visit for the holidays.

So yeah, don't do what I did and see the cool cover image and think this will be a juicy murder mystery in a spooky setting with some found-family dysfunction thrown in. No. It's two toddler boys fighting over a flashy new toy. Period.

While the book offered moments of suspense that kept me engaged, I hesitate to recommend it to avid thriller lovers seeking a more robust storyline. The author skillfully crafted tension throughout the narrative, creating an atmosphere of anticipation that held my interest. However, the lack of a concrete plot may leave some readers feeling unsatisfied, especially those who crave a deeper exploration of the storyline.

Despite this drawback, I believe the book still has merit for readers who enjoy a lighter, more suspense-driven narrative. The author's ability to maintain tension and keep readers guessing is commendable, and those who appreciate a fast-paced, thrill-filled read may find enjoyment in this book.

In summary, while the book may not fully satisfy the expectations of hardcore thriller enthusiasts, it still offers a compelling reading experience for those seeking a lighter, suspenseful tale.

The Hollow
Kiersten Modglin
After the death of her father thirteen-year-old Carmen McKenna and her mother move to Hunter’s Hollow an active campground. Carmen didn’t want to leave her friends and move but her mother felt it was the only way they could survive. It didn’t take long for Carmen to come to love the place. Jack and Dean, the sons of the owners, quickly welcomed Carmen and became her close friend. Dean loves to tease her, and Jack is easy to talk to.
Eleven years ago, the body of a Carmen’s best friend, Shelby was found in one of the isolated cabins. The police search for answers to no avail. Carmen leaves Hunter’s Hollow for college but she leaves with a broken heart. Eleven years later Carmen returns to Hunter’s Hollow for a two-month visit. She is a book illustrator; she is writing a book and plans to illustrate it. The Hollow should be a great place to work on it. She needs to face the past and that includes her broken heart. Her mother is thrilled to see her again. The owners who were like parents to her are happy she has returned but no one is as glad as Dean and Jack. The contentment of returning home is shattered when another young woman is reported missing. The horror of the past comes back to haunt Carmen.
I enjoyed the relationship between the brothers and Carmen. I was rooting for a particular brother throughout the tale. The other brother was sort of skanky. He was a user and didn’t deserve the devotion of Carmen. It is difficult to discuss romance without giving too much away. The ending was shocking. I did not see it coming. I suspected a different character.
I liked Carmen and her mother. I liked the Hollow and can see why it would appeal to visitors. The narrative moves back and forth between the past and present. This is a slow-paced book. The romance is a slow burn but once it clicks…boy does it click.

Thank you NetGalley for providing a copy of this book for review.

Rating: 4/5 Stars
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KMod is the queen of popcorn thrillers and popping out a book every 2-3 months. Her most recent books have not been my personal favorite, I kind of wish she would even slow down a bit on the releases and take the time to really create more fleshed out stories, but at the end of the day, I can't even lie, I eat these stories up so quick.
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The Hollow is no different, I flew through this one in a single sitting and was absolutely addicted to it, but also felt a bit underwhelmed. First things first. The characters were the perfect amount of love/hate, which I personally love in a story. I was super interested in this one - cold case, hell yeah sign me up. What I wasn't expecting was a love triangle with two brothers... I felt like this story focused more on the who will get Carmen than the actual cold case. I wanted more of the nitty gritty as to what happened all those years ago. We get answers, but it just wasn't as suspenseful as I'm used to. It wasn't even super twisty. Overall, I still enjoyed this one, just wish there was more suspense, less cringy romance.
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I listened to this one via audiobook and Diana Bustelo was phenomenal for the role of Carmen. She did a great job at keeping my attention and really bringing this one to life. If you are thinking of picking The Hollow up - I highly recommend the audiobook!
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At the end of the day, I will continue to read whatever KMod puts out, i think her books are addicting, fast paced and fun popcorn thrillers. This book was no different. Definitely going to recommend this one to my thriller / mystery fans who enjoy romance in their books. The audio will be released on 5/28. Be sure to check it out! Huge thank you to NetGalley, Kiersten Modglin and Deamscape Media for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

Book Title: The Hollow
Author: Kiersten Modglin
Format: 🎧
Narrator: Diana Bustelo
Publisher: Dreamscape Media
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Audiobook Pub Date May 28, 2024
My Rating: 4 Stars
Pages: 258

After eleven years Carmen McKenna is returning to Hunter’s Hollo for a two month stay, Hunter’s Hollow is a campground in rural North Carolina where she lived with her mother after her father died.
Her Mother’s best friend Jill and her husband Sam Hunter manage the rental of the cabins and have an open cabin that was used by her parents and is now vacant.
Carmen is thirteen and hates moving and doesn’t want to leave Atlanta and her friends.

Story is told by Carmen - Before when she was in her teens and -Now she is thirty.

Carmen had some good memories, especially relationship with Jack the younger of the two Hunter brothers. Dean is three years old than Jack and Carmen- however is annoying and treats Carmen rudely.

Once Carmen was old enough she moved back to Atlanta and works as a Children’s book illustrator and was happy to leave the campground and its memories.

Years ago Shelbie a friend of Carmen’s who works as a waitress goes missing and is later found dead in a cabin – who killed her is an unsolved mystery.
Now several years later Alice another young girl staying in one of the cabins with her mom goes missing. Carmen fears the two are somehow related.

This story is more romance than psychological thriller. (I would prefer more intrigue than French kissing.)
Narrator Diana Bustelo did a fabulous job performing the characters – She and K-Mod were both great at keeping me interested!

This is my thirtieth: Kiersten Modglin thriller. I am a fan and looking forward to reading "Bitter House"!

Want to thank NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this early audiobook.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for May 28, 2023.

I had to reread the description about the book because it does seem like it doesn't exactly match. I got the idea it was a thriller trying to search for the killer the whole time. It read as a beautiful story about a woman who faced grim situation 11 years ago and had to come back to face the ones she left behind. There is more romance in it than originally thought but it is a great novel. The only hit is the description does not fully match the actual book. I will also say it reads a lot more as Young Adult style and features past and present. I would recommend this and rate it a 4 star.

Although this is being promoted as a mystery/thriller, it's more of a romance/ family drama. I love Modglin's writing, she has a way to pull me in every single time. It was not my favourite of hers, but it's still a good read.

Little caveat, and I realize this is a ME problem but I want to warn anyone who might have the same issue. I never thought I had a problem with vocal fry UNTIL I listened to this whole audiobook. It was just too much for me. YMMV.

I thought I must not have read the description because this didn’t seem like Kiersten Modglin’s usual subject but I just went back and re-read the description: it sounds like this will be just as twisty as her others. But it’s not. It’s just a romance with very little time spent on the sinister horror alluded to in the description. I wanted her dark thrillers, not a love triangle between unlikeable characters. This one really was not for me

I want to start by saying the narrator for this audiobook was incredible! Quite possibly my favorite so far!

I loved the idea of Hunter’s Hollow and a creepy type campground setting.

After many years away, Carmen returns to Hunter’s Hollow to visit her mom. Many years before, she left after the tragic, unsolved case of a girl found dead and brutally torn apart in cabin caused her to flee. Was it an animal? Was it a cold blooded killer? We are left to wonder what happened to this girl.

This story is told in dual timelines running through the life of Carmen. It tells of a young love story throughout most of the book, with a quick wrap up of the mystery at the end.

Based on the cover and description, I was excited to dig into another KMod fast paced suspense / thriller. Especially considering the last book that I read was the final book in The Arrangement series. So my review may be a bit jaded by that.

I feel like this would make a great palate cleanser, or better fit under a YA Romance rather than a thriller tag.
The twist at the end was quick and uneventful.
My favorite character was Carmen’s mom. I don’t feel like I got much of a connection to any of the characters outside of her.
Overall, the writing style was nice. It was a quick and easy read. And I feel the narrator definitely made a difference in the rating.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for an advanced copy of this audiobook.

Let me preface this with the fact that ever since my first Kiersten Modglin ALC from NetGalley and Dreamscape Media, I have binged SO many of her books. 30+ kindle and audiobooks. Safe to say I am familiar with her writing. This being a huge reason why I was so excited to receive this ALC.

The Hollow felt so different from her usual stories. It felt more romance/ family drama as opposed to thriller. That being said, I was sucked in from the very beginning and could not put it down! I LOVED that the FMC was Hispanic and spoke Spanish and I felt the narrator, Diana Bustelo, did a fantastic job portraying the character. It’s so rare to see an ethic FMC. Kudos to Kiersten for that!!

The relationships between Carmen and the Hunters boys had me on the edge of the seat. I didn’t really see the twist coming because I was so invested in the flashback stories and how we got to point a to point b. The multiple POVs were easy to follow and had the story feeling very fast paced. If you’re a Kiersten fan, you’ll definitely enjoy this one!

Thanks so NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the ALC.

Kiersten Modgllin has become an author that as soon as I see her name, I know I will be reading the book. The Hollow is one of her weaker ones for me but it was still an excellent story.

The summary of the book talks about a love triangle and a murder. The murder is never solved and then years later the triangle is back together and another person goes missing. I was invested in that summary because I liked the mystery of the murder. The love triangle is the focal point of the story and the murder is almost like an afterthought.

The love triangle is between Carmen and two brothers Jack and Dean. I did not connect with either Jack or Dean but I did like Carmen. She was haunted by the past and that’s what kept me going. It seemed the murder never fully came as the star and even when the resolution showed itself it didn’t seem like all that big of a reveal.

I love Modglin's writing and I will continue to read everything she puts out. Personally, I felt this book just had a bit of an identity crisis.

3.5 ⭐️
This is an adorable coming-of-age, easy read. It’s labeled adult thriller, but I would suggest it’s more suited for mature teens who like a little suspense

Carmen returns home and is flooded with teen memories of the love triangle she shares with two brothers, Dean and Jack (Supernatural fans, the dad is called Sam!)

There’s a missing girl mystery woven throughout with the reveal coming at the end - it comes out of left field to be honest

The narrator of the audiobook definitely enhanced my enjoyment of the book, so if possible, I recommend listening

Thanks to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for access to this audiobook ARC in exchange for my honest review

This is unlike KMod's usual high-thrill stories. I'd call this stronger on the familial/ relationship drama. There is a little mystery mixed in too.

I am giving this 3.5 stars and rounding up because we actually met the 'big baddie' in the story before the last chapter! (party poppers and excitement). KMod LOVES to throw in that last twist blaming someone that readers haven't even been introduced to in the story and it always leaves me feeling like "well, what a waste"
THIS ONE IS NOT THAT. When you look back there are ever so slight clues as to the baddie's identity. Super fun vs a twist for funsies.

This is strong on the relationship drama (as I said) and is half a coming-of-age story as well. This is told in dual timeline of Carmen's teenage years when she and her mom move to Hunter's Hollow alternating with "Present Day" when she has come back for a summer visit with her mom and family. I got major "Every Summer After" / "The Summer I Turned Pretty" vibes with the one teenage girl and two brothers and the cabin/ lake situation going on but only that far; there's a mystery here and it wasn't only summers, it's where Carmen and her mom moved so the kids grew up together.

One reason this is more a 3.5 than a true 4 stars is the ending/ reason for The Big Bad Thing. It felt a little flat after the build up but I suppose that's life and they can't all be whiplash twists. :)

I thought the narrator did a good job, it wasn't hard to follow conversations or anything.

I really loved Hemlock by Kiersten Modglin and was excited to read this book after hearing that it was also romantic suspense. Told in dual timelines, The Hollow had just enough mystery and suspense to keep you guessing, and I really loved the romance. I don’t usually enjoy love triangles, but I was here for the romance between Carmen/Jack/Dean.

Carmen moves to Hunter’s Hollow as a young teen and settles into her new life there. She becomes friends with Jack and Dean and experiences all the firsts of growing up - young love and heartbreak. After a body is found, Carmen moves away hoping to start a new life and heal her broken heart. She returns 11 years later to face the past and uncover secrets, as well as reconnect with Jack and Dean.

If you love romantic suspense, you will love this! There is definitely a lot more of a focus on the romance than the mystery, including lots of drama and a little spice. But the mystery was still intriguing and had my flying through pages to find out what happened. I also really loved the audiobook, and the narrator did an amazing job!

Kiersten Modglin is deviating from her signature fast-paced thrillers to deliver a compelling romantic suspense. Despite my usual aversion to love triangles, Carmen's predicament between two brothers drew me in from the start. Carmen, her mother, and the quaint setting of Hollow became instant favorites for me. Carmen's reluctant return home after years away, juxtaposed with her exploration of past relationships through alternating timelines, added depth to the story. While I had my doubts about Jack's character from the start, I understood Carmen's perspective. The unresolved mystery surrounding her friend's murder intensified the intrigue, making every revelation more gripping. This novel, although different from Modglin's usual fare, proved to be a delightful coming-of-age romantic suspense that I couldn't put down. The expertly crafted mystery, with its multiple timelines, heightened the anticipation, leading to a jaw-dropping final twist that left me stunned yet satisfied. For fans of romantic suspense, 'The Hollow' is a must-read that seamlessly blends intrigue, romance, and unexpected revelations.

I typically love Modglin’s thrillers, unfortunately I just could not get into this story or the characters. I also found her descriptions to be inaccurate about my home state of North Carolina. For these reasons I did not finish this audiobook at the 40% mark.

Thank you Netgalley, Dreamscape Media and Kiersten Modglin for the audio Arc of Hollow.
Narrated by Diana Bustelo

Having listened to a few Kiersten Modglin books, I was excited to have this one. Kiersten is a relatively new author and I love her writing style, her plots are usually quite twisty and the pay offs are good. The Hollow is no exception. The book is well paced and a well put together plot line. The main characters, Carmen, Dean and Jack are well fleshed out with flaws and a complicated history.

The plot is set on two timelines, back when they were early teens and then later on. Both timelines are well mapped out and clear, with similar circumstances triggering memories.

Diana Bustelo has a great narration voice, which kept me going throughout the book. Her voice being well paced and pleasant to listen to.
If you are looking for a cosy mystery/coming of age thriller. The Hollow is a great book.

I'm always excited for a new KMod book and this one sounded so good. I think I have a very high bar for this author as she's constantly wowing me with her jaw dropping twists and sensational plots. This book seemed quite tame in comparison and whilst I did still enjoy it (the audio for it was fantastic), it didn't give me the same kind of feels and ultimately missed the mark for me. I seem to be in the minority though as plenty of others seem to have enjoyed it so please don't go off my review if you plan to pick it up.

THE HOLLOW was a bit different than this author's previous books. I would categorize this as more of a romantic mystery. I liked the dual timelines and getting to know the history between Carmen, Jack, and Dean. I did feel for Carmen, as she was caught in this love triangle between the brothers. While I did like the mystery of this story, I felt there was more focus on Carmen's character. Overall, I really enjoyed it. The audiobook would be great to listen to at the beach!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Brillance Audio for my gifted copy.

This review will be shared to my Instagram (@coffee.break.book.reviews) in the near future.

When a body is found at Hunter’s Hollow the residents are forced to accept the truth: a killer is among them. Now, eleven years later and with the case still unsolved a new disappearance rocks Hunter's Hollow once again, Carmen returns to face the past and discover the truth about that terrible night. They say you can’t go home again, but when buried secrets call to Carmen from Hunter’s Hollow, she’s determined to learn the truth about what happened back then—and what’s happening now—if it’s the last thing she does.

Leaning heavily into the romantic suspense rather than the thriller side of things, The Hollow is an addictive and deeply atmospheric read. Giving us the nostalgia of romantic love triangles, we are thrust headfirst into Carmen's troubles with love with two brothers. One she deeply cares for, and one who always had most of her heart. Told over dual POV's, we jump backwards and forwards between the times when Carmen was home in Hunter's Hollow, showing the breakdown of relationships in the past and having us rooting for a second chance at love in the present day chapters. The murder mystery element felt like it took a backseat to the romance, more like an added addition just to make sure this wasn't just another romance read like we've seen plenty of before.

Thank you to Netgalley, Dreamscape Media and Kiersten Modglin for an advanced listening copy. The narrator is clear and a wonderful choice. She is what I imagine Carmen to sound like. There was a calming sense, which was exactly what I needed to be drawn right in to the story. The Hollow audio is available from May 28th, 2024.