This felt like a sort of rough first draft. The world building was missing, the characters felt disjointed, and I wanted more from the overall plot line.

This book gave me Halloween Town x Supernatural vibes and I absolutely loved it. This was such a fun read. It had me all giddy. I enjoyed all the twists and turns. I loved how equally smitten Jax and Soleil were for each other. I know some might not love insta-love but this book is a perfect example of why I do. If you are looking for a cute, fun, & quick read for spooky season this is the one for you!

2⭐️
2🌶️
“I love you across every realm and universe, until time is no longer.”

One Hollow Love had some solid elements, but overall, it just didn’t fully land for me. Jax definitely has the makings of a good shadow daddy, and I loved the neurodiversity representation in Soleil—it was refreshing and well-handled. The support Jax gave was heart warming. The world-building had a good foundation, too; I could see the potential in the setting and where it could go.

I found myself pushing through to the finish, hoping for that extra spark to pull me in, but it felt like the story didn’t quite reach its full potential. For me, it just didn’t hit the dark romance mark I was looking for.

Tropes:
⭐️Soul Mates / Bonds
⭐️Magic
⭐️Neurodiverse FMC
⭐️Demons & Witches

Thank you M.K. Ahearn and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review⭐️

This book felt super rushed to me and felt like it hopped around a lot without really telling me how we got there. I appreciated that the chapters were short, and the book is much shorter than I usually read, but I felt like I was missing a lot of context.
It’s likely just a me thing, though, so I wouldn’t not refer it to others especially if they’re looking for a sexy Halloween book (definitely had some Sabrina vibes).
Enjoyed, it just wasn’t for me at the time.

This book was such a great pallet cleanser - I absolutely adored the characters and the story telling!

This book gave the perfect spooky but not scary Halloween vibes. The first half kind of reminded me of Sabrina the Teenage Witch in a really good way. The book was off to a good start set in a small town on Halloween where the FMC encounters a mysterious, charismatic demon. She can’t get him out of her mind and this leads her to discover a whole new world she could never have imagined.
The concept was really good but the pacing of the plot and the world building felt more rushed than I personally prefer and the character development was also a bit more high level than I prefer. Things kind of went zero to 100 super fast without really bringing me on that journey - again a personal preference as I enjoy a slower pace. It’s only 253 pages though so I’m not sure how this could have been done differently.
This was still an enjoyable read. If you’re looking for a fun, sexy, spooky read that isn’t much of a time commitment then this is for you!

This standalone left a lot to be desired. I loved storyline--but the whole thing just read shallow. I don't think we get enough depth to any of the main characters, and that's important for me. I just couldn't connect 🤷🏼‍♀️ I think this could make a really great book if there was more world building and more to sink my teeth into.

You know that feeling and understanding you get when you skim a chapter? Like you get what's going on, but there's not much more than that? That's what I got the whole time. Again, loved the concept and the storyline, it was just too fast and not detailed enough for me.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and MK Ahearn for my review copy!

Definitely a good read for the spooky season. The connection between Soleil and Jax was mesmerizing. Their chemistry was off the charts. Although the concept of a different dimension was intriguing I wish the world building was done in a better way.
It was a promising start but I struggled to finish this book.

What a perfect spooky read! Between the characters, plot, and the writing, this book was amazing! Once I started, I couldn't put it down!

Thank you to NetGalley and Azala for the ARC

A must read for Halloween. It had so many great tropes but my favorite is of course the forbidden romance. It had some darker themes and trigger warnings but I thought it was handled good. I dark and delicious book

Thank you Netgalley for the arc in exchange for honest feedback.

I love books that have nicknames like little flame and spice level was fireeee. Now onto the review. I did like the plot but the characters fell flat for me as they were a but annoying and nonsensical. This book has the potential to be a big tiktok hit with some small changes. The magic system was also a bit more complicated than necessary.

The representation in the book is amazing with OCD and anxiety which does create a sense of realism. I just wanted more from this book.

I really enjoyed this book and I feel like it deserves a 3.5/5 stars, rounded up.

This book reminded me a lot of ACOTAR, but since they are both inspired by Howl's Moving Castle, that makes a lot of sense.

I liked that the events happen around Halloween and I liked how she slowly started to learn the truth about the world. I personally think that the characters and the love story could have been better. The FMC felt more like a teen than a collage student and that's an issue that brings the score of this book down. Another problem I had with this book was the love story and how it progressed, because it felt more like lust than love (many elements were missing, which would have transformed it into a veritable love) which in not a problem in itself, but it's one when there are decisions made based on it as it was love. (I would say one exception was at the end, because he did something really sweet for her)

Other than that, the story is okay, there are a few plot twists I enjoyed. A part I really loved is that this book had girl's girls and no mean (for no reason) female characters.

Personally, while this book could be improved and more refined, I feel like it was totally worth my time and that it's a great fall/ Halloween read

I requested this ARC on the strength of the blurb. This book takes a familiar romantasy plot, shakes up its elements, and sets it all within an intriguing Halloween theme. But rather than "Howl's" I would liken this story more to "Alice in Wonderland", with its portal fantasy element, taking the FMC from a recognizable urban setting to a dangerous demon realm. From there it progresses as a typical romantasy. In terms of execution, it needed more-- a deeper and richer execution, with details drawn in broader strokes. I would like to see this author really lean into everything they promised, heavily, to focus on the stakes, the motivations, the feelings, and the plot, and go all in. The elements are all there, they just need to be exploited to their fullest potential.

I really wanted to love this book the concept sounded amazing.
This book brings in a mix of supernatural and fantasy and with it based around Halloween makes it a perfect spooky season read!
Unfortunately it wasn’t my favourite book but I did finish it and enjoy it!

There was SO much potential for this book to be great. I absolutely loved the idea and plot of this book, however it missed the mark for me. I found myself during so many parts thinking about how I wish it was written differently and expanded on the world building and giving the characters more depth and likability factors. I felt like some areas were rushed when it shouldn’t be, and others dragged when it just needed to move on. I will say overall, I had fun reading this book and would still read another book by this author in the future.

Every Halloween Soleil is kept locked away in her room by her father to “protect her” from the people and events of the well celebrated holiday. Except this year is different, she’s had enough and sneaks out to finally experience the festivities she’s dreamt of all her life. While absorbing the festival, she stumbles across with a drop dead gorgeous half demon Jax who she learns is only allowed in her world during Halloween. Their connection is immediate and while they adventure together they make a pact to meet back at the same spot next year. Fast forward 1 year, Soleil finds herself waiting for Jax, except he never shows. She takes a giant leap of faith and not knowing what the future has in store for her, she decides to travel to his world to find him. There’s just one catch - she can never return home once she’s crossed over. Will her sacrifice be worth it?

I don’t know who’s started comparing this to Howl’s Moving Castle meets Hocus Pocus because I don’t see it at all. I see where some inspiration for Howl’s came into play, such as the “there you are, I’ve been looking for you” line (and if anyone says this is Rhysand, Howl said it first and Howl said it best), and then the fire demons being mischievous bit. I didn’t seen any comparison to hocus pocus at all. This book was all its own in my opinion. Apparently it was a novella first and it was so well liked the author turned it into a full novel. Check your trigger warnings for anxiety, OCD depictions, and a very controlling parent.

Comparisons aside, I really enjoyed this! It had everything for a perfect for a spooky/halloween read. Magic, a cat familiar, vampires, witches, elemental powers, a shadow daddy, demons and a demon realm. Soleil, our fmc lives with her controlling father and deals with OCD. Never having enjoyed a Halloween night in her life (seriously never, her father locks her up every year) she finally breaks out one night for her first experience with the festivities. Once out, she meets Jax, a half-demon (who speaks and controls snakes) from another realm, who only has Halloween night to roam the human realm until his world sucks him back into his own. After a spicy, adventure fueled night with Jax, they agree to meet the following year on Halloween night again. But when Jax doesn’t show, and a messenger of his gives Soleil a letter apologizing that he won’t show, she enlists help of a local “witch” to get her into the demon realm. Thus ensues an adventure of self discovery filled with romance, a little spice, danger, demon lords fighting for the throne and a demon king fighting to hold his throne. In the midst of looking for Jax once Soleil enters the demon realm, she unknowingly makes a magical deal with Jax’s enemy. A bargain can’t be broken until the price is paid or by death. So when this demon comes back to claim his side of the deal, not only may Jax be in danger, but Soleil and the demon realm as they know it are now at stake.

A PERFECT READ FOR THE HALLOWEEN SEASON!

This book was hands down one of my favorites that I have read all year, keeping me turning from page to page! The writing and pacing, something that I’m hyper sensitive too, was extremely well done 👏👏. It is a darker side of romance and so please check the warnings.

I have never DNF'd a book as quickly as I did for this one. I just couldn't do it. The FMC is an adult apparently, but I would've guessed she's 15 with how she acts. I had absolutely zero interest in the demon she meets either. I was really excited for this one but it was not good. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

4⭐️ Review: One Hollow Love by M. K. Ahearn

I really enjoyed One Hollow Love! The connection between Soleil and Jax was captivating, and their chemistry kept me hooked throughout the story. The book brings in a mix of supernatural and fantasy elements, which made the world-building so intriguing. I loved the idea of exploring a whole other dimension—it added depth and excitement to the plot.

With it being based around Halloween, it's the perfect autumnal read! It’s also a quick, cosy read, making it a great choice for the spooky season. It's definitely worth the read if you're into paranormal fantasy!

2.5 stars ~ Thank you so much to NetGalley, Azala Press, and the author M.K. Ahearn for gifting me an E-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

(just to prepare everyone, this is one of the most honest reviews I’ve ever written)

I went into this read really excited as it had sounded super unique and interesting. However, I ended up being disappointed. From what I can tell this had started off as a novella that people enjoyed so the author decided to add more to the story. I definitely can see that as I thought the first part of the book was really good and intriguing. I enjoyed the Halloween romance aspect. I had liked the characters and overall it just seemed like a cute and short fantasy novella and I think it should’ve stayed that way.

I’ve heard this is marketed as a Howl’s Moving Castle meets Hocus Pocus. I hate to admit it but I’ve never watched either of those so I can’t speak much on it. However, I can tell you that as soon as I started reading I immediately noticed how heavily inspired this was by ACOTAR (coming from a huge fan of that series). From the moment he said “There you are. I’ve been looking for you.” I immediately thought of Rhys and Feyre in book one. I also heard this was directly quoted from Howl’s Moving Castle as well but idk if that’s true. I thought maybe that would be the only occurrence. But the plot was similar, following a human girl into a new world she knew nothing about. It proceeded to get even more alike when Jax ended up being a viscous King who had a soft spot for his found family and lover as well as the “fated magic bond” and the bargain that left a tattoo behind.

Going off of that, the MMC, Jax, was marketed as having Rhysand vibes. I can tell u that other than the plot they didn’t seem similar at all to me. Rhys is a complex character built over the course of 5 books and counting. Jax on the other hand just didn’t seem to have the level of complexity I was looking for and with his storyline he had so much potential.

This leads me into my next point that Soleil (I can hardly remember her name) also lacked complexity. While I think that the OCD representation was very very well done, that’s rlly all I noticed about this character. By the end of the book I felt like she hadn’t really escaped or completed anything. Not to mention her trauma later in the book from her encounter with the antagonist, Vailer (however u spell his name) was just completely forgotten at some point as if I had snapped my fingers to make it vanish. While we learned the world with Soleil, it was still odd to me that she had apparently been told multiple stories about this realm and warned and yet she didn’t know what a Coven was or a Familiar as if her mother didn’t use to work for the local Witch??

Going back to Jax, his relationship with Soleil once again lacked romance and cute moments. To me it seemed that the relationship was purely built on a good sex from a one-night stand. The way that they barely knew each other and yet she jumped into a demon realm to go to him was insane. She hardly knows the guy. We really didn’t even get any insight to his character so she still hardly knows him. But of course it’s true love apparently.

On top of all this, the worldbuilding wasn’t all that great. Some things were either briefly mentioned or mentioned in the assumption the readers knew what was being spoken about when we obviously didn’t. I usually don’t mind first person pov but the more I read this the more annoyed I got. Soooo much of it was telling and not showing. The amount of times the FMC would say phrases like “I felt” “I was thinking” like she me what ur thinking, don’t just straight up tell me every time.

The ending was also extremely rushed. This is why I don’t read Fantasy standalones. They just don’t work, especially with such a large concept like this and the book was only about 300 pages long. In order for this idea to work it definitely needed to be longer or at least a duology. The concept of the two different worlds and the magic was just too much to squeeze in which is why parts felt rushed or sudden. There were also some major plot holes or places that needed to be re-edited. At some point there was a line where Soleil said she backed away but a paragraph later she was still on a horse? For a published author, I feel like this was avoidable.

Overall, this book was a fun and exciting concept and the first part was really good. But it should’ve stayed as a novella. The rest of the book was just too rushed with no real plot, lesson, or overall reason for writing it other than to appease upset readers. It wasn’t the worst book I’ve read and it kept my interest (until around page 150 and then it lost me). Hoping my next read from this author will be better.

Once again, thank you to the author and publisher for gifting me a copy in exchange for a HONEST review.

I don’t really recommend this book but if you’re still interested then here are some trigger warnings:

⚠️TRIGGER WARNINGS⚠️
- OCD
- Anxiety/Panic Attacks
- Controlling (borderline abusive) parent
- Parent death mentioned
- Physical and Mental Torture
- Heavy sexual content