I loved this book! It was a very easy read, and I was hooked from page one! I could almost feel the smell of the air during the Halloween festival that's described in the book, made feel like I was there trick or treating!

It's a fast-paces book, I read it in only a couple of sittings and the story was very easy to follow. Very lovable characters as well.. Despite the few instances where there are some more spicy scenes, the book is very YA - and there are some stories that are still unclear, but maybe that's a sign there will be a second part of this book coming?

This will not be the kind of book that we will be reading to our grandchildren when we're older, but it's a nice, easy read to wrap yourself with and a lovely way to spend a chilly autumn afternoon.

Soleil and Jax's enchanting tale of forbidden love and magic is a perfect fit for readers who crave a whimsical, autumnal romance with a dash of fantasy, witches, and demons, and a healthy dose of cozy, mystical atmosphere.

I did enjoyed this book a lot to be honest, Soleil falling for a demon she meets on Halloween and makes a promise of meeting him again next year, an abusive dad, found family, found magic... I couldn't put it down.. I absolutely loved it

Thank you, Netgalley and M.K Ahearn, for allowing me to read this ARC.

I was pleasantly surprised with this romantasy. It was perfect for the spooky season as it the story is set up on Halloween, and we meet our FMC, who has led an extremely sheltered life! She decides that this year, she will leave her cage and enjoy the festivities! Enter Jax.....our devilishly handsome MMC, who at first doesn't seem interested, but that quickly changes.... 😳

I don't want to spoil the rest of the story, but the author built a beautiful world outside of our human realm. There is magic, witches demons, secret identities, Demon bargains and a love that was divine.

I managed to read this book in less then 24 hours, as I was hooked pretty much from the get go. Although it has less pages then a normal fantasy series, the story flowed and paced nicely without the feeling of being rushed.

Thank you again Netgalley and M.K Ahearn, definitely will be recommending to others!

One Hollow Love is a novel that I believe should be on top of the Halloween TBR pile of all those who love spooky season. I was living for the mental heath and OCD representation and felt like topics that can be somewhat tricky to handle tactfully, were done so with respect and accuracy. I truly felt the writing was engaging and the setting was atmospheric and dynamic, full of vivid and descriptive imagary.
I feel like I'll be talking abou this book for a while and am excited to recommend it to friends and followers.

2.5 Stars
I had a hard time getting through this which I honestly didn’t expect after really enjoying the sneak peek. I loved the premise and the promise of Hocus Pocus meets Howl’s Moving Castle with Lucifer vibes but sadly, this wasn’t what I expected.

There was so much potential and I may have liked it more had it been a duology but as it is, it felt very rushed which made it hard to believe in the romantic connection between Soleil and Jax.
It was very insta-love/insta-lust which is perfectly fine, just not my favorite trope.

The beginning definitely gives off some good Halloween vibes and I loved the idea of the yearly festival Soleil’s town held.
Soleil’s father believes that Halloween is the one night where creatures of all kinds roam her town so he locks her in her room every year. She believes the stories of demons and vampires roaming the town were simply made up to scare children but after meeting Jax, she accepts that demons, vampires and witches are real.
After one night together, Jax promises to meet her the next year but when he doesn’t show Soleil is determined to find a way into the demon realm to find him. I would have loved to see more world-building, especially in the demon realm.

Overall, this had a very promising start but in the end it just wasn’t for me.

One Hollow Love follows the story of Soleil, a girl locked up every halloween by her overprotective father, as she sneaks out one halloween, meets a demon, Jax, only for him to have to leave at midnight. They spend a year apart with a promise to meet again the following year, but when that day comes, Jax is unable to show up. Heartbroken and longing to meet again, she finds a way to the demon realm to find the boy who has been on her mind all year, but ends up finding so much more than she was looking for.

This book was advertised to be a mix between Howl’s Moving Castle and Hocus Pocus, and it did not live up to the hype of these two big names. However, forgetting that comparison (which I actually did forget about while reading), I did find myself enjoying the book. Love at first sight is not a trope I tend to lean towards, and while reading, I did keep finding myself questioning how Soleil could just abandon everything for a guy she spent one night with. However, thinking about the trauma her controlling father put her through, I could understand her need for freedom and to escape the abuse. I also felt for her when she had so much to struggle through after finally getting better.

I really liked Soleil's character development throughout the story and how she is able to find herself once she escapes the confines of her house. I also loved how understanding Jax was to her OCD and was just there for her when she needed him.

One thing I will say is, I just didn’t understand the incorporation of a vampire into the beginning of the story for it never to be mentioned again. There were enough paranormal elements with the demons and witches. I didn’t think it was necessary to include vampires, too. Especially because I just started wondering about whose blood they drank while in the demon realm.

I recommend this book for those who like instant love, demons and witches, and OCD representation. Thank you, MK Ahearm and NetGalley, for providing me with this ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

One Hollow Love is the story of Soleil, a young woman with bad OCD who has lived a very sheltered and isolated life at the hands of her paranoid father. Every year, he locks her indoors on Halloween because he believes in paranormal dangers lurking everywhere outside their home. This year, curiosity gets the better of her, and she manages to sneak out to experience her first Halloween.

In the spooky town of Weeping Vale, Soleil is facing one handsome half-demon in the name of Jax, who appears only on Halloween night, when the border that tethers worlds together weakens. At first, what had been a harmless rebellion turned into an evening filled with pranks that were not very safe, after all, sprinkled with magic and romance between Soleil and Jax. Strong paranormal elements perfume the story with the threat of dark creatures and the ever-impending possibility of Jax's return to his own world at midnight.

Through the course of night, Soleil and Jax truly come close, learning to work through their traumas. He wants to be free from his demon side, while she desperately needs to be free from the tight control of her father. Full of lighthearted, silly moments and emotionally intense scenes, one finds themselves guessing by midnight if Jax can stay in Soleil's world or if he will be forced back to his.

Soleil
She's brilliant, but her character is scarred by battles with her mental health and anxiety attacks that frequently occur because her father overprotects her. Throughout the novel, she comes into her own independence, finding strength and also a vulnerable side in her relationship with Jax. The internal conflict within herself is how to balance the newfound sense of autonomy against the trauma her father has created in her through the years. She is relatable because she is imperfect and brave enough to step beyond her father's shadow; the journey she went through, from sheltered young woman to someone who defies the supernatural, is such an interesting read.

Jax
Jax is that mysterious half-demon, a complete opposite to Soleil's vulnerable human self. His character is layered with charm and mystery, and deeply beneath the layer of all that cockiness lies a deep sense of sadness. Most of the turmoil that Jax experiences really stems from the fact that he is half-demon and has never fit into either world. The more attached Jax grows to Soleil, the more open he becomes, showing a vulnerable side. But his interactions are poisoned by the knowledge that he doesn't have much time with her. His arc focuses on the need to be free, to love-if only for a night.

This will automatically set into motion a frenzied pace of their relationship dynamics due to the pressure of knowing the premise is for one night only. The balance of his nature to protect her and her refusal to be fully dependent on him develops an interesting interplay between them. Much as their relationship is passion-filled, there is also a concentrated deeper excavation of the psychological levels of trust, autonomy, and fate.

Supporting Characters
Other supporting characters are Soleil's obsessive ex-flame, Ben, and her overprotective father, adding layers of tension to the story. Besides the possessiveness of Ben and paranoia of her father standing in the way, it is symbolic, too, of control from which Soleil tries to free herself. In relation to Soleil's story, they are well-developed side characters, really pushing her toward this eventual confrontation with fears.

One Hollow Love shows a reflection on issues of freedom versus control, mental health, autonomy, and fate. The perceived contrast of Soleil's caged life, with Jax being free once a year, puts together in a powerful social commentary about the issue of agency. Self-acceptance-whether it was the nature of Jax being a demon or Soleil with OCD-is one more powerful thematic element here. This romance in the story is a metaphor for trust in its truest form: letting loose of the reins and allowing one's self to simply live, even when real danger and uncertainty exist.

The parental influence, it depicts the psychological scars left by Soleil's father on account of his controlling behavior and shaping her ability to form relationships. It is also concerned with imbalances of power, particularly between Ben and Soleil, and how these are challenged and overcome.

MK Ahearn's writing is engaging; it merges atmospheric descriptions with quick-paced dialogue. The humorous, suspenseful, and romantic tones merge and balance perfectly without once losing the interest of the readers. First-person narration by Soleil makes the readers first-hand witnesses to the battles that go on in her mind and hence empathize with her plight.

Fast pacing and consuming only one Halloween night further adds to the tension and urgency within the plot. Second, Ahearn resorts to effective figurative language that evokes vivid imagery, especially in places where scenes point toward the supernatural elements of Weeping Vale and the nature of Jax himself.

One Hollow Love is an intense paranormal romance novel that does much justice to themes of mental health, autonomy, and the right balance between light and darkness. The intensity of emotions developed for these characters and the thrills with the supernatural were unbeatable. Ahearn managed to take in personal yet otherworldly elements into a story where, though hinged on romance, there was enough psychological depth and weight.

This novel would appeal most to readers who enjoy paranormal romance novels by Sarah J. Maas or Jennifer L. Armentrout. It offers a new twist on old paranormal themes, dancing the tightrope between sweet romance and darker fantasy.

Trigger Warnings: explicit sex, snakes, blood, death of parent off-page, abusive and manipulative parent, death, OCD and panic attacks, threatened sexual assault, and torture​

Overall Rating: ★★★★☆
Writing Style: ★★★★☆
Characters: ★★★★★
World-Building: ★★★☆☆

Quotes i loved

“It’s okay to ask for help. It’s okay to need help. It’s okay to want help.”
“If I could stop time, I’d never have to go back. If it never turns midnight, I can finally stay here forever.”

3.5⭐️

In this book we follow Soleil, who has never been able to experience a Halloween because her overbearing father, quite literally locks her in her room every year. That is until she decides to sneak out one Halloween night and meets Jax, a half-demon and she learns about a world she thought was only in a story. This book was promoted to me as a mix between "Hocus Pocus" (which I LOVE) and Howl's Moving Castle (something I have never seen). However, I was still intrigued!

The story was enjoyable, albeit a tiny bit predictable, and I think it could have benefited from doing a smaller time jump so that we had more content to understand and connect with the FMC but overall it was an easy, quick, spicy read perfect for the spooky season! I would recommend this to readers who enjoyed the Kindom of the Wicked Series by Kerri Maniscalco because it has a very similiar vibe!

Thank you to Netgalley and Azala Press for gifting me this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I wanted to like this book more than I did, but I just couldn't get into it at all. Where is the world building? Why were the characters bad and unlikeable? Where was the emotional connection in the romance? The best thing that this book had going for it was the plot, but even that was a bit disappointing with the execution. I was hoping to get into the spooky season spirit with this book, but I wasn't feeling it with this one.

Thank you to M.K. Ahearn, Azala Press, and NetGalley for the eARC of this book.

I would like to thank MK Ahearn, the publishers and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book early!

Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️-⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

Little flame is such an adorable nickname! I swear I smiled just a little everytime Jax called Soleil that! If you’re looking for a book filled with instant romance, spice, vampires, witches and demons and of course we can’t forget a whole other world, Eodratera, located through the veil that’s weakest on Halloween night.

One Hollow Love is told through the POV of our main female character Soleil, who just wants one night of freedom to enjoy the Halloween she’s never experienced due to her fathers paranoia and penchant for locking her in her bedroom with no means of escape… at least so he thought. When Soleil shimmies out the window and off the roof she’s finally ready to live, even if it’s just for one night and so she rushes off to the towns yearly Halloween festival! And after wondering around a bit lost and overwhelmed Soleil just happens to slam into a beautiful specimen known as Jax. Jax is a half demon who is only allowed out of Eodratera on the night of Halloween when all things that go bump in the night are free to cross the veil and cause just a bit of mayhem! What Jax wasn’t prepared for was the “little flame” that slammed into and set his night and maybe his whole life on fire. And after a beautiful, vulnerable, and loving Halloween night spent together Jax asks Soleil to wait for him and he’ll be back for her… but when Jax doesn’t show and sends a messenger in his place Soleil decides she’ll go to him… whether that’s the best or worst decision she’s ever made is up to you!

Unfortunately while I did really enjoy the plot and story line of One Hollow Love, I struggled to connect with the characters. There were moments where Soleil was brilliantly smart, and independent, problem solving on a dime, but then on the flip side there were moments where her naivety took over and she made rash decisions that didn’t make any sense at all. An example being she said she spent a year researching the paranormal, even knowing of a witch to help her out but then getting to her new world she doesn’t seem to know anything about the realm or even familiars. But then being very strategic when fighting the cave dweller. It just threw me off a little bit with her. As for Jax I liked his witty banter, and his protectiveness over Soleil, not to mention his serpent and shadow magic added quite a bit of intrigue to the story. All that being said though there was still something that fell a bit flat for me with his character, it was as if we never really got a true in depth look beneath the surface with him. As for their romance which is always my favorite of any part of the books I read just felt more like it was about the spice than the actual connection. Even though Soleil mentioned time and time again she was drawn to Jax and wanted to do anything to be with him when questioned what length she’d go to to be with him she’d hesitate, sometimes if felt like she was more interested in the freedom and spice Jax offered her than an actual love connection and because of that the romance read more like a erotica book to me than a deep, loving romance.

Overall while I liked the world building, and the magic system of this book I just couldn’t connect with the characters. That isn’t a poor reflection on the author as I think she did write an excellent story, it just wasn’t the book for me, but if you’re looking for a spicy insta love romance, filled with an intriguing magic system, politics galore, demon, witches, and vamps, and a few twists and turns than this may just be the book for you!

HAPPY READING 📖

A spooky Halloween romance. I was really intrigued by the book but unfortunately it didn’t meet my expectations. The characters lacked a little depth and romance felt too insta-love without then building on the connection between the two. The concept was really good but the execution needs a little work.

I did enjoy the story though!

I applied for an ARC of One Hollow Love because of the comparison to Hocus Pocus and other favorite Halloween movies of mine. I will say, that I was disappointed in that I did not find many, if any similarities of the books. HOWEVER, I did fully enjoy the premise of the book. The plot was very interesting, and different from what I have read before. But I do feel that it was rushed in many ways. I felt like the resolutions were a little too quick. Additionally, some things didn't make sense. Like, if the FMC is an adult, why does her father have so much control? And the Instalove did not feel real in this, I genuinely felt like she was brainwashed over in love for a lot of the book.

I think this had a lot of promise, but it lacked a bit. Overall, still a good book that Halloween lovers would enjoy.

Stars: 3/5
Spice: 1/5

I will devour anything MK Ahearn writes. While One Hollow Love is worlds apart from her slow-burn fantasy novel Broken Flames, this is much more up my alley as a dark romance girl. I personally loved that Soleil was so intrigued that she almost blindly trusted this demonic man. This book left me giddy and excited for more.

This was… fine? The writing is definitely more YA than I expected, although there is spice, and that, combined with the borderline pick me lead character, stopped me from enjoying this more. I like my romances with a slow burn, so the immediate attraction without any sizzle was disappointing too. Pleasant, but not for me.

**Review of One Hollow Love by MK Ahearn**

This is the ideal Halloween read.

I couldn’t get enough of it; the fall vibes are fantastic. It has all my favorite elements.

The representation of OCD is spot-on and made me feel seen. It’s woven into the story in a thoughtful way, which I really appreciated.

Overall, this book is a cozy escape; the atmosphere is perfect!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

I don’t know how to feel about this.

I feel like I was waiting for something to happen and we just didn’t get there. I felt bored reading and struggled to get through.

I wanted to DNF this book so many times but I powered through in the hopes that the description of the book as a Howl's Moving Castle and Hocus Pocus- esque book would come through. It never did.

This book had insta-love, no character building, and a main character who constantly contradicted stuff she said earlier in the book. There was no world building or background that would make the characters likable and I lost the plot immediately.

Thank you NetGalley for providing the ARC in exchange for a honest review.

This is a quick and fun insta-love Halloween read. I was intrigued by this book when it was marketed as Howls Moving Castle meets Hocus Pocus. Unfortunately, I didn't get either of those vibes. I did enjoy the premise of the book, but overall it just left me wanting more. I really liked the MFC, Soleil, I loved her tenacity, bravery, kindness, and sassy nature. I thoroughly enjoyed her character development, and how it focused on channeling her power and healing her inner turmoil, rather than just trying to "fix" her OCD and anxiety. The MMC, Jax, is your typical strong-willed and morally grey shadow demon. He is intense and broody for everyone except Soleil, with whom he is patient, kind, and gentle. I liked their dynamic, however, I felt like their relationship lacked depth. The world-building, story, and character development felt rushed, Overall, I felt that it had great potential but it fell flat for me.

Overall, I would say this was worth reading but it had so much potential to be great. I think if it had been split into a duology instead of crammed into one book it probably could have worked (to me there was a clear point where they could have been split). The beginning of this book the middle and end all feel like three different books. The beginning was fun Halloween mystery romance, the middle (my favorite part) this beautiful fantasy world and a journey of emotional growth and love for the main character Soleil, and then the ending was so rushed and the action really didn’t have that emotional connection. It didn’t feel believable it was more so like this this and this happened and then move on to something new. I absolutely loved the characters the author created and they truly all were so unique and interesting. I wish we had more time with them to get to know them all better as well as the magic system. The relationship with Jax and Soleil was also so rushed. They truly do balance each other out perfectly and had a lot of powerful conversations together about healing and trauma but I don’t feel like we properly established the depth and progression of their relationship.
I would recommend this book and I would read it again 100%. I would just advise those reading that although it has some flaws, the story is worth finishing for the characters and this amazing world the author has created.


Review to be published on Goodreads and Instagram on 9/20/24