title: Escape from Witchwood Hollowauthor: Jordan Elizabeth
published: 29 October 2014
publisher: Curiosity Quills Press
genre(s): fantasy, historical, romance
pages: 200
source: author
format: eBook
buy/shelve it: Amazon | B&N | BookBub | Goodreads
rating:
the blurb
Everyone in Arnn - a small farming town with more legends than residents - knows the story of Witchwood Hollow: if you venture into the whispering forest, the witch will trap your soul among the shadowed trees.
After losing her parents in a horrific terrorist attack on the Twin Towers, fifteen-year-old Honoria and her older brother escape New York City to Arnn. In the lure of that perpetual darkness, Honoria finds hope, when she should be afraid.
Perhaps the witch can reunite her with her lost parents. Awakening the witch, however, brings more than salvation from mourning, for Honoria discovers a past of missing children and broken promises.
To save the citizens of Arnn from becoming the witch’s next victims, she must find the truth behind the woman’s madness.
How deep into Witchwood Hollow does Honoria dare venture?
my review
Such an interesting book with a great premise! The novel centers around three girls of varying ages. Each of these girls is from a different historical time period… the 1600s, the 1800s and the 2000s. Each of them is connected in some way to the mysteriously cursed Witchwood Hollow. Historical novels are not generally among my favorites, but I loved the way the different time periods were woven together to create this fascinating story filled with love, angst, sadness, and a myriad of other emotions.
The girls are connected and very often, when those connections are revealed, it is surprising! Those reveals are emotional, not just because they are unexpected for the reader, but for the characters as well. The story is often dark and layered with intense emotion. It is an emotion-driven story, those being the root of the story and the creation of Witchwood Hollow.
The author played on the inherent “creepy” factor that old woods can sometimes have and turned it into the perfect setting for a story rich with magic. A cursed wooded area that once they enter, people never leave. At least not without the witch’s permission.
Although Albertine, Elizabeth, and Honoria are the main characters, there is also a slew of other characters that add so much to the depth of the story. There is Lynn, trapped in the woods for so long that she seems to have become a bit emotionally stunted. There is also Shane, a young boy whose story is heart wrenching. And then there is Paul, a soldier from the past who has been wandering the Hollow for a very long time. Time is different in the Hollow, slowing to the point of perhaps even stopping. What feels like just moments for those inside the Hollow is actually decades, even centuries to those outside. For those inside, there is nothing else for them. Everyone they once knew and loved is gone.
And the ending!! Oh, evil author! Evil for giving such a beautifully brilliant ending that is not at all how I wanted it, yet still perfect for the story!
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