The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher is an adult horror novel that is inspired by the 1907 novella by Algernon Blackwood, The Willows. The story follows Kara a recently divorced young woman who is working and living in her uncles small town museum full of old taxidermy and other oddities. One day a hole is busted into a wall in the museum which opens a door way to a different world of islands surrounded by willows with bunkers on some of the islands. When Kara and her friend, Simon, venture into the world they find a place that connects many worlds but house creatures that hear your thoughts and the more that you think of them the stronger and more deadly they become.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and I absolutely loved it. The writing is very good and Kingfisher created a amazing horror atmosphere that made me feel physically anxious and fearful for the characters. It one of those books that I had to stop reading at points because of how creepy and unsettling everything was but at the same time I wanted to keep reading to find out what happened next.

Kara is one of those characters that is written in a way that makes her feel very relatable and someone you want to root for. Simon is mostly there for some add comic relief during some of the most tense situations but I loved this quirky character. There were a few moments that I felt like the characters had to do things that in reality no one would do just to move the story and plot along but it didn't take away from my enjoyment of the story. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in horror and those who love creepy stories.

The hollow places by T. Kingfiaher was a funny and terrifying thrill ride. I loved the main character Kara who I thought was funny, entertaining and really relatable. I couldn't help laughing along with her crazy thoughts and hysterical giggles, and Simon was a great character as well. The duo made a great team who also adding comic relief into a terrifying topic. The story was a little hard to follow at times mostly because you have no idea what is going on or what the monsters are exactly, but the story was very intriguing and the end really did pick up for a fast paced ending. The thing I love about Kingfisher 's writing is her characters, they are so relatable and I fall in love with all her characters. The setting is also very atmospheric and I would definitely recommend the read if you enjoy horror mixed with humor!

What a creepy book, I loved it.
A idea taken from Algernon Blackwoods book called the Willows, this story follows Kara who is going through and divorce and moving in with her uncle at his wonder museum. Everything is going fine at the museum as she is helping her uncle who is having a hard time getting around because of his knee. But then her uncle leaves her in charge as he goes in to have surgery. After her uncle leaves she finds a hole in one of the upstairs walls and upon inspection she finds a portal to another world, a world filled with bunkers and willows. With the help of Simon who owns the coffee shop next door they decided to explore this tunnel finding horrors at every turn and even though they manage to escape the willow world seemed to follow them.
Filled with horrors, creeps and chills, this book will keep you guessing to the end with what is actually going up and maybe even keep you up at night.

Kara stumbles upon a portal in her uncles museum that leads to a terrifying world that seems to be full of other portals. These portals all lead into different worlds and universes. That premise alone is what got me to read this book - I hear alternate reality or parallel universe and I’M IN. This book gave me strong Stranger Things vibes like the similar world of the upside down. There was some quirky humor which I did enjoy but at certain times I felt that it tried a little bit too hard. I still enjoyed the humor as Kara also used it as a coping mechanism for dealing with the portal to hell.

Certain parts were extremely creepy, I think this would actually make a pretty cool movie because of the imagery and descriptions. I wanted more from the other worlds, I felt like that could’ve been explored more so I was a little disappointed with that. I also think that the location of a creepy museum is terribly convenient of a location. Other than that, this is a fun book just in time for spooky season.

Thanks to netgalley and to the publisher for sending me an advanced copy!

WHEN WE WERE YOUNG & BRAVE is an unforgettable novel about impossible choices and unimaginable hardship, and the life-changing bonds formed between a young girl and her teacher in a remote corner of a terrible war. Following the events of Pearl Harbor, the Japanese Imperial Army invades and takes control of the Chefoo School for American and British missionaries' children based in Yantai, China. The teachers and students must adapt to their new way of life under the watchful eye of Japanese soldiers.

This one as a historical fiction was hard for me to get into, I'm not even sure of actual date that I started it and usually I keep really good track of that! It's not a really dark read by any means. It's just an honest, detailed story that makes you appreciate things you may take for granted. I even stopped myself from texting my husband at work today about something that was so petty because of what the characters went through in the book, even though fictional, by the authors research some were real.

The story is told in two points of view by one of the adult woman teachers and one of the young girl students, over a long span of time. Not gonna lie, I shed a few tears near the end. My favorite part of the whole story is how the two main characters learned and grew from each other, even though the teacher was already an adult at the time.

The only thing that left me a bit unsatisfied at the end, is that the author didn't tell how the main woman's brother or best friend made out in the future, as she explained for some other characters. Just my humble opinion and disappointment, otherwise I enjoyed this one, that I wouldn't have normally picked up on my own.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #williammorrowbooks for and an Advanced Readers Copy of #whenwewereyoungandbrave by #hazelgaynor, #goesonsaleonOctober6th.

This book was a very dark, creepy and had and was unpredictable in the outcome. However, the descriptions of the environment was vague and in some areas the plot stalled out. I enjoyed this book, but it could have been much better despite having original ideas.

While staying with her uncle, who runs the Glory to God Museum of Natural Wonders, Curiosities and Taxidermy, Kara discovers a hole in the wall of the museum that leads to a dark and dangerous supernatural dimension.

Initially, I was really into this story. I loved the quirky tone. Horror laced with humor is one of favorite things and The Hollow Places certainly delivers on the comedic aspect. But I quickly found myself struggling to stay engaged with the book. It felt like it was bogged down with too much dialogue and unnecessary details. There wasn’t enough meat to the story for my taste and the portal elements were not as chilling or action packed as I had expected.

Kara and Simon were definitely likeable characters and their fun rapport kept pushing me forward, even though I felt let down by the aforementioned elements. I was hoping to see a good outcome for both of them through the haze of another dimension.

I also liked it when Kara, due to her graphic design background, detailed things like very specific shades of color and font variations to the reader. Unlike the parts that felt frivolously descriptive, this was always an entertaining idiosyncrasy that I enjoyed reading about.

Overall, I didn’t find the story to be especially engrossing, but it had its absorbing moments. I think it fits horror more for its gruesome content than its scariness. Although I don’t think it’s the stuff nightmares are made of, if you like fun, campy reads that gross you out a little bit, you might want to pick up a copy of The Hollow Places for yourself. It will be available for purchase on October 6.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my review copy. All opinions are my own.

This book looks at a different aspect to finding a door to another world that we read as children, but shows the scary and dark aspects of what can be beyond that door we may all wish for at one point in our lives. T. Kingfisher created a deeply interesting world that the narrator falls into and her road to understanding what she just happened upon in her Uncle's museum.

It was a twisted story that keeps you on your toes about what is going to happen next and coming up with all the situations that they could possibly fall into. This novel reminded me of the Wayward children's series and Cthulhu mixed into one intoxicating tale.

“‘If there’s a way into hell, someone will always find it.’”

On the heels of a divorce, Kara (Carrot, affectionately), is faced with moving back in with her mother or helping her uncle run his much beloved museum of curiosities. It’s an easy decision, but her uncle’s knee surgery soon leaves Carrot alone at the museum, where she discovers a hole in the wall that leads to another world. At first, the water-logged world full of cement bunkers and eerie willow trees is merely uncanny and impossible, but she soon realizes that it’s populated by horrific, unseen monsters capable of crossing dimensions. Can Carrot escape back into her own world and, if she can, what’s to stop the creatures from following her there? Pray they are hungry. I received a free e-ARC through NetGalley from the publishers at Gallery Books/Saga Press. Trigger warnings: death, body horror, gore, disembowelment, dismemberment, severe injury, guns, violence, divorce.

I enjoyed Kingfisher’s first adult horror novel, The Twisted Ones, but in some ways it very much felt like a “first” novel, as though she hadn’t quite found her stride in the genre. The Hollow Places resolved almost every issue I had with it, and it’s turned out to be one of my favorite horror reads of the year so far. Fans of the other novel will find a lot to enjoy about this one, and they have plenty in common. While THP also relies a bit on an outside narrative (Carrot reading a book she took from the willow world), it’s incorporated much better into the main story here. There are excerpts here and there of important details, but it doesn’t slow down the pacing the way the diary in TTO did.

Mouse and Carrot are almost interchangeable as main characters, both in personality and in narrative voice. It’s hard for me to attribute any specific characteristics to either of them; mostly, they work as almost invisible narrators, characters whose mindsets it’s easy to slip into because there isn’t much to them. They’re nice enough people who have realistic reactions to the horror around them, and it’s effective in putting us closer to the action. I also enjoyed Carrot’s sidekick, Simon, a gay barista who dresses like the Mad Hatter. There isn’t a lot of development either way because it isn’t that kind of book, but there is a small amount of personal growth when Carrot puts her divorce into perspective. Compared to being trapped in a horrifying world full of inter-dimensional monsters, who has time to stress about an ex, really?

My favorite thing about The Twisted Ones was how genuinely creepy it was, and The Hollow Places excels in that area just as much, if not more. Kingfisher has a gift for creating atmosphere and capturing the creeping, uncanny sense of stumbling into a place that can’t exist. Most of the time, it still looks a lot like our world, but the subtle sense of wrongness is palpable. I’d love to see it on a screen, but at the same time, who could capture a feeling like that? (Maybe Alex Garland, the guy who did Annihilation). This book also ramps up the gore and the body horror in a couple nail-biting ways, and I was effectively spooked in some chapters. There aren’t really any plot twists; the realization it takes Carrot most of the book to have is pretty obvious to us from square one, but I don’t feel like that detracts from the story at all. I hope Kingfisher keeps writing horror novels so I can keep reading them.

I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.

Don’t poke a hole in the drywall

Kara is minding her Uncle's "museum" (read junk shop) while he's in the hospital. A tourist seems to have poked a hole in the wall upstairs, but when Kara and her friend Simon, the barista from next door start the repairs, they find a whole new and very scary world.

A couple of story details (like why are Kara and Simon barefoot) distracted me and lowered my rating

The concepts in this book were SO fascinating. A hole to a weird bunker found on a wall in Kara's Uncle Earl's shop of creepy and strange "Wonders." Graffiti on the walls, Pray They are hungry , and a doorway to an eerie place full of grassy knolls and so many willow trees. I won't describe this place at all, so as not to give anything away, but it is SUPER fascinating.

My favorite parts of this book take place in that place. The rest of the book takes place in a little southern town while Kara oversees her Uncle's shop of odd things, such as taxidermy animals, supposedly haunted things or relics found in various places. She frequents the next door coffee shop and teams up with the barista to eventually explore this weirdly sudden hole.

So many nods to other works of note - I got a Needful Things vibe from the shop itself, a House of Leaves vibe from the hole and beyond, and Lovecraftian strangeness from the "beyond" place. Kingfisher mentions her inspiration from Algernon Blackwood's novella "The Willows" in her afterword, which I guess I'll definitely need to read. I haven't yet read T. Kingfisher's "The Twisted Ones" but I will push it to the head of my TBR list because I'm now convinced this author knows how to write great creepy tales.

This was a delightful read. The Hollow Places is a mash up of Algernon Blackwood’s The Willows (one of my favorite short stories ever) and Night at the Museum. It’s a quirky, but deeply unsettling, take on cosmic horror with a relatable protagonist who I genuinely liked.

Our protagonist finds a hole in the wall of her uncle’s museum. She and the barista next door venture in to find another world at the end of the corridor. This is a world full of islands, willows, ethereal beings who can hear you think but whom you can’t see, and unexpected terrors.

T Kingfisher writes in a very conversational tone, and at first, I thought that tone wasn’t going to work for me with this novel. As the story progressed, I was proved wrong. Maybe it’s because The Willows left its mark on me, priming me for fright here. Or perhaps it’s just because T Kingfisher is incredibly accomplished at providing both levity and fright. There were many moments my heart genuinely beat faster and I was flooded with dread. This novel actually scared me!

If you’ve read The Cipher, that is a story about a hole that is bleak and dark and gritty and hopeless; like a friend that drags you down, depresses you, confronts you with all the blackness of life, and encourages you to do terrible things. The Hollow Places is your quirky friend who drinks coffee laced with whisky, rags on your ex with you, and wears fishnet stockings, all in the face of existential terror, running with you from monsters who can hear you think about how scared you are of them.

Did I mention the monsters can hear you think??

One of the things I love so far about cosmic horror (which I’m just getting into) is how very real it seems. How vast is the universe? What - or who - is out there? What if we are entirely insignificant? What if the fabric of space and time is so thin it could tear? What if there is another dimension on the other side of the wall? The scares of a horror novel mixed with a very real feeling of insignificance when faced with the magnitude and power of the universe is incredibly effective, and deeply unsettling.

I absolutely loved this. Props to T Kingfisher for creating a work that both deeply unsettling and fun.

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I also preordered a copy. I’ll definitely give this another read!

“The Hollow Places” is somewhere between Vandermeer’s Annihilation and RL Stein of the 1990s. A woman and her snarky neighbor/sidekick discover a hole in the wall of her uncle’s kitschy Wonder Museum (aka curiosities and taxidermy) and mystery ensues. The first half of the book is pretty tense and ominous, I found myself very nervous for the characters in the way that a good horror movie makes you feel when you know the unaware characters are walking into the killer’s lair or something. The descriptions of the environment and isolated landscape were great. For every scary moment, there are equal parts campy and cheesy, with a healthy mix of sidekick banter and classic multi-dimension sci-fi tropes. The 2nd half of the book definitely becomes muddled compared to the thrill of the 1st half, and that is where the RL Stein qualities come into play. You know when you watch a subpar horror movie and the whole time think to yourself, “Just leave! Walk away!” — that is how I felt for the majority of the 2nd half. I liked this book for what it was, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend it unless someone was looking for a very specific type of horror book.

very curious story... good characters.. interesting plot and made me curious to know what was to come. spots kept me curious on what was next.. it was action packed and i enjoyed it a lot.

*I received an E-ARC copy in exchange for an honest review*
You're going through a divorce. He's seeing someone else. Now you have to move back into your Uncle Earl's Wonder Museum filled with taxidermy animals, strange statues and other oddities. What is a woman to do? These are the questions Kara, known as Carrot to the quiet town of Hog Chapel, had to face as her life is starting to spiral. Throw in the portal to another world with invisible monsters, strange fixtures and danger you can't quite put your finger on? Things just keep getting better and better.

I was very surprised by this book. I went in expecting a creepy horror novel and I ended up getting a funny, sarcastic pseudo-horror novel? I would have definitely liked more of a horror aspect. Especially when it comes to creating your own made up world, the opportunities are endless. Speaking of creating another world, it also would have been helpful to go into more detail. about what is found in the world. If it is made up, the readers definitely don't know anything about it. I would have loved more information about the things they described.

BUT the saving grace was the humor. The humor was on point in this novel. Between Carrot with her optimistic self-depreciation, and her gay best friend Simon with his quick comebacks and dressing better than even myself, that hit the nail on the head to make this a very enjoyable ride. The witty banter between the two characters made me repeat "Girl, SAME!"

Overall, there were good and bad qualities, but definitely a novel to experience and talk about with your friends!

I’m a sucker for down-the-rabbit-hole alternative world fiction. Kingfisher’s version is eerie and dark, as opposed to the more whimsical and fantastical versions of Lewis Carroll or Neil Gaiman. [While the latter have their share of tense moments, an adventurous person would still chase those experiences, but through Kingfisher’s looking glass is a world that everyone who wanders in immediately wants to escape.]

The book is set in and around a museum in a tourist trap town in the southern US. This museum is what would have been called a “cabinet of curiosities” back in the day, which is to say it combines natural history displays with a bit of a freak show aspect to spice things up. This setting contributes nicely to the story, offering both a suitably weird environment to lend credulity to the anomalous happenings and a suitably creepy environment to make the climax a harrowing experience.

The story revolves around a recently divorced woman named Kara (nickname: Carrot) who goes to live and work at Wonder Museum, her uncle’s cabinet of curiosities. She does this because she’s a gig-economy graphic designer without enough gigs to put her in a home of her own, because she wishes to avoid moving in with a mother who can be overbearing, and because her beloved Uncle Earl could use a hand as he’s getting up in years. When Uncle Earl has to get knee surgery and must leave the museum in Kara’s hands, all hell breaks loose by way of the opening of a portal to a parallel universe.

I should point out that the book isn’t dark and foreboding throughout, the main character and her sidekick / barista-next-door, Simon, provide plenty of comic relief, and we do get a good bit of character development for Kara in early chapters. I think the story benefits from what some might find a slow-burn opening. It’s intriguing to see how Kara is in emotional turmoil in the beginning over her failed marriage and lack of stable income, but then the trials of the story put matters into perspective for her.

Like the Algernon Blackwood novella (i.e. “The Willows”) that influenced it, this story manages to be a chilling and visceral experience without at all being gratuitously graphic or wantonly murderous. While some would classify it “horror,” it might better be considered a tale of the weird. The author does a fine job of creating atmosphere. In one sense, this concision of gruesomeness might be seen as a more impressive than in Blackwood’s story because Kingfisher’s characters are set in their everyday lives and thus the story has to shift between lighthearted and grim – whereas, Blackwood’s story about a couple of guys canoeing a remote stretch of the Danube River was able to be starker throughout. (As I recall, it’s been a while since I read “The Willows.”)

I found this book to be gripping. It kept my attention throughout with a mix of humor, gallows humor, and bleak moments. My most intense criticism involves the description of events leading up to, as well as during, the climax. There were moments where my attention was drawn from the story to asking questions (e.g. why was that so easy? Why was that so hard? Or, why didn’t she do X?) It might just be me, but I felt that in the attempt to maintain a fast pace, the author may have glossed over some challenges. That said, it’s fair to point out that the character is sleep-deprived and terrified at this point, so maybe this approach was (consciously or un-) an attempt to capture Kara’s disjointed state of mind, and maybe I was simply overreading. At any rate, I thought the book resolved strongly and was plotted smartly.

If you like alternative worlds fiction – and don’t mind it being a visceral experience – this would be a great book to check out.

Okay so this one gets 4.5 because the 65-75% range was rather dull in a way that kind of messed with the overall experience of the book. However! Don't let that stop you because this book is as hilarious as it is unsettling and as weird as it is, well, weird.

Kara (or, as we know her, Carrot) is going through a rough patch: recently divorced, freelance graphic design job that doesn't do much towards paying the bills, emphatically does not want to live with her parents... So instead she moves into eclectic Uncle Earl's Wonder Museum. And by wonder it's like... Conspiracy theories, weird stuff, taxidermy, weird stuff, miscellaneous bones and skulls, and weird stuff. But then she and the gay barista next door discover a secret hallway behind a mysterious hole in the wall.

That's probably enough for a synopsis, honestly, because what follows is a masterful blend of panic-humor (it's definitely a fear response), multiverse guesswork, a deeply unsettling otherworld, and the seeds to create a potential fear of willow trees in the reader. I kept randomly bursting into laughter while reading because Kara/Carrot's humor so perfectly aligned with mine. And her panicked inner monologue was very "why the heck am I doing this totally nonsensical thing? Because I'm terrified and it somehow actually worked - if not the way anyone would have intended" and I found that equal parts hilarious and totally relatable.

I now need to go back and read the rest of Kingfisher's backlist. I think I've found a horror that I jive with.

Kara, better known as Carrot, moves in with her uncle after she divorces her husband. Her uncle runs the Wonder Museum, a storehouse of taxidermy and other oddities from around the world. Carrot begins working at the Wonder Museum, and soon discovers a portal to a strange world lurking within the museum's walls. Unable to resist her curiosity, she's drawn into that world, exploring its abandoned bunkers, alien trees, lost causes, and Them. They are the shadowy beings who haunt this world, listening for your thoughts as they stray towards Them. If you are very lucky, they simply eat you, but if you are not They unravel you with fear. Pray they are hungry, says a mysterious note scrawled in a bunker.

The Hollow Places is T. Kingfisher's follow-up to the incredibly terrifying The Twisted Ones. This book is pure nightmare fuel, but the kind that creeps up on you slowly, invading your thoughts by inches. I didn't realize how terrifying willow trees could be, but I'll never look at them the same way again. Carrot is a delightful protagonist, often curious about the world around her and offering entertaining stream-of-consciousness commentary. She's the right combination of smart and reckless to decide to explore a creepy portal with her friend Simon. I rooted for both of them throughout the story, though I was a little frustrated they didn't connect an earlier clue with the reason for the portal's existence, especially since it kept appearing. The plot itself moves along at a brisk pace and there are enough surprises to keep the reader on their toes.

Overall, The Hollow Place is an unputdownable horror read, teeming with eldritch terrors, fun plot twists, and compelling characters. Highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for providing an e-arc.

Thank you NetGalley and publishers for providing me with this eARC in exchange for an honest review. I adored this book and every single minute I spend reading it was a ride.
The Hollow Places follows Kara (or Carrot) after she moves into the spare room of her Uncle Earl’s Wonder Museum. She’s gotten divorced from her husband and doesn’t want to move in with her mother. When her Uncle offers his spare room, she accepts. The Wonder Museum is a place full of bizarre things like taxidermized animals (read: otters, bears, mice), knick knacks from around the world (some authentic and some with ‘made in china’ stickers), and of course, Wonder Museum memorabilia. But Kara grew up in this museum, so she’s not afraid or creeped out by any of these oddities. But one day, Kara finds a hole in the wall so she enlists the barista from the coffee shop next door, Simon, to help her fix it. This is when they discover that there’s something weird about what’s on the other side of this hole. They find themselves in a world that is not our own. Simon and Kara can’t help but explore, but they find more than they wanted to.
This story was delightfully creepy and suspenseful. Certain parts of the story had me gripping my Kindle so hard and my whole body tense. The writing was nothing short of incredible. I felt transported into this story. Kingfisher made this world come to life. It was so atmospheric. I was scared while Simon and Kara were in this other world, holding my breath when they did, but I just couldn’t get enough. I really loved that there was a ‘why’ to all of this. There was a reason this had happened and while it wasn’t wholly explained, there was enough to satisfy me.
Kara and Simon were main characters I really enjoyed. At first, Kara is upset about her divorce. She’s disappointed that her life isn’t what she wants it to be, but once she finds another world, a horrifying one, it really puts things in perspective for her. I loved that the creatures of the museum love and protect Kara (you’ll know what I’m talking about when you get to this part of the story). Simon is gay. He’s the barista at the coffee shop his sister owns. He’s full of wild stories that you almost don’t believe. I loved that Kara and Simon went from acquaintances to friends. They bonded through their shared experiences of the horrors of the willow world and I really enjoyed their friendship.
Overall, I loved this book. It was perfect for the spooky season. The atmospheric setting with the horror of the things Kara and Simon encounter made for a spectacularly spooky reading experience. I loved everything about this story and I will definitely be picking up more books by Kingfisher.

The Hollow Places pulled me in instantly and shook me around for a bit. This is my first T. Kingfisher read and I know it will not be the last. The Hollow Places has a quirky start with a main character who is a bit of an oddball who is placed in an odd setting. Kara is looking to restart her new life after her recent divorce. She decides to move back home to help her Uncle Earl at his strange museum, The Glory to God Museum of Natural Wonders. The name of the museum is the most "normal" thing you will come across in this book.

Things quickly go strange for no particular reason. My kind of book when it is done well, meaning when it is done to provide texture to the eerie feel of the story. Kara jokingly calls this newly discovered world Narnia but the creepy strange vibes from this story resembles books like House of Leaves and Slade House, which are captivating and scary, and The Hollow Places fits right in with those highly recommended books.

What I liked about this book is that I never once felt like I knew what the next step was because Kingfisher was constantly taking the story in unpredictable directions. The ending felt a little flat compared to the rest of the story. Maybe flat is not the best way to describe it. It's not what I expected but nothing in this book was ever what I expected. I think it could have been better is the only way I can describe it. Nothing was missing from it but compared to the rest of the book, it was...well a bit flat. Overall I really enjoyed this book and the journey was satisfyingly awesome.

I want to thank T. Kingfisher, Saga Press and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review.