I went into this book not sure what I was expecting. Strange portal and terror? Ok I’m in! This book is one twisted ride! As the story went on, it only got creepier and creepier. Some parts were truly terrifying. I found myself fascinated with the mystery of the portal. I got a bit of sci-fi vibes along with the horror. The banter between Kara and Simon was good and had me smiling. Gotta smile even though you’re creeped out right?

This author is new to me and I enjoyed her story telling as well as her writing style. I will look for more books by her. This was a strange, fantastic and creepy read that will give you the chills. If you’re a fan of those kinds of reads, this book is for YOU! I give this 4 stars!

Taking inspiration from H.P. Lovecraft and little museums, T. Kingfisher writes a gripping and haunting story about alternate realities and unknown creatures.
This book took a bit to get into, but once I was a quarter of the way in I couldn't put it down. When I did have to put it down, I could not stop thinking about it.
Thank you to #Netgalley and #SagaPress for providing an ebook for review!

I received this ARC for an honest review. This is my first read by T. Kingfisher. This story is a suspense/horror story. The main characters are Kara and Simon. Kara is running her Uncle’s Glory to God Museum of Natural Wonders, Curiosities and Taxidermy while he recovers.
from surgery. Simon runs the coffee shop next door. They found a hole in the wall at the museum and decided to go through it. It takes them to another dimension/world. What they encountered was a little nerve+racking, but I thought the story was a little slow. It wasn’t a bad read, but I found myself skimming some sections of the book. Over all I enjoyed the book.

When I saw The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher, I had to have it. I partner read The Twisted Ones and it was great. There were times when my adrenaline kicked in. That kind of writing is commendable and the author shows off their talents in this book as well. I highly recommend this book for any horror fans.

If you like the not so "run of the mill" horror story, then this author is for you. This is the second book I have read from T. Kingfisher and this is the writing style I anticipated, that is with a little bit of sci fi/fantasy mixed in.
A young woman takes over her uncle's taxidermy store while he has surgery done and she's trying to start her live over after divorce. Her and the local barista discover a hole in the wall which leads to another world full of islands, water, and willows, and glowing hungry creatures who "cannot find you if they cannot hear your thoughts". There is plenty of gory, gross scenes and suspense, as obviously with this portal in the wall, how can this evil world not follow us back to ours? The lead character is damaged, but discovers she is not completely broken and makes quite the believable heroine. You really have to be able to concentrate on this book to follow along what is happening because between sharing her thoughts outright and what's going on around her, there is always a lot going on at all times. Not my usual type of read as I am pretty basic and like the good old fashioned ghost story, however, this was not a bad read for something different in a macrabe sort of way. Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to give you my honest review.

Sadly this was a DNF for me.

As soon as I started the book I was overwhelmed by the writing style. The main characters seems to be running a mile a minute and things were thrown around so much I just couldn't do it.

I went and looked at other peoples reviews and everyone else seemed to really love it. They were engaged and immersed and I really wanted that for myself. Maybe if I give it another go some time in the future?

The synopsis pulled me in but I felt pushed out when I started reading. I'll try again but right now it's a no go for me.

When Kara discovers a portal to another dimension in her uncles house, she ends up on a truly terrifying journey. The author does a wonderful job creating a creepy ambiance and I definitely recommend reading this with the lights on!

My thanks to Gallery books, T. Kingfisher and Netgalley.
This book was definitely my kind of strange! The theory "as convoluted" as it was, was even my kind of strange!
This tale and others like it are what keeps my mind occupied.
Some people have faith in all their religions. I don't. I have faith in science. I never think in terms of a god. I am cursed with Physics, alternative universes "not string theory!" and what happens to the soul! Yeah. No religion, but I believe in the soul!
I actually do have reasons for all of these, but?
I flashed through this story rather quickly. Loved the characters, especially the barista! I've had a few good to beat friends that were gay, but nobody I know could have pulled off those fishnets with boots!
4 stars instead of 5. Only because I should have been more afraid. Also, while I enjoyed the heck out of this, it felt like it was geared more for a young adult market.

i have a personal grievance towards books mentioning fanfiction. there's nothing wrong with fanfiction nor it being mentioned in a "real book", but every book that i've read that does mention it does so in a way that's infuriating. i was willing to forgive the first mention, it was brief and only slightly jarring, but the second time it's brought up is even more so, as it's an incredibly off-putting moment where the narrator mocks people who think the normalization/romanticization of themes like abuse and incest is very... Not Good.

this really shouldn't affect the story in any way, it's such a minor moment and probably would make anyone else laugh, and maybe i'm just boring and annoying since i don't think it's funny at all, but it really, truly soured the rest of the story for me.

which is a shame, because the horror is actually good. this is my second kingfisher/vernon, the first being minor mage, and i was really shocked at how different the style is here. i think it's definitely the mark of a good author to be able to affect such a drastic change in tone and presentation and pull it off well, and kingfisher does; she excels in establishing the universe, in the exploration of the cosmic-level horror, the slow, pulsing build-up of all the dread and terror found within the willow world. i don't exactly scare easy, mainly it's a surface-level discomfort, but there were some instances that truly got to me within the story. the tension and the pacing is perfect, the moments of humor just sparing enough that they balance well with the horror; i enjoyed kara's inner monologue, and how she speculated on the workings of the willows. i think one of the most difficult things about a first person narration in such a sweeping story is managing to present the lore in a way that feels genuine, but the collected accounts of kara's experiences and the bible and sturdivant's little speeches weave together into a fully realized universe.

which is why it was such a disappointment that such a minor moment could ruin the entire thing. i really do try my best to not be so objective and 'sensitive'. i do think it's perfectly okay to explore darker themes in fiction. i don't think we should police creativity and say you aren't allowed to write anything but pure happiness. king is one of my favorite authors and he writes some pretty terrible things. but what i think separates the exploration of 'darker' themes in literature and television is that it almost always (though there's the rare case where it doesn't) presents these things (abuse, etc) as unequivocally bad. "real fiction" exists on a different level than fanfiction, which is almost always just self-indulgent, and inevitably ends up romanticizing the themes therein. there's rarely the kind of critical presentation for more sensitive topics in fanfic that you (mostly) see in the wider world of fiction.

it's really not that serious maybe and i think i'm focusing too much on this singular comment but the spiteful attitude of the narrator just really bugged me - dismissing genuine criticism of the "shipping" of abusive/incestuous relationships and following it up with "i'll just ship it even harder" isn't a good look, and feels really out of place, anyway, for the work. there's an incessant need to shoehorn in internet and pop culture into contemporary works to somehow make the characters more "relatable" but it hardly ever genuinely makes them relatable and instead alienates the reader (or me, at least), and comes across almost as if it's written by someone who doesn't really understand the references they're conveying on the page. (@ every writer: i promise you can make a modern character Modern and Sympathetic without the need to drag in pop culture. it can be done, i swear.)

i'm just very critical when it comes to what i consume and the smallest detail can make it or break it. "less sensitive" people will probably dismiss this and that's totally their right; not everyone reacts the same way as i do, and i understand that! it really is a good book, and i think without this one little thing, i would rate it higher (a 4, perhaps, maybe a 4.5).

I'm an avid horror reader but rarely do I find books creepy enough that I think about them when I'm not reading. Even rarer do I find books that give me nightmares. This book was spooky in the best possible way. The ending was also perfect in that the reader got answers and it wasn't a "let down" like so many horror novels tend to be. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for an intense, memorable read.

Very reminiscent of Guillermo Del Toro, this novel is perfect for fans of the unexpected. We all know not to go in the hidden room/hole/door etc., but really, what kind of story would that make? I will keep an eye out for more work from this author.

If you love the Twisted Ones, short stories of King, Lovecraft, and Tremblay, this one is matched made in heaven!

While I first met author Ursula Vernon (writing here as T. Kingfisher) in her day job as a children's fantasy writer/illustrator, I have gone on to love absolutely everything she's written for adults as well. When I heard she was writing a horror novel (The Twisted Ones) I was a little leery of jumping in, because it is not my usual genre, but I gave it a go and absolutely adored it. Here we have another eerie entry into her genre of Southern horror suspense and it is just as creepy, human, and compelling. Absolutely loved it!

The blurb suggested everything that I like in a book, but unfortunately this one just didn’t work for me. I wasn’t so sure after the first few chapters and it just felt more juvenile than horror for me. It had the potential to be creepy but the descriptions were confusing for me and I just didn’t like the overall tone and atmosphere.

What a wild ride! Kara is having a bad run of things and move sin with her wonderful Uncle Earl and his museum of wonders. she loves the museum and her uncle And when he asks her to take care of the museum she does. With the help of Simon the barista next door she’s running and cataloguing all the wonders until a strange hole appears and the real wondering begins. After reading the twisted ones I knew the spook fest would be good but the dynamics between Simon and Carrot( what her uncle calls her) makes the book for me!

What a pleasure to read a fantastical novel that is so well written. I became immersed in the story of the Glory to God Museum of Natural Wonders, Curiosities and Taxidermy. As the name suggests, there are strange things in this world we will never understand. Do inanimate objects have an unexpected power? Are there portals to places we could never imagine? I liked the characters and found myself wanting them to succeed against unexpected circumstances. This is a great story that held my interest right up to the end.

I received an Advanced Reader's Copy from Simon and Schuster through NetGalley. The opinions expressed are entirely my own.
#TheHollowPlaces #NetGalley

This is the first book I've read by this author and boy did she ever hook me. Beginning with the seemingly innocuous paragraph "My uncle runs the Glory to God Museum of Natural Wonders, Curiosities and Taxidermy.", T. Kingfisher leads the reader into a world filled with alien creatures, dark humor and suspense.

Kara, nicknamed "Carrot" by her uncle, is recovering from a financially devastating divorce when Uncle Earl asks her to help run the Wonder Museum while he has surgery. Facing homelessness, it's an ideal situation for her to live at the museum and run it for him. Shortly after taking over the museum, she notices a hole in the drywall in one of the exhibition rooms. She asks her friend Simon, a barista at the coffee shop next door, to help her repair it. Taking a closer look at the hole, they find not pipes and studs, but a dark hallway that vanishes out of sight in both directions. Of course, they need to enlarge the hole and explore the hidden corridor. In doing so, however, they stumble into a world filled with portals to other worlds, unseen dangerous creatures and supernatural willow trees. This being a horror novel, the first thing Carrot and Simon do is get lost in this other dimension. The story line follows Carrot and Simon as they try to find their way back home while also trying to stay alive and figure out how to close the portal once they do get home.

All in all it was a fast-paced trip into the world of multi-dimensions and the occult. I confess that I didn't entirely understand all of the multi-dimension explanations, even with analogies to the roadrunner and wile e coyote thrown in. It was a pleasurable read, however, and I look forward to more books by this author.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, but this was one creepy, strange ride. The main character, Kara, finds her way into a freaky other world and I’ve got to say, it was eerie and gave me some heebee geebees. The Wonder Museum is something I’d love to go see, making sure there aren’t any holes to anywhere else first! There are all sorts of oddities and interesting things for people to view in the museum, which sounds like so much fun!!

Anyway, Kara and Simon find themselves wandering around outside of our world and it is seriously intriguing and I had a hard time putting the book down at any given point in time. While I wasn’t scared, I had the creepies and now I’m keen on avoiding willow trees and giant Amazonian otters. Cause hell NO!!!!

The book is vivid and I could picture what Kara and Simon were seeing, even if I didn’t really want to. I recommend this book to those who enjoy reading books that give you the shivers and make you wonder if it really happened. Cause like I said, avoiding willow trees and giant otters probably forever!! Enjoy and don’t worry, it probably didn’t happen. Probably.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Gallery/Saga Press for the opportunity to read this book for my honest and unbiased opinion.

Amazon review pending publication date.

I think this book will stay with me for awhile, I'm afraid the willows have taken root. I know many people draw the obvious parallels with Lovecraft, but for me this one also had some vibes that brought up touchstones from The Mist (Stephen King) and a smidge of Pan's Labyrinth. Definitely that dark otherworldliness but also the religious and/or mythical undertones throughout.

Sometimes the vastness and imagination that goes into multiverses can be overwhelming but I thought this was beautifully balanced by the characters, with their lightness and their dark humor and being so down-to-earth (which is funny, all things considered!). Carrot and Simon, and even Uncle Earl help even things out and brought levity to a quagmire of disturbing otherness.

The disquieting undertones all throughout was classic horror that I greatly appreciate. It's like a feeling you get that something is behind you and that paralyzing moment where you're deciding whether to look or not, to quickly escape or rationalize it away. In willow world or not, that feeling stays with you throughout the story and it's fabulously unsettling. On the flip side the vivid picture painted with some of the more in your face creepy situations, like the bus or Sturdivant, was grotesquely clear and so easily visualized.

I think my favorite part of all though was the last part in the Museum. It brought a whole new heartwarming element to the tale that I wasn't expecting. For lack of a better term, there really is no place like home, and the idea that your home might feel that way about you too is quite touching. All in all this was a fast paced enthralling read and I definitely look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

The Hollow Places started off with Kara getting ready to move in with her mother after getting a divorce. Luckily for her, her Uncle spared her from that fate and asked her to move in with him and help out with his oddities museum. Actually, now that I think of it, was it really that lucky? I mean, she did end up being trapped in a world with portals to other worlds, and there were things trying to kill her, but I digress. She was starting over and her life was certainly about to change.

At first the book starts off pretty normal and the characters are easy to connect with. Uncle Earl is so lovable and her friend Simon…I wish i had a friend like him! Everything seemed great until Uncle Earl had to leave for his surgery and a minor hole appeared in one of the walls. Kara asked Simon for help patching it up but that was when they discovered that it lead to a hidden hallway that lead them to a world full of little islands. At first they were excited and wanting to explore, but then things took a very creepy turn!

I do not want to give spoilers but lets just say that I will never look at school busses, willow trees, and holes the same way again! Kingfisher does a beautiful job creating and atmosphere of unease through out the book. You find yourself suspicious of everything including a little weird looking otter carving from the oddities museum. What helped fill in some of the mysteries of how this island worked was a bible that they found with writing in the margins. It was left behind by a soldier from another world. He documented the events that occurred there so that if anyone ever found it they could have a chance to survive.

Overall, I enjoyed the book! It had a very creepy vibe and really helped me get into a fall state of mind. There were moments where I was pulled into the book and others where I would laugh out loud. I like it when a book is able to add a little light moment after dragging you into scary situations. Granted, there were a few parts in the middle of the book that did drag on a bit, but it was really to give you a false sense of security. It wanted you to think that all was right with the world again, but that was all lies!!! Lies I tell you! So if you are looking for a book to start off spooky season with, check this one out.