Absolutely loved this book! It was a great way to start off the year. It was so creepy and chilling. I absolutely loved Carrot and Simon and Beau. I look forward to reading more books by T. Kingfisher.

Fantastic horror read! It was atmospheric and so deliciously creepy! I believe monsters and creatures in horror can come in two flavors: your b-rated horror monster that just slices and dices or your creature that adds to the story and development (while still maybe slicing and dicing). Both have their place (and I love both), but I am so glad this was the second! It really added to the story.

The Hollow Places sounded like it would be right up my alley; I'm a huge fan of weird things mixed in fantasy, sci-fi, and horror. Although a quick read, I was not personally a fan of it. The main character annoyed me, and I wasn't a fan of her inner dialogue most of the time. Moments that were supposed to be intense were made cheesy by what she would say and think. The ending was anticlimactic, and I was bored by how everything wrapped up. I've seen a bunch of great reviews for this one; it just wasn't for me, unfortunately.

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the ARC of The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher.

Found this one to be a bit weird. Not really my cup of tea but I thought it wasn't badly written. I think a lot of people would find it really engaging.

This book was so deliciously creepy I literally couldn't put it down sometimes! I don't know what I expected when I started reading it, but it took me to all sorts of places I know for a fact I wasn't expecting. The museum of oddities that Kara is minding for her uncle who has had knee surgery is just that - odd - but it's someplace where she feels at home because she has basically grown up visiting it. Imagine her surprise when she finds, quite by accident, a hidden hallway behind one of the walls. I kept telling her that no good could come from exploring it, and not to go in there, but she didn't listen, and go there she did. She at least had the good sense to take Simon, the barista next door, with her, but that's where all sense of normalcy vanished. She would come to regret her decision to go exploring, as would Simon.

I absolutely loved this book! The characters were described so well that I felt like I knew them, and the friendship that developed between Kara and Simon was one of my favorite things about it. The horror intermixed with humor made it such an easy read. And don't even get me started on the world building! I don't think the story would have been nearly as creepy had the alternate world not been described as well as it was.

In summary, I loved this book and highly recommend it to lovers of horror and alternate realities. I look forward to reading more books by T. Kingfisher.

5/5 stars.

I received a copy of this book free of charge through NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Kingfisher's "The Twisted Ones" was inspired by an Arthur Machen tale, and this book was inspired by Algernon Blackwood's "The Willows". Kara's newly divorced and has moved in with her uncle to help run his museum of oddities, but she finds an oddity in the museum itself. Assisted by a vibrant barista, she explores the hole in the wall that shouldn't be there (it's presented as House of Leaves lite) and finds portals to alternate realities. The dreamlike bunkers, and the creatures who inhabit that world, are terrifying. Kara has to figure out why the hole is there, and how to stop the strange incursions into the museum, hopefully before her uncle gets home from the hospital. One of the big strengths of this book is the friendship between Kara and the barista, Simon, but my vote for strongest part of this book is the scenery. The willows, likened to The Wood Between the Worlds in Narnia, are menacing and hypnotic. For a scary book, this is also very conversational, and I have missed my time with Kara and Simon. I hope Kingfisher revisits the museum.

Really struggled with this one! The characters were so stereotyped they didn't have their own personalities at all.

Unfortunately, I do not recommend. Thanks to NetGalley for the free e-copy of this book.

This book was weird in the best way! I enjoyed how it was written and love all things horror and creepy. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone that wants an original horror story with very well written characters!

A Narnia type sci fi with some horror elements. It was more sci fi than horror in my opinion and I found those parts dragged on a little too long, but the horror portions made my skin crawl. Like when they read the quotes written on the wall..."They Can Hear You Thinking" and "Pray They Are Hungry" and some parts having to do with sleepwalking were creepy to read at bedtime. Definitely different than anything I can remember reading before.

While I enjoyed the character's humor and the style of writing flowed well, the Bible elements and the amount of times the Lord's name is taken in vain bothered me (sometimes twice in the same sentence!) I found the story to be weird and I had a hard time picturing what was happening a lot of the time. Unfortunately, it just wasn't for me.

Pray they are hungry. These are the words on the wall in Kara's Uncle's home. She finds a hidden bunker and becomes obsessed with these words and the bunker. Can she find the answers she wants without being sucked in and killed?

I was sadly disappointed in this. I expected an edge-of-your-seat horror novel and while this had some creepy moments, most of it fell flat. It started off with Jeff VanderMeer Annihilation vibes, which was fun, but then it became more of a possession story, and I just never felt the terror I think I was supposed to feel. I will say that I appreciate the fact that the cat didn’t die. I did like he characters for the most part, even though some of Cara’s decision making was laughably bad.

Excellent book! Not my genre at all & I absolutely loved it and could NOT put it down. Changed my mind about the genre for sure! Convinced 3 friends to read it & they loved it!

I have this a four out of five stars. I kept my interested all the way through it. I loved the friendship that builds in this. I totally will recommend to others. It gave me night at the museum and narnia vibes. It was great.

After hearing it was kind of like The Twisted Ones I put it off as I didn't like that to much, but I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed this one more. It's about Kara who is recently divorced, moves in with her eccentric uncle who owns a very strange museum. He has to have surgery and see looks over the museum and when a strange whole opens up in the side of wall in part of the musuem, Kara and her friend Simon go check it out and might just regret it. It's a portal type story but better than The Twisted Ones in my opinion.

Pray they are hungry.

Kara goes to live with her uncle after her recent divorce and accidentally finds a portal to another world in his taxidermy shop. Upon exploring, she realizes there are things out there beyond her imagination. I have to be honest and say if I found a hole to another world…I'm not sure I'd go through. I mean, you only live once, right? But I don't want to be eaten…so, there's that.

Being a fan of horror since I was young, this book was a perfect match for me. The characters were great, Kara was quite likable, and the humor was a nice touch. The Hollows gave me the creeps…in a good way.

I would definitely recommend this book to others.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a lot more fun than I expected it to be. Based on the title and the cover I was going in expecting to be scared and checking over my shoulder a lot, but thankfully, that is not what happened. This is a cool supernatural story with a wonderful protagonist (Kara) who is laugh out loud funny and it also has excellent writing. Some things were a little obvious, but that could just be me. Definitely pick this one up!

This book drew me in right away. A newly divorced woman trying to figure out her next steps ends up helping her uncle run his museum, The Wonder Museum. Things are going well until a hole is discovered in the wall. And then things just got crazy.
I loved all of the characters, they felt so real, even Beau the cat. The imagery that the author created made the whole story work. I could not turn the pages fast enough to find out how it was all going to end. I honestly have no complaints about this book. Go get a copy!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

A unique setting and loveable oddball characters are the heart of this story, which balances a sense of adventure with moments of genuine, profound horror.

**spoilers ahead**

I started out really liking this. It’s a lot more lighthearted than I was expecting (as someone who judges a book by it’s cover) with a lot of humor from both Simon and Carrot. If I could, I would give this 3.5 stars but I just can’t do 4. The author made the otter thing so obvious, I just wanted to shout at the dang book. It was like watching dumb teenagers in a cheesy horror movie.

I really enjoyed the ride of this story and developed some real love for the world building done here. The way this book was woven together to tell this story was truly beautiful and creative. I loved that it had so many aspects of being young, and fun, but still dark and creepy at times as well. It was a thoroughly enjoyable book.