A YA take on the Legend of Sleepy Hollow - but modern day. I love a twist on a classic, but this one did not do it for me. The descendents of Katrina van Tassel have a responsibility to their ancestor and how they honor her. They are all expected to marry their childhood sweetheart and continue living in Sleepy Hollow while honoring their namesake (they are all named after the original Katrina). But modern day Kat wants nothing to do with this - she wants to experience the world outside of Sleepy Hollow. And when she meets Isadora, she glimpses a different life than the one laid out for her. But there are ghosts in Sleepy Hollow and the past is showing itself in the present for Kat. While Kat reads the diary of her many times great grandmother, she learns more about the town, the legend and her family.

Again, while a cute retelling, I definitely did not love this. I can get down with YA, but this one was a bit pedantic. Perhaps younger readers will appreciate this more than I did.

Raising the Horseman by Serena Valentino is a wonderful story.
Set in modern day the story is of a young Kat Van Tassel, descendant of the original Katrina Van Tassel, as she struggles with the legacy of her ancestor, the superstitious nature of Sleepy Hallow, and growing up. The was just the right amount of all the different elements of the story. Past, present , horror, love, hate, lies and truth all blend into a fast moving short tale.
I'm pretty sure we will see more of Kat and Isadore.
*Personal note-- I loved reading the authors note by Serena Valentino about Anne Rice and her impact and inspiration on the author.
Thank you to #NetGalley, #DisneyPublishing, and Serena Valentino for the ARC of #RaisingtheHorseman.

Absolutely loved this!! The world was perfectly built and visualization on point! Could not get enough of the characters. Serena Valentino really has a way of immersing you in her worlds and not letting go!

What a beautiful haunting story that keeps you on your toes and wanting more!

Great YA retelling of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow with a modern twist. I truly enjoyed both Kat & Katrina as well as the introduction of Isadora all very strong young women with their own stories to tell. LGBTQ+ friendly and so much fun to read. I look forward to handselling this title!

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a very short tale and I was greatly looking forward to delving into it some more. Here we find a descendant of the original Katherine who dealt with the horseman and Ichabod. Our current Katherine's life seems to be paralleling OG Katherine's quite a bit and we get to see a little of both by reliving the former through her journal entries. Katherine discovers some previously unearthed secrets about this legend and tries to learn to be who she is and not who everyone expects her to be.

The retelling aspect of the book was enjoyable as I got to learn more about the legend of sleepy hollow and the horseman. I was not a big fan of how the romance played out but granted its a middle grade read so the romance was basically, I like you and a kiss here and there. However, I did adore their friendship. The parallels between orginal Katherine and current Katherine were really well done and I found it fun to draw the comparisons as the story and some reveals played out.

This book is great for fan of the original tale and fans of the Halloweentown movies, as this whole town lives and breathes the legend of sleepy hollow.

I've never seen or read a book that ties in/spins off the Sleepy Hollow tale, so I was very excited to dive into this one. It moved alone quickly and was a nice cozy quick read I finished in a couple of days.

The story revolves around a descended of the original Katrina Van Tassel and how she doesn't want to be stuck in Sleepy Hollow, even though that's what her parents want. You get to meet new characters along the way and it definitely is a coming of age title.

I really enjoyed the idea of this and overall it was a good read. I sadly do feel it was a little bland overall, I was hoping for a bit more grit in a YA Sleepy Hollow tale.

Ms. Serena Valentino has done it again, I really enjoyed reading this retelling of Sleepy Hollow. I had enjoyed the previous Villains series and was excited to read this. I loved the use of seeing Katrina's and Kat's view point in the book. The characters were beautifully done and felt like real people, Ms. Valentino has a great way of breathing life into not only new characters but characters from the source material. The story was what I wanted and it had a great creepy element to it. I had a wonderful time reading this and would recommend to fans of the Villains series or anything creepy.

This is a good read for fans of the Headless Horseman and Washington Irving’s Legend of Sleepy. As a fan, I was excited to go back to Sleepy Hollow again, and I wasn’t disappointed.

This updated tale follows the tale of Kat Van Tassle, the granddaughter many times over 200 years after the death of Katrina Van Tassel. Will recommend, especially to fans of Disney, adaptations, and all things a little spoooooky.

A new spin on the classic story of the Headless Horseman and Sleepy Hollow. The story follows Katrina “Kat” van Tassel, the descendant of the original Katrina van Tassel. She lives in the town of Sleepy Hollow, constantly living in the cycle and traditions of the original legend. She is expected to marry, stay in the town, and continue the legacy... but she dreams about more. On the 200th anniversary of the Headless Horseman’s legendary haunting of Sleepy Hollow, Kat has had enough. She wants nothing to do with the town’s superstitious celebrations. Her mother gives her the original Katrina’s diary in hopes it will shed more light on who Katrina was and help Kat understand why her legacy was so important... and Kat suddenly meets Isadora Crow. A mysterious new girl in town who shares the similar interest in her, who is beautiful and charming. Isadora challenges Kat’s expectations of what she wants and who she wants to be with. The more Kat reads about Katrina’s life the more she starts to see startling similarities between the two... and the more she begins to question if the past is repeating.. with a spirit being unleashed, a new stranger in town, and a decision to be made about what path she should take, Kat must uncover the two hundred year old secret and find a way to save those she cares about before it’s too late. This story deals with toxic relationships, both Kat and Katrina find themselves being gaslighted, manipulated, and lied to, and they both have to find the strength in themselves to realize it and to get out of it. It was a fun take on the classic story and I definitely enjoyed how the story portrays healthy relationships and toxic ones, and of course I always adore queer representation. This was such a fun spooky little read with splashes of romance and ghosts and perfect for the autumn/halloween season! As a fan of the classic story, I really had fun with this new take!

*Thanks Netgalley and Disney Publishing Worldwide for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

This book was the most perfect read. I enjoyed how scary it was. One of my 16 year old students will love this book, and I can't wait until it comes out to read it with him.

I knew I wanted to read "Raising the Horseman" not because it is from an author that I absolutely love but because the story of the Headless Horseman has always intrigued me. This story is an amazing retelling of the Sleepy Hollow story but also puts a modern twist that you will not see coming. As someone that identifies as LGBTQIA+, I cried when I was introduced to the character that would ultimately identify as LGBTQIA+. To read this from my favorite author, made me feel seen, wanted and needed. I cannot think Serena Valentino enough!

*I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review*

I was really excited to read this book because the Headless Horseman is such an iconic story, and I couldn’t wait to see how it would be retold. I was very disappointed in this. It’s split between present day and the past, with Kat and Katrina each telling their own stories (though Katrina’s are set up to be more like diary entries). The present day story does not seem to have much plot, and the conversations are so repetitive. I also disliked how fast arguments were resolved, because a fight would be had and done in the space of several sentences. This started to get annoying by the fourth argument that Kat had. I wanted to like this so much, and there’s a lot of really great potential, but the characters felt really flat and conversations didn’t really start to go anywhere until the end. I’m sure there are some who might actually enjoy this book, but for me it wasn’t what I’d hoped for when reading the summary.