I was approved for this book about two days ago, and now I'm done! Which says something about how excited I was to read this - I started it last night and finished it this morning.

In Bittersweet in the Hollow, Pearsall creates a fully realized world. The sisters at the center of the story all have abilities of some kind, abilities that are steeped in the magic of their world. As I was reading, I was immediately reminded of the natural magic of Wicca (and I would guess that Pearsall drew inspiration from these practices). The magic of the story is also connected to the natural world and to local legends (I particularly loved the reference to the Catwampus), which helped to ground the magic in the world for me.

The pacing of the story is well thought out and I felt compelled to keep reading. The chapters in particular were definitely the right length; long enough to build each part, and short enough that you feel a bit accomplished :). I also loved the way that food is integral to the storytelling (and now I'm hungry). My only complaint is that I didn't feel like we got to know each of the sisters in the same way (Linden being the protagonist meant that we clearly got more time with her). I want to know more about the family and their history! This was the perfect spooky paranormal fantasy and I'm looking forward to reading it in October again before Halloween.

This book was ok. The cover is beautiful and the title has significance. I just had a hard time connecting with the story. It was creepy yes but I found not draw myself in to care as much as I wanted.

Thank you to Penguin Group for an ARC of this book I’m exchange for an honest review.

This was a good book. I enjoyed it.

With that being said, it wasn’t one of the most favorite by no means either. I predicted who did it by the third chapter. It took it a minute to get going. Would’ve liked more back story on some of the characters. Especially Linden and Cole.

I loved how the James women had their own unique “special abilities”. The youngest sister, Juniper, being my favorite!

I think the author did a great job with the storyline and plot. Even though I guessed who done it, I didn’t get the motive right.

If you are looking for a quick read, that’s a bit different from your average suspense thriller, look no further.

I received a free advanced reader's copy of this book from the publish via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The writing in this book was beautiful. It was descriptive and you could see yourself there. I did find a few places where all of a sudden a person would just be there when they were not before or a task would be done when they did not even talk about starting it. There was also a place or two where the sentence just cutoff. I hope this is just because it was an ARC. However, the book overall was interesting. I am actually excited to hear that this will be a series because I can see so many more stories coming from this family. I am hoping each of the sister's gets a book.

This is such a beautifully written book filled with rich imagery and intricate plots with a solid execution to the storyline. It brings to the surface all of the feelings you get when you live in a small town that is almost separate from the "real world". It weaves old tales with current events and old traditions in such a magical way. I couldn't stop reading this once I picked it up. Linden's voice in this book is first and in the forefront. And I enjoyed delving deep into her mind and how she felt at any given time.

Linden herself experienced something horrific a year prior to the start of the book. Only, she doesn't remember what happened. She knows it was terrible, her dreams and inability to sleep are proof enough, but she can't shake the feeling that there is something else at work. Now, a year later, a death brings her trauma to the forefront and she must work against the clock to figure out what happened. Because if she doesn't, she might just end up dead this time.

This story is woven beautifully with old folklore. Linden's family has lived in this town for generations and have been long considered witches. And they are. In a way that almost feels like maybe they really aren't. Mix in a mysterious MothWinged Man and you are never sure if this story is real or a figment of Linden's imagination conjured from her past trauma. The addition of important times during the year, recipes, and crops. It gave the whole book a different vibe. If you love a good witchy vibe mixed with folklore and a mystery you will absolutely love this book like I did.

The women of the James family have always had their secrets, and rumors of witchcraft have always flown in their small Appalachian town of Caball Hollow. But the town really starts talking after Linden James goes missing in the forest for hours on the summer solstice, and returns with no memories of what happened, only nightmares that give her more questions than answers. Exactly one year later, another teenage girl goes missing, but is found murdered. There definitely seems to be a connection, but could these events also be connected to the town legend of the Moth-Winged Man, or to the disappearance of a young boy in the national forest decades earlier?

OK I LOVED THIS.
The James girls were such a cozy homey witchy family, and I loved their magic in everyday things, like food and baking. I also liked how the coziness also had a darker more dangerous counterpart with all their family secrets, and magic that isn't quite so innocent.
The setting was so immersive, I felt like I grew up in this little town too, and knew all the silly side character townspeople. I also though it was such a perfect setting for a magical, urban-legend, cryptid, fantasy-horror-thriller?, type of story. It was cozy and creepy and fun and mysterious in just the right balance.
The plot had a lot to offer as well, with some family drama, some cute romance, some uncovering of local urban legends, some horror, and some mystery/thriller elements.
I had a ton of fun reading this and would definitely recommend it.

Thanks Penguin Teen for the ARC!

Wow! This was my first thought upon finishing this book. What. A. Debut! This story is atmospheric, creepy, magical and really pulled me away from reality and into this small town. I love a good murder mystery, anyway, and throwing in urban legends and a powerful family of women really sealed the deal for me. I cannot recommend this book enough! I look forward to more books from this author. Thank you so very much for my ARC Netgalley and Penguin Teen.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Penguin Young readers group for this opportunity to read rage and review this arc which is available October 10,2023!

I am Appalachian and this book? This book captured the nuances of being Appalachian and our history, our belief in Magic’s and creatures. This was a literal treat to read.

It is about four sisters who serve up more than fried green tomatoes. They have gifts. Linden the main character can taste what others are feeling but naturally it soured her relationships especially with the vexingly handsome Coke Spencer one fateful night a year ago. A night when Linden vanished into the Dwpthsbof the forest and returned with no memories of what happened. Just a litany of questions and insidious nightmares.

Now it is the hottest summer on record and another girl has gone missing in Caball Hollow and the similarities to Linden are uncanny except the girl was found dead. Tempers boil over and Linden and her sister set out to find what hiding in the forest. It’s the freaking Mothman!! I hollered when I read that part.

Anyway this was a good old fashioned mystery with cryptids, small Appalachian town gossip and secrets. Freaking buy it! It is so worth it

A moody, atmosphereic paranormal fantasy. Really enjoyed the voice and pacing of this, the romantic subplot and the thriller aspects woven into this mystery with magical and paranormal elements!

Bittersweet in the Hollow thrives in its lyrical writing and in its description of the flora and fauna of the town. The lore of the book was down well and felt equal parts mystical and grounded in reality. While I di think it dragged in some parts, it makes up for the back stories of many individual characters. Plus Cole and Linden were so sweet to read about.

This book was atmospheric, spooky and lovely all at the same time. It was a delightful read and the combination of the mystery and paranormal aspect were well done.

This book partially deals with generational trauma as well as inter-family drama. One thing that I want to talk about in regards to this book is how much I adore the relationship between the siblings and their parents as well as their other family members. I loved how it was slowly teased out, how the siblings were the same, but also different. They were all unique in their own ways.

The plot was well formed, and had twists and turns to it, but the pacing of the book was slower. While there are a few action packed moments in the book, for the most part it is a slow unravelling of the truth.

In many ways, this book reads as southern gothic to me -- southern gothic/paranormal/historical, honestly, I really, really liked it.

Linden as the main character -- I loved her. I also loved her siblings as well. But Linden's struggle in the book was done well, how Pearsall cast her in this role, and had her working to figure out what happened both in the past and the present, and how it was connected.

The book was eerie as well. I don't know how else to phrase it, but it just it left a feeling after I finished it. Made me keep thinking about it. I was drawn into this world, and one of the aspects that I liked about it, is that it wasn't magic heavy (I love magic as much as the next person), but I felt the way the magic was woven into the world and the book was exquisitely done. It gave it a firm grounding in our world.

I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone who likes gothic/horror southern books. As well as anyone who loves witches, a tad bit of magic and lots of atmosphere. What an amazing book and I look forward to reading the next book in the series!

I would probably purchase this book for my library because we are in Kentucky and fiction set in Appalachia is popular. However I thought it was heavily influenced by Practical Magic, so far as actually using a couple of lines from that book. There seems to be a trend of Appalachian/Southern women baking their feelings into food lately so I am getting a little tired of that plot. I did find some reveals of the mystery at the heart of the story to be surprising but others reveals have been overused in other works.

One year ago, Linden James entered the Appalachian Forest and was spat out a day later with no memory of where she was or what had happened. Armed with only a slew of nightmarish bits and pieces, Linden will do anything to remember that fateful night, especially when another girl goes missing and turns up dead. With suspicion of Linden and her family (and their unique abilities), the clock is racing for Linden and her sisters to find out what happened that night and why history is repeating itself one year later. Incorporating Appalachian culture and mythology, Bittersweet in the Hollow is a stunning debut that captures the dynamics of friendship and family after tragedy.

Bittersweet in the Hollow has been on my radar for quite some time. This book is delightfully atmospheric, the perfect book for a cool Fall day. The story was unique and captured my attention. I loved the cast of characters, especially the James sisters and the unique abilities they possess. The magic realism element took the story to a whole new level. The author did such a great job at weaving the outlandish concept of the plot into the normalcy of family and friendship. I never saw the ending coming, which is always fun for a mystery plot.

On the downside, I definitely found this book to be slowly paced. The book felt like it was very surface level at first, like we weren’t diving into the story and the characters and fully engaging with them. By the middle, the book definitely picked up, but I still felt like the book didn’t dive as deep as it could have. I found Cole and Linden’s relationship kind of unnecessary, as it didn’t add very much to the overall story.

I really enjoyed this book. I’m glad to have read it. Thanks to Penguin Teen and the author for the ARC.

Bittersweet in the Hollow follows Linden, the second youngest of four daughters raised in a small town in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia. The women in her family all have magical abilities such as being able to taste emotions, being able to see and commune with spirits, being able to sense lies, etc. The summer before the story takes place, Linden went missing and doesn't remember anything that happened before being found bloody and broken in the forest. When another girl is found drowned in the river in the same spot Linden was found, all sorts of town secrets come to light and Linden (with some help from her sisters) try to solve the mystery behind the murders and her own disappearance.

The book is fairly slow paced and it works well. It gives you a look at what life is like for Linden and really gives a chance to build up the mystery. There are just enough supernatural elements in the book to have you questioning whether or not the murders have something to do with the "Moth-Winged Man" of town legend or are really just the evils of humanity. And then about 85% through it just flips and we're told that the supernatural elements are to play and basically given a roadmap as to why all the stuff happened. It was such a drastic shift that it felt incredibly jarring. Despite that, it's still a great story and I truly enjoyed it, I just wish that Linden finding out the secrets came about in a much more organic way that would leave you questioning what was really at play.

Thank you to net galley for providing me an arc in exchange for an honest review

First of all I just want to acknowledge how strong of a debut this book is. I didn’t realize till the acknowledgments that this was Kate Pearsall’s first novel but it is definitely something to be proud of.

When I first picked it up, the book was a little hard to fully get into and connect with the cast of characters, but I believe that is just a personal issue of my taste starting to lean away from YA books. However, once the plot picked up and I got invested I couldn’t put the book down. I finished the last 50% all in one night. I just had to know what actually happened the summer night Linden went missing, and the past that came before her.

Although I did predict the mystery pretty early on, I still didn’t have all the details and the twists and turns in this story were so well done. It had me second guessing everything. I loved the way everything was connected in some way.

I don’t really have many strong feelings on our main character Linden or her love interest Cole. I didn’t really connect with them deeply but I was still rooting for them throughout the book. What i did connect with though were the themes of familial ties and bonds that span generations. I thought it was beautifully done and it made me feel like I was apart of the James family. Rowan was absolutely my favorite sister. She was so fun and snarky and her one liners were hilarious.

I really enjoyed the magic system as well. I loved how the powers of the James women manifested differently in each one. It was all done so creatively and in a unique way that was a breath of fresh air from the way recent books can rely only on basic tropes and magic systems. Lindens power of being able to taste the emotions of other people was such a cool thing to read about and same goes for the parts we see with her other sisters powers too.

I think my absolute favorite thing about this book was that for every passing month we got to see an excerpt from The James Family Book Of Mountain Wisdom. It gave us information about different types of moons in the lunar calendar, what is in season to harvest and forage, and what magical spells and charms are best to be crafted. I absolutely loved this and thought it was so creative and fun to include and gave us a deeper understanding into the magic of the James women.

I thought the ending was really well done and nothing was rushed. The pace was pretty consistent throughout the entire book and you learn each new bit of information in a timing that felt right.

Overall this was such a strong debut novel. I saw there will be a book 2 which I am wondering if we are going to be following a different James sister since Lindens story wrapped up pretty nicely. I would definitely be interested in picking up more of Kate Pearsall’s work.

There are some books that seem to effortlessly evoke the atmosphere of a place, and Bittersweet in the Hollow is one of those. Without needing purple prose and without feeling overdone, Kate Pearsall made me feel like I was actually in the southern countryside during summertime.
This book felt like reading the lovechild of Alice Hoffman and Fannie Flagg, and I mean that in the best way possible. It follows a family of women with magical abilities, each one a little different from the other, and the depth of love between the sisters was so beautifully shown. The family also runs a diner in town, and I've never been more upset to live in Utah than I was reading the descriptions of some of the food they made. (I've also never Google'd so many southern dishes before: ramps. dilly beans, chow chow, <i>sweet tea pie</i> are a few that are at the top of my head.) The story is intended for YA readers, but I'm 34 and still found it engaging, and the mystery and paranormal aspects blended together well. I especially liked that the main character steered clear from so many of the stereotypical pitfalls in many YA thriller books.
Overall this book was fresh and atmospheric, and I am definitely looking forward to more from Pearsall. The ending left it open enough for a series if she wants, but either way she is definitely an author I'll keep reading.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, this story really fell flat for me. I've tried giving it several chances because it was compared to House of Hollow (which is a favorite of mine) but the story itself just didn't reel me in like House of Hollow did.

Due to the fact that it was extremely slow paced, I had to DNF this novel.

Note to the author: don't be discouraged by negative reviews. Set yourself apart from other authors/books and write a story true to you.

I absolutely fell in love with the premise for this book. Combined with the cover, I knew that I needed to read this one! The writing took me a bit to get used to, but once I did I really fell in love with the atmosphere. The author painted a picture of the world very well, and I could feel the humidity on my neck and the mosquitos biting at my ankles. I really wanted to love the characters, and a couple I did end up falling for. Unfortunately, the side characters were a touch lacking in development, so this wasn't completely well rounded for my liking. In the end, I wasn't disappointed, but I really wanted more from this universe that the author created. I look forward to reading more from her in the future!

3.5 stars, rounded up

Bittersweet in the Hollow crafts an engaging narrative with a backdrop that's beautifully eerie. The plot revolves around the James sisters, living in the atmospheric Caball Hollow, each equipped with peculiar supernatural (witchy) abilities. Linden, the protagonist, has an especially unique talent — she can taste others' emotions, which adds an intriguing layer to the story.

I really enjoyed the relationship between Linden and her three sisters. Their dynamic was believable and compelling, although I wish that Pearsall had dug deeper into these relationships and the exploration of each of the sisters' unique abilities.

The atmospheric descriptions truly shine in this novel, creating a vivid picture that immerses you right into the heart of the forest town. Readers are immersed in the intricacies of Caball Hollow and the surrounding National Forest, which often felt like characters in their own right.

The pacing and plot execution, however, stumble a bit. There are points where the narrative slows, hampering the overall momentum of the story. The central mystery doesn't offer the level of unpredictability I hoped for, and the ending felt somewhat underwhelming.

Overall, Bittersweet in the Hollow provides an enjoyable reading experience with its haunting setting and distinctive characters and is certainly a worthwhile read for fans of dark, atmospheric YA with a dash of mystery and supernatural abilities.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

The atmosphere in this book was very cool! There was lots of descriptive words and imagery. I could picture the smells and the scenery. There was a mystery in the air and a slight creepiness. The rest of it fell flat to me unfortunately. If you just want spooky vibes, this is a book for you. If you want actual plot, I would look elsewhere.

If you are expecting this book to be like “House of Hollow”, the closest you will get to that is the cover. I loved “House of Hollow”, so I think I was thrown off when this book really wasn’t anything like it after being compared to it.

It had a very slow start. I was 100 pages in and still nothing really happened of note. The plot seemed all over the place. It was supposed to be a murder mystery, but Linden didn’t even investigate half the time it felt like. Clues kind of fell into her lap, but it felt like she was just going through the motions in her every day life until something would come to her. It seemed like all vibes and no storyline. It felt like nothing really happened throughout the entire book. We would learn things as we went along, but nothing interesting or compelling for me to want to keep reading.

I liked Cole even if there wasn’t much to his character. I could have done with more of their relationship. We got it in small spurts, but honestly there should have either been no romance at all or there should have been more scenes of them together. I wanted to like them together because we were told they had history and that Linden still was hung up on him, but there wasn’t anything of substance to latch onto really liking them together.

The way Linden was acting was that their falling out was dramatic, but he was nothing but nice and flirty to her for the most part after the fact, so I am kind of confused why Linden thinks Cole stopped liking her, even if they stopped talking as much. We barely see them interact throughout the book except for a few scenes here and there, and then by the end they are madly in love. I know they dated before so those feelings are still there, I just wish I saw more of that to make it more believable.

I actually really loved Hadrian as a character! It was so funny every time Rowan gave him a hard time and he just took it. She obviously had feelings for him, and it was cute to read even when she didn’t trust him. Ethan was a fun character as well, even if he wasn’t in it a lot.

I wish there was more of a sibling dynamic. I felt like they really built up the sisters and their dynamics with each other in the beginning, but after the murder happened, the sister’s were in it, but it didn’t really feel like they were a priority anymore. I liked Linden’s relationship with her parents, Gran, and aunt though.

Most of the time the characters felt superficial sadly, which makes it hard for me to enjoy a book.

There were some things that happened that I wasn’t expecting and thought was a unique twist. I was able to guess who done it; it was the motivation I wasn’t expecting.

The ending was kind of quick. There was no build up. It was just, boom, here we are going to reveal everything in the last 50-100 pages. Despite this being a long book, I needed more to it. It felt all over the place and I didn’t really care about any of it. Which is unfortunate because I really wanted to like it! I hope people can enjoy it more than I did.