So thoroughly addictive! I listened to the audiobook and finished it in about 24 hours! 4.5🌟 rounded up!

🐎✨🐎✨

Synopsis:

Kat joins Sleepy Hollow Institute at age 19, and starts to fall for her older teacher, Ichabod Crane, who has her unlocking her magic, and exploring her desires.

But one day, Brom Bones, Kat’s first love who she was destined to marry, shows up at school. He’s been missing for 4 years with no memory of that time. But seems to have a connection to Crane.

All the while, a headless horseman is on the lose and murdering men in town. Men that have happened to show an interest in Kat…

🐎✨🐎✨

It’s sexy and dark and all set in this eerie and magical 1800s world. Whilst I’m never entirely sure about retellings, I must admit, I’ve never actually seen Sleepy Hollow, so this was all very new to me and I loved it!

What I loved:

✨ The magical and mysterious setting: I love the set up of the school and the darkness that surrounds it! I feel there’s still so much to uncover about the coven and their intentions!

✨ Ichabod Crane: oh wow! I don’t normally go for age gap books, but Crane had such a dominating / daddy vibe, that I was definitely falling for him! The bathtub scene in particular was just perfection! Plus I love his depth and the journey he has clearly been on to accept his sexuality (and I can’t wait to see him guide Brom!)

✨ Kat and Crane’s dynamic: I’ve only read one other Karina Halle book (Grave Matter), but what I’ve noticed in both is how well she develops a connection between two characters. I really like how Kat and Crane’s relationship develops through their walks and magical investigations. And I love how he creates such a safe space for her, whilst still delving into her darker desires.

✨ The return of Brom: I loved the dynamic it throws in the mix. Especially all the jealously! I loved Crane being jealous of both Brom and Kat over each other 😂 It was so messy and delicious! Plus all the mystery around Brom’s disappearance. I can’t wait to see how things develop next for the 3!

All in all, loved it! And will definitely be ready Legend when it’s rereleased in December!

🐎✨🐎✨

Audiobook thoughts;
I liked the dynamic of the two narrators. Arthur Russell certainly added a gruff element to Crane which suited him well, and fed well into the 1800s and spooky vibes! And I feel Carolyn Eve really suited Kat! You could hear Kat’s inquisitive nature in her voice.

Whilst it’s dual narration, I just wish it had been a Duet! I wasn’t a massive fan of Russell’s voice for Kat when it was Crane’s chapters, and this is often the challenge when it’s just dual.

🐎✨🐎✨

Tropes: witches and the occult ; magical schooling ; age gap ; MMF / throuple ; touch her and die ; one horse ; professor x student ; friends to lovers ; spicy.

ALC REVIEW
4.5⭐️

Story 4.5⭐️
Performance 4.5⭐️

Story

Okay listen!!! Hollow is a sexy why choose gothic, dark academia, fairytale retelling of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and it’s perfect to read for spooky season! This book has multiple POVs. I really enjoyed the plot,the characters, and minimal world-building.

Kat was send to attend the Sleepy Hollow Institute, which is a mysterious magical school for witches. She catches the eye of her handsome professor, Ichabod Crane. Her childhood best friend and betrothed, Brom, has been missing for 4 years, but he suddenly returns, and he attends the Institute as well.

As Kat, Brom, and Ichabod are pulled deeper into the mystery, passions ignite and danger looms. Love, desire, and blood spill across the pages — and yes, the Horseman is always lurking. It’s all very dramatic and mysterious, I ate this book up.

The vibes of this story were so dark and mysterious, I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. Such a fun reading experience.

There are MM/MF spicy scenes in this one, setting up a MMF situation. It’s hot hot hot!

Spooky. Spicy. Addictive. I gave Hollow 4.5 stars and highly recommend it if you love gothic retellings, unconventional romance, and a touch of Halloween magic. But be warned… this one ends on a cliffhanger. I can’t wait to see what happens next!!

Audiobook

Carolyn Eve and Arthur Russell , both delivered a good performance. Their delivery and cadence are spot-on, perfectly matched to the flow of the story and keeping you locked in from start to finish. You can feel that they’re fully invested in the storyline, which only draws you in deeper.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Tantor Audio, and Karina Halle for the early access to this ALC!

Sleepy hollow retelling
Dark romance

Dual narration - Carolyn Eve & Arthur Russell
Great narration. I liked their voices.

Book 1 A Gothic Shade of Romance

A good listen. I will continue and listen to book 2 when it is available.

This was a mix of horror romance with spice. The writing was captivating and unique. The characters have deep chemistry that you can feel. The spice starts early so be prepared! It’s good tho! 😈

This was 3.5 Stars for me! You've got sleepy hollow, witches, headless horseman, why choose, and a mystery to solve. I'd call it more of a gothic romance Sleepy Hollow retailing. I did enjoy the story, but it was a little slow for me. It's perfect for spooky season and an easy read or something you can listen too when you just want to vibe.

#Dark Academia
#Why Choose
#Professor X Student
# Sleepy Hollow Retailing

3.75 stars
As someone who adores all things Sleepy Hollow, I couldn’t resist picking up Hollow. A new spin on one of my favorite stories? Absolutely yes.

This book delivers when it comes to atmosphere. It’s eerie, moody, and dripping with gothic charm—the perfect mix of spooky and witchy. The Sleepy Hollow Institute makes for a wonderfully unsettling backdrop, and the way the Headless Horseman legend weaves through the narrative kept me intrigued. I listened to the whole audiobook, and the narration was excellent—it really enhanced the dark, gothic mood of the story.

Where the story lost me a little was with the romance dynamic. The connection between Kat, Brom, and Crane felt too rushed, and while the intimate moments were written well, they sometimes overshadowed the actual tension and plot development. Because of that, a few of the bigger conflicts didn’t hit as hard as I wanted them to. The conclusion tied things up quickly but still left enough of a tease to make me excited for what comes next.

All in all, Hollow is a clever, atmospheric take on a timeless legend. If you enjoy dark academia, supernatural twists, and a heavy dose of steam, this one is worth checking out. I’ll definitely be picking up Legend to see where Karina Halle takes the Headless Horseman next.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tantor for providing this ALC for my honest review.

Ghost Story meets Witchy Why Choose Romance in a Historical Fiction setting.

I wasn’t expecting the story to pack as much plot as it did into the book. It was definitely an erotic novel, but I didn’t notice any plot holes while listening to it. The smut was fun and highly enjoyable but the story was interesting (and haunting) enough to stand on its own.

The story is told with multiple POVs via 3 narrators in a dual narration style. Each narrator has an interesting (dare I say sultry) voice, but dual narration always annoys me just a little because each character ends up with multiple voices during the storytelling process. With that said it was still easy enough to follow along because it’s was well written.

Historical Fantasy/ Witchy Romance
Why Choose Romance (MMF)
Sleepy Hollow Retelling
Dark Academia
Second Chance Romance
Hot for Teacher
Erotic Novel
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

I received an ALC from NetGalley and really enjoyed the narration. That said, I think this might have been one of those books I’d have preferred reading rather than listening to, the story feels like it would have hit even harder on the page. Also I couldn't get past the male narrators girl voice. That said, I still had a great time with it! Hollow is a fun, creative twist on the legend of Sleepy Hollow, and I loved seeing how the familiar story was reimagined into sexy MMF.

4.5 ⭐️ Story
4 ⭐️ Audiobook

I've been patiently waiting for this duology to get its Audiobook time and was so excited to get approved for an ALC; plus, it's a perfect vibe read for autumn/fall 🍁🍄‍🟫

I absolutely love the alternate-reality-fantasy world she molds into these known but still new stories. Ichabod Crane and the headless-horseman always terrified me as a child but the lore Karina Halle developed around this myth made me want more. I want more story, more myth, more crazy magic school and witch covens.

🎧 Carolyn Eve was such a great casting choice for Kat, and while Arthur Russell did a good job for Ichabad Crane (age-gap professor) he was not a good fit for Brom's chapters (He didn't adapt his voice to portray the naive character and instead did the same kind of performance as Crane).

Suffice it to say, I can hardly wait until December for the concluding audiobook to be released and figure out how this beautiful MMF relationship will unfold.

SPICY!! 🌶️

I have to agree w/ the people, the concept is 🔥
I don’t want to say that the spice overpowers the plot, I feel like it does add to it, but I would’ve liked a longer build up to it.

“I would die to kiss you right now…
And I would happily accept that death.”
*SWOOOOOON.

When we first get to the academy, I was ready to eat this up lmfao. ‘Cause me + a dark witchy academia?
Oh, we go together real bad, but this gave me the barest minimum when it came to those vibes 😩
Story wise I was still so intrigued though!!
So much happens in between sessions 🫦 That keeps you engaged.

Like Ichabod losing his best eater?! INSANE.
I feel it bb.
And then the twist?! Absolutely gagged. Should I have seen it coming? Lowkey.
But I did not lmfao. It makes me love it even more though ‘cause come through rep 🏳️‍🌈

“I’m not your God, I’m your Devil.”

I definitely didn’t know what to expect from Brom ‘cause we get so little time to get invested in him, but he did NOT disappoint at all. I was sat 🪑
Kat is def living her best life, I just really hope book 2 gives us the balance of plot - spice that we so crave ‘cause I see the potential!!

Overall, I’m def excited to see what happens in the sequel… But shall I read it or wait for the audio…
Carolyn Eve & Arthur Russell did an amazing job narrating this!! 🫶🏽

WHY have I been sleeping on Karina Halle.

This sleepy hollow retelling was perfect for spooky season and the narrators were great!

The spice to plot ratio is perfect!
I need the next book now!

This was such a spooky, atmospheric ride 🌙💀. Karina Halle really leaned into the eerie Sleepy Hollow vibes and gave us a dark, romantic twist on a classic legend. I loved the way Kat, Brom, and Ichabod’s tangled relationships kept me guessing. There’s forbidden romance, obsession, and plenty of danger lurking in the shadows.

The Headless Horseman element added the perfect amount of horror, but honestly the real tension came from the messy dynamics between the characters. It was equal parts gothic romance and supernatural mystery, which made it such a fun listen for spooky season 🍂.

The audiobook narration by Carolyn Eve and Arthur Russell was fantastic. Moody, dramatic, and perfectly in line with the gothic atmosphere 🎧. They really brought the haunted, dangerous energy of Sleepy Hollow to life.

If you love retellings with a darker edge, morally grey characters, and a splash of spice, this one will absolutely put you in the Halloween mood.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Absolutely. Not. We have an adult having sex with a 15 year old right off the bat and at the end we find out there was grooming of another child. Can’t handle this

Rating 3.5/5

Hollow ends on a cliffhanger, and I’m definitely curious to see what happens next. The story itself was engaging, and the narration worked well throughout.

That said, in my opinion, there was too much smut, and at times it came across as cringy—maybe that’s just me, but I especially felt it was a bit much for the ages of the protagonists, particularly the FMC. Still, if you put the age aspect aside, I was pleasantly surprised by how much actual plot there was beyond the steam.

Hollow is the first book in a dark fantasy/romantasy duology, and there's a pretty significant cliffhanger at the end of the book to be prepared for!

Four years after Kat's betrothed, Brom Bones, mysteriously disappears, a now nineteen year old Kat starts attending the prestigious Sleepy Hollow Institute. Kat falls for her older teacher, Ichabod Crane, before Brom reappears with no memory of the years he's been missing. I think the book really picked up pace in the second half, in terms of both plot and spice. It was a slow start but things definitely accelerated at the halfway mark.

I ended up really liking the throuple direction that the story is heading towards, and it makes sense for the characters. Hollow had F/M scenes with both MMCs, a M/M scene and an imagined MMF scene, but I suspect things will only further intensify in book two, Legend. So go into this expecting spice!

I listened to the audiobook of Hollow, which has dual narration. To me, both narrators sounded older than their characters' ages, particularly the male narrator. When he was just narrating from Crane's POV, I could kind of understand it, because Crane's age wasn't stated but he was definitely older than Kat. But when he started narrating the occasional Brom chapters as well (when he reappears, he's about 22), it just really stood out. The male narrator's voices for the MMCs sounded different to the voices that the female narrator used for the MMCs, and vice versa with the FMCs voice by both narrators, so it felt like two very different performances, which was noticeable to me every time the POVs swapped. Either sole narration by the female narrator, or duet narration would have felt more cohesive to me.

The strong, pacy second half picked the score up but I was conscious of the discrepancies between the male and female narration. The voices used were so distinct that the differences just stood out for me. I will be picking up Legend though, to see how the story concludes!

Disclaimer: I received an Advance Listener Copy from NetGalley but this is my voluntary and honest review.

firstly, thank you to the publisher for an arc and an alc!

whewww this was so hot omg 😭 was it really cringey and corny? without a doubt. but did i eat it up? absolutely.

surprisingly, there was more plot than i expected! full of magical mysteries and intrigue, this was a decently written headless horseman retelling taking place in an academy for witches. the disappearance and reappearance of one of the mmcs was very interesting, and the revelation was well done.

this is mmf but currently, the ménage à trois has not happened yet.

not to mention there’s dual narration and i loveeee a dual narrated romance book. the male narrator??? so good.

can’t wait to read book two asap!

What a ride!

I liked the dark atmosphere of the book, the mysterious witch school, the horror elements brought by the coven and the fifty dark shades of professor Ichabod.

I don't accept that Brom calls Kat a whore, that takes one star off my reading experience. I would also have liked more romance, instead of the couples' insta-lust.

The audiobook was well done and because the atmosphere, the coven plot and the headless horseman mystery interest me, I will definitely read the second part of the duet when it comes out as an audiobook.

Thanks to Tantor Media/ Tantor Audio and NetGalley for the early audiobook review copy.

Thanks to Tantor Audio and NetGalley for the preview. All opinions are my own.

This was utterly sinful in the best way. It’s a great mix of spice, horror, and atmosphere. Sleepy Hollow has never been so dangerously hot.

Ichabod and Katrina have a ton of chemistry off the bat. We don’t get a ton of Brom Bones in this installment, so I’m eager to read the next book and get all three of them together.

My one complaint would be that I think this should have been sped up and condensed a bit into one book. I felt like we were JUST getting to the good part when it ended. But I had a good time!

Karina can write just about any genre but she's really the queen of all things gothic/creepy/horror! Seriously, she can really set the scene and Sleepy Hollow is the ultimate halloween vibes. I've never been much for MMF but the dynamic is interesting. The way the two MMCs meet adds an interesting timeline. Keep in mind this is a duet like many of Karina's books so be ready to not have all the answers. Kat is probably my favorite, I don't think we have enough about the MMCs to feel strongly about them. But I think I like the professor more? I wanted more of the academic side of things because it sounds like such a cool concept. Either way excited to see how this duet finishes.

Dark, haunting, and completely addictive. Karina Halle’s storytelling paired with chilling narration made this audiobook an unforgettable experience.

I love retellings, and I love all levels of smut with all kinds of mixes - MM, MFM, MMMF, FF, bring it on! However, this book was not for me. It wasn't because of the 15-FMC losing her virginity to an 18-year-old, because this is set in the 1800s and they were betrothed from birth, so that was not a deal breaker for me. It wasn't because an almost grotesque MM scene.

It was more like the smut was the focal point of the book, and characters were left by the wayside. I won't even say character development because there is precious little of that, but just the characters themselves were so flimsy that I couldn't get invested. The narration did not help, the narrator's chosen voice for Kat is overly precious and never sounds like the age the character is supposed to be.

The relationships are also underdeveloped. I get the bond between Kat and Brom, but Ichabod? Nope, that comes out of nowhere. And I will be perfectly honest, the whole "daddy" kink is not for me, let alone in a historical horror tale.