Hello, Book Nerds! Welcome back to Reading Has Ruined My Life or welcome if you are new. As always, my name is Hannah and I am your captain on this journey into my bookcases.
I have a wonderful review for you today, Book Nerds. A nice little thriller for all of those like me who aren’t ready to let go of Spooky Season just yet. And today’s review is brought to you by Collective Ink and Roundfire Books; they aren’t paying me for my review, they just sent me the book for free. Thank you so much for reaching out and offering me a copy of today’s read. It means a lot to me when someone offers to send me books. Thank you again so much!
And what read did they kindly send me? Please give a warm welcome to A Glimmer in the Hollows by Lorna Selley! A Glimmer in the Hollows released on November 1, 2024.
So let’s crack in. As always a spoiler alert is in order. If you’ve read any other review on this site then you know I love to spoil the entirety of the books I read. This is your one and only warning. I also have a content and trigger warning. A Glimmer in the Hollows deals with child death and children disappearing. There are also mentions of abuse within the foster care system. Please read at your own discretion. With that, let’s get to the synopsis.
Our story follows Jessica Paige, a librarian still reeling from a tragedy which occurred on Halloween night twenty years ago. On that fateful Halloween eve, the young girl she was babysitting, Olivia Garcia, lead them into the woods where she then disappeared. Jessica, having made it out of the woods and back to her home, had to break the terrible news to Olivia’s parents along with telling them she couldn’t remember anything about what happened in the deep, dark Driftwood State Park.
Jessica wishes she could remember what exactly occurred, but she seriously can’t. Time seemed to move differently while the two were in the woods, and with no answers around, this event has weighed on her mind for years and years. As those years go on, more and more children disappear in those very same woods. And two of those children end up finding their way to Jessica’s backyard in the middle of the night. Jessica is convinced these two feral boys hold all the answers she’s looking for about the woods, what happened to Olivia, and just what the heck is going on in this town.
But Jessica isn’t the only one searching for answers. Bestselling author Elliot Reed is working on his next novel that just so happens to be based on all the mysterious happenings in Driftwood. During a serious bout of writer's block, Elliot impulse buys a ticket to Driftwood where he finds himself wrapped up in the mysteries of the town. And after a chance encounter with Jessica, the two begin to work together to unravel what happened to Olivia all those years ago and what is happening now.
Ok, let’s crack in. First of all, this book is a wild ride. As a reader, you get thrown into the deep end fairly quickly. There isn’t much build up to things being creepy, the book starts out unsettling and keeps that feeling throughout. Snaps for Lorna Selley, please. She started strong with a creepy, atmospheric read! Now with this unsettling feeling comes some absolutely insane writing. Seriously, this book has it all: bioluminescent alien plants and animals, feral children, Elliott from Stardew Valley, childhood trauma, and scenes that don’t make much sense.
For the most part, this book is well written, but there are some scenes where things don’t add up. The math ain’t mathin for me. What do you mean Elliot didn’t die in a horrific car crash and then calls Jessica on accident prior to officially meeting her and she knows who he is by voice alone? And then later that night they end up together in a mysterious cave system no one else has found before?
These scenes, which I have done a horrible job explaining, I do apologize for that, come across as a first very rough draft passage and not scenes from a book that’s just been published. I know I didn’t have a finished copy of the book, but chapters ten through thirteen have left me with so many questions. I’m in tears over these chapters. I feel personally victimized by these chapters.
But where the story of the feral/missing children ended up was *chef’s kiss.* I did not anticipate any sort of science fiction element when I went into this read, but that’s where this thriller took me. I don’t read science fiction, the only times I've read science fiction were for college classes, but this was a good book to dip my toes into the genre. The children were the most interesting part of the book. Honestly, I could care less about Jessica and Elliot and whatever it is they’re doing, but I care about the children’s backstories and lore. I had question after question about them, and I got my answers by the end.
Speaking of Jessica and Elliot though, they were not engaging characters. Jessica was a hot mess all throughout the read. Elliot was your run of the mill male love interest who feels underdeveloped in my opinion. Elliot is there to be a piece of meat and not much else. Neither character really had a character arc either. If it wasn’t for the fact that Jessica was connected to the missing children cases through Olivia then I would argue she and Elliot were only in this book for a romance subplot; that’s how unengaging they were.
And speaking of their romance…it needs work. First of all, the author constantly has the pair running around looking for one another and missing each other by a few minutes. It’s nearly every chapter. It’s annoying. Plus, I didn’t buy that these two were in love with each other. Lust? Yes. Love? Absolutely not. Jessica and Elliot don’t know anything about each other, they just want to get into each other’s pants, I didn’t buy their romance.
Thank god A Glimmer in the Hollows had a great atmosphere and good pacing. The story of the missing/feral children had me at the edge of my seat. I could not turn the pages fast enough. The creepy Driftwood forest was a haunting setting for what turned out to be a very bittersweet story.
Do I wish the characters were better? Yes. Do I think this is still a decent read? Also yes. A Glimmer in the Hollows certainly has its problems, but I enjoyed reading it. There’s a science fiction twist I didn’t expect, but I quite liked it.
With that, I shall bid you all adieu. Thank you once again to Collective Ink and Roundfire Books for sending me a copy of A Glimmer in the Hollows. As for you, dear reader, I shall see you again next week with another new review. If you can’t wait that long then you can always check out my podcast Nothing to See Hear. My two cohosts and I talk ghosts, cryptids, Scooby-Doo, Disney, bad wrestling, and just about anything and everything you can think of. We have fun over there.
Until next time, stay safe, wash your hands, and read some good books for me.
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