Hollow

De: Caroline Peckham, Susanne Valenti

Narrado por: Bridget Bordeaux, Jake Bordeaux

Don’t listen to the whispers of the woods.

Don’t trust the man cloaked in shadow.

Don’t earn the wrath of the scattered spirits.

Don’t go out after dark.

The Great Hunt begins once every fifty years and only the Champions willing to face death to shatter the curse dare to enter.

The Champions…and me.

I’m no warrior, no swordsmith, and certainly no Fae, but the forest is my only hope. To enter those trees is to walk willingly to my demise. But I need the boon the forest will grant the winner and I’m willing to risk it all for a chance at claiming it.

I just never expected to face him beneath those trees. The beast who strikes fear into the desperate people of all lands. The monster who commands the legion of Hollows and makes our plight a thousand times worse.

The Hollows are empty of all things but none are so heartless as him.

Prince Bane intends to be the death of me. But I have an oath to fulfil before I’ll let him have me. And I’ll do whatever it takes to achieve it.

I am Ferris Creed and I’m going to unite the lost spirits who once bound the wandering trees in place, return the scattered amulets to the core of its corruption, and use the winner’s boon to change my fate. Come wretchedness or torment, through trickery and deception, I will get what I came here for. And no one will stand in my way. Not even Prince Bane.

*** Hollow is a dark Romantasy from the bestselling authors of Zodiac Academy, Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti. It is a heady cocktail of Summoners, seduction and spirits, set to get your heart racing and feet kicking. There will be a ruinous, black hearted love interest, a rebellious, ruthless FMC, plot twists, cliff hangers, dark humour and a healthy seasoning of make-you-blush spice. It is not for the faint of heart. All those who enter the forest are bound by its terms–will you walk willingly into the dark? ***

©2025 Caroline Peckham, Susanne Valenti (P)2025 Caroline Peckham, Susanne Valenti

Good book, better read than listened to.

The fantasy and world building are pretty good. The smut writing could use a little rewriting. It was straight to the point no build up, almost seems like that part was written by a man. The narrators were a terrible choice the female got so excited during the adventurous scenes and her voice was so shrill that you couldn’t understand anything she was saying. I actually had to fast forward several times. Definitely ruined the whole experience for me. The male voice was ok, but he kept getting so angry that it was hard to listen to. I liked the idea of the children of the woods singing but again the female voice was so hard to listen to, I couldn’t hear what she was singing. This is a book that would definitely be better off read and not listened to.

Great book!

I love the story itself, but the narrators choices were a bit.. not to my taste. Since I am not a native english speaking person I did not understand most of what the children of the forrest said since the narrator decided to sing, and I did not want to rewind and listen to it again because in my opinion it's awful...
I probably would have enjoyed the story more if I had just bought the book..

It's ok

The story was fine, interesting enough. Really hard to get past the males voice.

Intricate plot, unique magic system, atmospheric.

The performance was done well albeit a smidge grating at times but wonderful all the same. The story was wonderful.

An Ok Start, Considered DNF-ing

If this was my first book by the twisted sisters, I would be confused by the hype surrounding them. The positives: the world and the magical system in this story have some unique elements to them that are enjoyable enough to keep you reading. However, I realized I had no connection/empathy to any of the characters or their journey in this first book and was moreso anticipating where this series would lead to. Most of the storyline was predictable and I do think the authors did that intentionally. They want the reader to know the revelation before the main character does, but it was so drawn out that when the reveal came to pass, I just felt underwhelmed and wondered what the point of the wait was for. The actual trial this first book is based on, barely exists, so in terms of plot and progression, you feel almost stuck bearing with the two MCs stuck with each other. Maybe forced proximity and enemies to lovers were the goal, but with these two, I just didn’t appreciate the slow burn/tension build up as much as with other books they’ve written.

The narrators, that have narrated many of their series, I think went to the point of turning me off to this story multiple times. There are songs in this that are shrilled in the audio and make it undesirable to want to rewind and listen to make sure you didn’t miss anything important. The vocals are meant to be dark and child-like, but they came out high pitched and difficult to understand the words. Even with painfully relistening, I don’t think the songs added that much to the storyline, with the exception of the first one explaining the rules to the trial. The female MC accent didn’t sound natural but like someone trying to force a British-like accent and failing. I think the point was to sound other worldly so I adjusted quickly and moved on from that minor issue. The dramatized voices though, especially with the sexual scenes, were too much for me. I don’t think the expressions were wrong so some people might still enjoy the audio, but for me they felt exaggerated and made the spice feel less genuine and more performative.

Overall, I think this book showed potential and was an ok start but falls short in the ways I hoped it would shine. The ending does allow for a glimpse of what’s to come, but I don’t think this is a series I will be eagerly waiting for. Sad to say the cover is the best part of this book