Koush Hollow

De: Leigh Goff

Narrado por: Erin Seidel

After her father’s untimely death, Jenna Ashby moves to Koush Hollow, a bayou town outside of New Orleans, dreading life with her wealthy mother. As the 16-year-old eco-warrior is introduced to the Diamonds & Pearls, her mother’s exclusive social club, she comes to the troubling realization that secrets are a way of life in Koush Hollow: How do the Diamonds & Pearls look so young, where does their money come from, and why is life along the bayou disappearing? As Jenna is drawn into their seductive world, her curiosity and concerns beg her to uncover the truth. However, in this town where mysticism abounds and secrets are deadly, the truth is not what Jenna could have ever imagined.

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Great Paranormal Mystery, Not Sure About Horror

Housh Hollow follows Jenna, a 16-year-old girl who’s forced to move home with her estranged mother following the death of her father, and things are getting strange. This town used to thrive around its lake-related industries, but pollution is killing everything excerpt the plant Jenna’s mother works for (and they swear they’re not the ones doing it.) Jenna’s mother is the leader of an elite socialite group in the town, the Diamonds, and Jenna finds herself being inducted into the junior chapter, the Pearls, against her will, and membership grants exclusive access to the services of witch women who seem to have completely different interests and wishes for Jenna. What’s going on?

Jenna’s full-circle transformation from alternative culture kid Jenna to socialite Jennifer and back again was particularly fun for me, as a Jennifer who goes by Jenna and has never felt the need to dress and impress with mainstream ideas of fashion. I also loved the mystery surrounding the witch women and Jenna’s cryptic “unknown” results on her DNA test for a high school history class. This town has so much going on, and it’s clear Jenna’s family is tangled up at the heart of it, but exactly what the truths are weren’t so easy to predict.

This book has a lot of mystery and thriller elements to it, and with a well-written 16-year-old protagonist it also feels very much like a YA paranormal fantasy novel. I was surprised when I returned to my blog tour documents to build the tour post and saw it’s actually filed under horror. Save for one somewhat gruesome scene near the end, I wouldn’t call this horror. (With that in mind, if you need to read a horror for some reason and don’t like truly scary horror, maybe this is the perfect option for you!)

I reviewed this book in audiobook format, so I must also comment on the narrative performance. Erin Seidel’s performance is spot-on, if you ask me. I truly bought her voice and pacing as teenaged, and it was very easy to follow along. I typically listen to audiobook at no less than 2x speed, and that was no problem with this book. I did hear a few brief snippets at 1x every time I returned to Audible, before resetting the speed to my preference, and it was definitely reasonable and not too unbearably slow, but if you normally listen to books faster then this is one to listen to at your usual speed.

I was granted complimentary audiobook access to Housh Hollow as part of my participation in a blog tour for this title with Audiobookworm Promotions. Thank you to all involved in affording me this opportunity! My thoughts are my own and my review is honest.

Great listen, but not quite horror

Overall: 4.5 out of 5 (rounded up to 5)
Story: 4 out of 5
Narration: 5 out of 5

Overall: An enjoyable listen, perfect to kick off fall. 

Story: I was hoping for a little more horror, honestly. There was a little mysticism and magic, but the main points of the story were the environment, and Jenna (her journey and transformation). It was well written, and a good story, but not quite what I was expecting. I enjoyed watching Jenna grow throughout the story, and how she handled her whole life being uprooted. If you're looking for a typical horror you'll be disappointed, but a great coming of age with a side of mysticism.

Narration: I thought Seidel did a wonderful job bringing this story to life. It was easy to tell the different characters apart, and she did a great job overall with the narration. The pacing and tone of the teenagers was spot on, and it was almost like listening in to actual teenagers, while the older characters had a noticeable shift. A great listen. 

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Leigh Goff. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.