Hollow by Rhonda Parrish

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I got this book as part of the "Crossing the Veil" bundle from StoryBundle.com.

In the span of only a few months, Morgan has suffered through two life-altering traumas. One is a car accident that killed her young brother and paralyzed her mother, as well as a second incident that is revealed later in the story. One day, Morgan finds an old Polaroid camera that changes its subjects into darker versions of themselves. She has to find a way to break this curse before it's too late.

Right away, I was captivated. The book opens with Morgan running, her main coping mechanism, when Keith, her ex-boyfriend and his friends start to harass her. The author does an excellent job of capturing Morgan's terror. The book carries this momentum throughout and the tension stays high. This is an excellent YA horror. There is a haunted camera potentially stealing people's souls, but that horror pales in comparison to the real-life trauma and bullying that Morgan has to face every day in her life. Morgan is a strong, sympathetic character and I was invested in how things would turn out for her.

However, I did knock a star off of my review because the ending, while imaginative and only partially predictable, feels unfinished. There are a number of threads that need more resolution and the story feels cut short. The main story is wrapped up, but there are a number of smaller characters that definitely need more closure - Stacey especially.

 

 

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