The Haunted (The Hollow, #2) by Jessica Verday - Review

How do you know when it's love?

Is it because there touch feels right?
Is it because they stay up at night?
Is it because they laugh at your jokes?
Or maybe because they'd be in love with your ghost?

Do you think that when it happens you'll know?
What if your looking, and every way wrong?
What if the man of your dreams is gone?

Jessica Verday – is a favorite of mine, the moment I picked up her first book The Hollow and saw that she wrote it using spiral bound notebooks and black pens, I was hooked – a silly reason I know, but honestly in that small detail, Jessica became so real to me – and then when I got the opportunity to read her book, now books...that "realness" became pliable. Jessica became more than just a cool "about me" section in the back of her book...

Her writing is a breath of cool autumn air – her books both The Hollow and now The Haunted read fall to me, with it's crisp air, enticing smells and alluring colors...it's my favorite season and Jessica is one of my favorite authors.

Synopsis via goodreads:
After a summer spent reclaiming her sanity and trying to forget the boy she fell in love with by the bridge where her best friend drowned - the boy who must not exist, cannot exist, because she knows that he is dead - Abbey returns to Sleepy Hollow, determined to leave the ghosts of her past behind. She throws herself into schoolwork, perfume-making and her friendship with Ben, her cute and funny lab partner, who just might be able to help her get over Caspian once and for all. But Abbey is never going to truly be able to move on from Caspian and Caspian has no choice but to return to her side: for Caspian is a Shade and Abbey is his destiny. The two are tied not only to each other, but also to the town of Sleepy Hollow and the famous legend that binds their fates - a legend whose true ending and dark truths they are only just beginning to guess...

Usually, I admit, with a book 2 I struggle, getting back into the “world” recovering old memories from the book before, even with books that are my favorites I am, almost scared to continue the story – afraid of what will happen, afraid I might be disappointed...and with The Haunted, I did not even have an old review I could refer to for The Hollow, since I read it before I was blogging...

However, I was wrong to be nervous where Jessica is concerned, I was effortlessly thrust back into Abbey and Caspian's world...even though it's been a year since I read The Hollow, details slid off the page, the world encased me much like the shell encases a peanut, keeping it safe, warm and protected.

Abbey, is just as I remembered her; strong, independent, yet rich and graceful – she's still Abbey with her uncanny ability to create scents out of feelings, to bring out the beauty in others, along with her ability to adapt no matter what the situation.

Caspian is also back, and as I grew to know him more, I found him to be not only the hero that every girl dreams about but also, more solid – he's funny, and had me laughing on more than one occasion...he's passionate, loving and oh so determined.

I loved the scenes where Abbey and Caspian where talking, learning more and more about each other – it's with these scenes that we could see, their love growing in a gentle, yet beautiful arch...giving them a strength and substance we don't often see in YA literature. This is a love like very few other, it's got substance as well as a heart, and though without ruining some of the secrets, I can't explain why – I will tell you that Abbey and Caspian's love has a palpable, believable reason for existing!

The Haunted also explores more about the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, bringing in different elements and more details about what exactly a shade is (along with some other supernatural forces), we also meet with some much anticipated answers to long ago asked questions! Sufficed to say, without giving to much away, I enjoyed reading more about the "whys" of this intense world along with getting some of those elusive answers.

Bottom Line - With more secrets revealed, more suspenseful moments, more haunting details – The Haunted was aptly named, it's not a riveting novel, where your sitting on the edge of your seat the whole time (at least not till the end), but much in the style of Lauren Kate – The Haunted is an epic glide up a traitorous cliff. The details that Jessica Verday includes in her novels only add to there unforgettable allure, each word, each detail added for a reason – and when it comes together – it's nothing short of amazing! I give The Haunted 5++ mushrooms and I can NOT wait for the climax in The Horror (The Hollow, #3)!

Buy, Borrow or Steal? If your a fan of intense love, dark secrets, and legends that seep off the page – The Hollow and The Haunted or books you want to own, it's been my intense pleasure to have had the opportunity to read them both!

The Haunted (The Hollow, #2)
By: Jessica Verday
304 Pages
Published: August 31, 2010
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Received via the publisher for my honest review.