If You Like That... Read These (Sleepy Hollow)

 

Hey Bookdragons! Fall is Coming! (although let's be honest, September 1st is the beginning of the fall season to me.) I don't know about you, but I have plans to read all kinds of thrillers, mysteries, and spooky books to get the feeling of the season. And one of my favorite classic books and it's movie adaptation is the perfect fall read...

Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is the quintessential fall read and if you love it as much as I do you'll want to devour all the retellings. Retellings you say? Yes!! Retellings aren't just for fairy tales! There have been quite a few amazing Legend of Sleepy Hollow retellings and I'm here to tell you about them. Each of these are unique takes and reimaginings of the classic story. There's a little something for every reader. Most of these I've read and loved but there are a few that are still on my to-be-read list...

The Hollow (The Hollow Trilogy Book 1) by Jessica Verday

The Hollow trilogy by Jessica Verday is the first Sleepy Hollow retelling I read. It also blossomed my interest in perfume making. 

Wake the Hollow by Gaby Triana

While not my favorite Sleepy Hollow retelling, I did really enjoy this book. It's a standalone, so no cliffhanger endings. It also brings in one of my favorite female authors, Mary Shelley. Diversity alert: The main character Micaela is half Cuban. 

The Lantern's Ember by Colleen Houck

I almost don't want to include this book on this list since it was a near DNF for me but it is supposed to be a Sleepy Hollow retelling... before the author got sidetracked maybe? Anyway, I see some people on Goodreads liked it so I guess it's hit or miss. Like I always believe, you need to be the judge. You may love what I dislike and I may dislike what everyone else loves.

Crane (The Legends Saga Book 1) by Stacey Rourke

Crane is the most recent Sleepy Hollow retelling I've read and it's my second favorite after the Hollow Trilogy. Ireland is a spunky lead and I love that Stacey incorporated Washington Irving and Rip Van Winkle into the Legend's origin story. P.S. the second and third books bring in Edgar Allan Poe and H.G. Wells so if you love classic gothic lit you must read these books!

Before I move on to retellings I haven't read here's some Shameless Self Promotion...

Headless by Taylor Fenner

Headless is my new adult debut and much sexier than any of my other books. As for the retelling part, our heroine Cora is the Headless Horsewoman taking vengeance on the men of modern-day Sleepy Hollow. 

Grab a Copy!

The Spellbook of Katrina Van Tassel by Alyssa Palombo

This one sounds like an interesting historical fiction retelling and one of the few retellings I've seen set during the actual time period which The Legend of Sleepy Hollow takes place. And Katrina turning to witchcraft? Sign me up!

For all these books and more including tv show and movie novelizations visit:

Goodreads Listopia - Sleepy Hollow Retelling

Book Review: Wake the Hollow by Gaby Triana

Wake the Hollow by Gaby Triana

Blurb:

Forget the ghosts, Mica. It’s real, live people you should fear.

Tragedy has brought Micaela Burgos back to her hometown of Sleepy Hollow. It’s been six years since she chose to live with her father in Miami instead of her eccentric mother. And now her mother is dead.

This town will suck you in and not let go.

Sleepy Hollow may be famous for its fabled headless horseman, but the town is real. So are its prejudices and hatred, targeting Mica’s family as outsiders. But ghostly voices carry on the wind, whispering that her mother’s death was based on hate…not an accident at all. With the help of two very different guys—who pull at her heart in very different ways—Micaela must awaken the hidden secret of Sleepy Hollow…before she meets her mother’s fate.

Find the answers. 

Unless, of course, the answers find you first. 

My Review:

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is about to take on a whole new twist...

When eighteen-year-old Michaela returns to her hometown, Sleepy Hollow, New York, after the unexpected death of her mother she wants answers. What she finds instead are more questions than answers and a town full of people who still hate her family.

Everyone says Micaela's historian mother stole a journal belonging to Washington Irving. But what was her mother doing with the journal? What secrets does the journal hold? And who wanted it so badly they were willing to kill for it?

As Micaela digs deeper into the mystery it becomes clear that someone doesn't want Micaela poking around into whatever her mother discovered. With a menacing enemy lurking in plain sight who can Micaela trust? Her childhood friend Bram? Or the student teacher, Dane, who Micaela feels so comfortable with?

Will solving the mystery of her mother's murder also solve the mystery of Washington Irving's lost year? Or will a heartless killer silence Micaela like they silenced her mother?

To be honest, Dane was the only thing that saved this book from landing in my D-N-F pile. I got about three chapters in before I figured out the ending and I was just about to give up on this book when Dane swooped in and drew me back into the story.

I loved Dane and I wish there would have been more of a romantic development between him and Micaela than there was. I was naturally distrustful of Bram from the beginning - I mean really if he was Micaela's best friend and he was really in love with her he wouldn't have ended all communication for six years. And I absolutely hated what happened to Coco. I thought it was sick and unnecessary to the story.

Wake the Hollow naturally casts Micaela, Bram, and Dane into roles of Washington Irving's Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Bram was a dead ringer reminder of Brom Bones, Dane - in his student teacher disguise - was like Ichabod Crane, and Micaela was their Katrina Van Tassel.

Overall, I liked Wake the Hollow, I just found it a little predictable at times. Once I got the past few chapters I wanted to finish it and it was a nice read for the fall season. I just wished the ending had been different because it just kind of leaves you hanging.

My Rating:

3.75 of 5 Stars

"What I'm Reading" Wednesday #39

This "WIR"-Wednesday I'm in between books. I've just finished Become by Skye Malone and I'm ready to start a new book. I think my next choice will be...

Wake The Hollow by Gaby Triana

Blurb:

Tragedy has brought Micaela Burgos back to her hometown of Sleepy Hollow. It's been six years since she chose to live with her affluent father in Miami instead of her history-obsessed eccentric mother. And now her mother is dead.

But while Sleepy Hollow was made immortal by literature, the town is real. So are its prejudices and hatred, targeting Mica's Cuban family and the secrets of their heritage that her mother obsessed over. But ghostly voices whisper in the wind, questioning whether her mother’s death might not have been an accident after all, and Mica knows there's a reason she's here.

With the help of two very different guys―who pull at her heart in very different ways―Micaela must uncover the hidden secret of Sleepy Hollow…before she meets her mother's fate.

Why I Chose This Book:

I got this book a couple weeks ago and I'm eager to get into it. Now that Labor Day has come and gone, summer is unofficially over and I'm firmly in a fall mood and looking toward my favorite holiday (Halloween) so I thought an impromptu trip into the pages of this book and Sleepy Hollow would be just the thing to cure me of the burnout I'm feeling lately. I haven't started this book yet, and I might not until Friday at the earliest but I can't wait to see what it's about.