Hollow

by Celina Myers

From TikTok sensation Celina Myers comes a fresh, intriguing novel about a woman who finds her destiny and her family after being turned into a vampire.

Mia Adair isn’t even twenty-five yet, but she’s starting to wonder if her peak has already passed. She’s spent years working at her local bookstore, a job that was supposed to be temporary. As a kid, she experienced a strange sort of fame within the paranormal community thanks to her inclusion in a book that revealed Mia’s ability to talk with the dead. But that was then, and Mia’s “gift” dried up once adolescence set in. These days, she feels like she’s nobody special.

Until she dies in a tragic car crash and reawakens as a vampire…

Forced to leave behind everything she knew, Mia must choose to live with one of two rival vampire families. The Bellamy and Sutton clans share a dark, complicated history that spans centuries. As Mia learns about their age-old traditions and extraordinary powers, along with their forbidden romances and betrayals, she’s drawn toward two very different loves. And as she feels her gift returning, more potent than ever before, Mia realizes she’ll need it to protect innocent lives—and save the only family she has left.

Genres: Horror, Fantasy, Vampires, Romance, Paranormal, Romantasy, Fiction

321 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 17, 2021

About the author

Celina Myers is a bright young artist from Canada which rose as a Paranormal Writer and Tiktok Star. She's also a Model and Instagram Star. She has appeared in many Videos and is known for her Humor. She is among one of the most trending girls in tiktok and is primarily famous for comedy video clips, dancing videos and performs lip-syncs on TikTok( Musical.ly).

Reviews

[Ivana Mileusnic · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t really know what to rate this book if I’m completely honest. I read it (and all of celina myers’ works) because I love her on social media and I feel a need to I guess? But in all honesty it’s not a great book. The writing itself is awkward, stilted, and has a lot of grammatical errors which seems to be a recurring theme in all of her books. There’s a lot of sentence structure issues that drew me out of the book and made me go 🤨. There are a few typos that are also jarring and whoever edited this should not be in the literary profession, as a lot of the issues could have been fixed with a good editor. There was also the fact that there could have been more research that went into the actual story. I know it’s nitpicking but she mentions bodies dissolving in “lime” when I believe she meant lye, it’s the little things…

As for the story itself, it was ehh at best. The first 300/315 pages were spent describing useless information like which designer garment a character wore or what brand of sports car they drove. I don’t care if she had a Gucci bag or a grocery bag since the climax was hastily smashed into the final few pages of the book, and I seriously struggled to finish this. I understand world building and introducing characters but if that much needs to be explained, make the book longer and build it. There was a whole list of characters that were thrown at me and their death stories were explained in a super awkward and unnatural manner that made me have no connection to anyone in the book. (The only character I liked was Kris and that’s just because I like the other YouTuber she’s based on) at the end when Annie and a bunch of other characters died I felt nothing because I honestly couldn’t remember who she even was or what her story was and I didn’t care to go back and try to reread her backstory again. I wish celina had extended the story and allowed Mia to meet each person and allow them to reveal their stories in a natural way, it would have made the betrayal actually hurt.

And the epilogue just made me mad because it was an actual interesting plot twist and then THE END

😔 sorry celina I still love you!

[Amy Cobb · Rating 1 out of 5]

I finished this. It was a lot of things…but not any of them good.

Oof.

[Heathers_readss · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn’t all bad.. I did enjoy the plot to an extent.. I liked the scene where the group of vampire diaries are waiting at the FMCs funeral, an interesting twist to the typical “vampire changing” style.

I did find some of the plot to be predictable but I don’t necessarily think the author was trying to have a big surprise twist in there. One thing that was annoying was the repetitive mention of modern day vampire movies like twilight, Buffy and vampire diaries.. these references just aren’t required in a book and kind of gave a weird vibe.

Overall I liked the FMC.. I’d maybe be interested to continue on if this book turns into a series, but I definitely preferred listening to the audiobook as it helped push me through to the end, This may appeal more to a younger audience?

Thank you to HTP books for the netgalley gifted copy!

[Courtney Perniciaro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having never read a Celina Myers book, I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I started Hollow. Immediately I was sucked into a world with ghosts/ vampires, love/revenge, all the makings of a good book! The writing was beautiful, the storyline wasn't over complex, and it was very fast paced, which I enjoyed immensely.

I sincerely hope that Celina will continue the story line, especially after that cliffy she left us with!

[CarlysGrowingTBR · Rating 2 out of 5]

Audiobook Stats:
⏰: 8 hours 5 minutes
🎤: Gail Shalan
Publisher: Harlequin Audio

General Thoughts:
Oof. This one was tough to get through. This was like twilight but even younger. Even though these were supposed to be 20some-year-olds I really felt like I was watching middle schoolers go through all of this. There was so many characters without a really good understanding or development of any of them.

Unfortunately, I wasn't really compelled or interested in the plot either. I did not really care what was going nor did I feel any strong attachment to any of the characters or where they eventually would end up. The only saving grace for me with this novel was that it was a short read. The author tended to get really lost in descriptions and info dumping. I really felt like the author did not trust the reader to make certain connections simply from reading the story. It felt very laid out and handed to you.

12-year-old me probably would've absolutely ate this up. But today's me just cannot get behind this novel unfortunately. Super disappointing since I'm a huge vampire fan, but I'm sure this book has a market. It's just not me.

Disclaimer: I read this audiobook via free ALC through NetGalley and Harlequin Audio. All opinions are my own. This is my honest and voluntary review.

[Karissa ₊˚⊹ ᰔ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hollow by Celina Myers
⭐️ 2.75 stars

Tropes & Themes:
🔹 Chosen one / hidden powers
🔹 Vampire love triangle 🧛‍♂️🧛‍♂️
🔹 Found family
🔹 Paranormal past coming back
🔹 Dead girl walking (literally) 🚗💀🩸

⸻

Thank you to NetGalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review!

So I went into this really excited because 1) I love Celina’s TikToks (she’s hilarious and spooky in the best way), and 2) I will never say no to a vampire book 🖤 And while Hollow was definitely fun and had some cool ideas, it didn’t completely land for me.

The premise is honestly super cool: Mia dies in a car crash and wakes up as a vampire, only to get caught between two rival vampire families with ancient drama and forbidden romance vibes. I also loved the paranormal touches. Mia being able to talk to the dead again gave it that eerie twist that made it feel unique 👻

BUT… some of the worldbuilding felt kinda rushed and confusing at times and the pacing was a little uneven. I didn’t always feel super connected to the characters (even Mia, tbh) and the love triangle felt more rushed than swoony. Still, there were moments that pulled me in especially when her powers started coming back and things got creepier.

⸻

Final Thoughts:
If you’re into vampire drama, supernatural gifts and a heroine trying to figure out her place between two undead legacies, Hollow is a quick, moody read with potential. It wasn’t a fave, but I’d def check out book two to see where Mia’s story goes 🩸🦇

[Kyle · Rating 1 out of 5]

On page 231, there is a random zero. Like, the number 0. In the middle of a sentence.

This is going to Goodwill tomorrow. Some moody 12 year old will love this.

[Amy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Okay, this just pissed me off.

Part of that is on me. One of these days I will learn that if a book is described as a BookTok hit that it's absolute garbage. Also (but to a lesser extent), I'm not the audience this book is aimed at; this is very Gen Z-coded and I am not Gen Z. (But I'm young at heart!)

I will say that despite the sometimes-clunky writing and the author's habit of getting bogged down in descriptions, I found this compulsively readable. It was so hard to put down. I'm a sucker for found family stories (no pun intended). This book reminds me A LOT of "Twilight": not just the found family aspect or the Mary Sue main character, but the tragic backstories of the characters that directly lead to them being changed, the impossible wealth and fancy digs, the supernatural beauty. I was leaning towards a 4-star review until I hit the 73% mark and the Mary Sue-ness of the main character got dialed up to 11. And then the Epilogue made me see red.

Mia is a quirky Gen Z who works in a bookstore because OF COURSE SHE DOES. She's curvy and she loves it. She wears a necklace with a "Daddy" pendant just to make people uncomfortable. She has no friends except books. Though she is intrigued by a particular blue-haired customer who frequents the store. As a child, Mia could see dead people. She's kinda famous for it; her mother wrote a book about her. But after her father died tragically, she lost the ability to see dead people. All she has to remember her father is his wedding band with its strange line of obsidian inside.

One rainy day after work, Mia tragically dies in a car crash after swerving to avoid hitting her dog. Before the accident, she'd been followed by mysterious black cars. The cars belong to the Sutton and Bellamy families: they are literally frenemy vampire families. Oh, and SURPRISE! One of the vamps following her was the blue-haired woman from the bookstore -- Cordelia! Mia's death was ~foretold~ and Cord and her vamp family were keeping an eye on Mia so they could turn her into a vampire upon her demise.

Now we get some new vampire lore in this one. These vamps are turned by injecting a cocktail of Sutton/Bellamy blood. Turning vamps through the old fashioned bite on the neck is severly frowned upon. These vamps have heightened beauty & senses and are faster & stronger than they were in life. They can see their reflections, go out in the sun (after swigging a sunscreen elixir) and eat human food. Unfortunately, they still have to use the bathroom, which honestly would suck. If a human is turned as a child, they will grow to adulthood and then stop aging when they're about 25. They are ruled by a matriarch and can pretty much only be killed by her. They can drink & drug it up without any consequences. The blood of new vamps has healing properties. Of course, they're impossibly rich with wardrobes of designer clothes and stashes of high-end cosmetics. There's literally no downside to being a vamp in this world (other than the bathroom thing). They do having to move around so people don't get suspicious and seeing their human family members age, but they don't seem all that broken up about it? It's just presented as a minor inconvenience.

Mia's first day of being a vamp is a whirlwind of excitement. She meets the vamp families and hears each of their backstories! She finds out that she'll have to spend 24 hours with each vamp family and then gets to choose which family she joins! She drinks blood for the first time and loves it! She gets a brand new designer wardrobe with lots of expensive shoes and make-up! She discovers she's super-sexy now! She goes out to a club partying with her new friends! She tries to run away and see her family but learns in the blink of an eye why THAT is a bad idea and moves on pretty quickly! She hooks up with one of her new vamp friends (NOT Cordelia, though...she falls immediately for a pretty vamp named Margo)! She finds out that she is the reincarnation of Margo's long-dead lover/soulmate! She sees another vamp kill a human and then Mia drains the poor sap's blood! (But it's okay cause that often happens ::shrug:: Seriously, the guy who is murdered is a human friend of the vamps and they're just all "oh bummer...anyway".)

And there we have our big ~mystery. Who is the mysterious vamp killing humans willy-nilly? Well, Mia thinks it's Elenora, the head of the Sutton family of vamps. Why does she think that? Because she literally sees Elenora do it twice during Mia's first day as a vamp. She raises this concern to the matriarch and others and they assure her she's wrong because Elenora would never do anything like that!

Mia also has a big day on the second day of her new life. She gets a 2nd new wardrobe! She robs a blood bank! She sees Cordelia heal a cancer stricken toddler! She goes to the beach and to a BBQ! She flirts with an impossibly handsome vamp guy named Luca! (Margo, who?) Luca has designed a bedroom that is an exact replica of her human bedroom because he snuck into her house a lot when she was still alive! (It seriously takes Mia the Great a few chapters before she realizes how fucking creepy that is.) She is told that she is THE MOST SPESHULEST VAMPIRE IN THE HISTORY OF EVER AND THAT ON HER THIRD DAY AS A VAMP, SHE WILL BECOME THE NEW MATRIARCH WHO WILL RULE ALLLLL THE VAMPS AND MAKE ALL THE RULES OF VAMPDOM! No, seriously, I'm not making that up. Mia makes Bella Swan look like a freaking loser. The matriarch of the families, Thea, tells Mia that on the day Mia was born, Thea starting losing her super-vamp powers. The ~rise of Mia~ was foretold by a vamp who could see the future and that's why the family was following her. They've all read up on her in her mother's book. Thea tells Mia that some people are chosen to be vamps because of certain abilities they have as humans. She's also told that if she removes her father's wedding band (that's a weird phrase), she will be able to see dead people again. Apparently, her father is from some great lineage and the black line inside the band was to dull the Sixth Sense powers. And it works! Mia finally sees two ghosts after years of not being able to. One of the ghosts gives her a cryptic warning not to believe someone (the other serves no purpose whatsoever).

As I read this book, I kept looking for clues about who could really be the Big Bad turning humans. Was it the mysterious & aloof Kris? Kind Eli? Drunk & weird Alexander? Sexy-yet-creepy Luca?

We get to the third day of Mia's vamp life & it's time for the ceremony in which she will choose her family and Thea's super-vamp-powers will be transferred to Mia, signaling her ascension to the throne of supreme vamp ruler (nevermind that she basically knows nother about being a vamp...she's special, she'll figure it out!) Mia accuses Elenora of being the Big Bad; Thea angrily tells her it's impossible. Oooh, I was getting excited...we finally get the reveal of the REAL big bad who definitely COULD NOT POSSIBLEY BE Eleanora. So who was it?

Sike! It *WAS* Elenora! The twist is that there was no twist! Elenora admits with glee that she has killed hundreds of thousands of people over the years and has no remorse. It's mader her super-powerful and she demonstrates by killing a few of the vamps in the Sutton family and also Eli, the head of the Bellamy family and Elenora's spouse when she was a human. Creepy-ass Luca is her accomplice. What is her motive? (Oh, part of this is sooooo social media-coded.) She sells the blood full of healing powers to cosmetic companies so rich people can stay young and live longer!!! (Her villain origin story is that her ex-love Eli fell in love with a pregnant human woman after Elenora cheated on him, prompting her to literally shread the woman and her unborn baby...so basically she was pissed at a man moving on and that she was robbed of the ability to have a baby when she turned into a vamp. I DESPISE "woman-goes-crazy-from-baby-fever" storylines, I even can't tell you how much I loathe them). The Bellamy vamps rush in to save Mia, which honestly is pretty stupid because what can they do? They're just garden variety vamps. Margo does prove to be helpful when she gives Mia her dad's wedding band...which causes Mia to POWER UP and strike down Elenora. She also briefly turns into a fire-breathing dragon (well, the dragon part isn't literal) and she catches a building on fire, causing the few remaining vamps to flee. (Conveniently, none of the vamps Mia likes the best were killed.) As they're speeding away from the town, they get pulled over by a cop....

...who just happens to be Mia's long-dead father! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME??? I rolled my eyes so hard I gave myself a headache. Of course, this reveal is conveniently the last line of the book, setting up a sequel you could not pay me to read.

[Elle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn’t hate this but also didn’t love it. There were a lot of aspects of this book that reminded me of Twilight. Which makes sense because Twilight was, in fact, mentioned in this story.

[_blondebooknerd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Blood, Chaos, and Too Many Cooks in the Coven 🍷🦇✨
(can we please stop titling books "Hollow" ?!?)

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and Harlequin Audio for the advance audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

So what’s the tea? 🫖📚
Mia Adair was a paranormal kid-celebrity who thought her “gift” had left with adolescence. Now in her mid-twenties, stuck at a bookstore and feeling forgotten, tragedy flips her life upside down — she dies, wakes up as a vampire, and is tossed into a centuries-long feud between the Bellamy and Sutton families. Forbidden romances, ancient betrayals, and powers that would make any supernatural stan swoon… on paper, it’s a guilty-pleasure setup.

But here’s the problem. 🚩
The audiobook’s structure is a mess. Too many POVs, too many time jumps, and—crucially—only one narrator. I kept confusing Mia and Cordelia’s backstories; chapters blurred together; pacing careened. It felt like someone tried to stuff an entire fandom’s brainstorm into a 300-page package and hoped it would hold together. Spoiler: it didn’t.

Narration matters. 🎧
Audiobook with one voice + multiple eras/POVs = confusion. A second (or third) narrator would’ve fixed 90% of the chaos. Instead, the audiobook crams a ton of payoff into the final thirty minutes, which felt rushed and unearned.

Fan-collab idea = cute. Execution = not so much. ✍️🤝
I love that the author involved fans — how sweet — Collaboration is no excuse for neglecting editing or failing to maintain a clear throughline.. Too many ideas, not enough execution. Also: let’s not put this next to Vampire Diaries on the leaderboard, okay? Different vibes. Different energy.

Final bite 🩸
Hollow has a fun premise and flashes of charm, but it’s undercut by messy structure and rushed endings. For fans who want a quick vampire romp and can tolerate chaos, it’ll scratch an itch. For listeners who want clean worldbuilding and crisp pacing? This one stumbles. I wanted to give it more than three stars — I really did — but it’s just not there.

📚 Releases January 13, 2026 — try the sample, but maybe bring a note-taking app. 😉

[Georgia Moon · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this book having known of the author's internet persona and loving her content. I know she has a love of all thing spooky and was approaching this genre from the perspective of a fan. Given this, I would have expected a sharp emphasis on the narrative, with a compelling plot that was very character driven and action based. Unfortunately, this book missed the mark on delivering a decent story and felt at best, life a half-baked idea compressed into novel form.

Editing
I cannot leave a review for this book without mentioning the obvious need of an editor. There were various grammatical and spelling issues throughout this book which left it feeling unfinished and unpolished. Basic editing would have helped to give the novel the edge of sophistication that was clearly lacking here. There were times that it read like a fan-fiction.

Pacing
The pacing for this book was all over the place. I admire the author for jumping right into 'the action' and not making her readers sift through pages and pages of world-building to start understanding the high-stakes nature of the book. Everything else regarding pacing was a misstep. The author spent far too much time world-building and setting up (often irrelevant) details about character's origins and far too little time actually setting up the story. I really didn't see any whispers of the plot of this novel until the last 5o or so pages and by that time, I was so lost in the sauce of trying to unravel the overly complex world-building and keeping track of the growing list of characters that I didn't have space to care about the plot that was being laid before me. The 'story' felt like an epilogue to an infomercial on the vampire-family-situation and was thrown in so hastily that it was jarring. It was hard to follow and the 'consequences' or sense of anticipation was completely missing which made the whole thing feel very flat. A lot happened, very quickly and I should have been absolutely gripped by this point in the story, instead I was scratching my head.

Characters
Apart from 3 of the 20+ characters we met in this book, I have no connection to or real understanding of any of the characters. So many of their stories were dropped at the same time, in such a rushed and bullet-point-like way that I genuinely felt like I needed to take notes to keep track of everyone. Some of the ideas introduced here had real potential and I am sad that we missed out on the opportunity to flesh out these characters and see their relationship with the protagonist grow. I didn't get a chance to care about any of these characters which meant the climax did not carry any kind of emotional weight as a reader. More considered, gradual and purposeful characterisation would have made an enormous difference in the enjoyability of this book.

Form
The epilogue and prologue added nothing to this story and took away words/pages/time that were definitely needed elsewhere. I felt like the author was trying to tell too many stories and perhaps should have considered extending the book or making it a series which spotlighted each story and gave them the time they deserved.

Unfortunately, this book was quite unenjoyable for me and difficult to read at times. I do not recommend reading this book if you're looking for a compelling story. There is some interesting world-building for the hardcore vamp fans but I do not think that outweighs the obvious oversights with the story.

[lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a refreshing take on vampires, something that doesn’t feel recycled! It’s very character driven (which I loved), and half the time I didn’t know who I was supposed to trust… which honestly made it even more addictive.

It did take me a minute to get fully hooked, but once it clicked? I was sold. The ending was so good! Yes, a tiny bit rushed, but those final moments had me yelling, “Excuse me?? No, we are not done.” I need more. Immediately.

The audio was also spot on... smooth, engaging, and ridiculously easy to binge

[Patty (IheartYA311) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well paced with an engaging story. The characters were likable, but the writing was a bit on the simple side. There were a few scenes that stood out. I have a bad memory and sadly won't remember this story didn't leave a big enough impression on me to remember it long term.

Thank you to Netgalley for offering this title in their catalog.

[Krissi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for providing an ALC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was...something....just not anything good. Comparing it to The Vampire Diaries, maybe it's a good thing I never read the series? There was so much useless information thrown in throughout the story that contributed nothing to the plot which made the story fall very flat, I was extremely bored throughout the majority, but was hopeful for an interesting ending which I still didn't receive.

The characters were also obnoxious and checking off ever box you could think of for today's society. The awkwardness of their deaths mixed with their personalities made it to where you could not form a connection whatsoever.
Maybe the youth of today will like it, however this "vampire" story is a huge miss for me.

[Casey Bee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mia wakes up after dying and enters a whole new world she never knew existed, in fact, none of us humans knew existed. When she was little, before her new reawakened life, she had a paranormal gift where she could speak to the dead. As she grew, it faded, without her knowing why. Now, in her reawakened vampire life, it seems to be coming back. She must decide which vampire family she wants to belong to—the Bellamy or the Sutton clan. She will sped time with both of them to make her decision. She learns about their complicated and dark history, and finds herself drawn to two people. Her gift continues to manifest stronger and she realizes she will have to use it to save the only family she has left. The book ends on a wild cliffhanger, so I am assuming there will be a next one, but remains to be seen.

This book was a solid ok. It definitely reads like a YA, even thought it’s not intended to be. The writing feels very simple to me. There is a definite plot, but it’s not overly complicated or intricate. If you’re looking for a simple urban vampire story for entertainment, this is it. If you are looking for a complicated, heavy, adds to vampire lore story, this is not it. I would recommend it based on what your mood is. Sometimes just a simple, easy-to-follow entertaining story is what you want! And this was that.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hanover Square Press and The Hive for my early e-ARC! Book releases 1/13/2026. (But is available on Kindle now.)

[Nicholas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think Hollow is 3.5 Stars but I love Celina so I gave it 4. With that said I want to provide a run down of things Hollow does well and not so well.

Done Well:
- Some characters are fleshed out, we understand their backgrounds and personality.
- The writing flows naturally and is believable
- I'm a sucker for a good "average person" to "extraordinary world" story and Hollow does a good job of this
- There are character details that bear out later in the story, making it more cohesive

Done NOT so Well:
- The pacing of the story was fast but it feels like not much actually happens
- The big bad's motives aren't shown or explained
- The ending felt rushed
- There are a lot of good characters but I didn't feel any particular interest in them except for two that were interacted with more or mentioned more

I think if you want to support Celina or enjoy a good vampire novel then give it a try. It has its faults but overall I enjoyed the read. I am curious to see what Celina does next.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I struggled with this book. I struggled with the characters, the flimsy plot, and the bad grammar. Lots of telling, not showing. I honestly never felt like part of the story.

The gist is, vampires exist and they are turning people with special powers - healing, seeing ghosts, etc. If you don't have any special power, you are safe. They don't want you. Not even to feed on you. If you are selected you get one night in each of the 2 families - I forget their names. One night isn't enough. None of the vamps would make me want to stay. I'd have to form my own family.

The ending felt like holy crap, I'm near the end I'd better jam in as much as I can. It was way too rushed. There were parts of the book that made no sense at all, remove that and make the ending better.

[Amy Boo · Rating 4 out of 5]

UPDATE: I will be rereading the new edition of Hollow as soon as it comes out on June 3rd (Ebook) and I will be rewriting my review! Can't wait!

I’m going to start off by saying I loved the book and the storyline was great!

The only problem I had was all the errors and typos the editor did not catch.

[Lyds Madill · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a DNF for me. The editing wasn’t great, the storyline was meh and it just felt like a chore to read.

[Ashley]

hahahah is this the sleepwalking lady omg i need it

[AmdynReads · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75 - 3 ⭐️
Mia dies in a car wreck and gets turned into a vampire. She then has to choose which vampire family she wants to live with- the Sutton or the Bellamy family. So she stays with each family for 24 hours to get a feel for each house. At the end of two days, she must choose. But as she gets to know the members of each family, she discovers some secrets about someone who is not following vampire rules and she also discovers her role in these families may be more important than she realized.

✨ Thank you NetGalley, Harlequin Audio & Celina Meyers for an ALC of this book. I am leaving this review willingly.

I loved the beginning and the end of this book. The paranormal elements, such as Mia being able to see ghosts and speak to the dead was very cool & unique. I also found the friendliness of the vampires to be refreshing. Usually vampires are depicted as dark, broody and cold, but these vampires were just the nicest and most welcoming vamps I’ve ever read.

The ending was great and the villain reveal was not super surprising but done in an interesting way.

My issue is the pacing. I think the timing was meant to add a sense of urgency being that she had only 24 hours with each family. Instead it only served to make the plot seem rushed and unrealistic. In the span of less than 24 hours, she had already dealt with the emotions of losing her own life, never seeing her family, coping with the fact that she is now a vampire, and then she has the urge to hook up with someone that very night? And more than that- they are almost claiming they love each other???? Really?

Also she witnesses two people being brutally murdered, seems traumatized, and then basically shrugs her shoulders and goes back to the party like it never happened.

Then after the instalove in house 1, she goes to the other house and starts catching feeling for someone else? It just kept knocking me out of the story over and over. It truly felt like a junior high view of how emotions work.

🎧 This book was narrated by Gail Shalan and I was SO IMPRESSED with her ability to do the various voices. It honestly felt like a whole cast was narrating, especially impressive considering there are 9 thousand characters (slight exaggeration).

Full disclosure- Mia is bisexual and has feelings in this story for both a girl and a guy. I feel like this should be mentioned in the description as it’s not everyone’s cup of tea.

Overall I did enjoy the story but feel the pacing ruined it for me.

[Kristy · Rating 3 out of 5]

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Format: 🎧


Hollow started off really well, I really enjoyed the prologue and wished the book had been more along these lines. Once the prologue concluded and we time jumped into the future and to Mia’s POV, it lent very upper YA and Twilight/The Vampire Diaries vibes.

I feel like Hollow has a great foundation, but I found myself wanting more development in the plot and the relationships between the characters. Most of the interactions felt super rushed and the connections immature (the YA-ish element I referred to earlier). The pacing was off, very rushed. I did enjoy the cliffhanger (the cliffy!), because it brought me back into the story (right when it ended 😤). I’ll give book two a read but I won’t be pacing in front of Barnes & Noble waiting for it.

The audio — Gail Shalan did a great job! Her tone and pacing was great and I was able to speed up the audio without losing any emotional impact or inflection. I’ll be looking up more titles she’s worked on.

Tropes & Notable Themes ——

🩸 Vampires
🩸 Queer (insta?) Love
🩸 Hidden Powers
🩸 Small Town
🩸 Family Rivalry
🩸 Fatal car accident leads to new beginnings
🩸 Cliffhanger!


Thank you to Harlequin Audio for the gifted ALC and the opportunity to listen and review and give my honest opinion. Hollow is releasing January 13, 2026 and will feature a bl00d drip sprayed edge!

[Kleigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really loved the idea of this book! It was such a unique and fun take on vampires. I liked the aspect of two competing families hoping to get a new member. The different powers were also interested but didn’t feel overplayed. The book was quite short and I didn’t feel like everything got to be as explored as it could’ve been. For example I felt like Mia got over the fact that she was turned into a vampire and will never see her family again way too quickly. Within one day and she had already come to peace with it and was happy going to the club and enjoying “the first night of her new life”??? I liked the ending but I did feel like it was pretty rushed. The whole end sequence took place within like 20 pages and before that it was just like a regular ole day. There could’ve been more build up. Also I personally don’t like the whole “evil villain monologue” of oh wow you caught me here’s me confessing to all my crimes. Especially in this scenario it just didn’t make as much sense as I would’ve liked it to. The twist in the epilogue though?!?!!! I’m highly interested in that and would definitely read a follow up book if there ever was one.

[Ameema S. · Rating 1 out of 5]

The writing is stunted and almost childlike. It reads like it could have done with several more passes from an editor. With short, and simple sentences, the prose doesn’t flow the way you would hope it would. The writing is weak, to the point where it’s distracting, pronouns are under utilized, with page after page of every other line saying “Mia”. The dialogue is stilted and awkward, and doesn’t feel natural. The pacing is terrible, and the exposition comes from page after page of people introducing themselves and their stories in a row, early on. The “twists” were obvious, and clumsy, and the climax at the end comes without having built our relationships with the characters, so we don’t really care if they died. . The “bad guys” are comically bad (as in badly written and poorly developed, not villainous), and none of the motivations make much sense. Plus, at one point in the climax, one of the characters yells “Do it, you bad bitch!” and I literally BURST out laughing.

I read this very quickly —- but not necessarily with enjoyment. This needs a lot of work before it comes out.

I received an advanced digital copy from the publisher, through Netgalley in exchange for my honest feedback.

[Librarian Bee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this! it started off a bit slow but once the romance got started I was all in!Ooh I haven't read a book in one sitting in many months until now!

[kaila | kd.reads]

DNF'd this book at 19% per the mention of the HP series. I do not read anything that mentions that author or her IP because she's a harmful person.

[Mena and Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hollow is a moody paranormal romance with vampire clans, supernatural intrigue, and a reborn heroine trying to find her place. the world-building is fun and the concept is engaging, though the pacing and prose can feel uneven at times.

[PrettyWittyBitty · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tried to read it because I’m a fan of the author on social media. I think she’s awesome as a person.

That being said…

The writing was more like fan-fiction. The sentence structure was stilted and felt like it was struggling. It didn’t flow smoothly. Run-on sentences were rampant. All of which made it hard to dive into the story.

I think her editor and beta readers failed her. So much of this could’ve been avoided by someone telling her this or that doesn’t work. If she self published then 🤷🏻‍♀️.

[Dread · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Solace: This had so much potential. It was such a good premise, and I loved our main character - I wanted to be her.

The Dread: The ending completely spiraled out of control and away from where the book was heading. It made me feel like I wasted my time. It just wasn't thought out enough, or she needed about 100 more pages to make it make sense.

Overall, I love Celina, and I loved this idea, but this was not it.

[Maddie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I feel bad saying this because I am a fan of Celina Myres. I love her YouTube videos, and I highly suggest checking her out. But this book was bad. It read like fan fiction. It also had a lot of grammatical mistakes. The story is kind of boring. I wanted to like this, but it just fell so flat.