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Raising the Horseman
From the New York Times best-selling author of Disney’s Villains series comes a ghostly new stand-alone novel that reimagines The Legend of Sleepy Hollow through the eyes of a modern teen.
The two-hundredth anniversary of the Headless Horseman's legendary haunting of Sleepy Hollow is approaching, but Kat van Tassel wants nothing to do with the town's superstitious celebrations. As a descendant of the original Katrina van Tassel, Kat knows she’s expected to fulfill her ancestor’s legacy by someday marrying her longtime boyfriend and running the prestigious family estate. But Kat dreams of a life outside Sleepy Hollow.
Then Kat meets Isadora, a new girl in town who challenges Kat to reexamine those expectations, opens her eyes to the possibility that ghosts are real, and makes her question who she truly wants to be . . . and be with.
When Kat is given the original Katrina’s diary, a new legend begins to take shape, one that weaves together the past and the present in eerie ways. Can Kat uncover a two-hundred-year-old secret, and trace its shocking reverberations in her own life, in time to protect what she truly loves?
Fans of Serena Valentino will delight in this supernatural coming-of-age tale that finally gives the women of Sleepy Hollow a chance to tell their side of the story.
The two-hundredth anniversary of the Headless Horseman's legendary haunting of Sleepy Hollow is approaching, but Kat van Tassel wants nothing to do with the town's superstitious celebrations. As a descendant of the original Katrina van Tassel, Kat knows she’s expected to fulfill her ancestor’s legacy by someday marrying her longtime boyfriend and running the prestigious family estate. But Kat dreams of a life outside Sleepy Hollow.
Then Kat meets Isadora, a new girl in town who challenges Kat to reexamine those expectations, opens her eyes to the possibility that ghosts are real, and makes her question who she truly wants to be . . . and be with.
When Kat is given the original Katrina’s diary, a new legend begins to take shape, one that weaves together the past and the present in eerie ways. Can Kat uncover a two-hundred-year-old secret, and trace its shocking reverberations in her own life, in time to protect what she truly loves?
Fans of Serena Valentino will delight in this supernatural coming-of-age tale that finally gives the women of Sleepy Hollow a chance to tell their side of the story.
304 pages, Paperback
First published September 6, 2022
99 people are currently reading
4778 people want to read
About the author
Serena Valentino
153 books5,952 followersSerena Valentino is best known for weaving tales that combine mythos and guile with her work on the comic book series GloomCookie and Nightmares & Fairy Tales, and her best selling Disney Villain Novels which have earned her critical acclaim for her unique style of storytelling, bringing her readers into exquisitely frightening worlds filled with terror, beauty and extraordinary female protagonists.
Her Disney Villain novel series would be best enjoyed if read in this order: Fairest of All: The Story of the Wicked Queen, The Beast Within: The Story of Belle’s Prince, Poor Unfortunate Soul: A Tale of the Sea Witch, Mistress of All Evil: A Tale of the Dark Fairy. Mother Knows Best: A Tale of the Old Witch and The Odd Sisters: A Villains Book to be released in Summer 2019. Book 7 will be out Summer 2020, Book 8 summer of 2021, and Book 9 Summer of 2022.
Serena lives in New Orleans with her dog Gozer, and a very tiny kitty named Momma.
Contact: Serena@serenavalentino.com
Her Disney Villain novel series would be best enjoyed if read in this order: Fairest of All: The Story of the Wicked Queen, The Beast Within: The Story of Belle’s Prince, Poor Unfortunate Soul: A Tale of the Sea Witch, Mistress of All Evil: A Tale of the Dark Fairy. Mother Knows Best: A Tale of the Old Witch and The Odd Sisters: A Villains Book to be released in Summer 2019. Book 7 will be out Summer 2020, Book 8 summer of 2021, and Book 9 Summer of 2022.
Serena lives in New Orleans with her dog Gozer, and a very tiny kitty named Momma.
Contact: Serena@serenavalentino.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 438 reviews
May 11, 2022
Disclosure: This book was provided to me by Edelweiss free of charge in return for an honest and unbiased review.
A modern retelling of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" should pretty much sell itself, right? Right?
Dear Disney,
There is no polite way to say this:
This book is terrible.
Sincerely,
Jaime
I've pondered over this review for a few days, trying to establish where "Raising the Horseman" fails. Is it the plot? Not entirely (I do have some concerns). Is it the characters? Mmm, I mean, they're not great. The writing? Is it the writing? Yes. Yes it is.
Please keep in mind that I am reviewing an uncorrected proof and the final, published book may be differ greatly (let's hope) but I'm just going to leave this here: "Others scattered into the wood, their candles bobbing through the branches like tiny points of light." I mean, maybe the candles were like tiny points of light because that's exactly what candles are. Just a thought.
Alright, slight segue. Before I get back to the issues I have with the writing, let me give a slight rundown of the story.
Our main character, Kat Van Tassel, hates living in Sleepy Hollow. Unlike the rest of the town, she doesn't believe in ghosts or in the legend of the Headless Horseman. All she cares about is reading books, skipping town one day, and becoming a writer. OK, I dig it.
Kat's great-great-great-whatever grandmother, Katrina Van Tassel, is revered in the town. When Kat misses The Longest Twilight, an annual festival held in her ancestor's honor, she is given Katrina's diary to read by her mother, Trina. Yeah...they're all named Katrina or some variation of it. sigh
From here, the chapters alternate between Kat and Katrina. Kat's sections are written as standard narrative, however, they are completely lacking plot, depth, or any real world-building. The characters are sterile and devoid of personality and their conversations are presented either as lame text messages or as, "walls of inane dialogue riddled with exclamation marks!" OK, that's not an actual quote but I needed an example.
Overall, the writing is lazy and repetitive. Instead of actual descriptions, the author (over)uses monikers like The Longest Twilight, The Oldest Tree, The Sleepy Hollow Boys, without giving these things any actual life or meaning. Even the Headless Horseman, the main event, attraction numero uno, is only ever described as (pardon me, this list is long): a "Hessian trooper," a "Hessian soldier," a "Hessian rider," a "spectral Hessian," a "Headless Hessian," a "demon Hessian," and as wearing his "Hessian uniform". Look, I want to hear about his coat, his waistcoat, his breeches (*wink*), the brass buckles on the shoes he's wearing, his cap...OK, maybe leave out the cap - he's headless so that wouldn't really make sense. But, please, describe these things to me. Don't make me Google it! It's just sloppy writing.
The chapters involving Katrina (the ancestor), on the other hand, begin as diary entries that slide into standard narrative. Normally, I'm not a fan of diary entries but I think that I would have preferred the Katrina chapters in this format. By switching to a narrative form, I think that the author forgot that these were supposed to be diary entries written by Katrina and they have Katrina writing about things that she could not have possibly known about. Then, towards the end of the book, I think that the author realized their mistake and, instead of going back and fixing it, they try to use the blanket excuse that Katrina wrote about stuff that people told her about. Nope. Not buying it.
Another issue with the Katrina (ancestor) chapters are the historical inaccuracies. "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" takes place in 1790, just following The American Revolution. The setting of "Raising the Horseman" is slightly ambiguous. We know that Kat Van Tassel lives in modern day and her great-great-great-whatever grandmother, Katrina Van Tassel, lived some 200 years prior. Even allowing for some leeway, that puts the year somewhere around 1820.
At one point, Katrina's beau greets her, "Hey, Katrina!" SMH. Katrina also keeps begging her parents to go away to school. Sorry, not really an option for women in the early 1800's. And modern day Kat and her friend Isobel find a locket containing a photograph of Katrina. A photograph. Seriously, book, get your <bleep> together. I suppose it could have been a photograph of Katrina when she's older but it's not really explained.
Also, the Katrina chapters were not even necessary. All they did was rehash the plot of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" with a slight twist at the end. The problem is that, without the diary chapters, the book doesn't even have a plot since the modern day chapters are just Kat and Isobel texting each other and making plans to read the diary. I mean, there's one thing that happens, but it's more of an event not an actual plot-driving mechanic.
Seriously, this book made me so mad. I could go on but I need to be done. Do yourself a favor and just read "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow."
A modern retelling of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" should pretty much sell itself, right? Right?
Dear Disney,
There is no polite way to say this:
This book is terrible.
Sincerely,
Jaime
I've pondered over this review for a few days, trying to establish where "Raising the Horseman" fails. Is it the plot? Not entirely (I do have some concerns). Is it the characters? Mmm, I mean, they're not great. The writing? Is it the writing? Yes. Yes it is.
Please keep in mind that I am reviewing an uncorrected proof and the final, published book may be differ greatly (let's hope) but I'm just going to leave this here: "Others scattered into the wood, their candles bobbing through the branches like tiny points of light." I mean, maybe the candles were like tiny points of light because that's exactly what candles are. Just a thought.
Alright, slight segue. Before I get back to the issues I have with the writing, let me give a slight rundown of the story.
Our main character, Kat Van Tassel, hates living in Sleepy Hollow. Unlike the rest of the town, she doesn't believe in ghosts or in the legend of the Headless Horseman. All she cares about is reading books, skipping town one day, and becoming a writer. OK, I dig it.
Kat's great-great-great-whatever grandmother, Katrina Van Tassel, is revered in the town. When Kat misses The Longest Twilight, an annual festival held in her ancestor's honor, she is given Katrina's diary to read by her mother, Trina. Yeah...they're all named Katrina or some variation of it. sigh
From here, the chapters alternate between Kat and Katrina. Kat's sections are written as standard narrative, however, they are completely lacking plot, depth, or any real world-building. The characters are sterile and devoid of personality and their conversations are presented either as lame text messages or as, "walls of inane dialogue riddled with exclamation marks!" OK, that's not an actual quote but I needed an example.
Overall, the writing is lazy and repetitive. Instead of actual descriptions, the author (over)uses monikers like The Longest Twilight, The Oldest Tree, The Sleepy Hollow Boys, without giving these things any actual life or meaning. Even the Headless Horseman, the main event, attraction numero uno, is only ever described as (pardon me, this list is long): a "Hessian trooper," a "Hessian soldier," a "Hessian rider," a "spectral Hessian," a "Headless Hessian," a "demon Hessian," and as wearing his "Hessian uniform". Look, I want to hear about his coat, his waistcoat, his breeches (*wink*), the brass buckles on the shoes he's wearing, his cap...OK, maybe leave out the cap - he's headless so that wouldn't really make sense. But, please, describe these things to me. Don't make me Google it! It's just sloppy writing.
The chapters involving Katrina (the ancestor), on the other hand, begin as diary entries that slide into standard narrative. Normally, I'm not a fan of diary entries but I think that I would have preferred the Katrina chapters in this format. By switching to a narrative form, I think that the author forgot that these were supposed to be diary entries written by Katrina and they have Katrina writing about things that she could not have possibly known about. Then, towards the end of the book, I think that the author realized their mistake and, instead of going back and fixing it, they try to use the blanket excuse that Katrina wrote about stuff that people told her about. Nope. Not buying it.
Another issue with the Katrina (ancestor) chapters are the historical inaccuracies. "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" takes place in 1790, just following The American Revolution. The setting of "Raising the Horseman" is slightly ambiguous. We know that Kat Van Tassel lives in modern day and her great-great-great-whatever grandmother, Katrina Van Tassel, lived some 200 years prior. Even allowing for some leeway, that puts the year somewhere around 1820.
At one point, Katrina's beau greets her, "Hey, Katrina!" SMH. Katrina also keeps begging her parents to go away to school. Sorry, not really an option for women in the early 1800's. And modern day Kat and her friend Isobel find a locket containing a photograph of Katrina. A photograph. Seriously, book, get your <bleep> together. I suppose it could have been a photograph of Katrina when she's older but it's not really explained.
Also, the Katrina chapters were not even necessary. All they did was rehash the plot of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" with a slight twist at the end. The problem is that, without the diary chapters, the book doesn't even have a plot since the modern day chapters are just Kat and Isobel texting each other and making plans to read the diary. I mean, there's one thing that happens, but it's more of an event not an actual plot-driving mechanic.
Seriously, this book made me so mad. I could go on but I need to be done. Do yourself a favor and just read "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow."
September 13, 2022
Two words: Wasted potential
January 12, 2023
True rating is 2.5 stars.
This book just had a lot of wasted potential. I'm a big Sleepy Hollow fan. I grew up watching the Disney cartoon and loving it. While at Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party this year, my only regret was that I didn't know the Headless Horseman was going to come out and therefore I failed to get a photo for my scrapbook. The audiobook for Legend of Sleepy Hollow has become a staple that I need to listen to every year. But this book just had a lot lacking.
Kat is the latest Katrina Van Tassel. While some found it annoying or tiresome that all the women are named Katrina, this didn't bother me as it was treated as a family name. Lots of men do this so why can't women? What was troublesome about this is the author decided to cop out and make it like you were experiencing the original Katrina in two different time periods. The only difference between the two is that the original Katrina (and all those before Kat) are buxom blondes. Kat is a lanky brunette. Yawn. The other thing that damaged their book from the get-go for me is it is so much telling and not enough showing.
The characters felt underdeveloped to me. Katrina and Kat are the same person. Literally. Kat states several times throughout the book that she feels she is living the first Katrina's life. I don't even really know anything about Isadora other than she is Kat's love interest and the big plot twist (which was predictable). Blake was so 2D it was depressing. Like, he's there just to be the adversary and yet again, I don't really know him. There's a moment at the end where the first Katrina tells Kat that Blake was always bad but it still feels like a cop-out. Why is he bad? What was his motive? This is not a short animated clip that you watch and know who to root for. This is a 300+ page book and I felt like it rang flat.
The romance isn't even developed to me. Kat is dating Blake at the beginning of the book and she is struggling with feeling like it's over between the two of them. I can take that, sometimes love fizzles out. Then she meets Isadora and it's like instant attraction, however Kat who has only ever been with Blake can't figure out if she wants to just be Isadora's friend or more.
This book tried too hard to have a LGBT heroine. It read like a coming-out story set in the original Sleepy Hollow decade. The ideals were so old-fashioned (women should be homemakers and men work the fields) and yet it tried to masquerade that it's in today's setting. I'm not against a LGBT story, and after reading the acknowledgments from the author, it's evident why she went this way. But it just felt inauthentic to me. I felt like it was more focused on that than anything else in the story/plot and that was the problem for me. The whole book spans over the course of four days and I’m supposed to believe these two are meant to be? They’re high school teenagers! At least my other high school romances span a semester or a year. I didn't pick this one up to be a love story. It wasn't even advertised as a love story. It's supposed to be a Spooky Season read to continue Sleepy Hollow.
The only parts of this book I enjoyed were the diary entries of the first Katrina. They were more insights and a different POV for me into the original Legend of Sleepy Hollow. This is a Disney Press book and there are a lot of influences from the animated short. Ichabod is described as I remember him from he cartoon as well as Brom and Katrina. But even in the diary entries, there wasn't a clear distinction between the first Katrina's voice and Kat's.
The entire book is in third person except for a short few sentences at the beginning of each diary chapter that is in first person before going back to third person to tell the story of the diary entries. I feel the book could have been better had one of the Katrina's been in first person the entire time and the other in third.
For a book titled "raising" the horseman, the titular character doesn't come in until page 204. The book is only 300 pages. I realize in the original source material, the Headless Horseman doesn't make an appearance until the end, but it's also not titled after him.
Overall this book was just wasted potential. The nod to Mr. Toad in that he was present day's Kat's principal was a nice homage to the animated short since it is titled The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad. But I wanted more of the legend. More ghosts, more spooky season vibes, and much more of the Headless Horseman. It's stated at one point that the reason the Headless Horseman protects all of the first Katrina's descendants is because he was in love with her. Show me more of that! Don't give me the one measly sentence of he fell in love with her when he saw her dressed up the night of the All Hallow's Eve party!
This was a sad continuation for a timeless classic. There is room at the end for a sequel and I'll probably read it just to see more of the first Katrina's diaries but that's about it. I didn't leave feeling invested in the romance, I honestly couldn't care less if Kat or Isadora or anyone from the present makes it to the second book (if there is one).
This book just had a lot of wasted potential. I'm a big Sleepy Hollow fan. I grew up watching the Disney cartoon and loving it. While at Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party this year, my only regret was that I didn't know the Headless Horseman was going to come out and therefore I failed to get a photo for my scrapbook. The audiobook for Legend of Sleepy Hollow has become a staple that I need to listen to every year. But this book just had a lot lacking.
Kat is the latest Katrina Van Tassel. While some found it annoying or tiresome that all the women are named Katrina, this didn't bother me as it was treated as a family name. Lots of men do this so why can't women? What was troublesome about this is the author decided to cop out and make it like you were experiencing the original Katrina in two different time periods. The only difference between the two is that the original Katrina (and all those before Kat) are buxom blondes. Kat is a lanky brunette. Yawn. The other thing that damaged their book from the get-go for me is it is so much telling and not enough showing.
The characters felt underdeveloped to me. Katrina and Kat are the same person. Literally. Kat states several times throughout the book that she feels she is living the first Katrina's life. I don't even really know anything about Isadora other than she is Kat's love interest and the big plot twist (which was predictable). Blake was so 2D it was depressing. Like, he's there just to be the adversary and yet again, I don't really know him. There's a moment at the end where the first Katrina tells Kat that Blake was always bad but it still feels like a cop-out. Why is he bad? What was his motive? This is not a short animated clip that you watch and know who to root for. This is a 300+ page book and I felt like it rang flat.
The romance isn't even developed to me. Kat is dating Blake at the beginning of the book and she is struggling with feeling like it's over between the two of them. I can take that, sometimes love fizzles out. Then she meets Isadora and it's like instant attraction, however Kat who has only ever been with Blake can't figure out if she wants to just be Isadora's friend or more.
This book tried too hard to have a LGBT heroine. It read like a coming-out story set in the original Sleepy Hollow decade. The ideals were so old-fashioned (women should be homemakers and men work the fields) and yet it tried to masquerade that it's in today's setting. I'm not against a LGBT story, and after reading the acknowledgments from the author, it's evident why she went this way. But it just felt inauthentic to me. I felt like it was more focused on that than anything else in the story/plot and that was the problem for me. The whole book spans over the course of four days and I’m supposed to believe these two are meant to be? They’re high school teenagers! At least my other high school romances span a semester or a year. I didn't pick this one up to be a love story. It wasn't even advertised as a love story. It's supposed to be a Spooky Season read to continue Sleepy Hollow.
The only parts of this book I enjoyed were the diary entries of the first Katrina. They were more insights and a different POV for me into the original Legend of Sleepy Hollow. This is a Disney Press book and there are a lot of influences from the animated short. Ichabod is described as I remember him from he cartoon as well as Brom and Katrina. But even in the diary entries, there wasn't a clear distinction between the first Katrina's voice and Kat's.
The entire book is in third person except for a short few sentences at the beginning of each diary chapter that is in first person before going back to third person to tell the story of the diary entries. I feel the book could have been better had one of the Katrina's been in first person the entire time and the other in third.
For a book titled "raising" the horseman, the titular character doesn't come in until page 204. The book is only 300 pages. I realize in the original source material, the Headless Horseman doesn't make an appearance until the end, but it's also not titled after him.
Overall this book was just wasted potential. The nod to Mr. Toad in that he was present day's Kat's principal was a nice homage to the animated short since it is titled The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad. But I wanted more of the legend. More ghosts, more spooky season vibes, and much more of the Headless Horseman. It's stated at one point that the reason the Headless Horseman protects all of the first Katrina's descendants is because he was in love with her. Show me more of that! Don't give me the one measly sentence of he fell in love with her when he saw her dressed up the night of the All Hallow's Eve party!
This was a sad continuation for a timeless classic. There is room at the end for a sequel and I'll probably read it just to see more of the first Katrina's diaries but that's about it. I didn't leave feeling invested in the romance, I honestly couldn't care less if Kat or Isadora or anyone from the present makes it to the second book (if there is one).
October 15, 2025
This wasn't as unique or creative as some of the others in the series, but it still was enjoyable for a spooky read. It was nice to see both Katrinas coming into their own strength and choosing their own paths in life. Brom reminded me so much of Gaston from Beauty and the Beast and how he treated Belle, at least in the beginning. The extended “twist” ending did not completely make sense to me, but my interest was also waning at that point.
October 28, 2022
⭐️/5
Disney… why? Just why?
A modern queer retelling of the Headless Horseman legend mixed with the original… this book had so much potential. SO. MUCH.
But dear Lord, the writing in this was SO BAD. It was lazy, repetitive, and just plain terrible. There was no world building, no depth to any of the characters, and the plot was barely enough to be considered a plot. And there is something very specific that happens with the flashback chapters (in general), where it seemed the author realized their mistake at the end, and instead of going back and fixing it, they made a quick statement through one of the characters to try and justify it.
I hate saying these things about someone else’s work (I can usually understand that even though a writing style doesn’t work for me, it doesn’t mean it’s necessarily bad, it’s just not for me), but I cannot understand how this book got published in this state.
So unfortunately, I cannot in good conscience, recommend this book. If anyone knows of any other Horseman retellings, please let me know. I desperately need a good one.
Disney… why? Just why?
A modern queer retelling of the Headless Horseman legend mixed with the original… this book had so much potential. SO. MUCH.
But dear Lord, the writing in this was SO BAD. It was lazy, repetitive, and just plain terrible. There was no world building, no depth to any of the characters, and the plot was barely enough to be considered a plot. And there is something very specific that happens with the flashback chapters (in general), where it seemed the author realized their mistake at the end, and instead of going back and fixing it, they made a quick statement through one of the characters to try and justify it.
I hate saying these things about someone else’s work (I can usually understand that even though a writing style doesn’t work for me, it doesn’t mean it’s necessarily bad, it’s just not for me), but I cannot understand how this book got published in this state.
So unfortunately, I cannot in good conscience, recommend this book. If anyone knows of any other Horseman retellings, please let me know. I desperately need a good one.
November 26, 2023
I couldn't finish the book it's like every other sentence the author kept repeating herself about the Sleepy Hollow Boys or complaining that her parents don't understand her. I understand that she doesn't like being named after Katrina and living in Sleepy Hollow because of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, but I felt like telling Kat to shut up and stop complaining and tell her parents how she feels about them running her life.
Read
October 23, 2022DNF at 35%. No rating as I didn’t get halfway through the story, but if I was rating it for the portion I did read it would be 1.5 stars.
May 19, 2022
*I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review*
I was really excited to read this book because the Headless Horseman is such an iconic story, and I couldn’t wait to see how it would be retold. I was very disappointed in this. It’s split between present day and the past, with Kat and Katrina each telling their own stories (though Katrina’s are set up to be more like diary entries). The present day story does not seem to have much plot, and the conversations are so repetitive. I also disliked how fast arguments were resolved, because a fight would be had and done in the space of several sentences. This started to get annoying by the fourth argument that Kat had. I wanted to like this so much, and there’s a lot of really great potential, but the characters felt really flat and conversations didn’t really start to go anywhere until the end. I’m sure there are some who might actually enjoy this book, but for me it wasn’t what I’d hoped for when reading the summary.
I was really excited to read this book because the Headless Horseman is such an iconic story, and I couldn’t wait to see how it would be retold. I was very disappointed in this. It’s split between present day and the past, with Kat and Katrina each telling their own stories (though Katrina’s are set up to be more like diary entries). The present day story does not seem to have much plot, and the conversations are so repetitive. I also disliked how fast arguments were resolved, because a fight would be had and done in the space of several sentences. This started to get annoying by the fourth argument that Kat had. I wanted to like this so much, and there’s a lot of really great potential, but the characters felt really flat and conversations didn’t really start to go anywhere until the end. I’m sure there are some who might actually enjoy this book, but for me it wasn’t what I’d hoped for when reading the summary.
June 16, 2022
Oh boy!!!
Here we go.
Yet another girl power laced, stick it to the men and their stupidity, LBGTQIA+ retelling of the Horseman.
And yes...
There is a bit of sarcasm in to be found there.
Kat and Katrina. Isadora. Katrina finding out about Ickabod in much the same way that Kat uncovers Kelly's treachery...
Do I sense a mirror plot here?
Why yes!
Luckily.
There are more than a few hints that the second Katrina's story may not be at an end.
Let's hope not.
Because this story has the potential for so much more.
Reviewer's Note:
All opinions herein are those of WTF Are You Reading?
And have not been influenced by Netgalley or any agency or outside publishing.
Here we go.
Yet another girl power laced, stick it to the men and their stupidity, LBGTQIA+ retelling of the Horseman.
And yes...
There is a bit of sarcasm in to be found there.
Kat and Katrina. Isadora. Katrina finding out about Ickabod in much the same way that Kat uncovers Kelly's treachery...
Do I sense a mirror plot here?
Why yes!
Luckily.
There are more than a few hints that the second Katrina's story may not be at an end.
Let's hope not.
Because this story has the potential for so much more.
Reviewer's Note:
All opinions herein are those of WTF Are You Reading?
And have not been influenced by Netgalley or any agency or outside publishing.
July 24, 2022
What a quick easy read! 4.5 stars! My weekend was full of quick reads and this one was awesome!
Absolutely loved this! The world was perfectly built and visualization on point! Could not get enough of the characters. Serena Valentino really has a way of immersing you in her worlds and not letting go!
What a beautiful haunting story that keeps you on your toes and wanting more!
Absolutely loved this! The world was perfectly built and visualization on point! Could not get enough of the characters. Serena Valentino really has a way of immersing you in her worlds and not letting go!
What a beautiful haunting story that keeps you on your toes and wanting more!
October 19, 2025
I tapped out at around 30%, just couldn’t get into it. The “diary” of the first Katrina read more like a regular first person narrative, with details she couldn’t realistically know. The world building felt thin, the writing repetitive, and I was hoping for way more atmosphere from a story like this.
September 18, 2022
I love anything to do with The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. This book may not have been the greatest literary piece I have ever read, but for the nostalgia alone it’s a must read. This is published by Disney and the author stuck very close to the animated version of The Tales of Icabod Crane and Mr. Toad. There were certain parts that I read, that matched the movie and action word for word. There were characters that show up from different stories as well. I really enjoyed that she stayed true to Washington Irving but added her own spin on the story. I have visited Sleepy Hollow a few times in the last two years, and her descriptions of the town and cemetery were spot on. I very much enjoyed this whole book. It has some definite creepy parts, some real nostalgia for those that love the Disney animated movie and for those that just love the legend. I highly recommend you put this on your TBR for spooky season.
March 4, 2023
This is not what I was expecting, at all. I thought it was a young adult book but it read like middle grade. The writing is extremely simplistic and every character had the same tone. It felt like nothing happened in the story but the ending was OK. The cover seems to be the only thing I liked about it.
October 18, 2024
"Pourquoi est-ce que je ne pourrais pas aimer les deux ? La question n'est pas que je n'aime pas les garçon, mais que je ne t'aime pas, toi!"
Un YA +13 ans, spooky et sapphic/bi, avec une prévention sur le (men) gaslighting, priceless 🤌
Un YA +13 ans, spooky et sapphic/bi, avec une prévention sur le (men) gaslighting, priceless 🤌
January 21, 2023
Raising the Horseman had a lot of potential as many other reviewers have said. Unfortunately, it just didn’t deliver. The book jumped around quite a bit. The chapters that were supposed to be from Katrina’s diary didn’t read like diary entries. So, why even involve the diary? Along with that, the chapters from the diary were supposed to take place over 100 years ago, but were written as if today. Were chocolate covered marshmallows or women dressing as pirates around in the late 1800s? The Halloween diary chapters sounded way too modern. Aside from historical issues, the romantic relationships were immature and boring. I kind of hoped nobody ended up together. I find it hard to believe that Kat’s parents, in the year 2022 would prefer their daughter to marry her first boyfriend ever right after high school to run the family farm. Even though Kat dreams of going to college, exploring the world and not marrying her first boyfriend. Are we in 1950 or 2022? The author seems to be confused throughout the entire book on which decade she wants to reflect.
Were there parts that were good? Absolutely, hence my two stars versus one. I may have even given it three stars if it weren’t for the ending! I have read many sloppy and rushed endings, but this surpasses them all! In about 10 pages the book ends in the most unbelievable, cringe way. I have so many questions. Any credibility this book could have had as a decent twist on The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was thrown out with the messy conclusion. I have never rolled my eyes so hard at the end of a book, until now. Do better.
Were there parts that were good? Absolutely, hence my two stars versus one. I may have even given it three stars if it weren’t for the ending! I have read many sloppy and rushed endings, but this surpasses them all! In about 10 pages the book ends in the most unbelievable, cringe way. I have so many questions. Any credibility this book could have had as a decent twist on The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was thrown out with the messy conclusion. I have never rolled my eyes so hard at the end of a book, until now. Do better.
October 25, 2022
Disclaimer: I received an ARC from Netgalley & Disney Publishing in exchange for an honest review.
Second Disclaimer: I *just* watched Disney's The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad before reading this, since we're heading to Disneyland in a few days and I wanted my kids to have the context of The Headless Horseman before we went.
If you are considering reading this book, do yourself a favor and just watch The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad on Disney+. The 30 minute short from 1949 has a better story, and it has Bing Crosby.
I love you, Disney. You know I do.
And I am always willing to give authors I'm not a fan of a second chance because you never know.
But I gave Serena Valentino like, eight, chances with those Villains books. And I *still* gave her another chance with this one.
The thing is? In the right hands, this could have been an *amazing* story. Give it to Maggie Stiefvater! She could have told an amazing, truly spooky, unsettling story that got at power dynamics and female aspirations and the pull between staying in a small town and seeing the world. (And she would have researched it and ensured historical accuracy...)
This book had all the hallmarks of Valentino's writing that I've come to know and bitch about from the Villains series including, but not limited to:
--An outsider female protagonist
"Kat slammed her bedroom door behind her. She instantly felt silly for making such a fuss. It was typical teenage behavior, and Kat hated to be typical."
I lost count of how many times Valentino established Kat as DiFfErEnT -- because she liked to read and lost track of time reading and because she's different than all the other Katrina Van Tassels.
--Whiplash from the 180 degree turns characters do.
EG: Kat's mom and...maid? servant? IDK... HATE Isadora -- then 2 seconds later, they love her and are hugging her and are inviting her in for hot cocoa and cookies. Same with Katrina's parents. First they hate Ichabod, then they love him, then they hate him.
--Insta-Love. LITERAL INSTA LOVE.
As in, Isadora walks onto the page and despite going to school with her for months and never talking, Kat spends 5 seconds with her and knows she loves her. (This happens a lot in the Villains series. Characters meet and they're INSTA-BFFs.) I'm not saying you can't have a gut feeling about a person, but this isn't a crush or friendship -- Kat goes from Zero to Love in the span of seconds.
--Repetitive and cringey dialogue.
There's no nuance to the dialogue, and it doesn't read like natural speech patterns. All the characters -- including 1800 Katrina and modern-day Kat -- sound the same.
--SO MUCH Telling, not showing.
"What happened to your face?"
He just shrugged. "Like I'm going to tell you in front of Crow. What are you two doing anyway looking so cozy?"
She realized he wasn't going to tell her what happened while Isadora was there, and there was no sense in asking again.
Like, WUT. He *literally* just said he wasn't going to answer the question; why is there a need for Kat to "realize" that, as if she was inferring something that was somehow unclear or vague about his statement?!
--Historical Inaccuries are RIFE here.
I'm not 100% sure on these, because I'm not a history major, but there were some elements that just seemed wrong. The historical Van Tassels throw a Halloween party every year, where kids are dressing up as witches and devils and ghosts and I'm pretty sure that wasn't a thing in the years following the American Revolution...and marshmallows? The desserts Mrs. Van Tassel makes just seem anachronistic -- relevant for modern readers, but surely not in 1800s America.
I don't expect 100% historical accuracy from Disney, but it feels like Valentino did the bare minimum here.
--PLOT HOLES and random characters that don't come back.
Like Raven, the barista? No purpose. Could have removed her from the story with no change.
Same with the headmaster. And again, I JUST watched the Disney "movie" this is based off of, and there was absolutely NO NEED to reference Toad and Badger. It was awkward and forced, and didn't even matter -- the purpose was apparently that "finals are right before Halloween" because Sleepy Hollow is DiFfErEnT, but it DIDN'T MATTER because Kat just skipped her final to go hang with Isadora and then school was never mentioned again.
Why does everyone love Katrina van Tassel in the town?
IDK. It's never explained.
Why is Katrina van Tassel cursed and trapped with the Horseman in a tree?
IDK. It's never explained.
What happens to Blake -- and do his parents not care that he's missing?
IDK. It's never explained.
The American Girl books I'm currently re-reading with my daughter feel more historically accurate than this. (Certainly no one there is running around complaining that "UGH, my dad would murder you if he saw us!" in the 1800s.)
The potential was THERE. Like, in the right hands, this could have been a sinister, spooky retelling about the hold of the past. Like a Tom-Riddle's-diary moment where the act of reading the first Katrina van Tassel's diary slowly possesses the reader and wipes out the dreams and desires and individuality of the reader, warping her into a Stepford-type china doll. A sort of Dorian Gray story, but with a diary that sucks out individuality and difference and replaces it with a buxom blonde with a peaches-and-cream complexion.
Nope. Just go read Washington Irving, or listen to Bing Crosby tell you the story.
Second Disclaimer: I *just* watched Disney's The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad before reading this, since we're heading to Disneyland in a few days and I wanted my kids to have the context of The Headless Horseman before we went.
If you are considering reading this book, do yourself a favor and just watch The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad on Disney+. The 30 minute short from 1949 has a better story, and it has Bing Crosby.
I love you, Disney. You know I do.
And I am always willing to give authors I'm not a fan of a second chance because you never know.
But I gave Serena Valentino like, eight, chances with those Villains books. And I *still* gave her another chance with this one.
The thing is? In the right hands, this could have been an *amazing* story. Give it to Maggie Stiefvater! She could have told an amazing, truly spooky, unsettling story that got at power dynamics and female aspirations and the pull between staying in a small town and seeing the world. (And she would have researched it and ensured historical accuracy...)
This book had all the hallmarks of Valentino's writing that I've come to know and bitch about from the Villains series including, but not limited to:
--An outsider female protagonist
"Kat slammed her bedroom door behind her. She instantly felt silly for making such a fuss. It was typical teenage behavior, and Kat hated to be typical."
I lost count of how many times Valentino established Kat as DiFfErEnT -- because she liked to read and lost track of time reading and because she's different than all the other Katrina Van Tassels.
--Whiplash from the 180 degree turns characters do.
EG: Kat's mom and...maid? servant? IDK... HATE Isadora -- then 2 seconds later, they love her and are hugging her and are inviting her in for hot cocoa and cookies. Same with Katrina's parents. First they hate Ichabod, then they love him, then they hate him.
--Insta-Love. LITERAL INSTA LOVE.
As in, Isadora walks onto the page and despite going to school with her for months and never talking, Kat spends 5 seconds with her and knows she loves her. (This happens a lot in the Villains series. Characters meet and they're INSTA-BFFs.) I'm not saying you can't have a gut feeling about a person, but this isn't a crush or friendship -- Kat goes from Zero to Love in the span of seconds.
--Repetitive and cringey dialogue.
There's no nuance to the dialogue, and it doesn't read like natural speech patterns. All the characters -- including 1800 Katrina and modern-day Kat -- sound the same.
--SO MUCH Telling, not showing.
"What happened to your face?"
He just shrugged. "Like I'm going to tell you in front of Crow. What are you two doing anyway looking so cozy?"
She realized he wasn't going to tell her what happened while Isadora was there, and there was no sense in asking again.
Like, WUT. He *literally* just said he wasn't going to answer the question; why is there a need for Kat to "realize" that, as if she was inferring something that was somehow unclear or vague about his statement?!
--Historical Inaccuries are RIFE here.
I'm not 100% sure on these, because I'm not a history major, but there were some elements that just seemed wrong. The historical Van Tassels throw a Halloween party every year, where kids are dressing up as witches and devils and ghosts and I'm pretty sure that wasn't a thing in the years following the American Revolution...and marshmallows? The desserts Mrs. Van Tassel makes just seem anachronistic -- relevant for modern readers, but surely not in 1800s America.
I don't expect 100% historical accuracy from Disney, but it feels like Valentino did the bare minimum here.
--PLOT HOLES and random characters that don't come back.
Like Raven, the barista? No purpose. Could have removed her from the story with no change.
Same with the headmaster. And again, I JUST watched the Disney "movie" this is based off of, and there was absolutely NO NEED to reference Toad and Badger. It was awkward and forced, and didn't even matter -- the purpose was apparently that "finals are right before Halloween" because Sleepy Hollow is DiFfErEnT, but it DIDN'T MATTER because Kat just skipped her final to go hang with Isadora and then school was never mentioned again.
Why does everyone love Katrina van Tassel in the town?
IDK. It's never explained.
Why is Katrina van Tassel cursed and trapped with the Horseman in a tree?
IDK. It's never explained.
What happens to Blake -- and do his parents not care that he's missing?
IDK. It's never explained.
The American Girl books I'm currently re-reading with my daughter feel more historically accurate than this. (Certainly no one there is running around complaining that "UGH, my dad would murder you if he saw us!" in the 1800s.)
The potential was THERE. Like, in the right hands, this could have been a sinister, spooky retelling about the hold of the past. Like a Tom-Riddle's-diary moment where the act of reading the first Katrina van Tassel's diary slowly possesses the reader and wipes out the dreams and desires and individuality of the reader, warping her into a Stepford-type china doll. A sort of Dorian Gray story, but with a diary that sucks out individuality and difference and replaces it with a buxom blonde with a peaches-and-cream complexion.
Nope. Just go read Washington Irving, or listen to Bing Crosby tell you the story.
December 22, 2022
True review is 4.5
It wouldn't have taken me this many days to get through if I hadn't been so busy during this time.
!!!! This review is going to be SPOILER HEAVY but the things I'm going to say must be said. !!!!
skip to the **** to skip the spoilers and just have my review of the audiobook reader
Let me start off by saying, other reviewers calling it repetitive are correct in that. As the lead character reads Katrina's diary and recognizes the parallels in her life not a chapter goes by that she doesn't say 'I'm living her life'/'it's like I'm living her life' and that's just ONE example.
But I feel that's easy to get past. It's Serena Valentino. (tbh I say that having only read Evil Thing by her but still, she's chock-full of wonderful ideas).
Onto the story itself. This is going to be spoiler heavy because the whole book itself is nothing but revealing things chapter after chapter and I honestly feel that the only way to review this without spoilers is to not talk about it lmao
SO
It was like immediately painfully obvious that if Kat Van Tassel was the descendant of Katrina Van Tassel then Isadora Crow's ancestor will only come as a surprise to anyone under the age of 7. That being said, I spent a lot of the time being terrified this was going to be another thing hero-ising Ichabod Crane. I don't find that horrible as Tim Burton's film and the Fox TV show did so very well, I just find it unnecessary. Especially since this book is under the Disney moniker and Disney had no qualms about making him a two-faced opportunistic gold-digger just like the original story did.
I found myself rolling my eyes at how amazing he was. So I was SO GLAD to find myself proven wrong. (Though I felt horrible for Katrina).
Valentino also made a great job of creating a great villain in Blake. I at first thought he was just a bad boyfriend. Then just a bad person who was most likely able to change if told what he was doign wrong/WAS wrong. As he got worse and worse, I was surprised. Then came the reveals of his actual EVIL in the finale and then something even after THAT that blew me away, not knowing the author was going to go THAT far with him.
One thing I'll say is that her choice to make Katrina an ahead-of-her-time, pre-ANY-wave feminism type feminist, the way Disney has been doing with their movies lately (live action Beauty and the Beast, Tim Burton's Dumbo, Nutcracker and the Four Realms, the list goes on) was amazing. It especially works with Katrina because as pointed out in the story (and out) we the audience know NOTHING about her from the original story.
I will say though, there was one scene that I found laughable. The idea of Brom wearing a dress comes up because of his confusion with the meaning of the term 'fancy dress party' and his reply is 'I won't be wearing a dress. What am I? a LADY?' and he's then explained what 'fancy dress' means Katrina then says 'dresses aren't just for ladies, men can wear dresses too' and Ichabod backs her up talking about both genders wearing clothes of the other sex dating back pretty far.
As a bisexual man who wears makeup and other feminine-to-neutral clothes, I seriously paused to double take and laugh. It made a bit of sense for Katrina to think and say that at that point of the story (and as the story goes on and on, showing her forward thinking ways and big heart, it's even MORE in character) but Ichabod backing her up* and her Ichabod-hating-Brom-loving father and even her on-the-fence mother not replying at all with even a HINT of what would be period-accurate homophobia or even cissexism was just funny. Like.... Serena... dear.... these are homophobes.
(in fact, now that I think about it, it's kind of weird that there was more homophobia in the modern day to the queer heroines than there was in the 18(?)hundreds at the idea of a man in a dress. huh.)
*I WILL admit though, there's a scene where it's revealed Ichabod wooed Katrina by saying just what she wants to hear all the time. So when that was revealed, I was like 'I KNEW he was homophobic' 😂😂😂😂
Going back to my earlier point of predictability, there's a slight mystery surrounding the question 'who was the horseman that scared Ichabod out of town?'. If you pay attention to the story and heck, even to this review, it's very obvious who it's going to be.
(Katrina. it's Katrina)
I only spoil that because there's a point made in an a few reviews I both agree and DISagree with.
People say that there's not alot done with the horseman and that he's only used for like two seconds.
Fair to feel, but factually incorrect.
The REAL horseman is very present even if just because the sheer amount of mentions make him haunt the book as much as he haunts the town. It was rumored all throughout the book that the reason every Van Tassel woman bears the name Katrina because the original said they have to because the horseman vowed to protect any woman named Katrina Van Tassel. So I was hoping we'd get more on that and we kind of do but what we get instead was awesome.
We get Katrina hearing and seeing Ichabod's true colors and then in a blind rage, donning the costume of the Headless Horseman herself to chase him out of her town and life. A little predictable, a little disappointing if you're hoping for it to be the REAL ghost, but awesome if you can get over that second point (and i DID).
But even then the REAL Horseman shows up shortly after the final act and explains his reasons (an obvious one albeit) and pledges loyalty and friendship to our lead heroines.
This has gone on way longer than I expected it to so I'll try to wrap this up.
The author making this a feminist story was amazing. Katrina's journey from wanting to be away from her town to understanding just how much she loves it and wants to stay was very natural and beautiful and sweet. Her standing up to a misogynist lying two-faced gold-digging gaslighter and snagging the loyalty of a sword swinging ghost in the process was just fabulous.
The lead girls finding romance with each other and acceptance from their families to the point that having what is implied to be slurs tagged onto their lockers only tangentially hurts them was amazing.
Kat repeatedly standing up to then straight-up defeating HER homophobic gaslighting two-faced jackass ex was amazing.
If this is the first in the series I truly think (and, like others, HOPE) that we WILL indeed see more of the horseman in the future considering he's friends with her family. If it's NOT a series, what we're left with is an amazing story with a final note saying either 'the adventure continues' or the 'adventure continued for a while' that still satisfies.
I AM left wondering one thing however. I wonder if Valentino meant for this to be inspired by Disney's interpretation of the story or if she wanted to write a Sleepy Hollow book (/book series) of her own volition but some sort of Disney contract gave them the rights to this or if they asked her if she'd mind lending it to them or something of the sort. While Disney's version of Sleepy Hollow was faithful (if not a total page-by-page adaptation) to the original, there are things here, such as words used in place of swears and her not outright saying that the girls' lockers were tagged with slurs that make me wonder if those were choices the author would have made anyway (after all, she is herself a bisexual woman, why write out a slur when she mercifully got the point across without saying it?) or if Disney was like 'you can't say "what the actual f**k" in a Disney book' and stuff like that.
All in all, I'd only tack off half a star for the reasons of repetitiveness and for underutilizing the ghost we're all here for. But it's a solid SOLID story and a great leeway into a series if that is the path she's choosing.
I feel like there's more I'm forgetting to say so maybe one day, I'll edit/update this 😂😂
****Same day edit/update: I listened and read along to the audiobook and if you care about reader voice's pay attention to this
**** the reader..... oof. Vocally, she sounds like Scarlett Johannson which is pretty cool. BUT she has a way of reading sentences as if she's speaking them converSATIONally and wants your response or approval to everything she's said. (I hope your voice followed what i did with the word conversationally there. It was all I could do not to put question marks in the middle of sentences to convey what she sounds like).
Her voice acting is alright for the most part but.... her grown/father aged men all sound the way Bane sounds in HBOMax's animated Harley Quinn series. It's hilarious but a tad grating but listenable. Her Blake and Brom voices are similar to the point of inseparable to the point that if you forget the lead is a descendant of Katrina and Brom you'd think Blake was Brom's reincarnation or descendant.
Her ABSOLUTE BEST voice by FAR is the one she uses as the ghost of The Headless Horseman. It's classy and dark and elegant and haunting and sexy (I think. Maybe I'm just too attracted to him to ever find fault in his voice). Amazing AMAZING work and choices made when it comes to that.
I'd give her reading a 2.5 to 3 out of 5 stars. Except when she voices the ghost. She pulls out a 10 for that. If this IS a series and they continue on with her reading it, fine. If they change her, bleeessssss.
It wouldn't have taken me this many days to get through if I hadn't been so busy during this time.
!!!! This review is going to be SPOILER HEAVY but the things I'm going to say must be said. !!!!
skip to the **** to skip the spoilers and just have my review of the audiobook reader
Let me start off by saying, other reviewers calling it repetitive are correct in that. As the lead character reads Katrina's diary and recognizes the parallels in her life not a chapter goes by that she doesn't say 'I'm living her life'/'it's like I'm living her life' and that's just ONE example.
But I feel that's easy to get past. It's Serena Valentino. (tbh I say that having only read Evil Thing by her but still, she's chock-full of wonderful ideas).
Onto the story itself. This is going to be spoiler heavy because the whole book itself is nothing but revealing things chapter after chapter and I honestly feel that the only way to review this without spoilers is to not talk about it lmao
SO
It was like immediately painfully obvious that if Kat Van Tassel was the descendant of Katrina Van Tassel then Isadora Crow's ancestor will only come as a surprise to anyone under the age of 7. That being said, I spent a lot of the time being terrified this was going to be another thing hero-ising Ichabod Crane. I don't find that horrible as Tim Burton's film and the Fox TV show did so very well, I just find it unnecessary. Especially since this book is under the Disney moniker and Disney had no qualms about making him a two-faced opportunistic gold-digger just like the original story did.
I found myself rolling my eyes at how amazing he was. So I was SO GLAD to find myself proven wrong. (Though I felt horrible for Katrina).
Valentino also made a great job of creating a great villain in Blake. I at first thought he was just a bad boyfriend. Then just a bad person who was most likely able to change if told what he was doign wrong/WAS wrong. As he got worse and worse, I was surprised. Then came the reveals of his actual EVIL in the finale and then something even after THAT that blew me away, not knowing the author was going to go THAT far with him.
One thing I'll say is that her choice to make Katrina an ahead-of-her-time, pre-ANY-wave feminism type feminist, the way Disney has been doing with their movies lately (live action Beauty and the Beast, Tim Burton's Dumbo, Nutcracker and the Four Realms, the list goes on) was amazing. It especially works with Katrina because as pointed out in the story (and out) we the audience know NOTHING about her from the original story.
I will say though, there was one scene that I found laughable. The idea of Brom wearing a dress comes up because of his confusion with the meaning of the term 'fancy dress party' and his reply is 'I won't be wearing a dress. What am I? a LADY?' and he's then explained what 'fancy dress' means Katrina then says 'dresses aren't just for ladies, men can wear dresses too' and Ichabod backs her up talking about both genders wearing clothes of the other sex dating back pretty far.
As a bisexual man who wears makeup and other feminine-to-neutral clothes, I seriously paused to double take and laugh. It made a bit of sense for Katrina to think and say that at that point of the story (and as the story goes on and on, showing her forward thinking ways and big heart, it's even MORE in character) but Ichabod backing her up* and her Ichabod-hating-Brom-loving father and even her on-the-fence mother not replying at all with even a HINT of what would be period-accurate homophobia or even cissexism was just funny. Like.... Serena... dear.... these are homophobes.
(in fact, now that I think about it, it's kind of weird that there was more homophobia in the modern day to the queer heroines than there was in the 18(?)hundreds at the idea of a man in a dress. huh.)
*I WILL admit though, there's a scene where it's revealed Ichabod wooed Katrina by saying just what she wants to hear all the time. So when that was revealed, I was like 'I KNEW he was homophobic' 😂😂😂😂
Going back to my earlier point of predictability, there's a slight mystery surrounding the question 'who was the horseman that scared Ichabod out of town?'. If you pay attention to the story and heck, even to this review, it's very obvious who it's going to be.
(Katrina. it's Katrina)
I only spoil that because there's a point made in an a few reviews I both agree and DISagree with.
People say that there's not alot done with the horseman and that he's only used for like two seconds.
Fair to feel, but factually incorrect.
The REAL horseman is very present even if just because the sheer amount of mentions make him haunt the book as much as he haunts the town. It was rumored all throughout the book that the reason every Van Tassel woman bears the name Katrina because the original said they have to because the horseman vowed to protect any woman named Katrina Van Tassel. So I was hoping we'd get more on that and we kind of do but what we get instead was awesome.
We get Katrina hearing and seeing Ichabod's true colors and then in a blind rage, donning the costume of the Headless Horseman herself to chase him out of her town and life. A little predictable, a little disappointing if you're hoping for it to be the REAL ghost, but awesome if you can get over that second point (and i DID).
But even then the REAL Horseman shows up shortly after the final act and explains his reasons (an obvious one albeit) and pledges loyalty and friendship to our lead heroines.
This has gone on way longer than I expected it to so I'll try to wrap this up.
The author making this a feminist story was amazing. Katrina's journey from wanting to be away from her town to understanding just how much she loves it and wants to stay was very natural and beautiful and sweet. Her standing up to a misogynist lying two-faced gold-digging gaslighter and snagging the loyalty of a sword swinging ghost in the process was just fabulous.
The lead girls finding romance with each other and acceptance from their families to the point that having what is implied to be slurs tagged onto their lockers only tangentially hurts them was amazing.
Kat repeatedly standing up to then straight-up defeating HER homophobic gaslighting two-faced jackass ex was amazing.
If this is the first in the series I truly think (and, like others, HOPE) that we WILL indeed see more of the horseman in the future considering he's friends with her family. If it's NOT a series, what we're left with is an amazing story with a final note saying either 'the adventure continues' or the 'adventure continued for a while' that still satisfies.
I AM left wondering one thing however. I wonder if Valentino meant for this to be inspired by Disney's interpretation of the story or if she wanted to write a Sleepy Hollow book (/book series) of her own volition but some sort of Disney contract gave them the rights to this or if they asked her if she'd mind lending it to them or something of the sort. While Disney's version of Sleepy Hollow was faithful (if not a total page-by-page adaptation) to the original, there are things here, such as words used in place of swears and her not outright saying that the girls' lockers were tagged with slurs that make me wonder if those were choices the author would have made anyway (after all, she is herself a bisexual woman, why write out a slur when she mercifully got the point across without saying it?) or if Disney was like 'you can't say "what the actual f**k" in a Disney book' and stuff like that.
All in all, I'd only tack off half a star for the reasons of repetitiveness and for underutilizing the ghost we're all here for. But it's a solid SOLID story and a great leeway into a series if that is the path she's choosing.
I feel like there's more I'm forgetting to say so maybe one day, I'll edit/update this 😂😂
****Same day edit/update: I listened and read along to the audiobook and if you care about reader voice's pay attention to this
**** the reader..... oof. Vocally, she sounds like Scarlett Johannson which is pretty cool. BUT she has a way of reading sentences as if she's speaking them converSATIONally and wants your response or approval to everything she's said. (I hope your voice followed what i did with the word conversationally there. It was all I could do not to put question marks in the middle of sentences to convey what she sounds like).
Her voice acting is alright for the most part but.... her grown/father aged men all sound the way Bane sounds in HBOMax's animated Harley Quinn series. It's hilarious but a tad grating but listenable. Her Blake and Brom voices are similar to the point of inseparable to the point that if you forget the lead is a descendant of Katrina and Brom you'd think Blake was Brom's reincarnation or descendant.
Her ABSOLUTE BEST voice by FAR is the one she uses as the ghost of The Headless Horseman. It's classy and dark and elegant and haunting and sexy (I think. Maybe I'm just too attracted to him to ever find fault in his voice). Amazing AMAZING work and choices made when it comes to that.
I'd give her reading a 2.5 to 3 out of 5 stars. Except when she voices the ghost. She pulls out a 10 for that. If this IS a series and they continue on with her reading it, fine. If they change her, bleeessssss.
October 18, 2022
I’m proud to be a Van Tassell!
October 12, 2025
Wow! Going into this book I didn’t expect to wind up giving it five stars in the end, but I just did. I was so pleasantly surprised, in more ways than one.
I’ve loved The Legend of Sleepy Hollow for years. I grew up watching the animated version every Halloween. This book took those characters, especially a lesser known one like Katrina, and flushed them out in unexpected ways. I wound up absolutely adoring Katrina, and she’s a fabulous star for this story!
The book is told in two different time periods, and done so very well. My favorites were the diary entries of Katrina that are being read in the present day by one of her heirs, Kat.
I felt like I knew where the story was going, and I was right, up until the last couple of chapters. The way these characters are turned on their heads, where you can’t tell who is the hero and who is the villain, was done so fantastically well. The only thing I hate is that the end sets up another book, which I would love to see, but here we are three years later and have yet to see it come to fruition.
This is an easy, easy, easy recommendation. Especially for spooky season!
I’ve loved The Legend of Sleepy Hollow for years. I grew up watching the animated version every Halloween. This book took those characters, especially a lesser known one like Katrina, and flushed them out in unexpected ways. I wound up absolutely adoring Katrina, and she’s a fabulous star for this story!
The book is told in two different time periods, and done so very well. My favorites were the diary entries of Katrina that are being read in the present day by one of her heirs, Kat.
I felt like I knew where the story was going, and I was right, up until the last couple of chapters. The way these characters are turned on their heads, where you can’t tell who is the hero and who is the villain, was done so fantastically well. The only thing I hate is that the end sets up another book, which I would love to see, but here we are three years later and have yet to see it come to fruition.
This is an easy, easy, easy recommendation. Especially for spooky season!
October 19, 2022
Possible rating a 3.5; maybe a 4. It’s a bit tough for me. The book in general was a good easy read, but it didn’t hold what I thought it would by the cover and jacket cover summary. I know an author works hard on their inspiration, so I don’t fault this and I know they should be proud of their work even if it doesn’t live up to readers expectations.
The pros of this retelling of Sleepy Hollow were the setting and past/present settings. I enjoyed reading what was Katrina’s diary. Brom and Ichabod fighting was eventful and it still leaves the question of if he lived or died from the Horseman. And I liked how it showed their true colors or intentions.
The ending was good, but the story did not leave suspenseful trails of whom was doing what. It would mention something, and then never finish it. All was explained at the end, but I just felt it was missing a few things. At least for me. I feel it was rushed in the last chapter and everything was put into it all in that chapter.
Still a good read for Halloween; just not what I was expecting.
The pros of this retelling of Sleepy Hollow were the setting and past/present settings. I enjoyed reading what was Katrina’s diary. Brom and Ichabod fighting was eventful and it still leaves the question of if he lived or died from the Horseman. And I liked how it showed their true colors or intentions.
The ending was good, but the story did not leave suspenseful trails of whom was doing what. It would mention something, and then never finish it. All was explained at the end, but I just felt it was missing a few things. At least for me. I feel it was rushed in the last chapter and everything was put into it all in that chapter.
Still a good read for Halloween; just not what I was expecting.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 1, 2023
A fabulous twist on the Headless Horseman/Sleepy Hollow tale. Highly recommended to fans of retellings and stories that put a twist on a well-known (or not so well-known story).
Kat Van Tassel is a descendant of Katrina Van Tassel and is expected to live out her life in Sleepy Hollow, carrying on centuries-old traditions. But she dreams of a life outside of Sleepy Hollow (as did her ancestor, Katrina). I wasn't very familiar with the Sleepy Hollow legend, but you don't need to be to enjoy this book. The story alternates between the original Katrina's story and Kat's life today. Kat and her friend, Isadora read the original Katrina's diary and they find many parallels to Kat's life.
I love Valentino's writing and am a big fan of her Villians stories. If you like those books, you will enjoy this one too!
Kat Van Tassel is a descendant of Katrina Van Tassel and is expected to live out her life in Sleepy Hollow, carrying on centuries-old traditions. But she dreams of a life outside of Sleepy Hollow (as did her ancestor, Katrina). I wasn't very familiar with the Sleepy Hollow legend, but you don't need to be to enjoy this book. The story alternates between the original Katrina's story and Kat's life today. Kat and her friend, Isadora read the original Katrina's diary and they find many parallels to Kat's life.
I love Valentino's writing and am a big fan of her Villians stories. If you like those books, you will enjoy this one too!
October 21, 2022
Ok the ending made me change my rating. And it was a very good ending indeed. I was recommended this book by a friend and she did not steer me wrong. I admit it took me a bit to read this book from cover to cover but it is such a gratifying read. I think I was subconsciously taking my time with it just to savor the story. Like it deserves.
October 3, 2024
A clever updating of the Sleepy Hollow legend, although a bit obvious from the start!
I liked the two timelines and how they mixed and how the past decisions kept having an impact on the current timeline.
It wasn't spooky enough for me, though, which was a shame as I tend to find YA deliver the scares readily.
I liked the two timelines and how they mixed and how the past decisions kept having an impact on the current timeline.
It wasn't spooky enough for me, though, which was a shame as I tend to find YA deliver the scares readily.
January 17, 2023
4 stars. I really enjoyed this. It was a good twist on the original story with LGBTQ+ characters. The back and forth between past and present was awesome, especially in the form of a journal.
October 9, 2023
Nice little romp and great story.
December 22, 2022
In fairness, this book isn't my usual wheelhouse. I read it for the Traveling Book Club - it's not one I would have picked up on my own, and it's definitely not one I would have finished if I hadn't felt some sense of obligation to the other members of the group.
Where to even start with this one? It's boring. The writing is, frankly, dreadful. The characters are wooden. The two storylines are so similar that the entire book feels like its constantly repeating itself. None of the romance is remotely believable. Every male character is a self-absorbed ass, except when they randomly need to have a conversation showing how supportive they are of whichever Katrina we're talking about right now. Despite the two storylines taking place over a hundred years apart, the only difference in the speech/activities was that old-Katrina calls her parents "Papa and Mama" - other than that, and the fact that she's Katrina and the other one is Kat, there was nothing in the writing to indicate what time period I was reading about at any given moment. No one behaves in a manner that makes sense - for instance, The whole storyline with Blake just went weirdly off the rails, again in a way that made no sense. Supposedly the whole town believes in ghosts, but we never really see that or understand why. There was not a single moment where I felt even remotely spooked or creeped out or had a moment of "!!!!" Instead this book just goes on and on with Kat whining about her life and then Katrina whining about her life and then back to Kat so she can whine about her life some more. SO BORING. Supposedly all the main characters in this book are high school seniors, but they literally all acted like they were twelve, throwing little temper tantrums, running away, not having conversations, slamming doors, storming around, yadda yadda yadda. Am I seriously that old now? Even the ghosts made no sense.
At the end of the day, no one in this book felt like a real person, and none of them were likable. No one made a decision that matched earlier character development, which meant there was zero realistic character development. I also was not a fan of the "all men are jerks" theme that carried through the whole story, with every guy being self-centered and manipulative, and of course only the lesbian really "understands" and she's the only person who sees Kat for who she really is!!! And loves her for it!!! After two days!!! I can't even roll my eyes enough to express how annoying this "love" story was. It definitely came through as "all guys suck so you should find a girl instead" and I was not a fan.
This book just didn't deliver. The writing was lackluster, the characters terrible, the plot nonexistent, the story repetitive and dull, and not a single moment of Halloween creepiness to make up for it.
Where to even start with this one? It's boring. The writing is, frankly, dreadful. The characters are wooden. The two storylines are so similar that the entire book feels like its constantly repeating itself. None of the romance is remotely believable. Every male character is a self-absorbed ass, except when they randomly need to have a conversation showing how supportive they are of whichever Katrina we're talking about right now. Despite the two storylines taking place over a hundred years apart, the only difference in the speech/activities was that old-Katrina calls her parents "Papa and Mama" - other than that, and the fact that she's Katrina and the other one is Kat, there was nothing in the writing to indicate what time period I was reading about at any given moment. No one behaves in a manner that makes sense - for instance, The whole storyline with Blake just went weirdly off the rails, again in a way that made no sense. Supposedly the whole town believes in ghosts, but we never really see that or understand why. There was not a single moment where I felt even remotely spooked or creeped out or had a moment of "!!!!" Instead this book just goes on and on with Kat whining about her life and then Katrina whining about her life and then back to Kat so she can whine about her life some more. SO BORING. Supposedly all the main characters in this book are high school seniors, but they literally all acted like they were twelve, throwing little temper tantrums, running away, not having conversations, slamming doors, storming around, yadda yadda yadda. Am I seriously that old now? Even the ghosts made no sense.
At the end of the day, no one in this book felt like a real person, and none of them were likable. No one made a decision that matched earlier character development, which meant there was zero realistic character development. I also was not a fan of the "all men are jerks" theme that carried through the whole story, with every guy being self-centered and manipulative, and of course only the lesbian really "understands" and she's the only person who sees Kat for who she really is!!! And loves her for it!!! After two days!!! I can't even roll my eyes enough to express how annoying this "love" story was. It definitely came through as "all guys suck so you should find a girl instead" and I was not a fan.
This book just didn't deliver. The writing was lackluster, the characters terrible, the plot nonexistent, the story repetitive and dull, and not a single moment of Halloween creepiness to make up for it.
July 20, 2023
I was really excited to read this book, I have always held a special place in my heart for Sleepy Hollow. This however fell a little flat of my expectations. The retelling of “the Legend of Sleepy Hollow” from Katrina’s perspective was very well done, the rest was repetitive and underwhelming.
October 18, 2022
Im trying to find the politest words possible to describe how much I didn’t like this. I had so much hope with the premise, and was sorely let down.
Now disclaimer I know this book is for kids, but it felt like the author was writing from a kid perspective for the intended audience. It was uncomfortably forced.
I physically cringed reading this. It felt very “I’m not mainstream” while being one hundred percent mainstream. The writing was not the worst though: super descriptive and detailed. Maybe too much at times, but better than not enough.
Also biggest issue is I genuinely don’t even know how Isadora and Kat fell in love? There was 0 chemistry and felt forced. I wanted slow burn, pulling apart Kat’s same sex attraction while being thrust into a new relationship whilst saving the town (is that even what they were doing? Literally no idea). Basically I wanted it to feel genuine.
The storyline was okay. It made sense for the most part but it was all over the place and like the author was trying to combine different concepts of the headless horseman’s redemption arc, Katrina’s support of kat through her life, sexuality discovery, abusive relationships etc. while not doing any of them justice.
I like that Katrina’s ghost was around kat and Blake as children…that was cool.
Anyways, I love a cheesy cringe fest, but the bar was low with this one.
Now disclaimer I know this book is for kids, but it felt like the author was writing from a kid perspective for the intended audience. It was uncomfortably forced.
I physically cringed reading this. It felt very “I’m not mainstream” while being one hundred percent mainstream. The writing was not the worst though: super descriptive and detailed. Maybe too much at times, but better than not enough.
Also biggest issue is I genuinely don’t even know how Isadora and Kat fell in love? There was 0 chemistry and felt forced. I wanted slow burn, pulling apart Kat’s same sex attraction while being thrust into a new relationship whilst saving the town (is that even what they were doing? Literally no idea). Basically I wanted it to feel genuine.
The storyline was okay. It made sense for the most part but it was all over the place and like the author was trying to combine different concepts of the headless horseman’s redemption arc, Katrina’s support of kat through her life, sexuality discovery, abusive relationships etc. while not doing any of them justice.
I like that Katrina’s ghost was around kat and Blake as children…that was cool.
Anyways, I love a cheesy cringe fest, but the bar was low with this one.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 25, 2022
You can read my full review on my blog, The Bookwyrm's Den, here.
I received a copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
Overall
Confession: one of my very first loves was Christopher Walken playing the Headless Horseman in the 1999 version of Sleepy Hollow. Okay, yes, sure, this concerned my mother greatly because, one, she was a little perturbed that I didn’t love Johnny Depp the way she did, but two, and probably the greater point, he was kind of a murdering psychopath. But not without reason, okay? Give him a little credit. Also, I was nine. That may have had something to do with her concern, too, now that I think about it.
Anyway, point is, I am a fool for the Legend of Sleepy Hollow and absolutely had to read this book the minute I knew it was a retelling of it.
Raising the Horseman is a retelling of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow that blends horror, paranormal, and the charm of contemporary romance in a creepy, gender-bent reimagining of an old classic.
This book wasn’t quite what I expected, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I was just surprised! I thought it would err on the side of creepy Halloween vibes, and it did a little bit, but this really felt more like a contemporary romance with some paranormal elements than an actual horror book. Fans of contemporary romance would probably be able to really get into this book! There’s a lot of discussions of finding yourself and permission to be who you want, which I thought was extremely relatable, especially for this age group. Valentino also does a great job of establishing an atmosphere, because it was sufficiently creepy to qualify as a fun fall read to get in the Halloween mood!
My Thoughts
- Kat van Tassel comes from a loooong line of Katrinas, but she’s having a hard time accepting the role her family says she’s meant to play in life. This is one of those expectations versus desires tropes that seems to be really popular in YA, and I think it does the job here. Her parents’ expectations are a little unrealistic: marry her childhood friend and take over as the Katrina van Tassel in town, meant to run the farm and keep the whole town afloat. No pressure or anything. That has, after all, been the role of Katrinas in town all the way since the original Katrina van Tassel all those years ago.
Kat, however, has other plans. She feels a little “not like other girls” in this regard, which I didn’t love how hard the “not like other Katrinas” narrative was pushed, especially since she is like other Katrinas. Well, namely, she’s like the original Katrina, as she finds out through Katrina’s old journal. In fact, the parallels are rather uncanny. Almost like her story is a retelling of the original’s story. 😉
I think there are a lot of parts to Kat’s story that readers will find relatable. The sense of wanting something more in life, of wanting to get out of a small, dead-end town alone is a totally recognizable (and totally reasonable) desire. On top of that, Kat isn’t sure exactly what she wants for her future. She wants to see the world (she’s sure of that, at least), but not quite sure who (or if) she wants to marry, what for sure she’ll be, etc. And at 18, it’s a bit unrealistic that her parents have it all figured out for her, right? I suspect many young readers will be able to see themselves in Kat and her struggles to find her own future.
- Kat’s story reads an awful lot like a contemporary romance, with an obviously abusive boyfriend that she needs to gather the courage to leave, and a female love interest that sweeps onto the scene who may or may not be too good to be true. Not gonna lie, this part of the book surprised me a little, because it’s not what I was expecting. Some of you will already know that I’m not a huge fan of contemporary romance, so I didn’t particularly love this almost soap opera-esque part of the story. However, contemporary romance fans will! There’s an almost insta-love quality to the LGBTQ+ relationship that mirrors Katrina’s initial enamorment with Ichabod Crane that makes for a really interesting retelling.
The boyfriend was a git, and was probably the most painful part of this book. He’s bad news from the beginning, and Kat can’t see it until she sees her situation through someone else’s eyes and finds the courage to leave. Lots of trigger/content warnings here for partner abuse, including gaslighting, among other things. It’s hard to read at times, but also a good example of how hard it can be to leave toxic relationships and how people can talk themselves into staying.
- This is the Legend of Sleepy Hollow like you haven’t seen it before. Namely, from the point of view of the women. You know, that highly overlooked and underappreciated gender that rarely was taken into account in stories all those years ago when it was first written. Yeah, that one. Not only is this retelling from the point of view of a female (obviously), but the main focus is on the life of Katrina van Tassel and the whirlwind courtship as it appears from her point of view.
The Headless Horseman’s spirit is very much alive in this retelling, as are other spooky, paranormal things. This retelling is spooky, but not scary, and is focused much more on finding the truth of what happened in Sleepy Hollow with the original Katrina. While the story is the same one we all know and love at its heart, it takes on a wholly different meaning and feel when told from a different perspective, which I appreciated.
Sticking Points
- Half the story is told through the original Katrina van Tassel’s diary, and while I really enjoyed the story and perspective, the way this section was framed and written was very awkward and weird. Let me explain. Technically, one would expect that Katrina’s diary would be like a normal diary, right? From her perspective, first person, telling everything she’d been through. Except that’s not the case. Instead, the diary starts with a paragraph or two in first person to set the scene, then switches to third person. From there, it’s likely to jump to any other character’s head and thoughts. Some of these jumps are framed with an explanation, like how Katrina’s mother later told her XYZ. Not all of them, though. Sometimes, the reader just finds themselves randomly in someone else’s head.
Not everyone will care about this, but I found it so clunky and weird! What I really wanted was a diary from Katrina’s perspective, first person, like we’re in her head (as diaries are wont to do), experiencing her story with her, as she discovers the truth herself, not as she’s supposedly heard from others years down the road. The book would’ve been so much stronger if that were the case!
I received a copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
Overall
Confession: one of my very first loves was Christopher Walken playing the Headless Horseman in the 1999 version of Sleepy Hollow. Okay, yes, sure, this concerned my mother greatly because, one, she was a little perturbed that I didn’t love Johnny Depp the way she did, but two, and probably the greater point, he was kind of a murdering psychopath. But not without reason, okay? Give him a little credit. Also, I was nine. That may have had something to do with her concern, too, now that I think about it.
Anyway, point is, I am a fool for the Legend of Sleepy Hollow and absolutely had to read this book the minute I knew it was a retelling of it.
Raising the Horseman is a retelling of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow that blends horror, paranormal, and the charm of contemporary romance in a creepy, gender-bent reimagining of an old classic.
This book wasn’t quite what I expected, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I was just surprised! I thought it would err on the side of creepy Halloween vibes, and it did a little bit, but this really felt more like a contemporary romance with some paranormal elements than an actual horror book. Fans of contemporary romance would probably be able to really get into this book! There’s a lot of discussions of finding yourself and permission to be who you want, which I thought was extremely relatable, especially for this age group. Valentino also does a great job of establishing an atmosphere, because it was sufficiently creepy to qualify as a fun fall read to get in the Halloween mood!
My Thoughts
- Kat van Tassel comes from a loooong line of Katrinas, but she’s having a hard time accepting the role her family says she’s meant to play in life. This is one of those expectations versus desires tropes that seems to be really popular in YA, and I think it does the job here. Her parents’ expectations are a little unrealistic: marry her childhood friend and take over as the Katrina van Tassel in town, meant to run the farm and keep the whole town afloat. No pressure or anything. That has, after all, been the role of Katrinas in town all the way since the original Katrina van Tassel all those years ago.
Kat, however, has other plans. She feels a little “not like other girls” in this regard, which I didn’t love how hard the “not like other Katrinas” narrative was pushed, especially since she is like other Katrinas. Well, namely, she’s like the original Katrina, as she finds out through Katrina’s old journal. In fact, the parallels are rather uncanny. Almost like her story is a retelling of the original’s story. 😉
I think there are a lot of parts to Kat’s story that readers will find relatable. The sense of wanting something more in life, of wanting to get out of a small, dead-end town alone is a totally recognizable (and totally reasonable) desire. On top of that, Kat isn’t sure exactly what she wants for her future. She wants to see the world (she’s sure of that, at least), but not quite sure who (or if) she wants to marry, what for sure she’ll be, etc. And at 18, it’s a bit unrealistic that her parents have it all figured out for her, right? I suspect many young readers will be able to see themselves in Kat and her struggles to find her own future.
- Kat’s story reads an awful lot like a contemporary romance, with an obviously abusive boyfriend that she needs to gather the courage to leave, and a female love interest that sweeps onto the scene who may or may not be too good to be true. Not gonna lie, this part of the book surprised me a little, because it’s not what I was expecting. Some of you will already know that I’m not a huge fan of contemporary romance, so I didn’t particularly love this almost soap opera-esque part of the story. However, contemporary romance fans will! There’s an almost insta-love quality to the LGBTQ+ relationship that mirrors Katrina’s initial enamorment with Ichabod Crane that makes for a really interesting retelling.
The boyfriend was a git, and was probably the most painful part of this book. He’s bad news from the beginning, and Kat can’t see it until she sees her situation through someone else’s eyes and finds the courage to leave. Lots of trigger/content warnings here for partner abuse, including gaslighting, among other things. It’s hard to read at times, but also a good example of how hard it can be to leave toxic relationships and how people can talk themselves into staying.
- This is the Legend of Sleepy Hollow like you haven’t seen it before. Namely, from the point of view of the women. You know, that highly overlooked and underappreciated gender that rarely was taken into account in stories all those years ago when it was first written. Yeah, that one. Not only is this retelling from the point of view of a female (obviously), but the main focus is on the life of Katrina van Tassel and the whirlwind courtship as it appears from her point of view.
The Headless Horseman’s spirit is very much alive in this retelling, as are other spooky, paranormal things. This retelling is spooky, but not scary, and is focused much more on finding the truth of what happened in Sleepy Hollow with the original Katrina. While the story is the same one we all know and love at its heart, it takes on a wholly different meaning and feel when told from a different perspective, which I appreciated.
Sticking Points
- Half the story is told through the original Katrina van Tassel’s diary, and while I really enjoyed the story and perspective, the way this section was framed and written was very awkward and weird. Let me explain. Technically, one would expect that Katrina’s diary would be like a normal diary, right? From her perspective, first person, telling everything she’d been through. Except that’s not the case. Instead, the diary starts with a paragraph or two in first person to set the scene, then switches to third person. From there, it’s likely to jump to any other character’s head and thoughts. Some of these jumps are framed with an explanation, like how Katrina’s mother later told her XYZ. Not all of them, though. Sometimes, the reader just finds themselves randomly in someone else’s head.
Not everyone will care about this, but I found it so clunky and weird! What I really wanted was a diary from Katrina’s perspective, first person, like we’re in her head (as diaries are wont to do), experiencing her story with her, as she discovers the truth herself, not as she’s supposedly heard from others years down the road. The book would’ve been so much stronger if that were the case!
December 31, 2024
Woof....I should've trusted the reviews I read. I wanted a quick read before the new year and chose this. it had..so much potential. sapphic love story, iconic American folk lore, mirror perspectives, heavy topics...but it was all over the place. despite using some curse words and dealing with gaslighting and misogyny, the writing was so insanely juvenile.
the perspectives of the story was so confusing and all over the place and randomly shifted to first person in the epilogue. despite being in 3rd person the entire book, we are focusing through the POV of Kat and Katrina and yet got the internal thoughts and feelings of other characters.
the story would've been so interesting if the writing wasn't...what it was.
multiple sentences practically repeating the same idea just reworded..I don't think this author knows what a "smirk" is. why is your character smirking after crying when they're feeling relief...they aren't being smug.
also the title doesn't make sense until the very end with a shoved-in-explanation. "Raising the Horseman" ..."oh you summoned me because you were sad all those times that were pre-established in the story"
I was also so excited for a sapphic sub-plot but it was...so insanely forced and rushed. you would think that for a queer author, you'd want to give representation in a way that actually connects to readers instead of Kat falling in love with a girl she met 2 days prior with zero chemistry whatsoever and her ancestor from the 1700s is hip and cool with it. there was thrown in homophobia to show how Blake is the bad guy but everyone else in this town that's ESTABLISHED as old-fashioned is a-okay with homosexuality. don't get me wrong, I don't want every queer story to have to be a battle against homophobia, but you..already included it.
the only saving grace of it being a 2 and not a 1 was I was intrigued how it was going to end but I wasted 3 days with this book
the perspectives of the story was so confusing and all over the place and randomly shifted to first person in the epilogue. despite being in 3rd person the entire book, we are focusing through the POV of Kat and Katrina and yet got the internal thoughts and feelings of other characters.
the story would've been so interesting if the writing wasn't...what it was.
multiple sentences practically repeating the same idea just reworded..I don't think this author knows what a "smirk" is. why is your character smirking after crying when they're feeling relief...they aren't being smug.
also the title doesn't make sense until the very end with a shoved-in-explanation. "Raising the Horseman" ..."oh you summoned me because you were sad all those times that were pre-established in the story"
I was also so excited for a sapphic sub-plot but it was...so insanely forced and rushed. you would think that for a queer author, you'd want to give representation in a way that actually connects to readers instead of Kat falling in love with a girl she met 2 days prior with zero chemistry whatsoever and her ancestor from the 1700s is hip and cool with it. there was thrown in homophobia to show how Blake is the bad guy but everyone else in this town that's ESTABLISHED as old-fashioned is a-okay with homosexuality. don't get me wrong, I don't want every queer story to have to be a battle against homophobia, but you..already included it.
the only saving grace of it being a 2 and not a 1 was I was intrigued how it was going to end but I wasted 3 days with this book
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