Hickery Hollow*****
A story about domestic abuse and new beginnings by Melissa Sell
I gave this author four stars on her completed Naughty or Nice story, about a vigilante Christmas Elf on the Shelf. In that one, Edmund the Elf, affectionate watchman of the lady and children of the house, takes it upon himself to teach the cheating husband a lesson. Once again, in Hickery Hollow, author Melissa Sell seems to have a trick up her sleeve for the perpetrators of domestic disharmony. This time, though, the crime is much more severe than infidelity. The heroine’s stepfather, David, attempts to murder her mother, and it seems that the heroine herself, Hannah, might have had a direct hand in saving her mother’s life and, thereby, provoking David’s disappearance. We don’t know for sure; neither does Hannah, because she can’t remember. With the help of friends and lots of therapy, the family manages to get on their feet and establish a home in a new town—quiet, quaint Hickery Hollow. Things feel disconcertingly normal as the threat of David finding them (“to finish what he started”) hangs in the air. Added to this terror, there’s Hannah’s apparition (phantom? daydream? hallucination?) of a witchy woman on a broom who seems to be stalking her, besides carrying a baby dragon! Sell has a captivating writing style and a talent for creating characters and plot lines that are relatable, if terrifying. She cleverly blends fantasy with young adult angst. I’m definitely curious to know if, as with Naughty or Nice, good will triumph over evil.
Read it here: https://www.amazon.com/Hickery-Hollow/dp/B0B9MN4NM4/
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