Review – His Hollow Heart by Rachel Leigh

His Hollow Heart; Fallen Kingdom #1 
(#1 within a series)

Publication Date: November 4, 2021

Genre/Tropes: Duet/Intrigue/Dark Romance

Author: Rachel Leigh

Review Rating: 5 Gold Stars

Review/Synopsis:

Review:

Super intrigued by the darkness this book brought that I couldn’t stop reading.

Two children spent four years in foster care together. Best friends, but separated when they were adopted into two different families. While that may seem like the beginning of a happy ending, it was actually the beginning of a nightmare.

Callum spent the last twelve years building his revenge against those who left him, wronged him, and hurt him. He is a man with a dark soul and a hollow heart. He’s cruel, lacks empathy, and his methods of revenge are a bit disturbing, but I was also fascinated at what his game plan was since so much of the man was shrouded in mystery. I had to keep turning the pages to find out what was going to happen, even though Callum himself wasn’t someone I ever wanted to come upon in the dark or even in the light.

Isabella left Cal’s side twelve years ago. While her life went quite a bit differently than his, she never forgot the boy who also had a huge impact on her as a young girl. She has no idea when they reunite years later that she will be kept prisoner in his castle, that’s right…a castle, that she will beg, plead, and cry to go home. Cal is not the boy she remembers, but every once in a while she catches glimpses of the boy she once knew. Is it enough to stay? Not the way he treats her, no. Bella steps into a world she doesn’t know or understand. There are unknown factors and Cal won’t tell her or open up. These mysteries kept me going, even when I agreed with Bella’s thoughts on leaving. 

I was completely intrigued by what should have disturbed me. Basically, what turned my stomach, I couldn’t tear my eyes off the pages and stop reading. I had to know more and I needed to know why. I was frustrated by everything just like Bella, trapped in the pages just like she was trapped in the castle.

This book contains scenes that may disturb some readers. Degradation, imprisonment, snakes…shudder…oh the snakes…and more dark topics. While it’s all important to character growth and the plot, it is a dark book for a reason.

His Hollow Heart is book one in a duet and I can’t even imagine what’s to come for Cal and Bella as their story unfolds.

 

Synopsis:

Bella
A pact made.
Two orphans who vowed to never part.

I was selfish.
For once, I had to be.
The last time I saw Callum he was standing at the dormer window as I sat in the back seat of the car.
His dark eyes foreign to me.
The hatred that radiated from his glare shot through me with more force than a silver bullet.
In a matter of minutes he had become a stranger.
No longer my best friend.
He was now a boy with a hollow heart who was headed down a dark path.
A path I knew I’d never cross again.
Or, so I thought.

Callum
We had a deal—always stay together.

The day Bella left, I vowed I would find her. And when I did, she would feel what I felt as I watched her pull away into a new life, with a new family.
Leaving me behind to endure a life that was wrapped inside the hands of a monster.

It’s been twelve years, but I’ve finally found her.
Now it’s time for her to bask in the darkness she’s created inside of me.

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