The Hallowed Ones [Paperback]

Since I read Karen Ann Hopkins' TEMPTATION and Jodi Picoult's PLAIN TRUTH, I've been looking for more "Amish with a twist" novels. And THE HALLOWED ONES is a good one.

I was already a fan of Laura Bickle's work, but this one takes the cake. THE HALLOWED ONES is a creepy-cool read, with plenty of suspense and gore to please everyone. I'm not normally one for horror, but this stands along Jennifer Armintrout's AMERICAN VAMPIRE as exceptions. Katie is one tough young lady, because it takes massive balls to prepare bodies for burial. Seriously, that scene is bloody scary! Frau Gerlach is awesome - nothing fazes her; she just gets the job done. And I'm fascinated with the Hexenmeister...Katie would be a fabulous Hexenmeisterin.

Basically, I had a great time, and I'm gagging for September's release of THE OUTSIDE. You should be, too.

I really liked this book overall, though I felt the ending let it down by being a bit rushed. Can't see where Bickle will go with a sequel, but I'll definitely be buying that, too. An interesting and compelling read.

When I read the synopsis of The Hallowed Ones by Laura Bickle, I knew I had to read this book!! I've always been intrigued by the Amish lifestyle. I ended up buying it as the urge to read it was much too strong. When I found out it was a book that featured vampires, I was a bit put off by it as I hate vampire books, but this one turned out to be alright.

Katie and her best friend Elijah only have a few more weeks to wait until they will be able to go on Rumpsringa. However, when the a helicopter crashes in an Amish field, and no one from the Outside comes to check it out, Katie begins to worry. Eventually, Katie discovers that vampires have taken over the Outside. How will she survive? How can she make sure her friends and family are safe?

The Hallowed Ones is a great description of the Amish, and I can see why the author chose this as the title of her book. It fits in with the plot of the story, so I think it was an excellent choice.

How foreboding does the cover look!?! It looks a bit creepy to me which also made me want to read the book even more. Yes, I know the saying "never judge a book by its cover" but this one definitely had me intrigued. The cover is good, but it's just a picture of an Amish girl and some ravens. Whilst ravens are mentioned in the book, I just wish the cover would've given more away about the book. It would've been much better had it featured a vampire on the cover!! Well, that's my personal opinion anyway.

The setting was great! It takes place all on Amish land. I don't know enough about the Amish to say how correct the author was when it came to recreating the world of the Amish, but from what I do know, everything seemed to fit.

The pacing does start out a bit slow at the beginning, but it subtly speeds up. I did find myself bored for awhile whilst reading this book, but I was soon enthralled. I couldn't tell you when I actually started enjoying it as it just kind of creeped up on me.

A lot of the dialogue in this book is about Katie's inner turmoil about her religion. I hate when books seem to slag off God, but I tried to read this from an unbiased viewpoint. I just thought I'd throw that out there for those who might be put off because of that fact. Other than that, the dialogue is great! I enjoyed the Amish words that were used in it as well.

As for the characters, I thought Katie was great. I loved how she challenged everything and wasn't afraid to stand up for what she believed in. She's very outspoken which I very much admired. I started out liking Elijah, but after how he treats Katie, I started disliking him. I thought the character of Alex was great as well. I don't want to say too much about him due to spoilers. Overall, all the characters were very well-developed which I was happy about.

This book helped me learn a bit more about the Amish which I was thankful for. Even though it featured vampires, it wasn't overly focused on them like most books are.

I'd recommend this book to everyone over the age of 16. It's a good little read! I kind of just wish that I'd have borrowed it from the library than buying it.