The Hollow (Sign of Seven Trilogy, Book 2)

The Hollow is the second book of the Sign of Seven Trilogy by Nora Roberts. The story started twenty-one years ago, when three young boys, Caleb, Fox, and Gage, spent the night camping by the Pagan Stone. They shared birthdays and an unbreakable bond on friendship. Boys being boys, they wanted to take it one step farther. They would become blood brothers. During the ritual of sharing, mixed blood hit the ground. It unleashed an evil entity that returned to Hawkins Hollow every seven years. For seven days madness reigned, lives were lost, property destroyed, and families torn apart.

Caleb, Fox, and Gage are descendants of the Guardian, Giles Dent, the one that locked the evil entity, Lazarus Twisse under the Pagan Stone. Up until now Caleb, Fox, and Gage did what they could to minimize the damage but they couldn't stop it.

The madness would be returning this summer and now, twenty-one years after releasing the demon, they have a chance at ending it once and for all. Three women, Quinn, Cybil, and Layla, all descendants of the child conceived when Twisse raped an innocent girl, have joined the battle.

With the history laid out in the first book, the story is more evenly divided between the challenge Lazarus Twisse presented, and the budding romance between Layla and Fox. The attraction was strong, but they were circling each other, not sure if getting involved was a smart move. They had to work together on so many levels, a romance might cloud the issue---or clear it.

The Hollow by Nora Roberts is a fast paced thrilled with a healthy dose of romance thrown in. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and am looking forward to the third book The Pagan Stone scheduled for release in December of 2008.

Roberts writes well. Predictable yes. But this genre usually is. Its well done and fun to read.
I am looking forward to the third and last in the series.

I absolutely love this trilogy. Unfortunately it is the first trilogy I have read before all of them are published and I have to wait five more months before the last one comes out!

"The Hollow" is the second in the 7 trilogy by Nora Roberts. A continuation from "Blood Brothers", this book finds Layla, Quinn and Cybil even closer friends with Fox, Cal and Gage, and more determined than ever to destroy the evil in their small town of Hawkins Hollow. While Book 1 focused on the growing relationship between Quinn (paranormal writer) and Cal (bowling alley owner), who have a psychic ability and connection, this latest book focused on Layla (the fashion queen) and Fox (the lawyer), both of whose abilities grow stronger as their relationship does. The only two not coupled up yet, but to me seem to be attracted to each other are Cybil (paranormal expert)and Gage (card shark with an attitude). I think that will be the beginning of book 3 which will all culminate in an ending that I am sure we won't soon forget..a showdown between good and evil. As the friends struggle to save the world as we know it, we find out more about their connection to the town and the evil that makes an appearance every 7 years for 7 days. Having now figured out how to reassemble the stone, we know that the end of this war (between good and evil) is near. I will however make a few predictions, the first being obvious: good always wins. The second being that while Gage and Cybil's relationship is going to be important in the last novel, so too will Gage's relationship with his father (hint, everyone else gets along and loves their father, with the exception of Gage...because his father abused him as a kid). And is there possibly a "7th" person in this adventure, maybe even Gage's father? Just guessing. Anyway, I still believe that the problem with this trilogy is that it should have been one great novel. On the other hand, because I am determined to see how this story ends I will read the final book, Pagan Stone, when it is released.

I borrowed this book from someone so I didn't read the first book prior. I think I would have liked it better if I had. It was a passably good book but the hero was sweet and nice and that's not my favorite personality trait for my heroes. It made him kind of boring. I didn't really care about their relationship and it didn't suck me in emotionally. I'm tempted to read the other books just because I hate to leave a series hanging, but I think if the next one is boring like this one, I might just pass.