Willa of Dark Hollow

I read both the Willa books aloud to my twin nine-year old daughters and my husband. We all enjoyed them so much and the girls were jumping out of their skin to read each night. As the book built up to its climax and conclusion, our daughters were shocked and devastated by the ending. It left them sobbing and all of us sad and stunned. We comforted our kids by re-imagining a different ending together and that seemed to help. But overall our daughters now have a sad feeling about the books and we haven't continued to talk about them as we have with other favorites. I think the author underestimated how deeply young readers connect and identify with the main character and the ending felt unbearably sad to my daughters. I wish he had chosen a different ending for a novel aimed at this age group.

I honestly can’t understand all the 5 star reviews. We are huge fans of Robert Beatty. The first Willa was my daughter’s favorite book. It was absolutely magical. We were so excited to read this one. The ending ruins the whole book. I won’t say more than that so I done give spoilers, but it was one of the worst endings in children’s book history.

My daughter and I have read all of Robert Beatty's books and truly enjoy them all, this one is no exception. I wish there was cross-over with the Serafina books since they take place at about the same time in the same geographic region. Sometimes the descriptions can be a bit overdone, but overall we loved it.

The first Willa book is one of my daughter's favorites. She wasn't as happy about how this one ended, but still really enjoyed it. Beautiful writing!

I loved this series. This book wasn't as good as the first book and I'm sad how it ended, but still a good read for anyone who likes children's books and magic and nature. I'm hoping for a spin off from this book or just another wonderful book with all the descriptions of the mountains and the forest.