Review: The Spellbook of Katrina Van Tassel: A Story of Sleepy Hollow by Alyssa Palmobo

The Spellbook of Katrina Van Tassel: A Story of Sleepy Hollow by Alyssa Palombo

• Pub. Date: October 2, 2018
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
• Pages: 416
• Rating:4/5
• Goodreads/Amazon/ Book Depository

When Ichabod Crane arrives in the spooky little village of Sleepy Hollow as the new schoolmaster, Katrina Van Tassel is instantly drawn to him. Through their shared love of books and music, they form a friendship that quickly develops into romance. Ichabod knows that as an itinerant schoolteacher of little social standing, he has nothing to offer the wealthy Katrina – unlike her childhood friend-turned-enemy, Brom Van Brunt, who is the suitor Katrina’s father favors.

But when romance gives way to passion, Ichabod and Katrina embark on a secret love affair, sneaking away into the woods after dark to be together – all while praying they do not catch sight of Sleepy Hollow’s legendary Headless Horseman. That is, until All Hallows’s Eve, when Ichabod suddenly disappears, leaving Katrina alone and in a perilous position.

Enlisting the help of her friend – and rumored witch – Charlotte Jansen, Katrina seeks the truth of Ichabod Crane’s disappearance, investigating the forest around Sleepy Hollow using unconventional – often magical – means. What they find forces Katrina to question everything she once knew, and to wonder if the Headless Horseman is perhaps more than just a story after all. In Alyssa Palombo's The Spellbook of Katrina Van Tassel nothing is as it seems, and love is a thing even death won't erase.

Review: I have always been enamored with The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and when The Spellbook of Katrina Van Tassel: A Story of Sleepy Hollow landed at my doorsteps I was thrilled. There was this dark seductive yet haunting vibe throughout the whole book and with the gloomy rainy weather we were having here in Seattle the mood was set just right for me to get into this novel.

The book grabbed my attention from page one when it started with "Washington Irving got it wrong." I was all in. I knew I had to know Katrina's side of the story what really went down and I was not disappointed. I feel Palombo gave Katrina's character depth something even the original classic never accomplished, we learn so much about Katrina and I really did love her through her struggles and heartbreaks and hard decisions, I loved her through and through.

Another character that surprisingly stood out to me in the novel was Charlotte, Katrina's dearest friend. Without Charlotte, I don't see how Katrina could have managed the whole ordeal with Ichabod.  I found Charlotte to be a quiet strength and a loyal friend I would have loved to see things from her perspective as well.

If you go into this novel expecting it to be heavy in the supernatural realm of things, it's not. It really is a story of Katrina and how she met Ichabod and what transpired between them with tidbits of the supernatural thrown in giving it the right amount of eeriness. 

Overall The Spellbook of Katrina Van Tassel: A Story of Sleepy Hollow couldn't be released at a better time with us being knee deep in Autumn now and Halloween upon us soon, I highly recommend it especially if you loved the original classic this is a great addition to your collection.