I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

In rural Caball Hollow, surrounded by the vast National Forest, the James women serve up more than fried green tomatoes at the Harvest Moon diner, where the family recipes are not the only secrets.

Like her sisters, Linden was born with an unusual ability. She can taste what others are feeling, but this so-called gift soured her relationship with the vexingly attractive Cole Spencer one fateful night a year ago . . . A night when Linden vanished into the depths of the Forest and returned with no memories of what happened, just a litany of questions—and a haze of nightmares that suggest there’s more to her story than simply getting lost.

Now, during the hottest summer on record,another girl in town is gone, and the similarities to last year’s events are striking. Except, this time the missing girl doesn’t make it home, and when her body is discovered, the scene unmistakably spells murder.

As tempers boil over, Linden enlists the help of her sisters to find what’s hiding in the forest . . . before it finds her. But as she starts digging for truth—about the Moth-Winged Man rumored to haunt the Hollow, about her bitter rift with Cole, and even about her family—she must question if some secrets are best left buried.

Short and Sweet Review

The James women are more special than the food they serve at their diner, they all have unique abilities. Our main character Linden is able to taste what others are feeling, as cool as this sounds, this talent unfortunately ruined her relationship with Cole a year ago. A year ago is also when Linden disappeared in the forest and came back with no idea of what happened. Now another girl has gone missing but this time she’s dead. Linden is ready to figure out what happened to the most recent girl and herself, and with the help with her sisters she’s going to uncover some secrets that shouldn’t have been left alone.

Bittersweet in the Hollow, follows our main character Linden as she tries to live a normal life after disappearing in the forest last year. In her small town there’s a big festival and also the legend of the moth man. When another girl disappears after the festival and ends up being found dead, the talk about the moth man increases. Linden wants to know what happened especially because she made it out alive but doesn’t know how. The setting was great it was a small town where everyone knew each other. Linden and the women in her family all have unique gifts and it was even more interesting when her sisters started helping her and we got to see how their gifts worked to solve the mystery. We also get small excerpts of what happened to Linden a year ago and it brought everything together. Linden has run ins with Cole, their relationship soured last year after he found out what she could do but we can see there’s still some feelings lingering and I did like the relationship especially seeing him rescue her time after time. I loved seeing Linden cover the mysteries surrounding the forest and the moth man, she also learns more about her family and how they have a connection to everything going on.

Overall, the writing in this book was magical and the pacing was fast and everything happening will keep you wanting more. I loved Linden as our main character she was willing to find the truth even though it got dangerous and I enjoyed seeing how the mystery unfolded. I would recommend this book and I’m excited to read the sequel and read from the POV of Linden’s sister Rowan.