Reading teen fiction these days makes me feel old. Not because I can't identify with the hormone-induced angst that is high school (it's all too near), but because I find myself thinking in sentences that begin with, "In my day ... As in, "In my day, a book stood up on its own. You didn't pay $22 for a book that's a setup to a trilogy. And you didn't have a whole whack of merchandise already packaged and waiting to be sold even as the book hits shelves!" I guess I yearn for the good old days when a book was more about story than stuff.

That said, Jessica Verday's debut novel, The Hollow delivers on many of the promises that Stephanie Meyer's inexplicably popular Twilight series failed to keep. The story opens with a funeral. Abbey, our 16-year-old protagonist has just lost her BFF, Kristen. She's having a hard time coping - especially because there's no body and she can't shake the nagging feeling that Kristen is still out there, possibly in trouble.

It's at this funeral that Abbey first locks eyes with the mysterious Caspian and gets sucked into a somewhat paranormal romance, the specifics of which are not revealed until the very end of the book. Each chapter begins with a quote from Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and the legend itself is delicately woven into the plot.

Although the book starts off a little slowly, Abbey blossoms into an eminently likeable character. She's more Nancy Drew than Bella Swan. She's smart and funny and has interests other than mysterious, broody boys. For example, she mixes her own perfumes using essential oils and plans to open up a boutique called Abbey's Hollow.

Heck, the girl even has her own business plan! She has a healthy and realistically portrayed relationship with her parents: she talks to them about most things, but occasionally takes advantage of their absorption with their own lives to run off and meet her friends or sneak a certain gorgeous blond boy into her room.

Even more impressive is the fact that when Caspian plays the "sometimes hot, sometimes not" game that too many teenage girls will find familiar, Abbey calls him on it. Although she sheds her share of tears during the course of this story, she's not one to whinge and wallow unnecessarily.

Abbey's love interest, Caspian, remains mysterious in this book. A little too mysterious for one to really fall in love with, in my humble opinion, but then again, I'd pick him every time over Edward from the Twilight series, whose only notable attributes were that he was gorgeous and white and hard and cold. At least Caspian has warm hands!

Other notable characters include Ben, the adorable boy-next-door type who's clearly in love with Abbey but only gets to be her science project partner. Oh, and the charming Nikolas and his lovely wife, Katy, the aged caretakers of the picturesque cemetery that acts as backdrop to our narrative.

Verday is obviously a writer with some talent. Abbey's voice is warm, funny and down to earth. Verday has a knack for scene setting, but she sometimes lets her love of description override the story's momentum. There are sometimes entire scenes that seem to do nothing to drive the narrative forward.

For example, on Page 312, Abbey has a slightly sinister run-in with a guy who delivers some papers to her Uncle Bob. But we never hear from the delivery guy again and there's no further reference to the papers. There are also a bunch of haphazard scenes over the Christmas break where it felt like Verday was struggling for a segué or a way to show time passing, but managed just some clumsy filler. The end of the book also feels a little abrupt and the reader is left with more questions than answers. Which doesn't seem fair after 513 pages.

Teenage girls will find much to love about The Hollow. Not only is the heroine way smarter and more real than Bella Swan, but there's a whole virtual Hollow waiting for them online. Go to jessicaverday.com and you'll find a deliciously Gothic website (complete with original theme song!) that shares tidbits about the author, the writing process, the upcoming books as well as an opportunity to buy T-shirts and some of the perfumes described in the book. And for aspiring authors of YA fiction, there's even a link to Verday's book deal-winning query letter. The Hollow really is the thinking teen's Twilight.

Parents of teens will love this book, because Abbey is a refreshingly positive role model. She's feisty and self confident without being a goody two shoes. Her independence comes from the clarity of her vision and the goals she's set herself (both in terms of career and romance), and not simply from bucking authority.

And while she isn't immune to histrionics, she's not going to let some boy walk all over her, no matter how yummy or mysterious he is. I wouldn't be surprised if we start hearing rumours of a big screen version before the ink is dry on Book 2.