House of Hollow: Prologue–Chapter 5

by Krystal Sutherland
When Iris's eldest sister goes missing, she, her middle sister, and her eldest sister's boyfriend search for her, but they risk learning more than they want to about a haunting and mysterious incident from the sisters' past.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Prologue–Chapter 5, Chapters 6–9, Chapters 10–14, Chapters 15–19, Chapters 20–24
15 words 20 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. gruesome
    shockingly repellent; inspiring horror
    It was a soft kiss right out of a fairy tale, made gruesome by the fact that the woman’s chin was slick with our mother’s blood.
  2. studious
    characterized by diligent study and fondness for reading
    I simply followed in their wake, quiet and studious, always embarrassed by the attention.
  3. ethereal
    characterized by unusual lightness and delicacy
    It was perhaps why journalists were forever describing her as ethereal, though I’d always thought of Grey as more earthy.
  4. earmark
    give or assign a resource to a particular person or cause
    The rooms of this house that had been earmarked for children had been left empty, and my grandparents had not lived long enough to see any of their grandchildren born.
  5. pall
    a dark covering or cloud, as of smoke
    It was a gray morning, the sun yawning sluggishly into the sky behind a pall of clouds.
  6. detritus
    the remains of something that has been destroyed or finished
    The leaves would soon begin to return, but this morning I moved beneath a thicket of stark branches, my path bordered on both sides by a carpet of fallen detritus.
  7. brandish
    exhibit aggressively
    Grey knew her power and brandished it forcefully, in a way I had seen few girls do.
  8. intoxicating
    extremely exciting
    I smelled clean but not intoxicating, not sweet, not tempting.
  9. fetid
    offensively malodorous
    I’d left the files and fetid bloom in my mother’s drawer and slammed her bedroom door shut behind me.
  10. saccharine
    overly sweet
    “Anyway,” Jennifer continued, her saccharine smile beginning to go sour, “think about it. It wouldn’t be the worst thing that could happen to you, you know—being my friend. I’ll see you tonight.”
  11. penchant
    a strong liking or preference
    Vivi was the fun assistant, the suggester of mischief, the teller of jokes, the wild one—but even with her penchant for anarchy and dislike of authority, she always fell in line behind Grey.
  12. labyrinthine
    resembling a maze in form or complexity
    Grey had met us there and we’d spent two nights wandering the labyrinthine stone alleys of the Old Town, eating nothing but trdelník and drinking nothing but absinthe.
  13. sumptuous
    rich and superior in quality
    The bar was gold and glass and framed by a set of sumptuous purple velvet curtains.
  14. bespoke
    custom-made
    Rarely was he seen in something that wasn’t daring: Gucci floral suits, bespoke lace blouses, strings of antique pearls, pussybow shirts, heeled loafers.
  15. flippant
    showing an inappropriate lack of seriousness
    Grey was wild, sure, but not flippant—especially not with other people’s hearts.
Created on Fri Jul 03 04:17:44 EDT 2026 (updated Tue Jul 28 12:08:19 EDT 2026)

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