Graveminder by Melissa Marr (Book Review)

Title: Graveminder
Author: Melissa Marr
Publisher: Harper Collins

Maylene Barrow bears a special responsibility in the town of Claysville, a duty to the newly departed that keeps all she knows and loves safe.  Rebekkah Barrow, Maylene's granddaughter, left Claysville a decade ago, trying to put painful memories behind her. 


William Montgomery was Claysville's Undertaker and Maylene's best friend for a lifetime.  Byron Montgomery, following in his father's footsteps as the town's new Undertaker, is tied to the Barrow women -- first Rebekkah's dead sister, Ella, and now Rebekkah -- in ways he is only beginning to understand.


But evil has been let loose in Claysville, and now Maylene is dead.  It falls to Rebekkah to return to the town -- and the man -- she left behind to stop a monster and keep the dead in their place.

My thoughts:  I have had the opportunity to read one of Melissa Marr's YA books - the first in the Wicked Lovely series, aptly named Wicked Lovely.  I enjoyed it greatly and have every intention of reading the rest of the books in the series.  So when I saw that Melissa Marr had written an adult book, I knew that it was a must read for me - and I was not disappointed.

The world she creates in Graveminder has the feeling of a small town from years ago.  Everybody knows everybody else, but the difference is, they don't know everybody else's business.  So while you get the small town feeling, you also get a definite spooky, gothic undertone.  There is a town council in place, as well as the Graveminder and the Undertaker - but whenever anybody learns too much about someone else's "job", they are struck with a headache and eventually forget anything they aren't "supposed" to know. 

But, someone knows more than they should, and are determined to change things to how they think they should be.  Because of it, people are being killed by an evil that should not be up walking around. 

I was hooked on these characters and this world from the first chapter. I could picture them clearly in my mind, the small town, the trusting townspeople, the cemetary. Maybe it was because of this that I was drawn so quickly into their world.  But I never could have imagined what I found there.  If you are a fan of gothic novels - definitely check out Graveminder.

~I received a complimentary copy of Graveminder from Harper Collins in exchange for my review.~

About the author: Melissa Marr is the New York Times bestselling author of the Wicked Lovely series of young adult novels:  Wicked Lovely, Ink Exchange, Fragile Eternity, and Radiant Shadows.  She currently lives in the Washington, D.C., area with her husband and children.  Graveminder is her first adult novel.

You can find her at her website

Graveminder
Publisher/Publication Date: Harper Collings, May 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-182687-0
336 pages