Graveminder by Melissa Marr - Book Review

Title: Graveminder

Author: Melissa Marr

Publisher: Harper Collins

Publication Date: 2011

Pages: 324

Format: Paperback
Genre: Paranormal

Source: Bought Copy

Rebekkah Barrow never forgot the tender attention her grandmother, Maylene, bestowed upon the dead of Claysville. While growing up, Rebekkah watched as Maylene performed the same unusual ritual at every funeral: three sips from a small silver flask followed by the words, ""Sleep well, and stay where I put you.""

Now Maylene is gone and Bek must return to the hometown--and the man--she abandoned a decade ago, only to discover that Maylene's death was not natural . . . and there was good reason for her odd traditions. In Claysville, the worlds of the living and the dead are dangerously connected--and beneath the town lies a shadowy, lawless land ruled by the enigmatic Charles, aka Mr. D. From this dark place the deceased will return if their graves are not properly minded. And only the Graveminder, a Barrow woman, and the current Undertaker, Byron, can set things to right once the dead begin to walk. . . . (Goodreads Synopsis)


This book was a mixed bag for me. I loved the opening and settled down for a good read, but then it all went wrong. Suddenly that initial action was over, the brakes were slammed on and barely anything happened for the first third of the book - nothing exciting at any rate. The pace was a crawl and I wondered if things would ever pick up.

Luckily the story did get moving again and by the half-way point I was feeling some enthusiasm again. Even so, I didn't think the relationship between the two leads was well portrayed and the storyline, though interesting, lacked punch.

Overall, an okay-good read, but not a book I'd rush back to again and again. Fans of Marr will probably enjoy it, but I wouldn't recommend it for those people coming to her writing for the first time.