Graveminder by Melissa Marr

The New York Times bestselling author of the Wicked Lovely series delivers her first novel for adults, a story about the living, the dead, and a curse that binds them.

Rebekkah Barrow never forgot the tender attention her grandmother, Maylene, bestowed upon the dead of Claysville, the town where Bek spent her adolescence. There wasn't a funeral that Maylene didn't attend, and at each Rebekkah watched as Maylene performed the same unusual ritual: three sips from a small silver flask followed by the words "Sleep well, and stay where I put you."

Now Maylene is dead and Bek must go back to the place--and the man--she left a decade ago. But what she soon discovers is that Maylene was murdered and that there was good reason for her odd traditions. It turns out that in placid Claysville, the worlds of the living and the dead are dangerously connected. Beneath the town lies a shadowy, lawless land ruled by the enigmatic Charles, aka Mr. D--a place from which the dead will return if their graves are not properly minded. Only the Graveminder, a Barrow woman, and the current Undertaker, Byron, can set things to right once the dead begin to walk.(courtesy of Amazon)

Melissa Marr started out with a YA series (Wicked Lovely) that is – OFF THE CHAIN.  So when I saw she is giving us an adult series, I couldn’t get the book fast enough.  Whoo – Marr has set up an interesting, to say the least, town with a history that defines unique.  It’s truly necessary to mind your graves in this cemetery – and once you’re born here, you just don’t want to leave. 

Marr seems to love destiny as well as romance in her books.  This book had quite a bit going on as we’re setting up what I hope is a series.  I couldn’t get enough of the blend of goodness going on in this book – crossing over after you pass, what happens if you don’t mind the grave, the mysterious deaths….there’s not a piece I can find lacking in one of Marr’s books.  The chemistry climaxes right where and when you need it.  I wanted only one thing from our leading lady – to relinquish a little bit of her stubbornness – but that only was selfish on my part as I was driven by my desire for a specific outcome :) and Marr knew exactly how to do it!