Grave Things Like Love by Sara Bennett Wealer
Out now from Delacorte Press; 352 Pages
About the author: “I grew up in Manhattan, Kansas (the “Little Apple”), where I sang in all the choirs and wrote for the high school newspaper. I majored in voice performance at the University of Kansas before deciding I had no business trying to make a career as an opera singer. Then I transferred to journalism school, where no one cares if you can hit a high C or convincingly play a Valkyrie, and became a reporter covering everything from house fires to Hollywood premieres…These days, I write event scripts and marketing copy while the sun is out. By night, I write books for young adults” (bio taken from author’s website).
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Grave Things Like Love follows a young girl named Elaine. She lives in a funeral home that has been in her family for generations. There’s a local legend that her house is haunted by the Gilles Ghost, but Elaine doesn’t believe in ghosts. When a boy named Xander moves to her town, he seems to be immediately drawn to Elaine—and her house. He convinces Elaine to hold a seance at her house, where they discover the Gilles Ghost might be real after all. However, even though her house might be haunted, Elaine has bigger problems. She has a huge crush on Xander…and it seems like her best friend Miles might be jealous.
This is a romantic novel with spine-chilling moments and a lot of drama. While the horror elements are a minor part of the story, they create an eerie atmosphere that makes this a perfect novel to pick up during the Halloween season. The novel includes a haunted funeral home, seances, and paranormal investigations, to name a few of the spooky moments.
However, Grave Things Like Love is so much more than just a young adult romance that includes some paranormal activity. Readers see Elaine struggle with her Generalized Anxiety Disorder, her crippling fear of the future, her dysfunctional family dynamic, and her friendship group falling apart. All of this mixed with the fact that Elaine might be falling in love for the first time creates a messy, honest, and nuanced exploration of the teenage experience.
PRR Writer and Editor, Emma Watts