Grave Things Like Love by Sara Bennett Wealer || Paranormal Coming of Age Romance

Grave Things Like Love

A contemporary YA romance with a paranormal twist: what happens when in between trying to decide which boy is the right boy, a girl finds out the funeral home her family owns might be haunted?

Elaine's home is a bit . . . different. It's a funeral home that has been in her family since the 1800s--and it's why everyone calls her Funeral Girl. And even though she's lived there her whole life, there are still secrets to be found.

When Xander, a cute new boy with a penchant for ghost hunting, arrives in town, Elaine feels an instant spark. His daring and spontaneous ways help her go from Funeral Girl to Fun Girl. Then there's Miles, Elaine's oldest friend, who she's starting to see in a completely new light.

After Xander convinces her to stage a seance one night, Elaine discovers that her home might be haunted by a kindred spirit--the daughter of the funeral home's original owner. But who wants to be haunted by the dead when there are boys to spend time with? After all, you only live once. . . .

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Perfect for readers who want:

• Contemporary romance with a relatable love triangle.
• A young protagonist trying to decide who she wants to be.
• Ghost stories and ghost hunts and paranormal goodness.
• Relatable teen struggles.
• Coming of age and self-discovery.

Many thanks to Delacorte Press for an eARC in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. Quotes are taken from an unfinished product and may differ from the final version.

I know I’m not really huge into romance, but something about a family of morticians and a potential haunting of their house/business struck me as irresistibly interesting. A funeral home sure does seem like the perfect place for a haunting, right? But it’s not quite what you think.

Grave Things Need Love is a little bit of everything: paranormal, coming of age, romance. It tackles big topics about being a teen and life in general in a very thoughtful way, all with a spooky supernatural vibe.

The blend of paranormal and contemporary in this book was so well done. I’m sure it’ll appeal to many types of readers, giving a little something different to each preference. While I’m sure it comes as no surprise that I didn’t care much for the romance (to me, it was a no-win romance and I didn’t particularly want her to end up with either), I do think young adults, especially, will appreciate Elaine’s romantic struggles. At the very least, they seemed very realistic!

Grave Things Like Love focuses on Elaine, a teenager who’s afraid she’s doomed to follow in her parents’ footsteps of running the funeral home, when all she really wants is something bigger than the small-town life she’s been leading . . . and an escape from all the things that are haunting her.

Elaine herself was soooo ridiculously relatable, which was the thing I loved most about this story. I related to her both remembering my teen self but even now, as an adult, and I think other readers will likely agree. To some degree, Elaine feels overwhelmed and trapped by her responsibilities. As the older (and more responsible) sister, she feels like she needs to devote all her time to helping her parents keep afloat their slowly failing business, to the detriment of her own well-being and social life. It’s a lot for any teenager to handle.

Stack on top of that her parents’ expectations that she will go to mortuary school in preparation to follow in their footsteps, even though that’s about the last thing she wants to do. Between the pressure from her parents, the implication that she’s a bad friend, and the feelings she’s developing for the handsome stranger who just moved to town, it’s no wonder that Elaine is feeling out of her element and like her life is spiraling out of control. Happens to the best of us.

I picked this up mostly for the hint of a ghost story, and while it certainly takes a back seat to the romance and the contemporary aspect of this book, I found it quite compelling and interesting!

For decades, there have been rumors of the Gillies Ghost, which takes up residence in the funeral home Elaine’s family owns. The family knows that of course it’s all just rumor and folktale with no actual truth behind it . . . right? I have always LOVED ghost stories, so I was immediately interested in this situation. The haunting isn’t particularly creepy, so it’s fine for anyone who doesn’t want something scary. If nothing else, the ghost seems almost sad, and the way its story plays out was interesting and not what I expected. But it still lived up to what I wanted from a ghost story!

As if everything I’ve mentioned already isn’t enough, Elaine is also struggling with her friend group. All her responsibilities and needing to work all the time has made her a less-than-stellar friend, and her group isn’t necessarily understanding of her situation.

On the one hand, Elaine’s friends frustrated me to no end. While they accused her of being a poor friend for constantly ditching them and not knowing what’s going on in their life (which, okay, fair), they’re doing the exact same thing to her, cutting her out of outings and ignoring the fact that she’s barely treading water. As frustrating as this was to read, it’s also soooo realistic, isn’t it? Friendship is a never-ending struggle to make sure you’re giving as much as you’re taking, since no one wants to be that friend. And sometimes, despite your best effects, friendships don’t last.

What I loved most about the group of friends in this book is that even though they’re all so different and have their own dreams and goals, they’re still able to support each other and work through their issues. Even if it takes a while. There are so many YA books where females are trying to tear each other down that it’s refreshing to find one where female friends support each other, despite misunderstandings.

Even though it wasn’t quite my style, fans of romance may like the will they/won’t they love triangle and Elaine’s super relatable confusion about trying to choose who she wants to be with. Following your heart definitely isn’t as easy as it sounds.

I’m personally not a fan of love triangles. I was also not a fan of either of the boys she had to choose from, and I couldn’t root for her getting with either. Part of me just hoped she’d realize that she didn’t need to date anyone at all, but alas, that’s not a very common YA trope.

That being said, I know that love triangles are popular. I also didn’t feel like either of the boys were necessarily bad. They were just . . . teens. Also trying to find themselves and figure out who they want to be. I think romance fans will appreciate the honest, thoughtful exploration of young romance, especially the way it doesn’t always work out the way you plan it. Sometimes that’s a good thing, and sometimes it’s not.

About Sara Bennett Wealer

Sara Bennett Wealer grew up in Manhattan, Kansas (the "Little Apple"), where she sang in all the choirs and wrote for the high school newspaper. She majored in voice performance at the University of Kansas before deciding she had no business trying to make a career as an opera singer. Then she 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, she writes event scripts and marketing copy while the sun is out. By night, she writes books for young adults. Wealer lives in Cincinnati with her husband, two daughters, two dogs and four cats, and she still sings sometimes when her schedule allows. When she's not writing or running around doing Mom Things, you’ll find her at the ballet, or obsessively watching ballet on YouTube and Instagram.

She is represented by Holly Root at Root Literary.

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