I received this novel as an advanced copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I’m always in the mood for a story that is unique. I find that most realistic fiction novels that are YA tend to follow the same trajectory, but this story came off as being different so I was glad to be approved for this ARC! Here is my review:
Gabriella’s family owns and operates a funeral home, which makes Gabriella well acquainted with all aspects of death. She may be weird and a bit dark, but at least she has her best friend Bree on her side. But when Bree begins to date the jock who used to bully Gabriella, their friendship starts to change. Gabriella wants to be supportive but she just isn’t comfortable with Bree’s new relationship. It doesn’t help that Bree has no time for Gabriella anymore, and even begins to act like all of the other girls in school. The only person who seems to want to spend time with “Graveyard Gabe” is Hartman, the new guy in town who has his own issues. To try to get things back to normal with Bree, Gabriella agrees to drive everyone to prom… but no one could have been prepared for the deadly incident that would occur.
The premise for this novel was definitely interesting. I mean, you don’t hear too often about teenagers living and working in a funeral home. And Gabriella – or Gabe, as she likes to be called – is definitely on the morbid side. She wears vintage clothes in black, and loves Wednesday Addams. Not that I have a problem with either of these things! I think that the author enticed readers by showing them this breakdown in friendship between Gabe and Bree, and the emergence of something romantic between Gabe and Hartman. But I wish the author had really gotten into the material instead of just skimming the surface. There were quite a few instances where the author could have really pushed and delivered more on the emotional front, but instead, it just felt very … superficial. Instead of making this more of a heartbreak, this novel (for the most part) just seemed like a girl whining about growing up. Even during times when my alarm bells went off, things didn’t really take a serious or deep turn. This novel had a lot of potential but I think its flaw comes from the fact that everything that happened with the characters just skimmed the surface. When I read a realistic fiction story, I expect it to be very character-driven; I want it to be teeming with complex emotions from the side of the protagonist as well as the other characters. However, this novel didn’t dig deep enough into the character’s personality, so it was very hard for me to feel any sympathy for anyone in the story. Also Hartman’s character just came off weird. I understand that the author wanted to show him as grieving but his actions just didn’t match up so he just confused me. In the end, this was a novel with a lot of potential that didn’t really deliver what I was expecting.
Happy reading ~