Title: Girl at the Grave
Author: Teri Bailey Black
Publication Date: August 7, 2018
Publisher: Tor Teen
Pages: 336
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Valentine has spent years trying to outrun her mother’s legacy. But small towns have long memories, and when a new string of murders occurs, all signs point to the daughter of a murderer.
Only one person believes Valentine is innocent—Rowan Blackshaw, the son of the man her mother killed all those years ago. Valentine vows to find the real killer, but when she finally uncovers the horrifying truth, she must choose to face her own dark secrets, even if it means losing Rowan in the end.
I heard about this book through the amazing Kerri Maniscalco, as she posted about it a few times on her Instagram. Now just thinking about it, this book would be perfect for fans of Maniscalco’s Stalking Jack the Ripper series. I was intrigued enough to request it on Netgalley, and was blessed enough to be granted the request.
One thing that really drew me to Girl at the Grave was the fact that it was a murder mystery. If you got a chance to read my post yesterday, you’ll know that I love to read mystery/thriller books during the fall time, so I knew this book was the perfect read for this time of the year.
When I first started this book, I knew it was going to be good by how fast I was going through it. I even ended up trying to pace myself as I didn’t want to finish it too quickly. As I got further and further into this book, I knew there was no way to hold back and ended up finishing the last half on the way back home from my Ohio trip.
This book was gloriously atmospheric! I love when a world just sucks you in, making you feel like you are sitting right there with the characters. I could practically hear the wood crackling in the fireplace as Valentine cooked her cornbread over it. I’m strangely fascinated with the late 1800s time period, which is possibly another reason as to why I adored it so much.
Normally I’m able to guess who did it in a mystery novel, but this one had me stumped until the last possible moment. I never would have guessed what character was responsible. It makes me like this book that much more for being so dang hard to crack.
I loved Valentine as a character. Not only was she smart and strong, but she also had her flaws that didn’t prevent her from being herself. I found her very relatable because of this.
There was a little bit of a love triangle in this book as well. I’m not the biggest fan of them, as they can be hard to pull off, but I feel like this was a good one. There was a point to where I knew I would get mad if Valentine started to jerk them around, but was pleased that she figured everything out and let the men know how she truly felt about them.
Altogether, I really loved Girl at the Grave. I’m definitely going to keep my eyes out for any more books that Terri Bailey Black releases, because her writing can only get better from here.
