Name: The Gravewood
Series: The Gravewood #1
Author: Kelly Andrew
Publisher: Wayward TxF
Format: Hardback (Fairyloot SE)
Genres: Young Adult, Paranormal, Fantasy, Romance
Spice Rating: 🌶️
Rating:
Synopsis: Goodreads
IS IT LOVE . . . OR IS IT BLOODLUST?
Shea Parker has lived her entire life in the shadow of the Gravewood – a deadly forest that’s cut her town off from the world. With resources dwindling, she’s forced to ration her hearing aid batteries. When her stash runs out, she’ll be left in silence.
Her only hope is Oliver Lysander, the volatile leader of the vampires who rule the Gravewood. Their deal is simple: she gives him her blood, he brings her batteries. No lines crossed. Nothing personal.
Until Shea’s best friend is lured into the Gravewood, and her brother Asher Thorley returns from the frontlines, willing to expose Shea’s darkest secrets to get his sister back.
Ever the opportunist, Lysander offers a new bargain: if Asher kills his vampire rival, he’ll help find the missing girl. And if Shea agrees to Turn, he’ll cure her ailing mother.
But every deal pulls her closer to Lysander – and to becoming a monster herself.
Review:
First a little background, because I can appreciate that in a month of 4.5 & 5 star reviews, a 3 star review doesn’t look great. My copy of The Gravewood is the Fairyloot edition and when my copy arrived I had just found out that I was going to require hearing aids. And as I was looking over my fairyloot copies, I saw the naked hardcover of The Gravewood had a girl with hearing aids in… and I almost lost it emotionally, there and then. I knew I was going to have to read this book just because it felt like one of those ‘this book came to me at the perfect time’ moments.
It wasn’t. And I wish I had been able to identify that sooner, because I struggled with The Gravewood. I checked out the Goodreads page before I started reading, just to get an idea of what I was getting into – and on paper oh boy, this sounded amazing. It sounded like something I was absolutely going to devour. But I just couldn’t give the attention to The Gravewood that it deserved. When I put it down at the end of the day, I completely stopped thinking about it.
That is not to say that it’s a bad book. I stand by the fact that I think it sounds amazing, and if I had read it at a different time I feel like this would have been a 4 star read because I love Shea and Lys and Asher – I love their relationship, despite how messy it is (and I am absolutely hoping that we’re going to have an MMF relationship!). And I can appreciate the story and again recognise that I would have loved this at a different time, when my head was in it. I think it was ultimately too soft a story for what I’ve been reading in May – either trauma or high stakes fantasy (ignoring Dungeon Crawler Carl which were read BECAUSE it was lighter). So, I’m pretty sad about that – but I do intend to read The Hollow King when that releases and I will likely reread The Gravewood at a time before that release to give it a fairer chance.
“I don’t care if you’re his, as long as you’re also mine.”
Reading With Tyler 
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