"The Graveminder and the Undertaker are partners. The Undertaker opens the gate, and the Graveminder escorts the Hungry Dead to their rightful place." 

This book should be categorized as Young Adult. After I read the first couple of sentences I immediately thought it was Young Adult, but then I checked and saw that it wasn't and I was disappointed. Melanie Marr is a Young Adult author but this was her attempt into Adult Fiction. I will review this as if it were a Young Adult novel because if I reviewed it as an Adult one, it would not be as good of a review.

This was a short, quick read. It was entertaining and creative with some humor. Quite lighthearted despite it being about the dead because the dead weren't really the main characters. The story centered more upon the town Claysville, its contract with the dead, and how Graveminders and Undertakers are chosen. And of course there was an underlying romance.

I appreciate the imagination of the author in her creation of the characters and town in this novel. Claysville was a town "whose founders had made a contract with an entity they thought was the devil that causes children born there not able to leave but the dead refuse to stay dead." The town has a funeral law that bans embalming the dead so they can return. The dead get really thirsty if their graves haven't been watered and minded properly, thus the need for a Graveminder. The Graveminder keeps the dead in their place and sends them back when they wake. 

The Graveminder works with the Undertaker to keep the dead in their place and are bonded together for the rest of their lives. It just so happens they are always in love with each other too and they are saving the world together- puke! 

I wasn't really into any of the characters in this book however. They all seemed to live too much in the past and acted younger than their age- hence panning to a YA reader. Rebekkah seemed like a spoiled brat and Byron desperate to love and be loved. I didn't really believe they had any chemistry between one another other than they kissed long ago when he was dating her not related "sister" Ella.  Rebekkah was overcome with guilt when Ella killed herself thinking it was because of the kiss, but finds out later the real reason. I didn't find Rebekkah to be a strong person, she wouldn't even fight for the man that she loved, she ran away instead. That is why I didn't believe her as a Graveminder. Rebekkah going up against returning dead people and a leader of the dead was far fetched. Byron seemed like a pathetic dog that just followed his leader wanting his attention. 

Byron and Rebekkah were able to go through a tunnel to get to the land of the dead. They could travel back and forth between worlds because of what they were but noone else could. Byron eagerly took on his job as Undertaker since it meant he had to always protect Rebekkah- puke again! He didn't even do a good job of it.

I did have a problem with how quickly Byron and Rebekkah accepted their roles and what was happening in their town. I would have preferred them to have fought against the dead to eliminate the town contract so they could live normally and the dead could rest in peace. But then there probably wouldn't have been a possibility of more books in the series. It would have made for a more interesting plot than trying to keep the dead in their graves all the time.

I am glad this was short because it lacked any depth or enough of a plot to keep it going. But kudos to the author for thinking of this creative town Claysville.