THE GRAVE TENDER
by
by
By Eliza Maxwell
Genre: Women’s Fiction / Psychological Suspense
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Date of Publication: April 11, 2017
Number of Pages: 248
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A chilling psychological suspense novel, The Grave Tender explores the dark boundaries people cross to save loved ones, and the limits of family bonds tested by the deepest of betrayals.
Endless questions from a shadow-filled East Texas childhood haunt Hadley Dixon. People said her mother, Winnie, was never quite right, but with one single, irreparable act, life as Hadley knew it was shattered. The aftershocks of that moonlit night left her reeling, but the secrets and lies had started long before.
When a widowed and pregnant Hadley returns years later, it’s not the safe harbor she expects. The mysteries surrounding a local boy’s disappearance remain, and the townspeople still whisper about Hadley’s strange and reclusive Uncle Eli—whispers about a monster in their midst.
But Hadley’s father and grandmother, the cornerstones of everything safe in her world, avoid her questions. If Hadley stays here, will she be giving her children the family they need or putting their lives in danger?
The hunt for answers takes a determined Hadley deep into the pine forests, in search of sunlight that will break through the canopy of lies long enough to reveal the truth.
"The Grave Tender will grasp you in its hooks from the beginning as you try to figure out the truth behind each character, because no one is truly what they seem ... Addicting, easy to read, and hard to put down." - Shelbi LeMeilleur, Insite Magazine
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HALL WAYS REVIEW: ✪✪✪✪✪ For
anyone who’s read my reviews or rantings, you know that I am all about the book
covers. And this one. . . Even without the word "grave" in the title,
it's just a little unsettling. Eeeeeeeeexcellent. (*voice of Montgomery
Burns*). I also don't like to read the blurbs and prefer to dive in, so I was
happy that within the first few pages of The Grave Tender, I already had the
cover and the basic story figured out. Except I didn't, really, and as I read further, everything I
initially thought about The Grave Tender was completely off course. Quickly, the story goes from feeling cozy
around the Dixon family to uneasiness that there is something off -- something
beyond quirkiness. Talk about functioning within dysfunction. Whoa.
This
family has layer after layer of secrets that have been put into a box (some
literally), one on top of another, for years. But these secrets haven’t
collected dust; they’ve turned moldy and turned toxic in that box, and when main
character Hadley Dixon takes off the lid, the unraveling of all she has known
as truth begins. As secrets are revealed, readers will be appalled not just by
the events themselves, but by the norms of the times in which those events
happened. I felt angry for what the characters endured and how the community
must have turned a blind eye to it. Shameful.
Author
Eliza Maxwell’s writing is descriptive (and maaaahvelously edited), and with her word
choices, she coaxes very specific and intentional feelings out of the readers. The
descriptions aren’t always pretty, though, and they often grabbed me in the gut
with their bluntness. Fortunately, there is balance between the traumatic and
the more lyrical writing, and Maxwell makes beautiful use of figurative language
without overdoing it. Images stick.
"It was
October. Heat-weary, the residents of east Texas
waited for summer to give up
and die, but it held on
like a leech, sucking the life out of the place,
getting fat."
The
story is book-ended with present-time narration, but the chapters between are
mostly told in flashbacks and from multiple viewpoints. In hindsight, had I
paid closer attention to those multiple perspectives, I likely would not have been
as blindsided when the big reveal happened. Maxwell
plants more than a few subtle seeds that lead you exactly in the wrong
direction, and her characterization is rich with complex, flawed, and real personalities.
Be warned, though: much like it is for Hadley, readers only see what the
characters want to reveal to them.
When I finished reading The Grave Tender, my mind was buzzing. I kept wondering how I hadn't seen what was coming. The twists! The turns! I
replayed scenes and spent several days trying to process all that went wrong
within one family. I kept thinking of how differently things might have been if
only X and if only Y and if only Z had happened. I still think about Hadley and worry for her,
just a little.
Eliza Maxwell is a writing force to be
reckoned with, and I look forward to reading more novels from her. I highly
recommend The Grave Tender. (However,
I don’t recommend that you start reading it as you are brushing your teeth to
go to bed and then sit on the bathroom counter for hours until the last page is
turned. My back is still complaining about that.)
Thank you to Lone Star Book Blog Tours and the author for providing me a print copy in exchange for my honest opinion -- the only kind I give.
Eliza Maxwell lives in Texas with her ever patient husband, two impatient kids, a budgie named Sarah, and a bird dog who lives a tortured existence. She’s an artist and writer, an introvert and a British cop drama addict. A former bookseller with a lifelong love of the written word, she can often be found barefoot on the front porch lost in a good cup of coffee and a great book.
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GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!
Grand Prize:The Bookworm Basket ($150 Value)
$50 Amazon gift card
Plush decorative throw blanket (Smoke Grey)
Greatest opening lines of literature coffee mug
Taste of Texas Coffee variety pack
Ferrero Rocher Gift Cube
Library card socks
Paperback copy of THE LIFE WE BURY by Allen Eskens
Paperback copy of SISTERS ONE, TWO, THREE by Nancy Star
1st & 2nd Runners-Up:
Signed paperback copy of THE GRAVE TENDER
(U.S. Only)
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