Shallow Graves by Kali Wallace

Shallow Graves by Kali Wallace

Release Date: January 26, 2016

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Age Group:  Young Adult

Pages: 368  

Summary:    For fans of Holly Black and Nova Ren Suma, a gripping, hauntingly atmospheric novel about murder, revenge, and a world where monsters—human and otherwise—lurk at the fringes.

When seventeen-year-old Breezy Lin wakes up in a shallow grave one year after her death, she doesn’t remember who killed her or why. All she knows is that she’s somehow conscious—and not only that, she’s able to sense who around her is hiding a murderous past. In life, Breezy was always drawn to the elegance of the universe and the mystery of the stars. Now she must set out to find answers and discover what is to become of her in the gritty, dangerous world to which she now belongs—where killers hide in plain sight and a sinister cult is hunting for strange creatures like her. What she finds is at once empowering, redemptive, and dangerous.

Tense, complex, and wholly engaging, Shallow Graves is a stunning first novel from Kali Wallace.

My Thoughts: My first debut of 2016, even though I read it in 2015. And, I liked it. It was weird!

We are introduced to Breezy who is on the run from home. Well technically, nobody is missing her since she’s already dead. Breezy was murdered and not even her family knows she came back alive (or kind of) and is out wandering the world. Breezy is kind of like a zombie (or at least to me) but not a bad zombie. Breezy can also sense if someone is a killer. And this has helped her so far.

Breezy runs into another girl and becomes friends with her. The other girl is a supernatural too. Actually, really she runs into a lot of them. She meets a boy named Zeke who is also a ghoul. I really liked Zeke (and even his brother Jake). Zeke was always there for Breezy when she needed him even though he didn’t know her really well.

I just love the name Breezy and I think this was a wonderful world to dive into. I think the world building was probably the best part of the novel. I never knew what would happen next or what we would find out was real and what wasn’t.

I think this could be a wonderful series and even though I felt like not much happened in this one, a lot did to set it up for a series if it goes that way.

Overall:  This one was a bit weird for me but I still enjoyed it. I liked finding out more about ghouls and more about all the other things that did exist. I also liked that Breezy could sense things and she knew usually who to trust and who not too.  I’d say this is probably a 3.5 cupcake rating or maybe even a 4.  I generally don’t read much horror so this was a good change for me.

Shallow Graves was extremely creepy and I don’t read much horror! Extremely creepy!!

Cover:  Like it! It would spark my interest.

What I’d Give It: