At this point I have read quite a few books by Eliza Maxwell and I have to say The Grave Tender may be one of my favorites by her. It was super dark and chilling, but also incredibly interesting, and I all of the characters were well written and different.
Hadley Dixon feels haunted by her childhood in East Texas. People say that Hadley’s mother, Winnie, was never quite right, but one night irreparable act by her mother, shatters Hadley’s life forever. The aftershock after that night will haunt Hadley throughout her life, but she also knows the secrets and lies had all started long before that night. Now it is years later and widowed and pregnant Hadley is returning to her childhood home. Things don’t feel the same as before with a local boy’s disappearance hanging in the air with no answers. The townspeople are still whispering about Hadley’s reclusive Uncle Eli, and Hadley’s grandmother and her father, who are everything to her, avoid all of her questions. Hadley needs to figure out if this is a safe space to raise her children, but all of these questions begin shining light on all of the lies that have been surrounding Hadley her whole life.
As mentioned earlier, this book was really dark, but it was so interesting and I could not stop reading it. I would add a trigger warning because this book does deal with sexual assault. Throughout the whole novel I didn’t know who to trust. From the first page I was hooked in and I think I read the book in about a day. Hadley was a really strong character and all of the characters were well written. Reading this novel made me want to just keep reading books by Eliza Maxwell.
I gave this book 4.5/5 stars. I could not put this book down and when it was over I wished that there was more. I wanted to keep reading about Hadley and her life. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this book or any of Eliza Maxwell’s novels.
Lotuskey Poetry 