Surprisingly, A Graveyard Visible was an interesting read which I didn’t expect after seeing numerous reviews slating it.

I thought it was an odd book with regards to the writing style as it was very to the point and less descriptive than books I would usually read. While it took some time to get use to the style I found myself enjoying the book greatly.

Our main character Caleb is all alone in the world, trying to cope with his mother’s passing and avoiding his father. Calebs father hates the sight of his son, and without him saying it aloud wishes his son, rather than his wife, had died. My heart went out to Caleb. His father is just an awful person, every time he came back into the story he would belittle Caleb. I wanted to step into the book and throttle him.

I liked how Steve Conoboy used the graveyard as an obsession for Caleb, it showed that he is not ready or able to accept that his mother is no longer there and so he has this unusual fixation with the graveyard.

Caleb is clearly a timid child and is all alone in the world. His mother is a terrible loss but in addition he has lost a father too. I loved how the author was able to portray this through his writing as it enabled me to feel such a great sorrow towards him. I liked Caleb – his development throughout the story was important. At first he was a scared, lonesome boy but after realising that there is a terrible evil to overcome, he turns into a courageous young man.

Another important character to the story is Misha, who resides in the graveyard with her grandfather. She is relentlessly tormented by an sadistic boy named Vic and his friends because of who she is. I think that this has something to do with her deceased parents but it was unclear to me how they died and if they did anything unsavoury while alive. Similar to Caleb, she feels alone in the world and abandoned but has more of a ‘f*ck you’ attitude that Caleb doesn’t appear to have.

Caleb and Misha form an unlikely friendship to stop the evil that emerges from the graveyard. The mysterious doings of the graveyard which Caleb witnesses on numerous occasions involves Misha, her grandfather and other unusual characters. Though this developed slowly it was the main reason that I enjoyed the book.

With a void in paternal love and guidance both Caleb and Misha have their grandfathers to look after them. Whereas I found Misha’s grandfather overbearing, controlling and basically irritating as hell, Caleb’s grandfather was a more interesting character and had a strong connection to the graveyard. He cares for his grandson, not wanting him to come into harm’s way by spending too much time there.

The pace of this book started off slow. At first I found it difficult to keep on going because I didn’t feel as though the plot was going to move forward. It felt as it was going around in loops – Caleb forever obsessing over the graveyard but not much else happening.

Fortunately as I reached half way the pace began to pick up and I felt myself unable to put the book down as I desperately needed to know what happened next. Though I didn’t find the story “scary” I found myself scared for Caleb and Misha.

I felt that there were a lot of questions left unanswered which is the reason for my rating. Perhaps I didn’t focus hard enough or didn’t completely get it but upon finishing the book I was left craving for more as the story became so exciting. Needless to say I was captivated by this story and I urge others to give it a chance

I couldn't decide if i liked this or not. The writing is very stilted and doesn't flow well at all. There's a good story behind if if you can tough it out (especially the first few pages). However, the one thing I hate is a hanging ending with unanswered questions. So much going on and so little answer - a literal WTF at the end because there are no answers at all to any of the most obvious questions. It left me frustrated, annoyed, and wondering how we jumped from A to G to F to M to X and back to C. I'm sure it made sense somewhere but asides from ending in (Spoiler)
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hell on earth with no end in sight I can truthfully say I don't get the point of this book. It wasn't entertaining enough to make me want a second, and it wasn't well written enough to make it enjoyable. A struggle to read even if there was a good story buried in there under the terrible writing.

I was hoping for more from this book. They were some supernatural and creepy things about this book and I loved that part of it. The story was a little sad, but I know all about losing a parent. I think this story was a little about dealing with the sadness that comes with that. The author had a great way of describing things in this book, for me. I just had mixed feeling at the end of this book. *This book was given to me for free at my request from Netgalley and I provided this voluntary review.*

I received an ARC copy from netgalley for my honest review,  so thank you netgalley and publishers for offering me this book! ♡
This was my first book by this author, It was okay. It was slow paced but it was alltogether an easy read. ♡ I give this book a
2 star rating!

This is probably the most confused I've been about a review before. I literally cannot work out if I liked the story or not and how many stars it's worth to me. This book has so much potential, but it left me with so many questions. Why did the graveyard keep growing? If his mum was as nice as she was made out to be, then would she really have stuck with a man like his dad knowing how he feels about his son? Can a son really hate his dad enough to let him die? I mean, yeah he was a bit of an asshole, but he didn't like physically torture Caleb or anything. Who were the good people and who were the bad people in the story? I still don't know if Misha's grandpa is a good guy or not! And then there's the ending and I am completely confused. What happened between Caleb's Grandpa and Evelyn? For me, there is just a lot that needs clearing up. I must say that there are some really beautiful quotes in this book though!

A Graveyard Visible: DNF and 1.5/5 stars. I am so sad. I started A Graveyard Visible over a week ago, and I can’t do it. I’ve always thought that DNF reviewers weren’t giving it a chance... they are! I tried. I made it to 60% complete. There are so many points of view on each chapter that it’s confusing. I wish the chapters were titled with the person who we were following. And there are two grandfathers mentioned in the story, Caleb’s and Misha’s, so you have to get through a couple paragraphs to even figure that one out. Some of the expressions in the book are out of character, but I gave that a pass since this is a UK author. BUT even with Caleb’s Grandfather’s mysterious journal which is warning Caleb against hanging out with the troubled but pretty girl in the graveyard (revealed at 1/2 way through the book), it’s not enough to keep me going. There’s an enchanted 8-ball called Eight, a demon from the grave with light vision that shows decaying earth, and a spiral tunnel under a graveyard, and yet... it was still too hard to keep switching views and decoding to get through it. EXCELLENT plot idea, not so great execution. I’m so sorry. I wanted this to be good.
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This novel is almost lyrical in its writing, it ebbs and flows with the plot, throughout this novel.
For me, however, it was lacking something to really draw me into its world.

I was first drawn to this book because of its striking cover and interesting synopsis. It's about a young boy called Caleb, who has lost his mother and lives with his pretty unresponsive, cold father. Their home backs onto the graveyard where is mother is buried and which is home to a slightly odd young girl called Misha and her grandfather.

According to Caleb's father and grandfather his visiting and 'obsession' of the graveyard isn't healthy. But it's through this yearning to visit and study the graveyard that his dark adventure begins.

For me personally, this is a story of profound loss. Each character is battling with their own loss and dealing with it in varied ways. It is through this loss that I really connected with Caleb and his grandfather's story. It's an interesting view point to feel that loss through a child's eyes, not only of a mother but of his uncaring father. I felt that the loss aspect really outshsdowed the 'horror' aspect. But I think that's why I enjoyed it if in honest.

I found this book to be slow throughout. I wanted to like it. It sounded promising, I just couldn't get into it.
I received an ARC copy of this book from NetGalley for a review. My thoughts and opinions are my own.