This is the perfect coming of age story! It has it all romance, ghosts, friends and plenty of drama! Elaine is funeral girl her family owns a local rumored haunted funeral home. Elaine is the perfect child never saying no and always there to help her family when needed. Xander entered her life and she begins to question everything add in a ghostly ancestor and she soon ends up over her head. This was cute story that teaches you in life you always need to take a step back for yourself and say what you really want. I loved it!

Who doesn’t enjoy a gripping YA paranormal romance story?

Pros: I enjoy reading YA paranormal thriller novels and Six Feet Under theme : all the events take place in a funeral house where our heroine raised by her dysfunctional family is a great plot line. As a plus a ghost is lurking around this place. A haunted place theme is another magical theme made me bury my head in this book.

Cons: I’m not a big fan of love triangles especially both of the guys the main girl cannot choose between are not good enough for her!

Plot line: Elaine a. k. a. “ Funeral Girl” hates to be defined by her family business, ostracized by her peers, looking for a big change. When mysterious bad boy/ ghost Hunter Xander arrives in town and takes interest in her, she thinks this is the right time to fix her Funeral Girl image, changing into a regular Fun Girl. But Xander is not the only boy she lusts for. She realizes she also has unresolved feelings for her old friend Miles. Which one she’s going to choose?

Wait a minute: there is a more thrilling subject she has to address than her complicated love life: a young girl’s ghost starts showing up at the funeral house. The girl is funeral house’s last owner’s daughter is adamant to give poor Elaine nightmares. When will Elaine have a chance to live a regular teenage girl life?

Overall: I loved Elaine’s self discovery storyline more than paranormal theme and love triangle parts. This was definitely fast pacing, interesting, fun read!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children’s Delacorte Press for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

Grave Things Like Love is more contemporary than it is supernatural. Elaine is the daughter of a funeral director, a people-pleaser to the core, always leaping to help before she's even asked and consequently leaned on when she doesn't want to be asked, feeling growing resentment at her family for always making her feel indispensable when she'd like to do other things: watch a football game, go to a party, have a life that isn't constantly being at someone's beck and call.

So she's in the middle of doing something her parents need her to do for the funeral home when she nearly runs a horse-drawn hearse over Xander, a new kid with a bad boy streak. From here things start to turn for Elaine, introducing her to potential romance and the stewing need to rebel. Instead of leaping to her parents' call, she holds her ground and goes to that football game, upsetting her carefully constructed life and every expectations that have been set for her. It snowballs from there. Xander is a ghost hunter, and he talks her into letting him investigate the ghost that supposedly haunts the funeral home. But when Xander pulls a bad boy and posts what they find on the internet, Elaine has to start scrambling to make sure no one connects it to the funeral home. Then everything starts to fall apart.

I thought this was a really well-crafted novel in terms of Elaine's journey. That's really well done. I also loved all the little funeral home details--they're detailed without being macabre. I found myself mostly frustrated with Elaine's selfish friend group and her love interests. There was a part of me that wanted to see her get a new group of friends and end the book solo instead of paired up with a dude she had solid reasons not to get involved with, and who didn't act that great much of the time. Not that the other choice was much better. They both kind of sucked! So it's a five-star read for Elaine's personal journey, but a three-star read for the underwhelming love triangle. Overall, solid.