I received an ARC from Netgalley in return for an honest review. On that note, I was honestly engrossed, unnerved, and moved.

"She'd liked listening to podcasts like this because, though the stories were awful, they felt like preparation. The more she listened, the more she learned. The more she learned, the better she could protect herself. Now she knew that was ridiculous. There was nothing that could protect you from the world. Nothing that could protect you for the ways the world, and your own body, would betray you."
Olivia just had a baby with her wife, Kris. She'd been raised by her grandparents after her mother attempted to murder her as an infant.er grandmother wasn't particularly maternal. Olivia soon has reason to fear that whatever, or whoever, plagued her mother is coming for her. We're told this story from Olivia's POV, but also through journal entries from her mother, Shannon. For various reasons, neither is a reliable narrator.

I chose not to have children, but you can't be perceived as being a woman without fully understanding what's expected of mothers. In fact, the choice to not have children instantly gives you a failing grade. But if you do have them, then the real pressure begins.

Stephen King writes in Danse Macabre that the real horror in Amityville Horror is economic unease. The house is a money pit, destroying the family financially. "Here is a movie for every woman who ever wept over a plugged-up toilet or a spreading water stain on the ceiling from the upstairs shower; for every man who ever ever did a slow burn when the weight of the snow cause this gutters to give way; for every child who every jammed his fingers and felt that the door or window that did the jamming was out to get him." ... "Think of the bills," a woman sitting behind me in the theater moaned at one point ... but I suspect it was her bills she was thinking about."
The real horror in Graveyard is maternal/parental unease more than the supernatural angle. Giving birth starts the ultimate gamble -- of mind, body, and spirit, and the fun is just beginning. Will the child be healthy? Happy? Not set fire to the neighborhood pets? What is the instinct to love the child that we're supposed to all have just doesn't show up? What does it mean if you can't nurse? Nothing and perhaps everything. And almost always one parent is the primary caregiver for a variety of factors, societal and practical/

Olivia has questions and fears, nursing is agony, and everyone is wondering if she might be prone to do what HER mother did. As she struggles, she wonders that too, and feels safe telling no one. A black-haired woman is stalking her that no one else sees? Who would you tell if you suspect your baby is an imposter? And who would you tell if you were her if your mother were institutionalized for the same beliefs?

The book is about fear, pressure, pain, doubt, postpartum depression and psychosis. Child or not, if you suffer from depression, anxiety, and/or intrusive thoughts, the black-haired woman comes with her own soundtrack, and that soundtrack is "Hello, darkness, my old friend."

This is a heavy read, and I had to balance it with a romance novel. I didn't think anything could top They Drown Our Daughters in terms of angst, but Katrina Monroe actually succeeded in this book upping the ante. Please be advised in case the topics Graveyard concerns are detrimental to your well-being.

Like They Drown Our Daughters, for all the fear and pain, it's also a story about mothers and daughters, and the choices we make in the name of those bonds.  

4.5 stars. The resolution, if I'm going to nitpick, seemed a bit rushed.

Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

👎🏻The story was really hard to get into. I didn't feel connected to the story at all.
👎🏻Something was missing. An urgency- something to make you really care about what is at stake for the characters.
👎🏻 I was bored for a lot of this book and had to force myself to carry on reading.
🤷🏻‍♀️ Spooky moments but they got repetitive and less spooky as it went on.
👍🏻Short chapters
👍🏻Easy to follow and clear, concise writing.

Damn. When a book is so dark, you got drowned in it and needed more nights to take a break in between the first and the second half which you would realise it wasn’t just enough. Damn dark book. And I was obsessed with the story. It’s creepy. It’s heartbreaking. It’s disturbing. It’s representative. It’s realistic. And that’s made it more creepy!

This story is told in two timelines. However, for the most part of it, it’s the story of a couple who just had a child and the new mother is experiencing the tug between the expectations of a good mother and something that’s beyond her explanations that’s haunting her day and night.

Something is desperately trying for her attention and her health deteriorates. She wants help but she knows no one can help except find answers from an old story that lived a long time ago. Not to spoil anything here so I won’t mention even words that are mentioned in the blurb. I would totally suggest you to go into this book blindly!

The writing is good in a way it knows when to set the required pace and the difference in the timelines is fairly evident which I really appreciate.

However I do feel dull at times in between while reading the book and I do feel some parts do appear repetitive. Also I feel the book could have been a few pages. The ending is a bit underwhelming for me with all that hype built up in the first eighty percent of the book.

But the book lives true to its title and the cover. If you’re looking for a creepy chilling read, go for this one when it comes out.

Also, check out the last few pages of the book as it covers well on the book club discussion topics.

Thank you, Poisoned Pen Press, for the advance reading copy.

I am giving this book 3.5 stars. I really liked most of the story, especially the parts about Olivia's mother, but I just felt no connection to the storyline involving Olivia and her wife.

I have never been the type to like books that are meant to be symbolic and make you really dissect what you just read. So although I enjoyed most of this, I wasn't crazy about it. I feel unfair rating a book that I wasn't crazy about but others may absolutely love, especially the meaning behind it. That being said, this author is a phenomenal at what she does and the underlying issue of mental illness and postpartum depression is a significant issue in this world that does need to be discussed. I give this Four Stars only leaving it without the extra star because the story seemed a little too discombobulated at times.

Thank you Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this ARC.