Graveyard Rose by Ginny Clyde is the first book in a series called The Rose Chronicles. At about a hundred pages it is more a novella than a full-blown novel. It accomplishes the mission that such an introductory novella is supposed to. It introduces us to the fictional world in which the story takes place, as well as introducing us to the back story and major characters. Graveyard Rose is a novel of magic and monsters. The setting is a village in Transylvania, so you can probably guess that at the very least we are dealing with vampires, but trust me, there is so much more. Ginny Clyde paints a realistic portrait of how life in such a village would be, and the types of deals with the devil, villagers would have to make in order to survive. Every vampire series has its own mythos and rules about what the vampires can and cannot do. I like the particular mix that Ginny Clyde has created. They are not totally evil. I like it that sometimes the humans are the ones who look and act like monsters. Fear will do that.
The strong point in Graveyard Rose, for me is the main character, Lenara. In a world where beautiful women are saved by handsome princes, she is her own hero. She is strong, but make no mistake, she is still very feminine. That combination is sometimes hard to get right but Ginny Clyde does it well. Right behind Lenara herself, what appealed to me most was her relationship with her little sister. I never had a sister, though I wanted one and my relationship with my brother was as much competitive as loving so I really enjoyed this relationship where the big sister would to anything for her little sister and the little sister just loves her with all her heart in return. I like that. I like this book. I give it five stars.
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