Beautiful Graves

By: L.J. Shen

Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell

From USA Today bestselling author L.J. Shen comes a passion- and angst-charged story about a woman caught between a secure relationship and a once-in-a-lifetime spark with her muse.

They say first loves are oftentimes the end of one’s innocence.

Those words couldn’t ring truer for Everlynne Lawson, whose first brush with romance came with a heartbreak…and the thing that seems to follow her everywhere she goes. Death.

After a great tragedy, Everlynne loses all she cares about—her dreams, her family, and her soulmate, Joe.

Guilt-ridden, Everlynne decides to isolate herself in Salem, Massachusetts. A shell of the woman she once was, she takes her days one at a time, careful not to allow herself the joy she believes others in her life were robbed of. But when the mysterious, handsome Dominic storms into her life, it becomes more difficult to stay in solitude. Dominic is different: adventurous, joyous, with lust for life and a passion to make her his.

Everlynne is on the cusp of reinventing herself once again when the old wounds of her past are resurrected, rawer than ever. There is nothing worse than being in love with two men.

Especially when one of them hates you.

©2022 L.J. Shen (P)2022 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“A unique, clever, fascinating, engaging, and with a special appeal to fans of angst riddled contemporary romance…brought to life in the mind's eye by the superbly performed narration of Cassandra Campbell.”—Midwest Book Review

“Narrator Cassandra Campbell does a fabulous job bringing the author's words to life. Campbell has an attractive, youthful-sounding voice that fits well with the characters in this romance story.… Campbell's narration helps involve listeners in this heartrending audiobook.”—AudioFile Magazine

Both the author’s best work

I’ve listened to many audiobooks by LJ Shen & have loved most of them. Unfortunately, I did not love this one.
The narrator’s voice is AWFUL!
The main character plays the “victim” the whole story - poor me, poor me! She also needs some lessons in personal hygiene 🤢
Seriously, how many times can you leave a man & he’s willing to take you back?!?

Brothers

This story was so good it was heartbreaking intense sad lonely and ironic. I don’t know how be Everlynne was two different people with two different lives that ended up being parallel to each other definitely recommend

Kept me entertained

Girl wtf !! Ever is the most annoying MC! By the end I was like ok girl you are a moron lol… other than that it was entertaining

beautiful graves. oh my god was not what I thought

It starts off with a girl who falls in love with a guy abroad and goes through some tragic life altering things completely changes her life becomes very stoic and introverted. She then ends up settling with a guy her cat ran away too. needless to say, ends up getting engaged even after finding out that it's the brother of her late love. and then it just spirals from there. such a good good book. I really love it. I really recommend it. you got to read it. it tears your heart out. you cry, you laugh and then you cry some more. so what are you waiting for? go read it 🤓

She does it again!

As with all of her books, LJ Shen did it again with this one! I did not expect the turns this book took! And I loved every second of it! There were times where I would get pissed at the MC but then I was over it. This is one of my fave authors and I congratulate her on another job well done!

not a usual romance

I won't lie, at times I really disliked Ever. I found her super annoying. but somehow the author managed to make me like her by the end. I had similar thoughts about other characters. the author crafted characters that are dynamic and a bit unlikable, which definitely made things very interesting and at times very un-romance-book-like. but I enjoyed it overall.

Enjoyable read

I felt like it may have been a bit too long, but I enjoyed the story line. Everlynne was a bit annoying for a short time but some of it is understandable. There are a few quotes that will stick with me for awhile.

Hooked from the start

While there was a few pieces that you could guess ahead, all in all it was a great book. It was recommended by a smut group which if rating by that it’s <1 out 5 spice. But the storyline was great. Easy read!

Ehh

Not the best one I’ve read by Shen…I usually love her books. This one was too much back and forth and the FMC was TERRIBLE. Wishy washy bullshit. Constantly just throwing herself pity parties for the choices that she made..it was frustrating. Wouldn’t waste my time on this one.

Good plot twist

The only reason this is getting three stars is because of the plot twists. I wasn’t really a big fan of the performance. There were girl voices and boy voices. That’s it. I couldn’t really tell the difference between characters other than that. I also couldn’t tell when the characters were thinking or speaking.
I also didn’t care much for Ever the main female character.