Review: Eighth Grave After Dark by Darynda Jones

Eighth Grave After Dark by Darynda Jones

(Charley Davidson #8) - Charley Davidson, Reyes Farrow and Gang

Eighth Grave After Dark on Amazon

Summary:

From Goodreads.com

With twelve hellhounds after her, pregnant Charley Davidson takes refuge at the only place she thinks they can’t get to her: the grounds of an abandoned convent. But after months of being cooped up there, Charley is ready to pop. Both metaphorically and literally since she is now roughly the size of a beached whale. Fortunately, a new case has captured her attention, one that involves a murder on the very grounds the team has taken shelter upon. A decades-old murder of the newly-vowed nun she keeps seeing in the shadows is almost enough to pull her out of her doldrums.

Charley’s been forbidden to step foot off the sacred grounds. While the angry hellhounds can’t traverse the consecrated soil, they can lurk just beyond its borders. They have the entire team on edge, especially Reyes. And if Charley didn’t know better, she would swear Reyes is getting sick. He grows hotter with every moment that passes, his heat scorching across her skin every time he’s near, but naturally he swears he’s fine.

While the team searches for clues on the Twelve, Charley just wants answers and is powerless to get them. But the mass of friends they’ve accrued helps. They convince her even more that everyone in her recent life has somehow been drawn to her, as though they were a part of a bigger picture all along. But the good feelings don’t last for long because Charley is about to get the surprise of her crazy, mixed-up, supernatural life….

Review:

Here we are eight months later; Reyes, Charlie and Osh have taken up residence of a convent. They are on the run from 12 hellhounds sent from Hell; rumor has it they can’t step onto consecrated ground.  We open with Cookies wedding to Bob, aw! And the whole gang is there.  Agent Carter, comes to Charlie with a missing kids case and she decides to take on the case despite being convent bound she’s going to need help from her whole gang for this one including Amber and Quinten. With little Beep on the way the danger is escalating. Reyes isn’t sleeping and is making reckless decisions. The departed are converging on the lawn in masses.  

This installment follows in true Charley Davidson fashion we get to enjoy everything that has made up this series so far. Charley’s trademark sense of humor has not dimmed in the slightest due to her impending motherhood or her time in a holy place. In typical fashion she has multiple cases going on at one time but with everything else it may be too much for her. She has a missing person’s case, a dead tax accountant, a dead nun, her father’s murder and the arrival of Reye’s birth parents. See, a lot going on. Add to that the fact the Lucifer wants her and Beep dead and the hellhounds, all while nine months preggers she might have bitten off more than she can chew.  The book is action packed with lots of humor and no time to get bored. Yet another great book in this widely entertaining series. 

Early Review: Sweet Ruin by Kresley Cole

Sweet Ruin by Kresley Cole

Rune the Baneblood and Josephine Doe

(Immortals After Dark #16)

Sweet Ruin on Amazon

Summary:

From Goodreads.com

A foundling raised in a world of humans

Growing up, orphaned Josephine didn’t know who or what she was—just that she was “bad,” an outcast with strange powers. Her baby brother Thaddeus was as perfect as she was flawed; protecting him became her entire life. The day he was taken away began Jo’s transition from angry girl…to would-be superhero…to enchanting, ruthless villain.

A lethally sensual enforcer on a mission

A threat to the Møriør has brought archer Rune the Baneblood to the mortal realm to slay the oldest living Valkyrie. Whether by bow or in bed, he never fails to eliminate his target. Yet before he can strike, he encounters a vampiric creature whose beauty conceals a black heart. With one bite, she pierces him with aching pleasure, taking his forbidden blood—and jeopardizing the secrets of his brethren.

A boundless passion that will lead to sweet ruin…

Could this exquisite female be a spy sent by the very Valkyrie he hunts? Rune knows he must not trust Josephine, yet he’s unable to turn her away. Despite his millennia of sexual conquests, he can’t ignore the unfamiliar longing she arouses deep within him. When Jo betrays the identity of the one man she will die to protect, she and Rune become locked in a treacherous battle of wills that pits ultimate loyalty against unbridled lust.

Review:

It is no secret I am a Kresley Cole fan girl, but even a fan girl can admit when an author misses. Thankfully that has not occurred here and I continue in my deep abiding Kresley Cole worship!  We are now 16 books deep into the Immortals After Dark series, based on trends of other series past it should have gotten a bit stale by now, but Cole keeps pumping out hit! If anything the series keeps getting better! She continually surprises us and keeps the series fresh by not taking us where you think she is leading us. You think she is setting you up for one thing and bam, it’s you with something completely different. Like… two completely new characters we have never heard of!  Who does that, who introduces two brand new characters so late in a series when readers already have their favorites and have already been set up for a completely different set of lovers? (Think back to Munro and his gypsy that we were set up for 2 books ago) But here we are, and count on Kresley Cole to make it work.  Now I know I saw some outraged fans, thinking there are so many other characters that deserve to have their happily ever after, but keep your faith fans! Has Kresley Cole ever let you down? I know she hasn’t for me.

So why is this book so great, you ask? Why do these newbies deserve their happily ever after? Well as we all know Cole has been leading us into the Ascension and into possible Apocalypse and the Møriør is leading us there… Or are they?  Rune is a member of the Møriør but he’s not particularly evil. Maybe misunderstood and a total manwhore which after his stint as an actual whore is not all that surprising.  He’s 7000 years old which I think is one of the oldest main characters we have encountered thus far, but like the other immortals he’s kept up with the times.  He’s been dispatched by the Møriør leader to assassinate our beloved Nix and he’s trolling Nola to find her.  

Josephine is a young’n in her early 20’s, but her earliest memory is when she is eight and she doesn’t remember anything before then. She wakes up in the ghetto with her infant brother and knows she is now responsible for him. Jo is incredibly snarky with an ego a mile wide and has an obsession with being a superhero and at the tender age of I think 11 she takes on a local gang only to be shot in the face. She wakes up in the morgue with bullets in her face and her little brother in the care of a librarian. She believes herself a ghost who can incorporate and for the next decade or so has no idea what the heck she is. But she keeps her superhero obsession and is the protector of prostitutes and she ghosts into shells (living bodies) to feel a connection with people. Now she is in Nola and when she meets Rune she meets another freak like herself and she needs to know more. Instinct kicks in and she is compelled to snack on Rune’s tasty blood and he becomes hooked!  He’s a Banesblood and his blood is poison to every being except another Banesblood (Think Natalya Reigns roommate on the island of hell) so when Jo drinks and doesn’t die he knows he’s got to keep her around. From here we go on a rollercoaster ride of action, orgasm denial, a battle of wills, combat situations, lots of nymphs, and chasing down Nix. It’s a fantastic ride to be on! Oh and speaking of Nix, we get to see some of her other awesome powers besides her foresight and man does she kick some ass! Who knew she had it in her. Get ready for one of the best books in the series! Now go forth and pre-order if you are reading this before its out.  

*review copy was provided for an honest review, no other compensation was provided 

Review: Better Homes and Hauntings by Molly Harper

Better Homes and Hauntings 

Summary:

From Goodreads.com

Author of the beloved Half Moon Hollow series of vampire romances (Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs), Molly Harper has created a standalone paranormal romance in which a dilapidated haunted house could bring star-crossed lovers together—if it doesn’t kill them first!

When Nina Linden is hired to landscape a private island off the New England coast, she sees it as her chance to rebuild her failing business after being cheated by her unscrupulous ex. She never expects that her new client, software mogul Deacon Whitney, would see more in her than just a talented gardener. Deacon has paid top dollar to the crews he’s hired to renovate the desolate Whitney estate—he had to, because the bumps, thumps, and unexplained sightings of ghostly figures in nineteenth-century dress are driving workers away faster than he can say “Boo.”

But Nina shows no signs of being scared away, even as she experiences some unnerving apparitions herself. And as the two of them work closely together to restore the mansion’s faded glory, Deacon realizes that he’s found someone who doesn’t seem to like his fortune more than himself—while Nina may have finally found the one man she can trust with her bruised and battered heart.

But something on the island doesn’t believe in true love…and if Nina and Deacon can’t figure out how to put these angry spirits to rest, their own love doesn’t stand a ghost of a chance.

Review:

This is a Molly Harper book, in all rights I should have LOVED it. I love just about everything Molly Harper writes, how could you not, they are usually so funny and the characters fun.  In this case, I am sad to say I just liked this book. It was ok, but a little hard to get into. A lot of the usual humor is missing and Harper was bringing together two couples instead of just one and it was a large undertaking. Throw in some ghosts, a weird house and a mystery to solve and Harper may have bitten off a little more than she could chew. She was a little spread thin so none of the characters got to be as developed as they should have been.  Don’t get me wrong there were some amusing moments and the characters were still likeable but it was not up to the Molly Harper standard.

Soulbound by Kristen Callihan

Darkest London Series:

Book 6:

Soulbound: Adam and Eliza May
 


Amazon Link
Goodreads Link 
 
Summary:
Once two souls are joined...
 
When Adam's soul mate rejected him, there was more at stake than his heart. After seven hundred years of searching, his true match would have ended the curse that keeps his spirit in chains. But beautiful, stubborn Eliza May fled—and now Adam is doomed to an eternity of anguish, his only hope for salvation gone...
 
Their hearts will beat together forever...
 
No matter how devilishly irresistible Adam was, Eliza couldn't stand the thought of relinquishing her freedom forever. So she escaped. But she soon discovers she is being hunted—by someone far more dangerous. The only man who can help is the one man she vowed never to see again. Now Adam's kindness is an unexpected refuge, and Eliza finds that some vows are made to be broken...
 
Review:
After reading Soulbound, im pretty convinced Kristen Callihan can’t write a bad book. Yet again she scores with Soulbound. I admit I wasn’t that thrilled with Adam after the last book, he was pretty much an ass to Eliza; in fact she basically had to be rescued. She was rescued only to be placed in a gilded cage. Good ole’ Aunt Mab was not the saving grace Eliza thought she would be. Eliza is still a prisoner only it is in a much fancier cage. Most of her life Eliza has been chained to one person or another who has used her, when she ran from her old life she was killed only to be set in chains. Now her “aunt” may not have her in chains but she wants something from her all the same, she just hasn’t figured out what yet. When she followed the sound of a howling dog she came upon another set of chains and what was in the chains horrified her.
 
Sometimes you find your allies in the most unlikely of places in the most unlikely of situations and that’s how the Adam/Eliza alliance formed. For the time being they needed each other to defeat a common enemy that is if they don’t kill each other first. Tensions are still riding high between these two after what had happened when they met. Adam erred badly by chaining Eliza to his side more than he could have even known. So there was quite a bit of distrust between these two but I had to hand it to Adam, he set out to make it right and he redeemed himself in my eyes. He was protective, sweet and learned from his mistakes. He treated Eliza as an equal. I went from being not too happy with Adam to enjoying him tediously. Eliza is a strong female, a survivor she thinks quick on her feet and doesn’t take Adams shit. This time she is in control of her life and she makes her own decisions. Got to love a female that holds her own, she also has a gift, one that terrifies even her. She hides it as much as she can especially against those who would use her and her gift/curse, but it’s that very gift that can save what she cares about the most.
 
The plotline has plenty of action and takes you on twists and turns making for a quick page turner. You’re immediately swept up into the story and it doesn’t let you go until you have finished. Callihan has a fantastic gift and can really paint a scene with her words. You have no troubles visualizing what she wants you to see. Callihan delivers each and every time and I cannot wait for Sinjin’s book. He has his own surprises in store for us!
 
Rating:



*Arc copy was provided for an honest review. No other compensation was provided.

Review: Genevieve Jack - The Ghost and the Graveyard

The Monk's Hill Witch Series:
 
Book 1:
 
The Ghost and the Graveyard: Grateful Knight
 
 
 
Purchase on Amazon: Genevieve Jack - The Ghost and The Graveyard (The Monk's Hill Witch)
Summary:
From Goodreads.com
Left destitute by an unscrupulous ex-boyfriend, Grateful Knight takes her father up on his offer to live rent-free in a house he hasn't been able to sell. Desperate to make a new start, Grateful tries to overlook the property’s less desirable features, like the graveyard that stretches to her back door. On the bright side, the unbelievably gorgeous cemetery caretaker, Rick, is dead set on helping her feel at home. She vows to take things slow, considering her recent disastrous relationship, but is baffled when she literally can’t keep her hands off of him.
 
When things in Grateful’s house start moving on their own another man enters her life, a sexy ghost with a dark secret. Magical forces are at work in the tiny town of Red Grove and they're converging on Grateful. Solving this ghostly mystery won’t be easy and with the caretaker becoming increasingly jealous of her spectral relationship, Grateful may be forced to choose between the ghost and the graveyard.
 
Review:
I was originally suckered into this book by the gorgeous cover. I’m not sure where I saw it but at first glance I thought it was going to be the cover of the next Darynda Jones – Charley Davidson installment, because let’s face it, it is very similar to that series covers to date. I was surprised to see that it was in fact a debut book in a new series. I read the blurb and was immediately intrigued! Ghosts, witches, vampires and a sexy graveyard caretaker! I was SOLD! I immediately downloaded the book from Smashwords to start this intriguing new tale. I am so glad I decided to give this book a whirl! At $2.99 it was a steal!
 
From the first chapter I was drawn into this tale, Grateful’s life is taking a new turn after her boyfriend left her taking all her money with him. Her real estate father is letting her stay at a house that he is having trouble selling rent free while she is trying to get back on her feet. At first glance she is in heaven, she drove by her upper hot neighbor and her house is so super cute, that is until she looks out onto the “backyard”. Her backyard consists of a graveyard, how spooky is that?! At first she has no desire to stay at the house and then she finds out her house is haunted. But she soon realizes that her ghost is actually really hot and helpful! He’s like a maid for free! You can’t beat that. But even more spooky things start to happen around her. Rick her super hot neighbor and the graveyard caretaker starts doing creepy things and all these weird creatures appear in the graveyard.
 
Grateful actually takes things pretty well considering… She went from an ordinary life to finding out she is supposed to help keep the supernatural under control as well as “sort” lost souls. At the young age of 22, she definitely could have handled things a lot differently. I actually commend her for trying to take things slow with Rick, he’s ready to go full steam ahead but she is more cautious, she tries to separate all the factors. She knows she is young and can’t handle a relationship right now and she tells Rick flat out. He can never say she lied to him; she was honest to a fault. She also takes her duty seriously, once she realizes how important it is, she does not shirk her duty and comes around especially when it comes down to life or death circumstances. I really liked Grateful’s strength and loyalty to those she cares about. Overall she is a great character, that I couldn’t really find fault with.
 
In this book we have a love triangle! I haven’t had a love triangle in awhile so I didn’t mind in the slightest that there is one here. So we have Rick the sexy, exotic, graveyard caretaker that just looking at his makes Grateful want to combust from the heat. He is direct and knows what he wants and that is Grateful! Grateful feels all these things for Rick but she isn’t sure how much is actually coming from her and how much is coming from him. Then we have Logan. Logan is our ghost in Grateful’s house. Grateful feels a connection to Logan that she can’t explain, but really how can you have a relationship with a ghost? How practical is that? Also, she feels bad that his soul is trapped here in her house, she wants him to move on, as is the natural order of things. She knows if she doesn’t sort him, he could be stuck in her house forever. That is not the kind of existence she wants for him. I kind of felt that Logan was kind of a bit creepy, he definitely has the insta-love thing going on with him. I’m totally on Team Rick!
 
The plot is fun, entertaining and different. There is a light humor woven into the story and I love anytime an author can make me laugh. I was at first scared that like the cover this book would be like the Charley Davidson series especially when it came to helping the departed move on, but it really ended up taking a different direction. There are magic, vampires, legends, fights to the death and even a possession or two within this story. There is never a dull moment in this book, it was quite entertaining. This is a great debut novel in a new series and I am going to be looking out for the next installments!
 
Rating:

Review: Darynda Jones – Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet

Charley Davidson Series:
 
Book 4:
 
Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet: Charley Davidson and Crew
 

 
Order on Amazon: Darynda Jones - Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet (Charley Davidson Series)
Summary:
From Goodreads.com
In Darynda Jones's Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet, sometimes being the grim reaper really is that. Grim. And since Charley’s last case went so awry, she has taken a couple months off to wallow in the wonders of self-pity. But when a woman shows up on her doorstep convinced someone is trying to kill her, Charley has to force herself to rise above. Or at least get dressed. She quickly realizes something is amiss when everyone the woman knows swears she’s insane. The more they refute the woman’s story, the more Charley believes it.
 
In the meantime, the sexy, sultry son of Satan, Reyes Farrow, has been cleared of all charges. He is out of prison and out of Charley’s life, as per her wishes and several perfectly timed death threats. But his absence has put a serious crimp in her sex life. While there are other things to consider, like the fact that the city of Albuquerque has been taken hostage by an arsonist, Charley is having a difficult time staying away. Especially when it looks like Reyes may be involved. Just when life was returning to normal, Charley is thrust back into the world of crime, punishment, and the devil in blue jeans.
 
Review:
This series has quickly become one of my favorites! Darynda Jones sarcastic sense of humor never fails in making me laugh. You should read this series for the little quips at the beginning of each chapter if nothing else. LOL! The T-Shirt sayings and bumper stickers might even surpass Nix’s T-Shirt sayings from Kresley Coles IAD series and that is saying a lot.
 
This specific book is one of the best of the series. Charley is more venerable than we have ever seen her. This book starts out two months after Charley’s torture. For the past two months she has found a new love of home shopping and Jackie Kennedy bracelets and has not once left her apartment. To say she has PTSD is an understatement. She is not talking to either her dad or to Reyes. Both had put her head on the chopping block recently and her dad even had her arrested. To say she is angry with them is an understatement.
 
Charley gets her first case in two months, she takes it mainly because she is broke as a joke and Reyes still hasn’t paid her the million dollars she claims he owes her. Her client swears she is being stalked and that someone is trying to kill her. Charley has a soft spot for damsels in distress and takes Harper under her wing. This case helps to pull Charley out of her stupor but Charley being Charley still gets into plenty of trouble. Now that she had left her apartment the demons that she didn’t know were stalking her have more opportunity to attack her. BT (Before Torture) life threatening situations barely registered on her rector scale, now she is finding that she is freezing up in the face of danger and that just will not do. Despite her PTSD Charley has not lost her sense of humor, she still is sarcastic as ever and the witty banter does not end. As per the Darynda Jones usual, Charley ends up working on a couple of different cases at once. There are a series of bank robberies, an arsonist, Harpers stalker and Charley’s demons. This makes for a very busy Charley, she may have been hiding from the world for the past two months but when she comes out of hiding she comes out with a bang!
 
Reyes is now out of jail and Charley finds him cage fighting of all things. Reyes has been busy in his time out of jail. He is now a cage fighter and taking out demons in his spare time. In this book it seemed like to me that Reyes made more appearances. In past books he would pop in and out and was pretty closed mouth stroking the impression of mystery. In this book we get full conversations with Reyes which only makes us want more! Can Reyes be any sexier!?! I don’t think so. He is one of my favorite males of any paranormal/urban fantasy series. He’s rarely there but he makes quite the impact each time he is. He’s an alpha to the extreme, I mean come on he is the Son of Satan.
 
One thing that has been driving me crazy with the Reyes and Charley dynamic is Charley and she can’t keep her mouth shut! She just blabs and blabs all of his secrets to just about anyone. Even things that she shouldn’t know and certainly things she should never ever mention. In this book she shows Cookie “the picture”, if you’ve read previous books you know what picture I am talking about. I could not believe she would show anyone that picture! She shouldn’t even look at that picture let alone show it to anyone. ERG! Ok rant over.
 
I highly enjoyed this book, Ms. Jones through some serious curve balls at me that I wasn’t expecting. I’m usually pretty good at guess the who dunit but this time I wasn’t really expecting these circumstances. The tension between Charley and Reyes is smoldering as always and I can’t get enough. And Darynda Jones is leading us to some huge epic battle between good and evil! I cannot wait for the next book.
 
Rating:

 

Review: Jolyn Palliata – Connected

Twists of Fate:
 
Book 1:
 
Connected: Addison Calomino and Rhys Alexander
 

 
Order on Amazon: Jolyn Palliata - Connected (Twists of Fate)
Summary:
From goodreads.com
A rock group’s rhythm guitarist, Rhys Alexander, dies and finds himself bound inside the body of a woman he’s never met. Can she help him move on to the other side, or will he end up finding the love of his life…after his has already ended?
 
Review:
I am so glad I didn’t read the summary before I read this book, otherwise I may not have read this title. I picked this book up on Amazon purely from a recommendation of a Goodreads friend.  She had seen that I liked the Sinners on Tour by Olivia Cunning and told me I would love this title too and she was right! I did!
 
From the beginning you are sucked into the story. We start out in a haze where Addison’s energy meets Rhys’s energy in the afterlife. Rhys not wanting to be left behind grabs onto Addison’s energy as she leaves the haze and she takes his essence or soul back with her into life, well her into life, and him as a voice or essence in her head. Addison wakes up from surgery finding out that she had died and has a voice in her head. Of course she thinks she is going crazy, it takes Rhys a little while to convince her otherwise but once she is on the same page as him they really get entertaining.
 
Rhys is a total smarta$$, his comments will have you cracking up. Addison in the past wouldn’t have kept up, but something about Rhys allows her to let go and give as good as she gets. Being in each other’s head leaves little room for shyness and secrets so they get past normal boundaries really quickly. After a little while they learn to block each other but they mostly remain open to each other. This forced intimacy causes feeling to develop between these two that they have no business developing. Rhys is certain he is dead, so he doesn’t have a life to give Addison, but that doesn’t seem to matter.
 
We quickly find out that Rhys is actually a famous guitarist and a popular band, which adds a fun rock and roll vibe to this tale. I love when Rhys sings to Addison to help her sleep. When Addison is researching Rhys’s death for him, they find that his brother Xavier is planning on ending the band. This gets Rhys’s really upset, he knows that the band is his brother’s life and it would kill him to not have his music any longer. Rhys realizes that his brother is his “unfinished business” and sets Addison on Xavier to convince him to keep the band together. We meet Xavier and his heartache for his departed brother is tangible.
 
Towards the end of the book, I was literally crying! Addison and Rhys had me so tied up that I was moved to tears. This doesn’t happen often but when it does it shows me how much I had come to care about the characters and story. I am so glad I gave this story a try and I cannot wait for the next in the series. I hope that it comes soon and we aren’t left hanging.
 
Rating:

Review: Darynda Jones - Third Grave Dead Ahead

Charley Davidson Series:
 
Book 3:
 
Third Grave Dead Ahead: Charley Davidson and Crew
 
 
 
Get it on Amazon: Darynda Jones - Third Grave Dead Ahead
Summary:
From Goodreads.com
Paranormal private eye. Grim reaper extraordinaire. Whatever. Charley Davidson is back! And she's drinking copious amounts of caffeine to stay awake because every time she closes her eyes she sees him: Reyes Farrow, the part-human, part-supermodel son of Satan.
 
Granted she did imprison Reyes for all eternity, but how is she supposed to solve a missing-persons case, deal with an ego-driven doctor, calm her curmudgeonly dad, and take on a motorcycle gang hell-bent on murder when the devil's son just won't give up on his plan of seduction..... and revenge?
 
Review:
This one was not my favorite of the series, but still scores a solid 4.5 rating which is saying something.  We still get all of the usual Darynda Jones humor but with more of an edge. Tempers are simmering in this book and violence escalates.  As is foretold Charley must go through agony before she can get her guardian.  Also, the race is on for Charley to discover what she is capable of; if she doesn’t the demons may find her and as the portal, that cannot happen.
 
Reyes is PISSED at Charley and quite frankly I don’t blame him. She flat out pretty much betrayed him and now he’s back in prison trapped in his body, that he shouldn’t even have.  Despite, his festering anger Reyes still needs Charley’s help; he was framed for a murder that was not even committed. He needs Charley to find his “father” who is still very much alive. 
 
Charley has two cases she needs to solve ASAP.  She was hired by a doctor to find his missing wife, but everything within Charley knows that the good doctor very much so had a hand in her disappearance.  Charley connects what seem to be unrelated dots to the good doctor and the arrows really start pointing to him, he is more then what he seems.  If only she could prove it. The more dots that are connected the more she realizes how difficult it will be to actually prove the circumstantial evidence. Then there is Reyes, Reyes is one of the most intriguing males in any series. We get glimpses of him but never a full picture. The more we find out the more intriguing he becomes.  In this book, he’s hunting his “father”. The danger surrounding this case doesn’t seem to be more than previous cases but this one may just break Charley and your heart breaks a little for her.
 
As with the previous books we get our cast of characters! I don’t think this series would be the same without them. I just adore all of them.  In this book we get the addition of a motorcycle gang that hangs at the institution that Charley goes to, to visit Rocket. I am really interested to see where Darynda Jones takes us with this gang. Charley’s father got a bug up his a$$ about protecting Charley from herself, even as he himself put a target on her. There is a possible romance budding between Cookie and Charley’s uncle!  And our sexy Garrett, when Reyes is MIA we still have him and I’m not complaining!
 
Rating:

Review: Darynda Jones – Second Grave on the Left

Charley Davidson Series:
 
Book 2:
 
Second Grave on the Left: Charley Davidson and Crew
 

 
Summary:
When Charley is rudely awakened in the middle of the night by her best friend who tells her to get dressed quickly and tosses clothes out of the closet at her, she can’t help but wonder what Cookie’s up to. Leather scrunch boots with a floral miniskirt? Together? Seriously?
 
Cookie explains that a friend of hers named Mimi disappeared five days earlier and that she just got a text from her setting up a meet at a coffee shop downtown. They show up at the coffee shop, but no Mimi. But Charley finds a message on the bathroom wall. Mimi left a clue, a woman’s name. Mimi’s husband explains that his wife had been acting strange since she found out an old friend of hers from high school had been found murdered a couple weeks prior. The same woman Mimi had named in her message.
 
Meanwhile, Reyes Alexander Farrow (otherwise known as the Son of Satan. Yes. Literally) has left his corporeal body and is haunting Charley. He’s left his body because he’s being tortured by demons who want to lure Charley closer. But Reyes can’t let that happen. Because if the demons get to Charley, they’ll have a portal to heaven. And if they have a portal to heaven…well, let’s just say it wouldn’t be pretty.
 
Can Charley handle hot nights with Reyes and even hotter days tracking down a missing woman? Will Cookie ever get a true fashion sense? And is there enough coffee and chocolate in the world to fuel them as they do?
 
Review:
Yet another fantastic installment of the Charley Davidson series!  Darynda Jones just took this series and ran with it, Olympic gold medal style (can you tell the Olympics was on recently? Lol).  I simply devoured this series, with no breaks between books. Yet again Ms. Jones had me laughing so hard I cried. There was this one passage that had me laughing so hard and for so long that my co-worker was looking at me funny. So I sent him just that passage and had him rolling too. He hadn’t read any of the book didn’t know anything about the series but could laugh right along with me on this one and he’s a tough audience!  
 
In this book Reyes has escaped protective custody and is haunting Charley, not that she minds the haunting. But what concerns her is his body, he’s told her he’s being tortured but she can’t find him.  Charley makes it her mission to save his body from being tortured despite Reyes opinion on the matter.  This is one of the very few things that has irked me with this series, Charley can be rash when it comes to Reyes and completely disregards his warning or feelings in a matter and does things that directly affects him in the exact opposite way that he wanted.  A prime example is she tends to blabbermouth to everyone what he is, but she doesn’t tell anyone what she is fully. Which I find hypocritical and irksome, she knows he wouldn’t want everyone and their mother knowing what he is, yet she keeps on telling people.  A small detail but annoying nonetheless at least to me. 
 
What I do love about Charley besides the obvious humor I’ve already raved about is her willingness to help.  All walks of life and departed come to her for help and she doesn’t turn people away, she helps in any way she can. I also love how the cases come together. She takes random facts that may not have much significance elsewhere yet somehow puts it all together and solves the unsolvable.
 
What I adore about this series are all of the side characters. They are all larger than life and fully developed. There are no bad characters in this series! I love them all, from Cookie to the ghostly Angel. Even Charley’s bane of her existence Sykes is a great character. Their interactions are always amusing and he is quite sexy in his own right!  Even Charley’s uncle is hilarious and quite lovable as your favorite fictional uncle. I don’t think this series would be as good if it weren’t for the supporting cast of characters. 
 
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Review: Darynda Jones – First Grave on the Right

Charley Davidson Series:
 
Book 1:
 
First Grave on the Right: Charley Davidson and Crew
 

 
Summary:
From Goodreads.com
Private investigator Charlotte Davidson was born with three things: looks; a healthy respect for the male anatomy; and the rather odd job title of grim reaper. Since the age of five, she has been helping the departed solve the mysteries of their deaths so they can cross over. Thus, when three lawyers from the same law firm are murdered, they come to her to find their killer.
 
In the meantime, Charley's dealing with a being more powerful - and definitely sexier - than any specter she's ever come across before. With the help of a pain-in-the-ass skip tracer, a dead pubescent gangbanger named Angel, and a lifetime supply of sarcasm, Charley sets out to solve the highest profile case of the year and discovers that dodging bullets isn't nearly as dangerous as falling in love.
 
Review:
 
This series has been on my TBR for who knows how long, it was recommended to me by one of my book soul mates Shelly. I knew I should have picked it up sooner, if Shelly recommended it, I am almost guaranteed to love it. And she was right, I did love it!  Charley is such a F’n smart ass and I love it! Darynda Jones writes with sarcasm and wit, it’s almost none stop laughs from the beginning to the end. 
 
Charley is a small time PI who also helps her uncle who is a cop with some of his cases. It’s so much easier to solve a homicide when you can just ask the ghost who killed them. Sometimes Charley gets lucky and the newly departed can tell her who killed them and sometimes it’s a bit harder and they don’t know so the investigation begins, which is the case with this murder mystery. In this book, Charley is investigating a triple homicide with the dearly departed assisting in their own murders.  As the investigation heats up, it becomes more and more dangerous, and that usually means that Charley almost dies, a lot. LOL But our Charlie is a tough cookie, not much can outright kill her especially when she has a shadow that always protects her from sure death.   Charley is tough as nails, but has a soft caring side which is evident when she deals with her friends.
 
Charley has always been a trouble magnet, from a very young age she has been attracting near death experiences, but always a specter would appear and protect her.   All her life she was intrigued yet terrified of this specter, even though it always protected her, there is an air of menace surrounding it.  Another intriguing man in Charlie’s life is Reyes. Reyes was a young man when she first met him at about 18. His father was beating the shit out of him when Charlie intervened; she only about 15 at the time, the experience left a lasting impact on her. No man since has left her feeling the same as the near violant experience with the young Reyes.  Now approximately 15 years later she has found Reyes again, only nothing is what it seems with him.  Reyes is so damn sexy and mysterious! Reyes is definitely an alpha male to the core with a strange vulnerability that should not be there, not when you consider who he is. He has a strong protective instinct, yet carries death in his eyes; always an intriguing combination.  He has a less than stellar childhood, only made tolerable through glimpses of Charlie. Now he is an inmate at the state prison, where he has been since he was about 19, and recent events have left him in a coma. Now that Charley has found him again, she knows that she can’t let him die but she only has a week.  Between the triple homicide and Reyes Charlie is a busy girl, but she is never too busy for her friends, some of which are ghosts. 
 
Through the whole book the laughs never end nor does the excitements from the dangers Charlie navigates. Her life is constantly in peril but she preservers and hopefully gets her guy in the end, both of them. D. Jones navigates a fine line between just enough humor and too much sarcasm. I think she did an excellent job in keeping it in line. I don’t feel like that fine line was crossed to where the humor became too much and you lose some of the story because of it. I felt like it only enhanced the story. Charley as a character is fun and very easy to love. I don’t think there are too many that wouldn’t enjoy these books. Even if you aren’t necessarily a fan of paranormal, but you like to laugh I really think you would still enjoy this book and even the series. There is an element of mystery on top of the paranormal and humor, so this book has a little bit of something for everyone. So run out now and buy the first book! You won’t be disappointed. I devoured this series (At least what is already out) in a matter of a couple of days!
 
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