Review--The Dirt on the Ninth Grave by Darynda Jones

In a small village in New York lives Jane Doe, a girl with no memory of who she is or where she came from. So when she is working at a diner and slowly begins to realize she can see dead people, she's more than a little taken aback. Stranger still are the people entering her life. They seem to know things about her. Things they hide with lies and half-truths. Soon, she senses something far darker. A force that wants to cause her harm, she is sure of it. Her saving grace comes in the form of a new friend she feels she can confide in and the fry cook, a devastatingly handsome man whose smile is breathtaking and touch is scalding. He stays close, and she almost feels safe with him around.

But no one can outrun their past, and the more lies that swirl around her—even from her new and trusted friends—the more disoriented she becomes, until she is confronted by a man who claims to have been sent to kill her. Sent by the darkest force in the universe. A force that absolutely will not stop until she is dead. Thankfully, she has a Rottweiler. But that doesn't help in her quest to find her identity and recover what she's lost. That will take all her courage and a touch of the power she feels flowing like electricity through her veins. She almost feels sorry for him. The devil in blue jeans. The disarming fry cook who lies with every breath he takes. She will get to the bottom of what he knows if it kills her. Or him. Either way.

It’s a lot of fun to get caught up with a series! I’m now two books closer to being caught up with the Charley Davidson series, three more to go! The Dirt on the Ninth Grave picks up pretty much where Darynda Jones left us hanging in agony—thank goodness I took so long to read it! Lol! Poor Charley has lost her memories since she had to give up little Beep in order to protect her from all the evils in the world that were after her. Now she’s living in Sleep Hollow as Janey Doerr and she’s trying to adjust to her new abilities in life mainly that of seeing ghosts!

Living without your memories is pretty hard, but Janey is getting along rather well. She’s got a nice job as a waitress, a crappy place to call home, and some great new friends, like Cookie, Garrett, and Osh. Then of course comes along the new cook, Reyes who just sets her soul on fire. Okay, obviously reading from Charley’s point of view has ingrained her sense of humor in me! Lol! It was fun to see that Charley was still Charley even though she was really Janey.

Janey still has the same qualities that Charley had, naturally. It’s no surprise at all when trouble continues to find her. When delivering a food order to a customer, she senses something is off that may in fact involve a hostage situation. Then there’s the fact that her coworker may be haunted and then you add in that the cop who rescued her upon waking with amnesia, has yet to leave. He’s kind of attached himself to her without her wanting it. So there’s a good deal of problems all around.

It was interesting to read from Charley’s point of view as Janey. She has no memories of her life and the people who were in it, so meeting new people always came as a surprise for the reader. You never knew if they were someone we knew already, luckily, her friends used their same names, but a few other people pop up and either don’t give out their name or give another one but they are still someone we already know.

The few mysteries that were happening in this one were done exceedingly well! Adding in the little ones were quite fun too! And surprising as well! I would’ve thought one of them had a simple answer, but I was so wrong about that! It’s one of the few instances where I was glad to be wrong! Lol!

Speaking of laughs, this book was pretty much filled with them like any other Charley Davidson novel! Who would’ve thought that Janey Doerr would be just as hilarious as Charley! Heehee! I guess it just proves that some things are just ingrained in our beings!

Then we have the continually amazing sizzling romance between Charley/Janey and Reyes! You can’t help but feel for Reyes that when he sees his wife she looks back at him as if he were a stranger…a really, really hot stranger. Janey can’t help but feel that this Reyes may know more than what he says he does. In trying to get answers, she finds they definitely have chemistry between them. And like with all Darynda’s past romantic occurrences between these two, it was seriously hot and had me blushing! Thankfully I have a naturally red cheek complexion so no one can ever really know what I am reading!!

The ending was soooo omg! We get another one of those shocks that comes from not knowing what’s going on since we are in Janey’s point of view versus Charley’s. And THEN…SOMETHING ELSE BIG is set to happen! Like a seriously wtf moment! How on earth will Charley and Reyes be able to overcome THAT little thing! Little, pfft! Again, sorry for all this weird commentary thing I’ve got going on! I swear reading from Charley’s point of view does things to my own sense of self and whatnot! But it’s not necessarily a bad thing! This series just touches at my heart in so many ways! Yes, there’s lots of laughs, but there’s action, romance, mystery, and some ghostly dealings as well! This was a series made for me to enjoy and I have since day 1!


Overall Rating 5/5 stars