Review--Eleventh Grave in Moonlight by Darynda Jones

A typical day in the life of Charley Davidson involves cheating husbands, missing people, errant wives, philandering business owners, and oh yeah...demons, hell hounds, evil gods, and dead people. Lots and lots of dead people. As a part time Private Investigator and full-time Grim Reaper, Charley has to balance the good, the bad, the undead, and those who want her dead. In this eleventh installment, Charley is learning to make peace with the fact that she is a goddess with all kinds of power and that her own daughter has been born to save the world from total destruction. But the forces of hell are determined to see Charley banished forever to the darkest corners of another dimension. With the son of Satan himself as her husband and world-rocking lover, maybe Charley can find a way to have her happily ever after after all.

As you can see, I got a little ornery with the picture. I'm making attempts to find a hardcover copy without this little "sticker" junk on it. Which I don't know if they even exist for that matter, but I must try! Because seriously! How is THIS appealing?! A REMOVABLE sticker proclaiming the same thing makes EVERYONE happy! This? Nope. Can't do it. So yeah, I got ornery. Lol! True, it's what's on inside that counts and this book was amazing!!!

Holy freaking cow!!! I honestly didn’t expect an ending to totally shatter my being once I finished Eleventh Grave in Moonlight! I mean…it’s not like I’m reading book twelve and waiting an agonizingly long time for the next book! But holy freaking cow!! Darynda Jones has once again taken me completely by surprise and left me a whole ball of messiness! The stakes just keep getting higher and higher in the Charley Davidson series! Truly anxious to see how things will all play out in the end!

Life continues to move on for Charley. She still misses little Beep fiercely, but knows keeping her safe is the ultimate goal. Her friends all still watch out for her, especially Osh who we already know will play a very critical role in her life. To keep herself busy, Charley throws herself into her work. Well, sorta. Charley’s next client is a very familiar one, it’s Shawn Foster, the man who would’ve been Reyes’ adoptive brother, if the Fosters had decided to keep him after stealing him, instead he was sold to Earl Walker. Man, just when you think your family’s got issues, it’s nothing compared to poor Reyes! Shawn has suspicions about the Fosters. He wants Charley to prove their guilt and naturally, Reyes wants her as far away from this case as possible, so naturally, Charley is all over this case!

But that’s not the only issue at hand, Charley’s top priority as of late has been trying to keep her Uncle Bob alive. He was marked for hell and apparently his possible death is just around the corner. So Reyes, Osh, and Garrett take shifts in order to make sure Bob stays out of trouble.

That’s not all the fun and games though, apparently, Amber has some pretty scary things happening in her life as well! Things are never calm in Charley’s life it would seem. There’s always a mystery or two or three and a handful of bad guys to be dealt with, and generally a few of them are the type that are not quite alive…or human.

I think the parts that trip me up the most involve when Charley is trying to remember her life from before, when she was still a god. When she and Reyes were more than human and whatnot. Their past lives come into play every now and then, and I can’t help but feel confused every now and then, but since Charley herself has no recollection of these memories, I guess it’s fitting that we aren’t too sure of things either. But man, does it get complicated when dealing with the angels, like Michael, who know all about who Charley was and what she did beforehand! It’s definitely nerve-wracking for sure!

I swear these books are pure gold! There is never a dull moment to them! Darynda Jones knows how to keep the pace flowing at near warp speed! Don’t think that I mean that things get confusing or whatnot due to the fast pace! Oh heavens no! Things just really keep moving and moving from one plot point to another. There are some downtime moments, and let’s face it, those are some pretty good ones since they usually involve Charley and Reyes being all romantic like! Lol!

Again I must mention the intensity of Charley and Reyes’ relationship! It is seriously one of the most swoony and heart-racing sorts! Like I swear I feel a blush coming on when they’re together and I’m reading this book in public on lunch breaks and whatnot! I always feel like people KNOW when I am those scenes! Lol! Though seriously, I am never around people at these times! Needless to say the romantic scenes are still toe curling worthy!

The ending was far more explosive than I anticipated! The past few books have had endings that are fairly moderate. Except for book 8, man that one was a doozy! But books 9 and 10? Totally doable! Nothing to make you pull your hair out too much. So what happens when I finish book 11 and don’t have book 12 at the ready because I anticipated a busy day that was far from busy? A seriously mind-blowing ending! One that has me reeling back with shock, with fear, with holy-crap-what-will-Charley-do-now?! It doesn’t fit the pattern of having killer cliffhangers one book than calmness (of a kind) for two and then back to a killer cliffhanger! I mean seriously! This is the kind of ending I expect from the next book as then I am all caught up and left devastingly waiting for the 13th book!

But don’t let my fears keep you from this series! It’s truly all the waiting that I despise. And that can be said of every series ever! Lol! Now is definitely a good time to binge read the series as I want to say book 13 is the final one, but I am not positive, so don’t quote me on that! I’d be ecstatic if there were more!! Eleventh Grave in Moonlight is like its many predecessors and filled with exceedingly good mysteries, some ghosts, some demons, more than a few laughs, spine-tingly good romance, and characters that you just grow to love so thoroughly that goodbyes are painful! This series just continues to amaze me and bring delight every time I crack one of them open!


Overall Rating 5/5 stars