There's also some fun facts from Darynda Jones about the books in the series and a contest to win an ARC of Summoned to Thirteenth Grave (US only)!
RE-Read Review: The Trouble with Twelfth Grave by Darynda Jones
Grim Reaper Charley Davidson is back in the twelfth installment of Darynda Jones' New York Times bestselling paranormal series, The Trouble with Twelfth Grave.
Ever since Reyes Farrow escaped from a hell dimension in which Charley Davidson accidentally trapped him, the son of Satan has been brimstone-bent on destroying the world his heavenly Brother created. His volatile tendencies have put Charley in a bit of a pickle. But that's not the only briny vegetable on her plate. While trying to domesticate the feral being that used to be her husband, she also has to deal with her everyday life of annoying all manner of beings--some corporeal, some not so much--as she struggles to right the wrongs of society. Only this time she's not uncovering a murder. This time she's covering one up.
Add to that her new occupation of keeping a startup PI venture--the indomitable mystery-solving team of Amber Kowalski and Quentin Rutherford--out of trouble and dealing with the Vatican's inquiries into her beloved daughter, and Charley is on the brink of throwing in the towel and becoming a professional shopper. Or possibly a live mannequin. But when someone starts attacking humans who are sensitive to the supernatural world, Charley knows it's time to let loose her razor sharp claws. Then again, her number one suspect is the dark entity she's loved for centuries. So the question becomes: Can she tame the unruly beast before it destroys everything she's worked so hard to protect?
So this will be the first time I ever do a re-read review of a book! And what better book that to choose The Trouble with Twelfth Grave by Darynda Jones! Though I admit, this was more of a skimming read than full out read because wow, time got away from me!
This was one of the most intense books in the Charley Davidson series to date! Probably moreso than when Charley had lost her memory, in this one things are sort of flipped flopped when Reyes loses his memory/self and becomes Rey’azikeen. While he's still the man Charley loves, he's not one hundred percent the same either.
Add in the fact that Charley still has her usual round of mysteries to solve and you've got the makings for one intense read that will lead us into the epic finale of the Charley Davidson world!
This series will always delight me, it will always make me laugh, make me swoon, and just burst out loud laughing because Charley is without a doubt one of the funniest characters I've ever read and I love her for that!
This was one of the more intense reads too, as Rey’azikeen is searching intently for something and I have my suspicions to what "that" is. Time will only tell of course! And that time, is finally now!! Stay tuned for when I give my review of Summoned to Thirteenth Grave up next!
Overall Rating 5/5 stars--still!
ARC Review--Summoned to Thirteenth Grave by Darynda Jones
Grim Reaper Charley Davidson is back in the final installment of Darynda Jones’ New York Times bestselling paranormal series!
Charley Davidson, Grim Reaper extraordinaire, is pissed. She’s been kicked off the earthly plain for eternity – which is the appropriate amount of time to make a person starkraving mad. But someone’s looking out for her, and she’s allowed to return after a mere hundred years in exile. Is it too much to hope for that not much has changed? Apparently it is. Bummer.
She’s missed her daughter, she’s missed Reyes, and Beep, but now that she’s back on earth, it’s time to put to rest burning questions that need answers. What happened to her mother? How did she really die? Who killed her? And are cupcakes or coffee the best medicine? It all comes to a head in an epic showdown between good and evil in this final smart and hilarious novel.
I received this ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest and voluntary review. I was in no way compensated for this review.
Summoned to Thirteenth Grave brings a conclusion to Darynda Jones’ New York Times bestselling Charley Davidson series and it was without a doubt one of the most fantastic thrill rides ever! Every adventure with Charley and Co. has been astounding and entertaining and with Reyes tagging along, super smexy and just wow! Wow. Wow. Wow!!
What I love about this series is how we pick up right where we left off, and naturally, we pick up to find Charley in a place of darkness, a void, if you will. It’s a punishment for bringing Amber back to life, something she was told not to do, but did anyway, because she’s Charley. And then suddenly Charley is back. She counted the days, hours, minutes, and seconds she was gone and discovered that her eternal exile only lasted over one hundred years. She’s not sure why she was brought back or the hows, she’s just glad to be back.
We quickly find out Charley has only been gone for ten days on Earth. But a lot has changed in those ten days. A black demon hole that she dubbed The Shade is slowly taking over Albuquerque, and it’s infecting people around it. It’s an utter pit of chaos, to say the least. But what would a Charley Davidson book be without a little mystery that needs solving as well. Charley and her cohorts find themselves trying to help the ghost of a little boy find his missing family and learn a few other things along the way as well.
This book was just full of surprises! There were so many that kept having me drop my jaw because they were like whoa!! Things I seriously didn’t see coming at all! I love that this series can continue to surprise me until its very end! And what an ending that was, but more on that in a minute!
Like with all Charley books you can go into this one expecting an engaging mystery, ghosts galore, twisted humor that is truly Charley in all walks of life, and of course stolen smoldering moments between her and her husband, Reyes Farrow. Amid all the chaos that surrounds Charley and her friends, there’s still the pressing matter of the war that is to come that her daughter will have to fight. Charley continues to have visions of that fateful day and sees things that are rather key to her daughter’s future.
I absolutely positively loved this book to pieces! It was without a doubt one of the greatest installments ever! I loved how we got see how the main characters that we’ve mingled with over the years. It was like one great big sendoff for readers as this book does end the series, tragic as it might be. And Darynda isn’t through with dropping a few jaw-dropping surprises our way! My mind is still reeling from all the shocks and surprises, not to mention that ending!!
And whoa, what an ending it was! While things end pretty solidly and you can almost imagine what will happen next, Darynda throws a legendary curveball at us that totally shocked the you-know-what out of me! It was one I didn’t see coming and I am still scrambling to figure out what it could mean! Not just what it might lead to, but the meaning behind this shocking event! This is always the downside to reading something early!
The Charley Davidson series was one of the greatest series I ever read! With mystery, mayhem, murder, romance and a heavy dose of snark and sarcasm, this series truly had everything a paranormal girl like myself could ever want! Summoned to Thirteenth Grave is our goodbye to Charley and everyone else, but I am hoping it’s not as final as we might think! This is a series I would recommend again and again to every loving and needing a good paranormal series in their life! Charley Davidson has got it all!
Overall Rating 5/5 stars
Summoned to Thirteenth Grave releases January 15, 2019
And now a little about the author Darynda Jones:
Darynda's Social Links:
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Darynda
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/darynda.jones.official
Website: http://www.daryndajones.com/
SMP Romance Twitter: https://twitter.com/heroesnhearts & https://twitter.com/SMPRomance
SMP Romance Website: https://heroesandheartbreakers.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/darynda.jones.official
Website: http://www.daryndajones.com/
SMP Romance Twitter: https://twitter.com/heroesnhearts & https://twitter.com/SMPRomance
SMP Romance Website: https://heroesandheartbreakers.com/
And now for some fun facts about each of the novels in this amazing series:
First Grave on the Right
The concept for First Grave came about while Darynda was working as a sign language interpreter in her hometown. She stole many of the names from students at the schools where she worked, including Reyes, Garrett, and Amber. As far as Darynda knows, they have all forgiven her for her thievery.
Second Grave on the Left
Uncle Bob is a combination of two people: Darynda’s oldest brother, Luther, and the principal at the high school where she worked for several years.
Third Grave Dead Ahead
This was originally titled Third Grave Straight Ahead, but Darynda’s web designer, Liz Bemis, asked her to change the name to Dead Ahead. Firstly, it fit the content better, and secondly, Liz got tired of spelling the word Straight wrong while updating the website. Dead is much easier to type.
Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet
Quentin Rutherford makes his first appearance in this book. While his first name was stolen from Darynda’s little brother and his last name stolen from yet another Jr. High student, Quentin is physically sculpted from her oldest son, Jerrdan, a bona fide blond-haired, blue-eyed devil with a sparkling smile that melts even the staunchest of hearts. And, like Quentin Rutherford, he was born Deaf. Not that he let it stop him for a second.
Fifth Grave Past the Light
This book was fun to write! Darynda was trying to come up with something truly creepy to throw into the book, and she figured what would be creepier than having an apartment full of departed women crawling up the walls, skittering across the ceiling, and huddling in the corners? Also, it is one of the hotter books, so that was fun, too. Because, you know, Reyes.
Sixth Grave on the Edge
Darynda really wanted to open this one on a humorous note. She wanted to have Charley on a stakeout with a departed elderly man, who also happens to be naked, riding shotgun. Which begs the question: Are we really stuck in (or out of) whatever we are wearing when we die for all eternity? ‘Cause that would suck.
Seventh Grave and No Body
Osh’ekiel was originally supposed to be in one book only. And he was supposed to be a very bad guy. But Darynda fell in love with him while writing the book and decided to redeem him and give him a bigger role. Just how big his role would become didn’t come to Darynda until plotting Eighth Grave. He has been one of her favorite characters since she wrote that first scene with him.
Eighth Grave After Dark
Darynda wanted to really turn the tables on Charley and force her to have to stay in one place, thus the sacred ground of the convent came into play. It was fun and challenging to write a “locked room” mystery, so to speak, but that’s why she loves writing so much.
The Dirt on Ninth Grave
One of Darynda’s favorite books in the series, she looked forward to writing this book ever since she came up with the concept while plotting Sixth Grave. Part of what makes a romance so fun is the falling-in-love part, and she wanted Charley to fall in love with Reyes all over again. This book was doubly fun because the audience knows all the characters’ backstories, and they get to watch in anticipation as Charley slowly unravels the mysteries of her past, while seeing her fall head-over-heels for the same guy all over again.
The Curse of Tenth Grave
This book had one of those too-close-for-comfort calls. Right before Tenth Grave went to print, after going through editors and copyeditors and readers of all shapes and sizes, a savvy proofreader let Darynda in on a little secret: A Sherpa is part of a culture, not an occupation. Thanks to this razor-sharp reader, Darynda narrowly escaped insulting an entire culture in one fell swoop. Aka, her worst nightmare. Her gratitude is unending.
Eleventh Grave in Moonlight
Darynda dreamed of going to Scotland for so long, she finally decided to just put it in one of her books. She had Charley accidently materialize in the magical country, only to find out weeks after finishing the book that she would finally get to go there herself. In person. For realsies. It was even more magical than she’d imagined it would be, and she can’t wait to go back.
The Trouble with Twelfth Grave
This book has one of Darynda’s favorite epiphanies EVER!!! She thought, what if someone out there in the universe, a child perhaps, knows everything about Reyes and Charley? Everything starting from their supernatural heritage to their human identities? And what if that person wrote a book about them? Or a series of books? Say, perhaps, a set of children’s books and Garrett just happens to stumble upon them while doing research? How fun would that be? And the international bestselling children’s book (fictionally speaking) The First Star was born.
Summoned to Thirteenth Grave
By far the hardest story in the series to write, penning the last Charley book was a bittersweet experience. But Darynda knew she had to go big or go home, so what better way to go out with a bang than to end the world as we know it by starting the zombie apocalypse? Because that’s what writers do. We start apocalypses.
And now for the contest! Here's the link to the publisher's site, unfortunately it's US only. Check out the link below to enter for your chance to win an ARC of Summoned to Thirteenth Grave!
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