Review - Fifth Grave Past the Light - By: Darynda Jones

Title: Fifth Grave Past the Light
Author: Darynda Jones
Publisher: Piatkus
Release Date: July 9th, 2013
Series: Charley Davidson #5
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Synopsis via Goodreads

Charley Davidson may not look like your everyday, run-of-the-mill grim reaper, but she has vowed to reap grimness wherever she goes despite this unfortunate fact. Sadly, she gets sidetracked when the sexy, sultry son of Satan, Reyes Farrow, moves in next door. As he is the main suspect in her arson case, she has vowed to stay away from him until she can find out the truth.

However, when dead women start appearing in her apartment—lost, confused and terrified beyond reason—Charley has no choice but to ask for Reyes' help, especially when it becomes apparent that her own sister, Gemma, is the serial killer's next target. With his ability to observe incorporeally, surely he can find out who's responsible. And even if he can't, he is the one man alive who could protect Gemma no matter who or what came at her. But he wants something in return: Charley. All of her—body and soul. And to keep her sister safe, it is a price she might be willing to pay...

My rating:

Excuse me while I make myself whole again after that ending turned me into a swooning, fangirling mess. Reyes. Why aren't you real? Why aren't you mine? Oh, the injustice of it all...

Now that I got my required dose of melodrama out of the way, can I just begin by saying that Darynda Jones is a genius. The perfect writer. The woman responsible for my insomnia, since sleep became a foreign concept as soon as I got a copy of this wonderful masterpiece of a sequel. NO ONE does sequels like D.J. NO ONE.

I dived into the story like there'd never been a long, excruciating period of time between this book and the last. Coming back to Charley's never-ending wit was refreshing. Her eccentric personality shined through like it always does, no matter how dire the situation is. And in the true Charley Davidson fashion, there were tons of dire situations.

Like usual, D.J. keeps the action nonstop with just enough subplots to make Charley's life crazy. So much was going on, and I loved it. It kept the pacing tight, never allowing a dull moment to creep through. We had Reyes as Charley's neighbor, where naughty times ensued. We had a psycho serial killer, and a twist at the end with the killer that I did NOT see coming. We had random dead blond women appearing in Charley's home and crawling on ceilings. We had the mysterious arsonist (who wasn't so mysterious as I read on). And I'm probably missing more, but after reading that ending, my head is more than a little scrambled.

That ending, though. Abrupt. Mind-blowing. Heart-swelling. Freaking spectacular. I actually did a mental happy dance, with wide eyes and a dropped jaw. I can't say what happens, of course, but just know that unless you have something against Reyes and Charley's relationship, you will NOT be dissapointed. And since I was a fan of them deepening their romance from the beginning, I was near euphoric at the end.

If you're like me, you'd want to know about any advancements with Charley's mysterious powers. Aside from the usual seeing ghosts & having them pass through her, there's quite a bit of new stuff. She slows time occasionally when she's aware of imminent danger. She gets to see things from a different plane, finally getting a glimpse of Reyes's surrounding shadow everyone seems to be going on about. During one scene, she causes a mini-earthquake. There's more and I don't want to give it all away, but her powers really do seem as endless as Reyes said they would be.

Supporting characters are a vital part of enjoying a novel for me. And D.J. has every single one of them down pat. Uncle Bob. Cookie. Officer Taft. Kim Millar. Rocket & Blue Bell. Strawberry Shortcake. Quentin. Amber. Gemma. All the characters we know and love are at the forefront once more in this edgy yet hilarious installment.

But I'm biased, so all of my attention was on the enigma that is Reyes Farrow. He was charming and wicked and sexy and amusing. And since he stayed corporeal the whole time, his moments with Charley got steamy very quickly. Observe:

A huge smile spread across his face. "True enough, so what's eating you? Because, sadly, it's not me."

Way to almost give a girl a stroke over here, Reyes. There's also stuff like this:

"Hey, wait," I said, pulling back, "you are the son of Satan. Maybe we need a safe word."
His grin morphed into something wickedly charming. "Okay, how about, 'Oh my god, it's so big.'"

Oh, Reyes, you dirty man. If that didn't keep me awake more than anything, I don't know what did.

Review - Death and the Girl Next Door - By: Darynda Jones (Darklight Series #1)

Title: Death and the Girl Next Door
Author: Darynda Jones
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Release Date: October 2nd, 2012
Series: Darklight #1
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Synopsis via Goodreads

Ten years ago, Lorelei's parents disappeared without a trace. Raised by her grandparents and leaning on the support of her best friends, Lorelei is finally beginning to accept the fact that her parents are never coming home. For Lorelei, life goes on.

High school is not quite as painful as she thinks it will be, and things are as normal as they can be. Until the day the school's designated loner, Cameron Lusk, begins to stalk her, turning up where she least expects it, standing outside her house in the dark, night after night. Things get even more complicated when a new guy—terrifying, tough, sexy Jared Kovach—comes to school. Cameron and Jared instantly despise each other and Lorelei seems to be the reason for their animosity.

 What does Jared know about her parents? Why does Cameron tell Jared he can't have Lorelei? And what will any of them do when Death comes knocking for real? Thrilling, sassy, sexy, and inventive, Darynda Jones's first foray into the world of teens will leave readers eager for the next installment.

My rating:

My initial reaction when I first got my hands on this book:



I really, really wanted to like this book. I'm a HUGE fan of Darynda's Charley Davidson series, and I thought that in this novel she'd bring the same amount of witty comments, sexy heroes, and capable heroines. I was wrong. In actuality, I'd give this book 2.5 stars, and let me take you through my reasons why.

What I Liked

1. Lorelei's relationship with one of her best friends, Brooklyn - Their interactions seemed so real, and their comments reminded me a lot of the things I'd say to my best friend. The way that their friendship started (in the third grade, I believe) made me laugh. They're protective of one another, and you can tell that they really do value their friendship instead of Brooklyn being a simple "best friend plot device" with no personality that I see constantly in so many other YA novels.

2. Cameron - He made this entire book bearable. Amongst all of the confusion, and with Lorelei trying to figure out what was going on, his personality never changed. He was still pissed off and agressive and funny, and he seemed to be the only character with substance. Not once did he come off as 2-Dimensional, and all of his reactions--blown out of proportion as they sometimes were--seemed genuine to his character. His reasons for his hostility towards Jared were completely understandable in my opinion. Even their constant fighting had a purpose aside from Cameron's revenge. He was fighting Jared to protect Lorelei, and that raised him up a few notches in my book.

3. Cameron & Brooklyn's relationship - This was perhaps the biggest shocker of all. When Cameron came into the picture, I didn't really pay any mind to Brooklyn calling him "hot" or whatever. I never thought anything would come from it. But as the storyline progressed, so did their relationship, and I can't help but wonder what the future holds for these two. I may even read the next book to find out. Cameron seemed to lose some of his anger whenever he spoke to Brooklyn, and he seemed almost in awe of her, especially during their conversation about auras. Plus, he seemed to listen to Brooke when he would listen to nobody else, and I think he has a genuine respect for her.

What I Did Not Like

1. Lorelei & Jared's Relationship - Their relationship literally bitch slapped me in the face. It's not that I didn't expect for them to develop feelings for one another, but it just happened so fast that I couldn't help but facepalm mid-sentence when Lorelei mentally admitted that she'd "fallen in love" with Jared approximately 2/3 of the way into the book. *sigh* Really?







It was so incredibly unbelievable. She couldn't have had more than 5 conversations with the guy. Keep in mind: (view spoiler)[ he tried to strangle her, and she forgave him instantly. She didn't ask any questions, and she tried to keep Cameron from hurting him still (hide spoiler)] All she knew was that he'd saved her life, and that, apparently was enough for her to think she loved him. She didn't know anything about him at first, and even when she did find out his "secret", she didn't give a crap. In my mind, this was all puppy love. Seriously. I think that Lorelei felt sorry for Jared, and was so blinded by his stunning, gorgeous, beautiful, etc etc (I'm not even exaggerating here, she mentions his beauty ALL THE TIME) that she convinced herself "since he saved me, he must not mean me any harm whatsoever" and that she was in love with him. And Jared wasn't really better. He declared that after stalking her he never wanted to take his eyes off of her and that he couldn't let her die and blah blah blah.....keep in mind, he was thinking these things BEFORE he actually got to know her. I think they had one conversation before he saved her life and risked everything. And, of course, Lorelei felt SO guilty....I just couldn't believe their relationship. It felt too forced and too...shallow.

2. The "Sanctuary" Concept - Another thing that confused the hell out of me. In the beginning, we know from what Lorelei tells us that the Sancutary is like a church, and her grandfather is the Pastor. By the end, we find out that it's a super secret, super ancient organization and almost everyone in the city is in on it. My reaction: "wha....??" This came out of nowhere. It felt like a huge info-dump. One moment, her grandparents are normal citizens, and the next they know everything there is to know about angels and demons and possessions...it was just too much. Questions were being thrown around, and answered just as quickly. I could barely keep up. Lorelei finally finds out what happened to her parents, and Jared's identity is officially uncovered. We also find out some shocking things about Brooklyn and Lorelei. By the end of it, I was just like...



3. Glitch & His 'Tude - I really don't understand the purpose of Glitch's (aka Casey Blue-Spider) character. I mean, was he supposed to be the voice of reason, or something? No, thanks. I felt that the entire time, he was opposed to anything and everything Brooke & Lorelei wanted to do. He'd complain that he had football practice, or that he was grounded, and by the middle of the book I just wanted to shout:



I feel like Glitch's character could've been deleted, and the story would still flow. In all honesty, I think that the reason Glitch was actually in the book was to create a love triangle between Brooklyn, Cameron, and him. While I am interested in what would come of a love triangle, I don't care for Glitch at all. Plus, his refusal to admit what happened with him and Cameron made me angry and more confused than I'd been initially. I really hope Darynda reveals what happened all those years ago, or at least give Glitch some redeeming qualities. And while she's at it, maybe a 3 Dimensional personality.

4. Hardly any explanation - There were a lot of things in this book that just went unexplained, period. There were also some things that went unexplained until a few chapters later. I can't really mention them all without giving away tons of spoilers. For example, (view spoiler)[ Lorelei being hit by a truck in the beginning. I had no idea of what was going on. One second, she was being shoved by the kid on the skateboard, and the next she's in pain. I didn't figure it out until a while later, when it was voiced what had happened. (hide spoiler)] Another thing was, (view spoiler)[ the whole "Cameron of Jophiel" thing. The concept of Nephilim and the other types of angels wasn't really explained when first brought up. Luckily, I already knew what Nephilim were, so I could infer a lot. But still, for someone who had no idea what they were, this book would be very frustrating. (hide spoiler)] Mostly, the problem I had with this novel was that Lorelei had no idea what was going on, therefore the reader had no idea what was going on. It's a personal preference, really. I'm fine with mystery novels, but I don't want to feel completely and totally ignorant throughout the entirety of reading the book. Maybe others do, but I don't.


Favorite Parts:

"Do you know what she'd say if she were here right now?" Jared asked.
Cameron stepped closer. "You're a bitch?"
"Exactly." He closed the distance, meeting him head-on, challenging him with the heavy set of his shoulders. "Only she'd be looking at you."


"If I get hit," I said, interrupting whatever dire threat he had in mind, "shoved," I continued, stepping closer for effect, "or run over one more time today, I swear by all that is holy, I will make it my personal goal in life to have the person responsible sent to prison on charges of kiddie porn."