First Grave on the Right

It's really “romance” stories with some paranormal thrown in and a strong woman lead

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/242439153?book_show_action=true

When a book starts out with a wet dream, I always get leery of reading further. Fortunately, this book didn’t go entirely downhill. It was a bumpy ride, but at the end of the day, it’s a decent story, but Charley’s attitude annoyed me.

Reminds me a lot of Janet Evonovich's Stephanie Plum series. I think the narrator is the same.

3.5 stars. Enjoyable. Great book to satisfy my sweet tooth. The narrative voice was strong but the abundance of clichés left me rolling my eyes often. The dry humor was well written but sometimes it was too much. And the repetition was not helpful but felt it was there to fill word count. I think the book suffered from first in the series syndrome. Still a good, easy, fun read.

Charley Davidson is the Grim Reaper. She is also a P. I. Her ability to see dead people keeps her in business, and also makes her an asset to her uncle, Detective Davidson. Charley has a new case, and it will take more than the living to solve it. This is another book that has been on my TBR pile for way too long. I loved it!! Now I have ten more to read without the wait. Yay!!

Alright, well this was.... OK. I kept going back and forth in the middle with how vested I actually was in finishing this. Mostly it was to find out about Reyes, the actual plot of the book, I can tell you NOTHING about. The other side characters, besides the Uncle and Garrett, I don't even remember. So... will I read more? Maybe. If I can't find something else at the library to borrow, or if my Aunt borrows the next one. I get a feeling she will like this.

2024 re-read – Some of this didn't age well, but it was still definitely a comfort read for me. Still bummed we don't have a spin-off yet, buuuut I'm excited to go through this series again.

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2016 review
Yes yes YES!! I am all about this. I'd love to give a great and wonderful review but I just borrowed the next book from library and I'm dying to read it.
Charley is a great character and I can't wait to learn more about her. As well as Reyes. There are a lot of good characters here.

Entertaining, very good but seemed rather short.....

A bit of a slow start and I was starting to wonder whether I'd be able to survive the constant barrage of snarky one liners that inundate the first few chapters. Finally the author seemed to settle somewhere between pages 75 and 100 and I stopped wanting to throw things at Charley. Fun characters, though at times they felt a little vague. I figure that will change as the series continues and we get to know them all better. I did really like the 3 lawyers - they were amusing. Decent plot - crime proceedural with lots of paranormal thrown in. Reminded me a little bit of Janet Evanovich's books.

Ho deciso di leggere questo libro spinta soprattutto dai pareri un animatamente positivi. E poi vedevo questo Reyes vincere agli Alpha showdown al pari e talvolta sorpassando (il mio amato) Barrons. Al che mi aspetto che il libro che sia almeno bello, non ci ho riposto molte aspettative. La trama era carina e insomma ero curiosa.
Ma alla fine è stata una storia travagliata finita male.
Partiamo daaa..vediamo..cosa mi è piaciuto in questo libro? NIENTE.
Nemmeno l'idea di partenza, nemmeno come è scritto. Mio dio, sembra scritto da uno sceneggiatore di commedie all'americana. Anzi, è tutto come una commedia americana. Mancano soltanto le risate in sottofondo quando si presume che quella scena abbia fatto davvero ridere.
Forse è un'ironia che io non capisco, dato che sono la voce fuori dal coro, ma io avrei pianto dalla vergogna, dalla pena per quei poveri personaggi.
Idea di partenza: OK, avrei preferito un angelo della morte al maschile (magari anche saccente e sadico). una ragazza mi ha fatto storcere il nado ci sta per cambiare. Ma non una cosi dai! Ripeto, sembra una protagonista di una commedia americane, una delle figlie del sig. Robinson (non ricordo il nome della serie TV) .
Veniamo alla trama:sostanzialmente un caso poliziesco. Raramente gia di base mi coinvolgono. Anche quelli dei film non mi coinvolgono, a meno che ci sia qualcosa di scientifico in mezzo. Di questo quindi non mi importava niente. Meno di zero.
Reyes: l'unico su cui avevo riposto delle aspettative. La prima cosa che ci viene detta dilui è che si manifesta/ manda segnali a Charley con degli orgasmi. ORGASMI? Cara Darynda, mi stai prendendo in giro? Gia il libro fa schifo, in piu quello che rimane viene ricondotto al sesso? Per favore!
Per la mia sanita mentale e per conservare il piacere di leggere, io questa serie non la voglio piu vedere.
Addio Darynda, mi dispiace, ma io e i tuoi libri abbiamo chiuso qui.

I put off reading this book because the main character's name is ridiculous. But it had four stars, so I eventually gave it a try.

I almost DNFed, but stuck it out because it's short. It wasn't good, though. The main character speaks only in snarky quips, which are funny, but we never get any insight into her emotions, what she's thinking, or who she is/what she wants. So in the end I just didn't care what happened to her. Does she die? Does the get the guy? Whatever.

It felt so much like a setup for other books, too, and that annoys me. Even in a series, I feel like each book should be able to stand on its own as a good, unique work, not just a prelude, but this one didn't meet that goal for me. Two stars because I learned the phrase “Is a frog's ass water tight?” from this book, but that was really the highlight for me.

This book and Second Grave on the Left are the first two books in Darynda Jones' Charley Davidson series. There are five so far, the next three being Third Grave Dead Ahead (2012), Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet (2012), and Fifth Grave Past the Light (2013). I'll check and see if the library has the other three. If so, I might pick them up, but I'm not too concerned.

Charley Davidson is a reaper. Well, she's “the” Reaper. There's only one at a time. (“And to each generation, a slayer is born...” well, not quite like that, heh.) As the Reaper, she sees dead people, can talk to them, and can touch them. They can pass through her into the beyond - what she realizes at some point is, actually, heaven. She appears like a bright light to ghosts all over the place, so they usually show up at her door, or out in the street, or in her bathroom, looking to pass to the great beyond. She has a few other minor powers, like understanding every language, to help her with this task.

The books largely revolve around her solving murders (her father and uncle are both with the Albuquerque Police Department and often ask her help, since being able to ask the deceased “so hey, who killed you?” is actually quite helpful.)

There are complications, as there always are. Charley's comes in the form of Reyes Alexander Farrow. Reyes is a smoking hot convict (who may or may not be guilty of killing his own father) but who is DEFINITELY more than he seems.

The books are decent, for fluffy paranormal romance. My main beef with them comes from two glaring editorial errors. The police station is almost certainly not a “melting potty.” I'm pretty sure the author meant “melting pot,” unless they were going with some really weird imagery! That error could be chalked up to a typo, but the one that actually made me yell at the book was the quote heading up Chapter Two of Second Grave on the Left:

“Don't cross the streams. Never cross the streams.” - Bumper Sticker. 

...bumper Sticker? BUMPER STICKER?! That's from Ghostbusters! Misattributing a rather famous quote (it is rather famous, right? It's not just because I'm a geek?) is a cardinal sin in my book.

So I'm not sure how to feel about these books. My strongest emotion is the indignation at not properly attributing the Ghostbusters quote. Other than that, the story flows well, and fast (I read both books in one afternoon). The characters are interesting and the concept is interesting. The sex is pretty hot, and I like that Charley is portrayed as promiscuous but without slut-shaming her for being so. (Though for her always saying she likes sex, and talking about guys and SAYING she's promiscuous, we only ever see her have sex with one dude in the first two books.)

I think my final verdict is they're worth reading if you're looking for something fluffy, but I wouldn't go out of my way to pick them up.

You can find all my reviews at Goddess in the Stacks.

It took me a ridiculously long time to get though this book. I still can't decide if I liked it or not. But either way, I don't think I'll be continuing with the series.

La muerte es una perra.

Charley Davidson es detective privado a tiempo parcial y, la Muerte, para su desgracia, a tiempo completo. Durante toda su vida ha visto fantasmas, algo con lo que no está contenta pero aprendió a vivir.
Hace aproximadamente un mes recibe en sueños a un misterioso hombre que le hace pasar los mejores momentos pero cuando su hombre misterioso la llama por un apodo muy especial, estando ella casi despierta, es cuando un nuevo propósito se marca en su cabeza: Encontrar a su hombre. Solo que cuando esto ocurre, es para llevarse una dolorosa sorpresa.


Para leerlo completo: El Extraño Gato del Cuento

Charley kan de doden zien, en niet alleen zien, maar ze kan ook met ze communiceren. Op deze manier hoopt ze de doden te kunnen helpen oversteken naar gener zijde. Haar oom is politieagent en die maakt maar al te graag gebruik van haar gave om zo moorden op te kunnen lossen. Er zijn niet veel mensen die van haar gave weten. Naast haar oom heeft ze een beste vriendin Cookie, die tevens haar buurvrouw is. Zij weet ook van haar gave en vind het maar al te spannend.
Vooral wanneer Charley steeds vaker ‘droomt' van een speciale mysterieuze man. Deze man brengt haar behoorlijk van haar stuk. En misschien is hij niet eens dood...
Dit boek is een paranormale roman/young-adult. Een genre waar ik nog niet veel van had gelezen. Ik was erg nieuwsgierig of me dit zou trekken. Het is een boek voor de wat oudere jongeren gezien de erotiek die best expliciet beschreven wordt, maar niet op een vervelende manier. De personages worden heel mooi uitgeschreven, waardoor je een goed beeld krijgt van ieder persoon.
Ook blijft het erg mysterieus wie of wat die man nou is die Charley in haar dromen zo van haar stuk brengt. Dit blijft tot het einde spannend, en zelfs dan is het nog niet helemaal duidelijk.

Het is een heerlijk geschreven boek met de nodige spanning, erotiek en mysterie. Een paranormale roman/young-adult die me erg deed denken aan The Ghost Whisperer. Geen verkeerde link voor mij, aangezien ik daar wel van houd. Darynda weet hoe ze de karakters goed kan uitdiepen zonder van het verhaal af te wijken. Het is vlot geschreven, waardoor ik er doorheen vloog. Ik begon er zelfs zelf in te geloven dat ik echt kan. Deel 2 is gelukkig net uit in Nederland en ligt bijna klaar om gelezen te worden. Ik moet weten hoe dit verder gaat!

How cool does this book sound. PI chick who is really the grim reaper -she solves cases by talking to the dead and then helping them pass over to the other side. Cool! Not so much.

First, I can handle a little sex IF it has some purpose or something so the book opens with Charley having dream intercourse with some unknown dream person and its all hot and steamy, whatever - moving on. But what I can't handle is that the book reverted back to sexual undertones ... what am I talking about ... OVERTONES way to much for my taste.

I did find Charley to be funny, most of the time. There were a few places I actually laughed out loud. I really liked her secretary/sidekick Cookie and I really liked the three lawyers that you would think would play a major part in the plot (not so much).

SPOILER:

Anyway moving on the thing that really killed this book for me was the flashback to her early teen years where she meets for the very first time mystery/dream man. When he as a 18 or 19 year old threatens to rape her because she tried to save him from getting his butt kicked by his dad - that isn't his dad. Okay hold the phone: She digs this guy? She wants him in her life at all. Who grows up dreaming about the guy that pushed you up against a wall, hurts you, threatens to rape you and you never see again. Sorry it was all over me then. I kept reading because I liked the mystery part and then I come to find out that flash/boom she is abandoning the case the find her lost dream sex king.

There were moments that I thought I could really like this book. There are pieces of a story here that are really facinating but the writer just kept veering back to crazy murderous rapist guy and sex dreams.

Not my cup of tea.

With her sense of sarcasm and spectacular name, Charlotte Davidson has known how to ride the APD–Albuquerque Police Department–since she was five-years old with her being a grim reaper and all. The Grim Reaper. So when a new case opens up with three dead lawyers she knows there is something stinky afoot; especially when one of said lawyers is in her bedroom looking for justice. Consequently, Charley's dreams also have a distressing–yet pleasurable–theme with a sort of “ghost” from her high-school-freshman-year past. There's only one person who has ever called Charley, Dutch. And there's nobody more sexily mysterious than Mr. Reyes Farrow.

Just with the synopsis I first read of this book, I was hooked. I did expect some comedic relief here and there to give light to the whole talking-to-ghosts spiel but I did not expect for to have my laughing so hard I'm surprised neighbors didn't complain. It did begin where we expect all first books in a series to start, telling the history of the main character, describing and perceiving her view of the world–her world, to be exact. But what is seen in some books but is scarcely found is the leading male character to have such a strong relationship with the heroine right off the bat, instead of going through the whole getting to know each other period and then as the books progress the sex stage. No. Considering that Charley's supposedly doing it with him in her dreams already, it is safe to say we're past the “Do you have any baggage that I need to know about?” stage. Personally, I prefer my books to have the male lead already in a somewhat struggling relationship with my female lead. It just makes for better–and faster–conflicts and resolutions.

What I found pleasing about Jones' writing is that all her characters are genuine and grounded into their own personalities, that I don't think any of them even know what the word “insecurity” means. That, in itself, is a rarity in any style of paranormal romance writing because you most likely have characters who doubt themselves periodically throughout any PR book. I am putting my foot down in saying that First Grave on the Right is a PR book because urban fantasy novels are a lot more explicit when it comes to detailing their worlds and characters tend to have a lot more baggage; Charley certainly has enough. And let's face it, UF books tend to have more crime-fighting gore-ish scenes than PR. While FGotR has some they don't get to that extreme extent that UF has.

In all honesty, FGotR is one of my favorite books yet this year because it had that quality: I did not want to finish the book unless I have the next in the series handy. Jones should honestly be teaching aspiring paranormal romance writers how it's done.Given the fact that this is her debut just blew my mind; and to think that she'll get better is just...whoa. She had this style of repeating lines of what Charley thought was funny in a blunt way that I loved and when Charley would use her father and uncle to get what she wanted...it was like icing on the cake for me. She is a sophisticated girl that uses what she has, all her abilities, to shape the outcome to her liking.

My readers, you must read this book. If you won't take my word for it, look at the cover more closely above, because J.R. Ward wants you to read First Grave on the Right, too.

Grade: A-