Friday, January 27, 2012

REVIEW: Second Grave on the Left


Second Grave on the Left 
by Darynda Jones
Narrator: Lorelei King
Series: Charley Davidson #2
Genre: Paranormal Romantic Suspense
My copy: Library MP3 download
RATING:: ★★★1/2
Charley Davidson, Grim Reaper Extraordinaire, is back in this sexy, suspenseful novel of supernatural shenanigans.


REVIEW:

At the end of the audio book there is a short interview with Jones and she states that Charley is a kind of mix between Stephanie Plum, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Lorelai Gilmore from the Gilmore Girls. Now I’ve not read the Plum series yet nor have I watched the Gilmore Girls but I can see some of Buffy in Charley.

Both Charley and Buffy are one of a kind (well Buffy is you don’t count Faith and the end of the last season). Charley like Buffy is special and finding out more about herself and her powers as she goes. Yeah she is the grim reaper, but what does that all mean and what cool powers does she have?

Charley finds out a little bit more about what it means to be the grim reaper in Second Grave on the Left. But there are still tons of questions in that department.

Ok so the formula for this series seems to be that in each book Charley has a mystery/case to solve using her P.I. skills. While a larger plot goes on with her and Reyes and what they are and what they can do for the existence of the world.

The cases in book one and two have overlap with her Uncle Bob’s (or UB as Charley likes to call him) police cases. In SGOTL, Charley helps UB solve a mystery about a missing person while working a case about a different missing person that is friends with Charley’s BF, Cookie. (I so picture Charley and Cookie as Thelma and Louise)

We have another funny and snarky case to solve and more romantic tension between Charley and Reyes. I find myself not caring as much about the “side” stories in this series as I don the “main” story of Charley and Reyes. I like to think of Charley and Reyes as the meat and potatoes of the series and all the other plots the gravy on the potatoes. Jones has developed some fun and interesting characters.

After the way SGOTL ended I can’t wait to listen to book three, Third Grave Dead Ahead. I absolutely love the narrator of these books. She does a great job with the character’s voices and personalities.





Second Grave on the Left is available at:



“If it has tires or testicles, it's gonna give you trouble.—Bumper Sticker”



“He was like chocolate-covered heroin, and I was an addict through and through.” (Charley's thoughts on Reyes)


“For the first time in my life, I was in a shoot-out. A real, honest-to-goodness shoot-out with a bad guy. And, apparently, we both sucked.”


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3 comments:

  1. Glad to hear that you're enjoyed this series. I plan on starting it soon. I loved Buffy so this should be right up my alley!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm glad you enjoyed it, I want to know what's going on with Reyes!

    ReplyDelete

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