Thursday, December 20, 2018

Seventh Grave and No Body by Darynda Jones


The New York Times bestseller from Darynda Jones, Seventh Grave and No Body, puts Charley Davidson in the line of more fires than she may be able to handle...

Twelve. Twelve of the deadliest beasts ever forged in the fires of hell have escaped onto our plane, and they want nothing more than to rip out the jugular of Charley Davidson and serve her lifeless, mangled body to Satan for dinner. So there's that.

But Charley has more on her plate than a mob of testy hellhounds. For one thing, her father has disappeared, and the more she retraces his last steps, the more she learns he was conducting an investigation of his own, one that has Charley questioning everything she's ever known about him. Add to that an ex-BFF who is haunting her night and day, a rash of suicides that has authorities baffled, and a drop-dead sexy fiancé who has attracted the attentions of a local celebrity, and Charley is not having the best week of her life. But all of that combined barely scratches the surface of her problems.

Recent developments—and a few distressing prophesies—have forced her to become a responsible adult. Exactly the kind of adult she's never aspired to be. To conquer such a monumental task, she's decided to start small. Really small. She gets a pet. But how can she save the world against the forces of evil when she can't even keep a goldfish alive?

A tad north of hell, a hop, skip, and a jump past the realm of eternity, is a little place called Earth, and Charley Davidson, grim reaper extraordinaire, is determined to do everything in her power to protect it.

We're doomed.


Add to Goodreads –


Book 7
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo



Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Shelby☆☆☆☆☆
Book 7 in the Charley Davidson series was really intense. The entire tone of the series has been changing, this story is a bit more insidious and mature. While Charley is always trying to save the world, one missing and/or dead person at a time, Satan is on the hunt for HER.

As always, there is a ton of action: romantic, mystery, physical, emotional. There are hell hounds nipping at Charley's heels. Reyes isn't willing to let her out of his sight but is still hiding stuff from her. Not only are they at odds with one another, but now there's another life to be considering. (This part bothers me, Charley is just way too reckless when it comes to her well-being.) The search for Charley's dad is still on, Ubie and Cookie are getting together, and Amber may have a hand to play in the upcoming war. In short, the proverbial excrement has hit the fan and this band of merry friends are in for some serious problems.

Overall, I couldn't put this book down. There was something happening at each page turn, I'm totally invested in Charley's powers and Reyes’ purpose. I need to know what happens to Beep. I need to know there is a happy ending. ~Keeping my fingers crossed~


Dawn☆☆☆☆
Ooh hello supporting characters. I really loved them in this instalment.

I'm not going to lie, I didn't much like Charley in this book, she was a little annoying. I hope she snaps out of it in the next one.

As always, there ares a million things going on to keep your attention and keep the pages turning.

This just wasn't my favourite from this series so far.


Erica☆☆☆
3.5 Stars.

Seventh Grave and No Body is obviously the seventh installment of the Charley Davidson series. I suggest strongly against reading it as a standalone, as this series slowly builds from book to book on the world-building as Charley learns more about her abilities and the prophesy, as well as the evolution of relationship building between friends, family, and lovers, and character building.

I need to be honest and state how I had a difficult time at the start of the novel. The beginning felt more manic, chaotic, and over-the-top, where before the humor was snarky, sarcastic, or witty, when this was full stop irrational. It started out with what should have been some heavy content, with major action, but it was the dismissive, flippant aftermath, like none of it was important, that was an issue.

A conversation Charley had on the phone to Cookie, while trapped in a car with Agent Carson driving, where Charley kept thinking Kit wasn't to know about her abilities, yet the conversation was so irrational, unnecessary, and gave far too much away... and we never saw Agent Carson again after the first few pages, never exploring how she learned too much. Actually, that entire mystery was solved and over in pages, never heard from again. Charley's inner monologue was how Kit wasn't to know, but she did everything she possibly could to tell the woman, via conversations with Reyes and the erratic phone call with Cookie, when both Reyes and Cookie already knew everything discussed. It was used purposefully to tell Kit, while thinking she wasn't to know, only for the thread to drop off in the first few pages and never crop up again.

Then in the next passage, which picks up immediately after they got out of the car... the way Charley spoke to the judge after interrupting a trial, instead of just ANSWERING/EXPLAINING like a rational human being why she interrupted something of such an important magnitude – it was all over the place and highly irrational and immature. I longed for someone, anyone, to ask if Charley was high or in need of a medical professional.

After that, around the 15 to 20% mark, the irrationality leveled out and became classic Charley Davidson and I was able to fall into the book and not come back out until the last page.

Detective and police work, along with helping ghosts, all that takes a backseat to the evolution of the world-building, as Charley learns more about the prophesy and what it means for her to have what powers she's thus far discovered.

Reyes is angry, simply because there is a fine line Charley keeps crossing, where she investigates insignificant mysteries that someone else could EASILY tackle, which are simply used as a vehicle to put her into danger with the hellhounds, where she puts herself and Beep at constant risk. For what? What's the sense in helping someone with something that is a minor annoyance, putting your life at risk? At least take all the help you can, right? Wrong.

After the way the beginning started, I agreed with Reyes. Charley's immaturity was a bitter pill for me to swallow, seeming more so than in previous installments. While I appreciated her still investigating little tasks for the ghosts, especially what she did for her childhood friend, leaving Reyes behind was like a personal mission in life was ridiculous, which would be the end of Beep and her own life. All Reyes wanted was to keep watch on the daylight missions, and no nighttime missions. Was that too much to ask? Evidently yes, since Charley spent the entire novel trying to lose her tail, just to show she could take care of herself, when she knew she couldn't. It was frustrating to read, because that behavior is not lucid thinking.

The prophesy, discovering new powers, dealing with the hellhounds, Dad missing, and everyday life fills the pages of the novel. Aside from the few issues I had, I did highly enjoy this installment. The ending had a few hard-hitting conclusions to story threads, which was as exciting as emotional, leaving me hungry to read more and more.

Seventh Grave and No Body, the side characters and the world-building shined, where it was our heroine who devolved, turning into classic damsel in distress with too many powers, who doesn't have many brain cells to rub together. Charley was to the detriment of this installment, instead of being the heroine she previously was. I'm holding out hope this isn't Beep Brain, because I'll pray for Beep's arrival, because I can't handle books' worth of this irrational behavior. It's not entertaining, yet equally dangerous, to have the person with all the power in the universe be self-destructive and purposefully ignorant.


Ruthie☆☆☆☆
This is, as you would expect, the seventh book in the series – and you absolutely definitely need to read them in order to even have a hope of getting with the story! A wonderful mix of crazy in this world and hints of madness in others.

There is a lot of humour in this episode, once again often involving Cookie, Charley's faithful assistant. However, for me there is also a real annoyance at Charley herself. Her ditsy, clumsy, confused way of life was very funny, but she is not showing much personal development. I have completely bought into the slow burn romance between her and Reyes, but they are now engaged, living together, and facing hell hounds... with Reyes saving her time and time again... yet she continues to act like a petulant child, proud of herself for evading him, and through it, causing him pain. It means that I am not really buying the love from her, nor do I like how she is treating him – she sometimes understands afterwards, but this is seven books in, so her lack of awareness is not so sweet any more.

Overall I enjoyed the madcap, the linking of earthly issues to those of another plane, and am curious as to how the powers finally vest themselves in Charley (she gets so many hints, yet is still like a newborn foal trying to walk). Hopefully she will wake up to her behaviour issues and grow up fast. Plenty has been thrown at her, so it can't be too far away.

Thank goodness book eight is sat waiting for me on my Kindle.


Also Available in the Charley Davidson Series

Book 1
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo

For reviews & more info, check out our First Grave on the Right post.


Book 2
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo

For reviews & more info, check out our Second Grave on the Left post.


Book 3
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo

For reviews & more info, check out our Third Grave Dead Ahead post.


Book 4
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo

For reviews & more info, check out our Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet post.


Book 5
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo

For reviews & more info, check out our Fifth Grave Past the Light post.


Book 6
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo

For reviews & more info, check out our Sixth Grave on the Edge post.



Darynda Jones is the winner of the 2009 Golden Heart® for Best Paranormal Novel for her manuscript First Grave on the Right. Darynda can't remember a time when she wasn't putting pen to paper. She lives in the Land of Enchantment, also known as New Mexico, with her husband of more than twenty-five years and two beautiful sons, aka the Mighty, Mighty Jones Boys.

Connect with Darynda

Facebook  ~  Twitter  ~  Website  ~  Goodreads
Google+  ~  Instagram


http://www.stmartins.com/


Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Seventh Grave and No Body (Charley Davidson #7) by Darynda Jones to read and review.

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