First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Release Date: February 1st, 2011

Source: Bought from Borders (RIP ♥)

Charley sees dead people. That’s right, she sees dead people. And it’s her job to convince them to “go into the light.” But when these very dead people have died under less than ideal circumstances (i.e. murder), sometimes they want Charley to bring the bad guys to justice. Complicating matters are the intensely hot dreams she’s been having about an Entity who has been following her all her life...and it turns out he might not be dead after all. In fact, he might be something else entirely.

Review: I would've never known about this book had it not been for Laura so a mighty thanks goes out to her for putting it on my radar. Lately I've been reading more adult novels and if more of them were like Darynda Jones' debut, I probably wouldn't be picking up so much YA.

Charley Davidson. Private investigator, Grim Reaper and a bonafide smartass. I love it. You don't mess with Charley and if you do, lord help your soul :P Her inner dialogue was so snarky that how could I not like her? She hasn't always had it easy but she rolls with the punches and she's never backed down from anything human or paranormal. Charley's used her Grim Reaper status her entire life to help ghosts cross over... and it's very useful for her current job as a PI. I liked that Jones showed Charley doing her job as a PI and for being an unofficial part of her uncle's investigative team. Solving murders is hard enough but when the victims are able to help you I.D. the people responsible? Well, the job becomes a little less burdensome. There are plenty of ghosts around in Charley's life and my favorites in this installment were definetely the lawyers. You wouldn't think that dead people could provide so much comic relief but Jones makes it work ;)

There is also an element of romance and later on you'll see that there's a paranormal reason (yep, there's a reason why Charley can see ghosts!) behind it. I won't go into too much detail (I wouldn't want to ruin the fun) but Reyes... he makes the story a lot more fun. Like. A lot.

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That's all I'm going to say.

Final Verdict: I know this is a series and lately I've grown wary of starting new ones but I can't help it! I had too much fun with Charley to not read more of her stories; and if the reviews I've read are any indication, it's only going to get better. Yay. I like me some good paranormal drama. And Reyes.  Yum. Err, anyways.. if you want to read something refreshing, give First Grave on the Right a try. There's plenty of action, snark and laughs to get you in a happy reading mood.

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