#OctobeRecFest Review ~ First Grave on the Right ~ Darynda Jones

First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones
Charley Davidson #1
Release Date: February 1, 2011
Genre: Adult, Paranormal Romance/Mystery
Source: Paper ARC from publisher sent to B&N
Rating: 5 Bookworms
Challenges: #BloggerShame, #OctobeRecFest, #ShelfLove
Recommended by: Robyn @robgirlbooks (honestly, a better question is who *didn't* recommend it but Robyn did the arm twisting)
Goodreads

Synopsis
This whole grim reaper thing should have come with a manual.
Or a diagram of some kind.
A flow chart would have been nice.

Charley Davidson is a part-time private investigator and full-time grim reaper. Meaning, she sees dead people. Really. 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 (like 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 her might not be dead after all. In fact, he might be something else entirely. But what does he want with Charley? And why can't she seem to resist him? And what does she have to lose by giving in?

With scorching-hot tension and high-octane humor, First Grave on the Right is your signpost to paranormal suspense of the highest order.

If I could literally kick myself, I would. As it is, I'm figuratively kicking myself for letting this absolute gem of a book languish on my shelf for soooo long! Egads! This was a good time!

• love Charley's sarcasm
• love that her Jeep is named for a Stephen King novel - Misery
• those early scenes with Reyes were smokin'! LOL Literally

These were my notes from just the first few chapters. The mystery set up was fantastic and entertaining...on all counts. The characters are all supremely developed - I'm so eager to get better acquainted with everyone, particularly Cookie and Uncle Bob. Everyone was such a hoot! And yet also deep. There was humor galore courtesy of Charley's wit and snark. I want to be Charley! Especially because REYES! But maybe not so much because of all the getting beat up. ;)

I'm thrilled I had the foresight to know I was going to love this series and therefore purchased book #2...when it released! ;)

Thanks, Robyn, for the arm twisting. This was a  really, really good read! (In fact, I kept finding myself thinking "Oh, I'll just go read more Charley," except I'd already finished. :D