Review: Darynda Jones – Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet

Charley Davidson Series:
 
Book 4:
 
Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet: Charley Davidson and Crew
 

 
Order on Amazon: Darynda Jones - Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet (Charley Davidson Series)
Summary:
From Goodreads.com
In Darynda Jones's Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet, sometimes being the grim reaper really is that. Grim. And since Charley’s last case went so awry, she has taken a couple months off to wallow in the wonders of self-pity. But when a woman shows up on her doorstep convinced someone is trying to kill her, Charley has to force herself to rise above. Or at least get dressed. She quickly realizes something is amiss when everyone the woman knows swears she’s insane. The more they refute the woman’s story, the more Charley believes it.
 
In the meantime, the sexy, sultry son of Satan, Reyes Farrow, has been cleared of all charges. He is out of prison and out of Charley’s life, as per her wishes and several perfectly timed death threats. But his absence has put a serious crimp in her sex life. While there are other things to consider, like the fact that the city of Albuquerque has been taken hostage by an arsonist, Charley is having a difficult time staying away. Especially when it looks like Reyes may be involved. Just when life was returning to normal, Charley is thrust back into the world of crime, punishment, and the devil in blue jeans.
 
Review:
This series has quickly become one of my favorites! Darynda Jones sarcastic sense of humor never fails in making me laugh. You should read this series for the little quips at the beginning of each chapter if nothing else. LOL! The T-Shirt sayings and bumper stickers might even surpass Nix’s T-Shirt sayings from Kresley Coles IAD series and that is saying a lot.
 
This specific book is one of the best of the series. Charley is more venerable than we have ever seen her. This book starts out two months after Charley’s torture. For the past two months she has found a new love of home shopping and Jackie Kennedy bracelets and has not once left her apartment. To say she has PTSD is an understatement. She is not talking to either her dad or to Reyes. Both had put her head on the chopping block recently and her dad even had her arrested. To say she is angry with them is an understatement.
 
Charley gets her first case in two months, she takes it mainly because she is broke as a joke and Reyes still hasn’t paid her the million dollars she claims he owes her. Her client swears she is being stalked and that someone is trying to kill her. Charley has a soft spot for damsels in distress and takes Harper under her wing. This case helps to pull Charley out of her stupor but Charley being Charley still gets into plenty of trouble. Now that she had left her apartment the demons that she didn’t know were stalking her have more opportunity to attack her. BT (Before Torture) life threatening situations barely registered on her rector scale, now she is finding that she is freezing up in the face of danger and that just will not do. Despite her PTSD Charley has not lost her sense of humor, she still is sarcastic as ever and the witty banter does not end. As per the Darynda Jones usual, Charley ends up working on a couple of different cases at once. There are a series of bank robberies, an arsonist, Harpers stalker and Charley’s demons. This makes for a very busy Charley, she may have been hiding from the world for the past two months but when she comes out of hiding she comes out with a bang!
 
Reyes is now out of jail and Charley finds him cage fighting of all things. Reyes has been busy in his time out of jail. He is now a cage fighter and taking out demons in his spare time. In this book it seemed like to me that Reyes made more appearances. In past books he would pop in and out and was pretty closed mouth stroking the impression of mystery. In this book we get full conversations with Reyes which only makes us want more! Can Reyes be any sexier!?! I don’t think so. He is one of my favorite males of any paranormal/urban fantasy series. He’s rarely there but he makes quite the impact each time he is. He’s an alpha to the extreme, I mean come on he is the Son of Satan.
 
One thing that has been driving me crazy with the Reyes and Charley dynamic is Charley and she can’t keep her mouth shut! She just blabs and blabs all of his secrets to just about anyone. Even things that she shouldn’t know and certainly things she should never ever mention. In this book she shows Cookie “the picture”, if you’ve read previous books you know what picture I am talking about. I could not believe she would show anyone that picture! She shouldn’t even look at that picture let alone show it to anyone. ERG! Ok rant over.
 
I highly enjoyed this book, Ms. Jones through some serious curve balls at me that I wasn’t expecting. I’m usually pretty good at guess the who dunit but this time I wasn’t really expecting these circumstances. The tension between Charley and Reyes is smoldering as always and I can’t get enough. And Darynda Jones is leading us to some huge epic battle between good and evil! I cannot wait for the next book.
 
Rating: