Another great story, another ending that makes the book unputdownable! At the end of Book Eleven, Charley sent Reyes into a hell dimension, and he came back EVIL. Not the Reyes we've grown to know. With a supernatural murderer on the loose, Charley does not want to believe it could be Reyes. The book has many plot twists, with lots of peril for everyone Charley loves. The ending sets up the plot for the 13th and final book in this series. The books in this series improve with each new release, so since this one was amazing, I truly can't wait to read the conclusion!

Apparently, I have been missing out here... I need to catch up with the rest of the series. This was a fun and exciting read. And I adore Charley! Looking forward to continuing this series. I received this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

3.5 stars. The Trouble With Twelfth Grave is the twelfth book in the Charley Davidson series. This can be read as a standalone but it does end in a cliffhanger. All of the books build on the main storyline so I encourage you to read these books in order. There is violence and hot steamy sex scenes so 18+.

The book blurb adequately describes the storyline so I'm not going to repeat that all of that info here. The storyline is predictable and typical of the other books in the series. But this book is still worth reading, especially if you are a Charley Davidson fan like I am. I will continue to read the more of the series when they are written.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and chose to leave a review for other readers.

This book was so good! I loved it! The ending was twofold for me, one aspect of it I loved, the other shocked me and has me dying for the next book! It is another major cliff-hanger!

Oh, Charley Davidson, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

As book #12 and the penultimate book in the series, the world-building and complex back story pretty much means that you can't really read this as a standalone. But honestly, why would you? If you haven't read any of the previous books in this series, I urge you to go read the first 11 - you won't be disappointed. There is some review of the backstory, but regardless, I was happy that I had re-read #10 before digging into this one.

Charley is probably one of my all-time favorite fictional characters. She's spunky, funny, a bit "off" (in a good way) and has a heart the size of New Mexico. Add in her super sexy, hot as sin (literally) husband and you've got some amazing chemistry. And once again, the cast of supporting characters makes the story come alive.

So I won't go into any kind of plot summary, but this was probably one of the angstier books in the series. Fair warning, there is a humdinger of a cliffhanger at the end, but this shouldn't really be a surprise. When I finished reading, I put down my Kindle and turned to my husband and said, "Holy Cow. And now I have to wait HOW LONG for the next book??"

Get ready for another amazing adventure with Charley and her group of troublemakers!

The Trouble with Twelfth Grave picks up days after that cliffhanger ending Darynda Jones gave us in Eleventh Grave in Moonlight. What started as a mission to save the innocent souls from the god glass turned into a nightmare when Reyes returned as a different person. Now Charley has to figure out a way to get her husband back. In the meantime while she’s trying to find the solution, Charley takes on cases that involve Pari, Amber, Quentin, and also help her Uncle Bob with his cases. One particular case catches her eye. Apparently, there has been a discovery of some burned bodies and the strange thing is no human could be responsible for the injuries. It soon becomes clear to Charley that the main suspect to these murders could be Reyes or should I say Rey’azikeen?

Overall, The Trouble with Twelfth Grave was another installment to the Charley Davidson series. So many things are happening with Charley, with Reyes, and the rest of the group we’ve come to love. I’ll admit that there was not enough Reyes in this book but Charley made up for it with her humors antics and snark while she juggles all her latest troubles. Seriously, there are plenty of scenes that will leave you laughing out loud. I know I did and I thank Darynda Jones for those scenes. However, there’s also emotional scenes in this novel and that includes the ending which is sadly another heart breaking cliff hanger that is a lot stronger than the last cliffhanger ending. The wait for the next and final installment of the Charley Davidson series is definitely going to be a tortures wait. Nonetheless, I don’t regret reading The Trouble with Twelfth Grave and now I’m looking forward to reading the final installment



*I received The Trouble with Twelfth Grave from St. Martin’s Press via Netgalley in return for an honest review.*

The Trouble with Twelfth Grave is the 12th installment in the series featuring everyone's favorite snarky, no nonsense grim reaper Charley Davidson. This book picks up right where book 11 left off. Charley is dealing with her son of Satan husband, who is having a bit of an identity crisis, while trying to juggle her day to day life and PI duties when humans sensitive to supernaturals begin turning up dead. The series continues to provide much entertainment for it's readers -

"Just so you go into this with your eyes open," I said to her, "he's a former slave demon from hell and lives off human souls. Don't kiss him on the mouth. Like ever."

Granted, I did come into this series in the middle of it, but I found Charley's behavior toward Reyes to be very meh. I mean, the guy is the love of her life, and I realize things are a bit complicated, but I expected a no nonsense leading lady such as Charley to not give in as much as she did and to fight a bit harder. I found parts of this story very distracting, especially the whole scenario with the children's books that are seemingly written about Charley and those close to her. I felt like a different author wrote these sections. Still love the dialogue and the fun cast of characters.

As always, Darynda has knocked it out of the park. I'm sure you're wondering how on earth a series 12 books long can still be new, unique, and so compelling to read. Now I don't have the answer to that except to say that Darynda is BRILLIANT. Once again she has created a book that not only sucked me in and stole my entire day, but had the emotions FLOODING IN. This may very well be my most favorite series ever, and if you haven't met Charley and the gang yet, you really should grab the first book and start devouring this series ASAP.

Posted review on GR, will add to Amazon and BN once the book is available.

The Trouble with Twelfth Grave by Darynda Jones is Book 12 of the Charley Davidson Series.

Holy smokes Batman! This.Book! It’s game time peeps and the shenanigans are on! Charley is back at it with her A.D.D. personality running amok. Picking up from the last read, we are thrown into plenty of action with twists and turns that will keep you glued to your seat. Ms. Jones does not disappoint with this newest endeavor and I highly recommend it to one and all.

Please note that an ARC was generously provided in exchange for an honest review of which this is both honest and completely voluntary.

4.5 stars

My favourite Grim Reaper is finally back. On the surface, Charley Davidson may look like your average boot-wearing, taco-scarfing, coffee-swilling PI. But that’s her day job. To souls of the dead, she’s a bright light who provides safe passage to the other side. Oh, and turns out she’s a God. You know, like one of those really ancient, powerful beings but with better hair.

There’s never any shortage of weird & wacky cases for her & partner Cookie to solve. But right now Charlie has a more pressing problem. At the end of the last book, she sort of sent her husband to Hell. Literally. Reyes is also a God & it was supposed to be a quick business trip. Just pop down there, clear up a few things & get home in time for dinner. The good news is he’s back. The bad news? While the entity that returned may look like Reyes, lets just say he’s in a really bad mood & Charley’s pretty sure it’s not down to jet lag.

Meanwhile her Uncle Bob has a few weird cases of his own. He’s a detective with the Albuquerque P.D. & the discovery of some oddly burned bodies has him scratching his head. No human could be responsible for the injuries & it’s not long before all eyes turn to Reyes 2.0.

Charley is heartbroken but to tell the truth, she barely recognizes the man she’s loved for eons. He’s always been the dark side to her light but now she has to wonder if there’s anything left of the old Reyes. If not, he’ll have to be taken out & the only one powerful enough to do it is Charley.

That’s the story line in a tiny nutshell. As with the other books, there are multiple subplots & part of the fun is trying to figure out which are related. The regular gang is back & resigned to the fact that sooner or later Charley will drag them into battle against some scary critter intent on wreaking havoc. Dialogue is sharp & frequently hilarious to distract you from the possibility we humans are about to become snack food. Each chapter opens with a “Charleyism”, random snippets of words to live by that always make me smile (I want a throw pillow stitched with: “I never said I’d die without coffee. I said others would.”)

I don’t read a lot of paranormal/urban fantasy but this is one of 3 series that are exceptions to the rule. First, because I’m a fan of writing that is smart. Second, because this author has created an incredible world. The back stories of the characters & how it all works is so intricate & well thought out. That’s why I wouldn’t recommend this as a stand alone.

It’s a mad dash of a story full of colourful characters, action & reveals that further the overall arc of the series. But that ending…..seriously?! Guarantees I’ll be in line for #13.

I'm late to the party on this series having read a few but not all of them. That said, I didn't have much trouble acclimating to this one because Jones has created such terrific characters. There's a lot going on here and I'm pretty sure (sadly) I missed some of it but I liked Charley, Reyes, Amber, and the rest of the group of mad cap friends who are trying to right wrongs and solve crimes. There's a lot of humor and what I'm sure are inside jokes for fans. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

12 books in and I’m still completely in love with this series and these characters, and I’m still
blown away that even with this being such a long-running series that’s, sadly, approaching its end, there’s still so much story left to tell.

The Trouble with Twelfth Grave picks up immediately where the last book ended - with Charley and Reyes releasing the innocent souls, and several hell-bound ones as well, from the god glass. What comes through in place of Reyes is the stuff of nightmares, as somehow, someway, the Reyes that we know and love transformed into his godform and left in his place on the human plane is the stuff of nightmares. The Razer, aka Rey’azikeen, the most malevolent of all hell-beasts combined. It won’t take much of anything other than a mere thought for Rey’azikeen to unleash hell on earth, literally, or just destroy the planet based on a whim. It’s going to take Charley and the whole gang to try and figure out if Rey’azikeen can somehow be tamed, and even more importantly, if Reyes is still in there or if he’s lost to them forever. On top of all of that, Charley still has her usual amount of detective work that needs detecting, plus some odd jobs on the side, and things are getting mighty hectic in Albuquerque.

I’ve said it before with each installment of this series, but it bears repeating because it’s such a critical and important element to this series - Jones has such an incredible ability to create such powerful and dynamic characters. Sure, initially they may seem just like average humans, but there’s such a complexity within each and every one, particulary Charley and Reyes. They aren’t just one character, they’re each three distinct and related people with their human, god, and celestial personas all wrapped into one. Slowly but surely, each persona has been connecting to the others, and it’s such an interesting journey seeing their separate and formerly unknowing pieces finally start coming together.

I thought for sure at this point in time, Darynda wouldn’t be able to surprise readers any more than she already has, and I was completely wrong. It’s definitely a testament to her incredibly skill at being able to deftly weave a mystery, which carries over into her characters and their motivations and actions, and that certainly played a major role in this installment.

Bottom line - this series is one of my favorites, and at 12 books in, it’s probably fairly obvious that I’m a wee bit biased. Ok, a lot biased. But it’s a series that’s definitely worth the bias because it’s a fantastic and fun and delicious series that everyone should read. If you haven’t started this series, do yourself a giant favor and rectify that immediately.

*eARC received via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

One of the scariest Charley Davidson stories yet!

I'm afraid that at this point, Charley's wise cracking is losing its appeal. I just keep reading to find out what ultimately happens to Reyes.

I was so happy when I got this from Beth alley that I binged the entire series this month! I got sucked in and have finished at least one of the books a day and this one was no different.

In this installment of the charley Davidson series we follow Charlie after she’s just sent her half demon half god husband Reyes farrow in a hell dimension and the part of him that is a god has awoken and is hell bent on destruction.

The side investigations in this one where so good too! From a malevolent priest to a poisoned crime lords son, it was never boring at all!

I absolutely adore charley and the gang, and I can’t wait for the 13th and final book to come out next year although I have no idea what I’m going to do with myself until then!

The Trouble With Twelfth Grave by Darynda Jones

12th Book in the paranormal / urban fantasy series. Must read the prior books before this one.
Charlie sees dead people. She is the Grim Reaper after all.
This book has ghosts, demons, gods and so much more.
Lots of dark sarcastic humor including chapter titles.

I don’t want to include spoilers, so if you’ve read this series, know that you are going to read this in one sitting and immediately go to order the next.
If you haven’t read this series yet, there will be 13 in total. It’s a bit irreverent, quite a bit of mystery solving, otherworldly and so much fun. Dark too.

I received a copy of this book via NetGalley. I also purchased a copy.

Overall another great book in an interesting series. Charley spends most of this one trying to get her husband Reyes back. Not my favorite in the series so far, but interesting enough to keep my interest throughout. The side story of the evil Hector made me want to know more, and wished it would have said more about the mother finding out the daughter killed the precious son. The ending left me hanging to, which I do not like, and cost another star. I would give this 3.5 stars for those, as well as the confusion of the three in one husband. I would still highly recommend this book though, and this series. I like the snarky Charley, and the fun spirits around her.

I have to admit that I held off on reading this book for several reasons. The first of many is that this book is the second to last book in the series. How is that even possible? Just one book left, and that’s it for Charley, Reyes, and Beep. It just doesn’t see fair that I’ll have to kiss them all goodbye with Thirteenth Grave. This series has by far been one of my favorites of all time, and soon enough, it will be completed. Done. No more. That makes me sad just thinking about it. Another reason for holding off on Twelfth Grave was that fact the Eleventh Grave just was not what I was hoping it to be. Charley’s humorous banner was on point, but I felt like that book was missing something from the previous ones. Even to this day, I haven’t pinpointed it exactly.

Twelfth Grave is completely different in that aspect. The one-two punches of most of the Charley Davidson books were back in The Trouble With The Twelfth Grave. After agreeing to allow Reyes to go into the God Glass hell dimension in the last book, Charley is faced with something completely unnerving. A feral Farrow. That’s right. Reyes and his demon side are running amuck in Charley-land and it’s up to her to calm his tits. This book was by far one of my favorites of the series. While Charley has evolved so much over the last twelve books, she still keeps her humor about her, and the playful banter between her and demon Reyes is still there. But the emotional toll of what she may have do to in order to save him is still plan as day under all of that. This book has perfectly built the final plot line for the last book, and I, for one, will not be waiting a minute longer once it’s beautiful grim reaper clad words are in my heads to read it.

With that being said, bring on the last Charley book. I’ll ready to ride with her one more time.

Another crazy cliffhanger and I have to say the only thing that made me not mad enough to give up this series is because the next one should be the last book on the series, otherwise I would be so fed up with this was of "not ending" the book... Anyway this one is a transitional book but it is still good enough, but it can't absolutely be read as a stand alone novel. Reyes and his various incarnations is still as good as the first day, and so is Charlie. Still, I don't think I'm going to miss this series mostly because I should have read one after the other after it was finished so to save me from anger.

Un altro cliffhanger alla fine dell'ennesimo libro della serie e devo ammettere che non ne posso piú, leggo il prossimo solo perché dovrebbe, forse, essere l'ultimo altrimenti non se ne parla proprio di continuare a leggere libri che non finiscono. Questo inoltre é proprio un libro di transizione dove Reyes resta il migliore e anche Charlie non é male, soltanto che l'autrice tira troppo la corda e quindi questo un po' mi consola perché significa che non mi mancherá poi tanto questa serie, almeno spero!

THANKS TO NETGALLEY FOR THE PREVIEW!

The Trouble with Twelfth Grave by Darynda Jones was a powerful read for me. There is just so much involved in this story that I was laughing, crying, cringing and holding my breath as this story swept me up and didn't let me go until the end.

Charley, Rey'azikeen/Reyes, Cookie, Garrett, Osh, Uncle Bob, and Amber are all back. Ms. Jones also brought back Archangel Michael and introduced us to Rey'azikeen's brother, Him. There was so much going on that I just couldn't put the book down. Charley is trying to protect her friend, Pari, help Uncle Bob with a really unusual case, tame her "feral" husband, and protect her loved ones. Action, nail-biting suspense and love made this the best one yet! And the ending - a cliff hanger that has me already wishing away this next year so that I find out how this series is going to end.

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book from St. Martin's Pressvia NetGalley. All of the above opinions are my own. I would like to sincerely thank St. Martin's Press for their generosity in allowing me to read and review this book.