Paranormal books are not my forte, but darn if I didn’t love this book. Charley reminds me of Stephanie Plum - if she were the grim reaper. Charley is constantly surrounded by the dearly departed who pass through her to the other side. She is “protected” by someone she calls the Big Bad, but the entity scares her.

This book introduces us to Charley and all her sidekicks. Along the way, she helps three murdered lawyers get justice for themselves while trying to stop the state from executing someone from her past who is in a coma, but may be more like her than she realized.

I’m glad I’m late to this series so I don’t have to wait to see what happens next. Many thanks to the publisher via Netgalley for a review copy.

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 he 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?- Goodreads

If I had to describe this book, which I do because this is a review, but in short words it would be this quote:

“That took balls."

"Please," I said with a snort, "that took ovaries. Of which I have two.”

Yeah, that is Charley. And she is hilariously blunt, demanding and mentally strong. I liked her...for the first half of the book. She is so gun ho, that she makes some really dumb decision without care of herself and how her actions will affect others. It gets redundant and annoying. She is a grown woman, who has been using her power for years and still makes reckless mistakes as if she is a newbie. It is frustrating.

But Charley and her rushing and blunt nature keeps the book going. You are instantly drawn into this book and kept interested for a majority of it. The author, thankfully, does not go the route you think she will go. You know the cliche love triangle, the I must choose between the modern world and magical world  and things like that. The series is long so it may or may not pop up but it didn't in this one.

I loved the pace of this novel and I also,surprisingly enough, enjoyed the fact that the author gave Charley some form of emotional discord with her powers, family and her overall job as a PI. It made her more human and I began to take her a bit more seriously. 

But in regards to her romance, I can't say I liked it. It is fairly new and it starts off really weird, not what she does for the relationship to happen but where her emotions come from, I was actually jaw dropping surprised that she wanted a relationship or some form of intimacy. I can completely understand wanting to know more about this person but she took it kind of far. At the end of the novel, the relationship is crazy new, so it doesn't development much but I think there will be a lot of it in the second book. 

I would have liked more supernatural aspects in this book and more mythology and dark things happening.  It was light and I hope the author goes deeper in the next 13 books.

Overall, 

3 Pickles

Well written book!!! I highly recommend this novel.

First Grave on the Right is brilliantly written! Charley is a well developed, sexy, snarky, and confident character who is relatable to many. I took a chance on this title and fell in love. I will complete the series and recommend to my girlfriends who share the same great taste in books!

Good book. I think it is a girly fantasy that we love to read. The story is good and was a nice fallow. A bit confused about some people but I think it will clear up in the next book. It has some great funny parts but hope it doesn't start to take over the story. All in all I am going to read on to see where this story goes.

Sometimes going into a story you have thoughts about how it will go, I’ve heard about this book and my daughter has been after me to read it, but First Grave… hmm. Okay, here is the thing, I love romance and a book about the grim reaper for some reason just didn’t seem to be my kind of thing.

That being said, Charlie blew away all of my preconceived conceptions of what this story was about her antics had me cracking up at times and cringing at others, she is such a cool character and Reyes, I have no words for that one. Considering it took me so long to read this one as soon as I finished it (at midnight) I had to open up book two to see where these awesome characters were going next.

I loved this story and the characters are so much fun to hang out with that I will be doing a binge read on this series.

Sorry, I just wasn't a fan, I read and switched to something else then would come back and try again. I got to 22% and just gave up after trying so many times.

The book that started my love affair with the Grim Reaper. Ok, maybe not a love affair since she's a girl and I'm hetero and married, but I really enjoyed this book. Darynda Jones is hilarious! I find more quotable lines in the Charley Davidson series than any other series I have read. Imagine being The Grim Reaper, the only one. Charley takes "I see dead people" to a whole new dimension and I cannot wait to see what she is up to next. This first book in the series introduces us to Charley, Reyes (love interest), Cookie (best friend) and many other characters who you will love more with each chapter.

FIRST GRAVE ON THE RIGHT is the first book in the Charley Davidson series. They do need to be read in the order of release.

A laugh-out-loud funny mystery thriller with a healthy dose of romance courtesy of Reyes, I could not put it down. There is so much I could say about Reyes, but I don’t want to give too much away. I leave it with he is smoking hot and I want to read more about him and Charley together. Charley is smart, sarcastic and scarily supernatural. Her powers are intense and have made for a lonely life. Luckily, we are entering just when she finally is realizing that she does have people she can trust with her truths. The supporting cast – her dad, uncle, evil stepmother, secretary/assistant, and many others – are well-developed and are perfect placed to move the story along and add richness to the tale.

This is the first book I have read from this author and I have already put the rest of this series on my “wish list.”

Note: while I was given this book as a gifted copy, my opinions are my own and are given freely.

Al older paranormal romance/fantasy series I've been meaning to check out - and I think if I had read it when it first came out I might have enjoyed it more. The story and characters felt stale and the jokes bad.

I could not help myself, I completely devoured this emotionally gripping, action packed adventure in one thrilling night of reading. Who needs sleep anyway, right!

Charley is sexy, sassy and sarcastic (my three favorite S words) also has lots of inappropriate but marvelously funny thoughts. She was born with the job of being the Grim Reaper and has some interesting gifts that go along with it. She uses her talents as a PI helping solve murders and with her advantage you think it would be easy, however it proves (specifically with this case) to be anything but easy. Looking forward to revisiting this magical and exciting world.

First Grave on the Right (Charley Davidson, #1) by Darynda Jones is an unexpected twist on a paranormal romance. The main female character is full of witty sarcasm. Charley Davidson is the Grim Reaper who encourages the recently departed to go to the light. She encounters Reyes early on in her life and he follows her, until recently where he invades her dreams. Reyes is intensely dark and another entity altogether. I loved both characters individually, but not together. The storyline was good and I enjoyed the mystery aspect of "who done it". Overall this is a fun read that I would recommend for those individuals who are lighthearted PNR fans. Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing a copy for review. The only negative critique I have has nothing to do with the writing but the odd angle of the foot on the cover. I get that they were trying to display the skull on the sandal to fit the theme,but feet just don't bend that way.

Charley Davidson is a 27 year old grim reaper and a PI and consultant for the police in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She works for the dead and the living. As a grim reaper, she escorts the recently decreased into the "light." In dreams, she has been haunted by a dark, sexy stranger who doesn't appear to be dead as he has a warmth about him. She calls him Bad. In the real world, three lawyers have recently been killed -- they have been representing a client accused of murder. Why were they killed? She is helping her Uncle Bob of the APD investigating these
murders. She discovers Bad is the son of Satan, yet he protects her from any harm. Why?

Charlie has a lust for life as seen in this novel. There were moments when I laughed in this action packed, thrilling story. There is suspense, danger and the occasional sexy scene. The book Is the first of a series, I was surprised by the ending. It is definitely a winner!

Charlie is a marvelous creation...this is a story that’s genuinely fun and hard to put down. Delightful!

I loved this story. The Grim Reaper is a hot chick named Charlotte Davidson. She’s a private investigator and a police consultant with a caring heart. Plus, she has a wicked sense of humor. I laughed thru the whole book. She has no sense of self preservation and risks her life repeatedly. In this story, I got the impression she’s a Portal for the deceased to pass thru to get to Heaven, which is not how I’ve known the Grim Reaper to be. I know the Grim Reaper to reap the souls from their bodies with a scythe. Scary stuff. There is another character in this story, Big Bad, that looks exactly as the Grim Reaper should. He wears a black, flowing cloak and carries a scythe, which he does use to save Charlotte, repeatedly. I’m dying to hear more of the Charlotte/Big Bad tale. Plus, how does prisoner Reyes Farrow fit into all of this? You have got to read this novel. This story has me begging for more and I look forward to the next installment.

Charley Davidson is a grim reaper. She can communicate with the dead and help them pass through to the other side. Those who've been murdered tend to linger and she works as a PI helping her Uncle Bob, a murder detective, find their killers. Not surprisingly she and Bob are remarkably effective at solving murders. In her latest case three lawyers are shot by an unseen gunman all on the same night, suggesting they were killed as the result of a case they were working on.

The book was a lot of fun to read. Charley is sassy and snarky and the banter with the dead is often very funny. She has a hot bad boy lover who visits her dreams and turns out to be a very bad boy indeed. I love all the side characters, her Dad the ex-cop who runs the pub below her office, her evil step-mother and her neighbour, receptionist and confidant Cooky. I will definitely be checking out the next book to see how this series develops!

I received a NetGally copy for review purposes.

I loved this story and an now HOOKED on the series. I can't get enough. The story was like nothing I had ever read before. There was action, dead people, emotion, humor. It has it all rolled into amazing characters and story ideas.

Excellent introduction to a new series. Charley Davidson seems perfectly normal except for the whole grim reaper thing. Reyes is sizzling and gorgeous. Each will move heaven and hell for the other. An utterly absorbing, hilarious, read.

I have some pretty mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand it was fast paced, kept my attention and had some really interesting aspects. On the other hand I got tired of Charlies attitude and “jokes”, the grim reaper thing could have been done differently and although it was a supernatural mystery and I knew that, the ending just didn’t make sense to me. I think there were a few unnecessary plot points that could have been left out entirely. Perhaps if the book focused more on the mystery instead of on the grim reaper aspect it might have been a better fit for me. There are some good points to the book, such as the mystery itself and the ghosts Charlie interacts with. I also found her family dynamic fascinating. That just wasn’t enough to save the book for me.

This was a fun fast read. I really enjoyed it. It was lighthearted and fun. The wisecracking Charley is what makes this book so much fun!