TITLE: Grave Reservations
AUTHOR: Cherie Priest
PUBLICATION DATE: October 26th, 2021
PUBLISHER: Atria Books

GENRE: Mystery, Woman Sleuth, Psychics
NUMBER OF PAGES: 304

Leda and Grady’s lives cross during the very odd chance that Leda saves Grady’s life. Curious Grady decides to meet with Leda in person and proposes she helps him on an unsolved case. Grave reservations was a fun spin on a classic whodunit mystery. Leda’s psychic abilities were pretty neat and I like how she was able to strengthen it overtime with practice at the bar or while working with Grady. I love the paranormal cozy mystery vibes this book gives off and it was a perfect to read in October! I love how Cherie wrote Leda in different elements. The Leda who was trying to help Grady the with case, Leda who did psychic karaoke with her buddies around, and Leda when she was alone trying to manage her grief. She’s a well-rounded character and I definitely hope this becomes a series to see Leda’s progression!

Thank you NetGalley, Cherie Priest and Atria Books for allowing me to read and review and ARC of Grave Reservations!

2.5 stars

Well, I just thought this was an ok read. It wasn't bad but it wasn't great. I fell asleep most of the times that I was reading it and the rest of the times that I was reading it, I either skimmed because the dialogue was so tedious and seemed like it went on for pages or it was ridiculously boring (hence why I fell asleep). It picked up around the 88% mark, my goodness, when it was almost over but by that time, I just didn't care about the characters, the mysteries (what there was of one), or the story.

I wanted to love this one because I enjoy a good cozy mystery--the Stephanie Plum books are among my all-time favorites! Yet this was a complete let-down. There were moments that worked, but I couldn't ever get into the book long enough for it to grab me. I seem to be in the minority with my review so while I don't think I would recommend it based on my experience reading it, I would ALSO say, give my review a grain of salt and check out other reviews of people who loved it a WHOLE lot better than I did.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

review posted to Goodreads on 10/12/21

𝐒𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞:
After an amateur psychic saves a detective from a plane crash he hires her to help solve a case that has gone cold.

𝐌𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬:
What a fun, cute, light cozy mystery this was. I found the story entertaining and hard to put down. I knocked it out in less than 24 hours. I found the characters likable, funny and delightful. I just loved the detective/psychic partnership in solving this crime. This duo was fantastic. The strong and supportive friendships Leda had with many side characters was refreshing. I really hope we see Leda and Grady working together to solve some crimes in future novels. This is the perfect read for someone looking for a light mystery. I loved it.

This mystery follows Leda Foley, travel agent and psychic, and Seattle PD Detective Grady Merritt who meet after she saves his life by re-booking his flight simply due to a psychic feeling she had. Grady is a little more open to the world of the supernatual than most police detectives and he asks for Leda's help on a case almost 2 years old that he just can't get a good lead on. Leda reluctantly agrees, afraid her spotty at best psychic abilities won't be much help solving Grady's murder case when she couldn't help solve her fiance's murder 3 years prior. However, the last 6 months of honing her skills during Klairvoyant Karaoke at her favorite bar has helped and soon Grady, Leda, and Leda's best friend Niki, are piecing together clues and just might be able to solve more than Grady's cold case.

I hoped to like this book but I did not expect to love it as much as I did. I've always love gritty police procedural TV shows, movies, and books. The grittier, the better. Give me a haggard, alcoholic detective with his marriage falling to pieces and trying to solve the one case that's always haunted him. And while I still love that type of mystery story, I've really grown to appreciate cozy mysteries. I always thought cozy mysteries meant that the mystery was pretty low-stakes - like "someone stole the trophy for the town apple pie contest and we need to find it before the competition is over" level of mystery. I've since learned that is not correct and while some cozy mysteries may be like that, the genre can still involve high-stakes crimes like murder. While Grave Reservations might not fit the exact definition of a cozy mystery (since Grady is an actual police detective), this reads and feels much more like a cozy mystery than a detective mystery. Grady is doing most of his work with Leda off the clock and since the cases are 2-3 years old, it doesn't have the urgency that a lot of detective mysteries do. This read was super fluffy, fun, and a bit quirky so if the description interests you, I highly recommend you pick it up!

The characters, for me, were really the cherry on top of a fantastic book. I absolutely loved everyone who showed up on the page and Priest does a great job of making all the characters interesting and their voices unique. Everyone was super love-able and I wish the book was longer just so I could stay in their friend group longer. The ending did leave the door open to a possible sequel or series and I really hope we do get more books in this world. Priest did a great job of pinpointing a specific detail for each character and then branching off from there. So, for example, we know from the first page that Lena has some sort of psychic ability but as the chapter progresses, we see how this gift, and the limitations of it, have impacted her life. The cast of side characters are super fun and they really feel like their own little family. Grady was very much the straight-man of the comedy troupe but he isn't overly stern or a buzz-kill by any means. I really appreciated how he felt very much like a detective the whole time and kept Leda and Niki grounded in the realities of police work when they got caught up in the amateur sleuthing aspects. My favorite line of his goes something like "I believe you, but we still need to convince more police officers, some lawyers, and a judge so we need actual evidence" (not a direct quote). I do wish we got more of Grady's life outside of the case with Leda - especially since we get some chapters from his POV. We know he has a 17 year old daughter and a detective partner, but we really don't get any scenes of him away from Leda. I really would have loved a scene where his partner catches on to what Grady's been doing in his off hours, for example. If we do get a sequel or series after this, I really do hope we get more from Grady's perspective.

I thought the choice to have alternating POV chapters between Leda and Grady was really smart as it let the reader see Leda's gift from different perspectives. As I mentioned above, I do wish we got more of Grady's personal life away from Leda but we got a good amount of Leda's personal life and internal struggles. I liked the choice to have both cases be relatively old so that there is some distance and the book isn't an over-emotional journey. Leda has done some healing since her fiance was killed, but she obviously isn't completely healed and we do see some of that journey in her chapters. Grady, similarly, has a lost in his past that he seems to still have a pretty strong emotional connection to but we don't see him exploring or revealing any of that to Leda (or the reader). There were some breadcrumbs that I picked up on that I really hope get fleshed out more if there's a sequel to this book. I really enjoyed the subtle shifts in narrative tone between Leda and Grady's chapters and while the general tone of the book is pretty fun and fluffy, I did find Grady's chapters to be just a tad more serious and subdued which makes sense because we're seeing everything through his critical police detective brain. I love a good dual-POV book where we can clearly see the differences in characters simply by the little narrative changes in their chapters.

I love the psychic abilities and the way they were worked into this world. Psychics working with the police has been done before, but I've found most of the time, a big part of the story revolves around the psychic (or medium, etc) proving to the police they are the real-deal. In this case, it was refreshing to have Grady come in already a believer of sorts which made him and Leda an instant team instead of them fighting each other for 75% of the book. I loved how caring and supportive everyone was when Leda was frustrated with figuring out exactly how her visions work. She gets frustrated with herself because she doesn't feel as useful as someone with psychic skills should be to an active police investigation. I think because of this choice to have Leda's skills still be developing, it makes sense that we don't get a whole lot of big psychic breakthroughs or super clear visions during the course of the story. Lena gets more flashes of certain moments or words that she can tell are important, but the connection isn't always clear. As a side note, Klairvoyant Karaoke might just be my favorite part of any book I've read this year.

And, of course, what kind of mystery book review would it be without talking about the mystery and investigation. I thought it was a really smart decision to have Grady and Leda investigating cold cases because it allowed them to skip right to the core aspects of the investigation since all the boring, normal questions were already asked during the initial investigating. So, for example, Leda would ask if X person had an alibi for the night of the murders and Grady could look through the notes and say "yes, they were at dinner with their wife" instead of us having to watch as they go and actually ask that character about their alibi. So having the cold cases already be partially investigated meant that the reader could get a little info-dump on the background of whatever character and then Grady and Leda could start asking the juicy questions about secrets and rumors that they uncovered. I really liked the way the different threads all came together in the end and how the investigation felt very grounded even though there were psychic visions involved. I think because Grady was so steadfast in making sure he still did his job to independently verify any hints or leads Leda could provide, it made the whole investigation still feel very solid.

As if it isn't already incredibly obvious, I loved this book. It was fun, fluffy, a little over the top and cutesy at times, but a really fun read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC in exchange for review

Expected publication date is December 1, 2021

3.75 stars

Having just finished a lengthy, psychological mystery, I was looking for something lighter and fun and this was just the ticket. I am hopeful it is a series debut as I would like to spend some more time with these characters.

Leda is a charmingly flaky entrepreneur running a travel agent business. She's also blessed/cursed by some psychic gifts. As the book opens, a client (a cop at a conference) is on the phone with her wondering why in the world she re-booked his return flight without telling him -- and then he watches the plane he would have been on have an aborted emergency on takeoff. Leda can't explain it -- she just had a feeling, and over the years she has come to trust that.

Grady, the cop, instantly sees possibilities. He is frustrated by two unsolved murders and has pursued every "legitimate" investigative avenue. He cautiously approaches Leda with a proposition: will she visit the crime scene with him to see if she can find anything else to check out?

Leda has a special interest in helping -- her fiance was murdered several years ago and the case remains unsolved. And so this unusual partnership begins, sometimes including Leda's best friend Niki. It's a fun journey that never takes itself too seriously but never descends into the silly. Thanks to the publisher and to Net Galley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Grave Reservations by Cherie Priest was a pleasantly surprising read! I would classify this as a cozy mystery and it was really fun! It gave me Finlay Donovan vibes which I was obsessed with! The main character is a psychic travel agent/amateur sleuth and she cracked me up. Simply put: read this book!

A Psychic travel agent & police detective work together to solve a cold case. I’ll be honest, I had a hard time getting into this one. This book was full of quirky characters & funny psychic karaoke moments but it took awhile for me to get into it. I just don’t think paranormal is for me and those parts overshadowed the murder investigation to me. I’m glad I read this and think many will enjoy, especially if you can suspend some beliefs and focus on the characters.

I requested this one because I'd previously read The Family Plot by Priest, liked it, and have been interested in trying her again.

This one felt like... it was written by another author? It's entirely possible that I was in a different headspace, reading The Family Plot, but I enjoyed the lighthearted aspects of that one, touched with darkness. That didn't seem like a cozy mystery, so much, but this one definitely does. I like cozy mysteries, sometimes, but this was just too far over the top for me. Silly (and not in a good way), and just... difficult to relate to and not roll my eyes over the characters' actions on pretty much every page.

So, nervous about Priest, now, but I did like the Family Plot enough that I may try again. I'm not publishing a public review, as I didn't read far enough to justify a public negative review.

This was such a cute, funny, and different start to a new series, and I loved it! Leda is a psychic--well, mostly. Her abilities don't always work when she needs them to or even correctly. She owns a tiny travel agency and when she tells one of her customers--Grady, who is a police detective--to not get on the plane he's supposed to board, she saves his life. This leads to him asking her to help consult on a cold murder case. This was fast-paced, had me laughing out loud in some places, and had a great plot. I truly hope this is becoming a series, because I really want more of Leda and Grady!

There’s a new detective team in town, at least to solve a case that has Grady, widowed police detective, stumped. But wait, her job title says she owns a travel agency. So why does Grady, a police detective who only met Leda when she arranged his travel to and from a business meeting, ask Leda to help him with a case that has him stumped? Did I mention she also has some psychic powers and they fired enough for her to change Grady’s flight without asking him. Grady is furious until, while on the phone expressing his frustration, he watches his original flight skid off the runway and burst into flames.

So begins an unusual “buddy” story. Of course it would never happen in real life, at least not the way it’s described here. But don’t let that stop you. Sit down and enjoy reading about the psychic abilities Leda doesn’t understand. She’s working on it. To try and develop her talent she is spending time at a local bar, singing karaoke, choosing the songs based on what she “feels” when she holds an object from an audience member.

Why would Leda agree to work on a police case, especially using a talent she doesn’t know how to interpret? It seems Grady’s case involves another murder from two years ago, that of Leda’s fiance. Just the possibility that her fiance’s murder will be solved is enough to get Leda to agee to working with Grady.

Of course, it’s not that simple. Grady can’t hire Leda officially, so he asks her to let him do all the talking with suspects, he just wants Leda to go with him to meet a few of them, maybe hold something of theirs, but absolutely no talking. Leda quickly agrees, then just as quickly pipes up with questions and observations. Seems she can’t stay in the background no matter how hard she tries.

Joining Leda and Grady are Niki, Leda’s best friend, the bar manager, the bar owner, and the bartender. These secondary characters are not well developed at this point, leaving plenty of room for that development to take place in future novels within the series. While this book is fun to read, if there are to be additional books in the series, more character development would make the books even more enjoyable..

The solution of the mystery is solved when Leda realizes information that has previously not been provided to the reader. So while readers may have a theory about the murderer’s identity, they have no concrete information on which to base their conclusion. As with character development, if future books could take more time to develop clues and red herrings to be placed throughout the story, it would benefit those readers who want the opportunity to solve the crime, hopefully before the fictional protagonist.

I adored this cozy mystery! This book gave me MAJOR Finlay Donovan Is Killing It vibes and I am here for it.

This book is about Leda, a (barely) psychic travel agent who is working with the police to solve her fiancé's murder mystery.

While that sounds intense, think more along the lines of That's So Raven and Bewitched. It's definitely light and humorous!

This whole murder mystery/comedy genre is really doing it for me. Books like this, #finlaydonovaniskillingit and #arsenicandadobo! Feel free to send me any #cozymystery recs!!

Huge thanks to @netgalley and @simonandschuster for allowing me to read this ARC! #gravereservations will be published on October 26! Make sure to add this to your list!!

When I finished reading Grave Reservations by Cherie Priest, I thought, Wow, that was fun. I took to the unique story set up right away. To start, Leda and her best friend, Niki, demonstrated so much support for each other. While they are young and having fun, they are I there for each other no matter what. They also have the best friendship banter. Next, I loved Grady, a widowed police detective, First, I liked that he never doubts Leda’s abilities as a psychic. I also liked how Grady and Leda get along. . We didn’t have a romance forced down our throat or the two of them fighting with each other.. Maybe it will lead somewhere in later books, but I found it refreshing Leda wasn’t suddenly over her fiancé. Additionally, The community that the author has set up at the bar Castaways and the characters there are nicely done with interesting personalities.

The plot itself leans toward a fun Cozy mystery. There isn’t much real detective work and the mystery is unraveled mostly by Leda. I think a little police procedure would have made sense. I was very happy with how the story wrapped up, and I can imagine this being a fun series.

Thank you Atria Books and Netgalley for the arc. This is my honest review

This was the first book of Priest's that I've read and it was so enjoyable! It was entertaining and not as heavy as most books I read which I liked! This was a super quick read and I wanted to know how everything was going to tie together. I couldn't put it down! I loved how different the psychic plot was with the investigation. I'll definitely be picking up more of her books in the future!

Thanks to NetGalley & Atria books for the advanced copy in enhance for an honest review!

I've got to be honest, I was pretty letdown by this one. The subject matter of a mediocre psychic assisting a detective with a homicide case is tried and true, and unfortunately.. done much better in other iterations I've come across.

The characters were all interesting and fun, there's a lot going right here. The beginning of the book is really captivating and well done, also. I was hooked immediately and excited to learn more about Leda and Grady. I think the biggest problem is that the case is just boring. I wasn't intrigued by the whodunnit aspect, at all. I'm honestly unsure what genre this was going for, actually. It wasn't overtly suspenseful or romantic. It wasn't quirky enough to just be THAT, either. It felt like the author took a very tepid approach to all of the above, and I just wanted her to go for it- in any direction! I wasn't even really sure what the relationship between Leda and Grady was, throughout. The chemistry wasn't there for friends, enemies OR lovers. They felt very much like platonic acquaintances, and that's just not an exciting type of relationship to read about.


The "Klairvoyant Karaoke" part was a really fresh and fun idea! I really enjoyed that part and could absolutely see that translating to the screen extremely well.

Overall, this wasn't terrible. I just had higher expectations and felt disappointed by the end. I wouldn't necessarily recommend this one, but I wouldn't tell someone NOT to read it. I'd still give a follow-up a chance, too. I think this could be a really fun series if the author just punches it up with steam or suspense or something.



Thank you to #Netgalley and #AtriaBooks for the complimentary ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. This book will be published on October 26, 2021.

One of the best mysteries I've read in a while! Perfect for fans of Stephanie Plum and Finlay Donovan, I am HOPING this excellent new book becomes a series. When inconsistent psychic Leda--working as a travel agent--accidentally saves her client's life by rebooking his flight based on a *feeling* her life begins to change. Turns out her client is a police detective who thinks her special abilities could help solve his case that's been lingering for 18 months. Unfortunately, Leda struggles with interpreting her visions and is worried she could steer him in the wrong direction. But she also likes the idea of befriending a detective who may be able to help her solve her deceased fiancé's murder.

Despite this book unequivocally centering on Leda, it's actually dual POV--told both from Leda and Detective Grady Merritt's perspective. I love dual POV books, but was surprised this one was--I think pleasantly. There's no hint of a romance between Leda and Grady (I'm not even sure I could tell you how old Grady is, but he has a 17-year-old daughter), but a girl can hope, right? I could totally see it in future books if this becomes a series.

I think the mystery is really well thought-out, and I like all the characters, particularly Grady's daughter. It had humor and heart, and had the most plausible presentation of a psychic I've seen in a book. I would definitely recommend this one! It's not a cozy mystery, but it's not gruesome nor overly suspenseful--as I mentioned above, for lovers of Stephanie Plum or Finlay Donovan, I think it's a perfect fit.

Thanks to Atria for my ARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

5 stars - 10/10

Leda Foley is a mediocre psychic whose power is slowly growing stronger, mainly through Klairvoyant Karaoke at her favorite bar - holding an object of a participating audience member and then singing whatever song comes to mind.

She’s also the owner of a travel agency with a terrible name, and has only had two clients. Leda has a bad feeling about her second client’s flight. She re-books Seattle detective Grady Merritt on a different flight...just before the plane he was originally supposed to be on blows up on the runway.

Grady is a believer, and decides to use Leda and her skills to help with a murder case that’s grown cold...one that he’s always thinking about. Before she knows it, Leda uncovers things that may also tie into the murder of her fiance. She just has to summon the clues and help solve the investigation...without getting her or her friends killed.

This is a super fast, quirky mystery that entertained me enough. I wanted something a bit lighter and fun, and that’s what I got. However, it might have been a bit too cozy for this reader. I also found it to be very dialogue-heavy in places it didn’t need to be. Some of the conversations are a bit awkward.

The case itself that Leda’s assisting with isn’t really that compelling. The charm comes through in her interactions with the eccentric cast of characters...from detective Grady, to her best friend Niki, as well as a unique mix of bar patrons and workers.

Overall, I found this to be an amusing story with a likable cast, but not much depth or sense of foreboding. You’ll have to suspend disbelief to appreciate how much the detective shares with “regular” folks. Seasonal readers might enjoy reading this one around Halloween.

While I wasn’t absolutely blown away, I’m also relieved that it wasn’t a grave mistake to read this one. This is the first book I’ve read by Cherie Priest, and I’d be down to read another one.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Expected Publication Date: 10/26/21.

Review also posted at: https://bonkersforthebooks.wordpress.com

A psychic and cop buddy up to solve a murder? Yes, please! This book was a light and easy read for me. I enjoyed the "whodunit" mystery very much. While at times I felt the characters tried too hard to be quirky, I thoroughly enjoyed the found family aspect to this story. Overall, very fun and I'm looking forward to reading more of this series.

Thank you to Atria Books and Netgalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
"Grave Reservations" by Cherie Priest
was a great start to a new cozy mystery series with a little supernatural twist to it.
The idea of a psychic travel agent/karaoke songstress was great, the dialogue perfectly bantery & it was really fun to read.
I would definitely read more in this series.

This is a fun book, perfect for Halloween season! Part cozy mystery, part chick lit, part romance, it's all fun! And a super quick read- I read it in one sitting, as it just rolled along with witty dialogue and its lovable oddballs instantly grow on you, and as you're reading, you tell yourself you cant wait to see what happens in book 2, as you know this will be a great little series to sink your teeth into! So grab a glass of wine or a cup of hot chocolate and settle in for a good time with this book!

This was a fun sort of cozy mystery with a twist. I liked the banter and dialogue between the MC and SC. The plot was a little slow at times but overall it's a fun while not super mind blowing book. I wish there was a little more development and background for the characters but otherwise it was good. 3.5 stars