A bit confusing because this couldn’t decide what it wanted to be. I appreciate trying to genre blend, but that effort detracted of each one of them really standing on their own- the mystery, the romance, the suspense.

What an excellent read! I feel so bad I didn’t manage to read it for pub day but it was excellent. Like a slightly grittier supernaturalish cozy mystery!

This book was quirky and entertaining! The author is a master at telling tales, and I am so pleased this is a series.
Many thanks to Atria and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Such a fun, light story - though of course it's about unsolved murders.
Leda and Grady team up to solve a case - haunting Grady for well over a year. Leda's fiancé was found in his car - in a pond, in the backseat, shot in the stomach.
Leda uses her psychic abilities to bring new leads to Grady.
Very enjoyable.

This title and cover had me intrigued. Leda Foley is a travel agent and psychic. Although, it is both helpful and unhelpful. She meets a detective who wants to utilize her skills in the line of work to help out with a cold case. I really liked the premise of the book, but felt like it led in a direction I was not totally prepared for. I think that this author has a lot of potential but was falling flat for me. Unfortunately, this had to be a "do not finish for me."

Leda is a psychic and a travel agent. She is better at one than the other. Her fiance's murder has not been solved and she wants to have a go at it. The characters are oddballs and the banter between characters is quite amusing. The story itself is a fun light hearted read. It moves at a fast pace. I really think you will enjoy this first novel in her brand new series.

I'm new to the whole cozy mystery genre so I can't say, really, if this is a "good" one in the genre, but I found it to be solidly entertaining. As of now, I'm finding cozy mysteries to not be my absolute favorite subset of mysteries as I definitely prefer more dark books, but I do think this is a good one if you're looking for a quick and entertaining mystery that isn't too deep. My main complaint is it was a bit dialogue-heavy at times, but other than that it was super enjoyable!

This is the first in a new mystery series. I'm not sure if it is considered a cozy mystery, but, if not, it's close. The main character, Leda, is an 'inconsistent psychic' as well as a travel agent. When she helps keep a detective safe, he asks her to consult on a case.

I enjoyed getting to know Leda, her best friend, and the bar where she does a show 9I would love to go to her show- people give her an object and she picks a karaoke song that might me meaningful to them). This was a fun, quick read. I will stick with the series.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange fro an honest review.

I liked the remise of a psychic travel agent trying to solve mysteries with a quirky band of friends, and the main character was fun. This was a nice surprise, as I had not read anything by this author before. Give it a chance when you need a cozy read!!

Grave Reservations was a fun, campy mystery that I’d recommend to lovers of mystery who aren’t interested in something too spooky. In addition to the mystery aspects of the plot, the storyline also explored the complicated relationship many have with grief, as well as a sweet father-daughter bond.

Can a murder mystery be considered charming and light? Those are the first two words that come to mind when I think about this book so I’m going with it.

Leda is living a modest life running her little travel agency in Seattle. Oh, and she has psychic abilities. They’re random and she can’t seem to reign them in. But they’re there. Grady Merritt is a cop using her services when she unknowingly uses her abilities to save his life. He sees this as an opportunity to use her services to possibly help him solve a cold case. And she’s all in.

I really enjoyed this one! Likable characters. Intriguing mystery. And in times of stress and uncertainty in the world I really needed something to read that wasn’t too intense. And this book is perfect for that. There is humor and twists. It’s great. Definitely pick up a copy!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria for the advanced ebook.

Reading this felt like a gin and tonic served in a comfy seat at your favorite bar - warm and comfortable with sharpness and a bite provided by your cocktail. Ms. Priest creates a wonderfully familiar, but completely new, mystery series - her writing and plot structure are comfortable with the tropes of the genre know when to deploy and when to subvert, when to create a comedic moment and when to build tension and suspense. Our psychic Leda is a bit uneven as a central character, but that could be a result of the shifting perspectives between chapters and how Grady, her detective partner, may see her as more immature and mercurial than she actually is. Grady's family life drops off in the back half of the novel, which is perfectly fine with me as I'm not really interested in precocious teenagers, and is replaced by the cast of local dive bar Castaways - a distinct and definite improvement. A relatively attentive reader could probably solve our mysteries by process of elimination as they are not super challenging, but I don't feel that's truly the point of this series (we're not in pure train timetable Christie territory). It's a happy blanket of a read and a complete recommend.

An interesting murder mystery that is linked to another case and solved by an unlikely consultant.

There were great supporting characters, and great banter.

It was a little far fetched in my mind, but I still enjoyed it.

Leda Foley as owner and only employee of her fledgling travel agency has a feeling, she needs to rebook Detective Grady Merritt’s return flight to Seattle. He is angry when she calls to let him know she has rebooked it. Although he had been stuck in traffic, he still thought he could make it. Fortunately for him Leda was right, he did just miss it. When his original flight crashes on takeoff, he counts his blessings and wonders how Leda knew in advance to change it.

Leda has always had unpredictable psychic feelings but they didn’t help her prevent the murder of her fiancé. On open mike night in her local bar, she performs Klairvoyant Karaoke; picking up a patron’s object and singing a song that has some meaning to them. Her skills are improving but still not reliable.

Detective Merritt hires, Leda to help him with a cold case and they discover there may be a link between that and the death of her fiancé. With the help of her equally quirky friends, they work to find a killer that has gotten away with murder.

Thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for an ARC of Grave Reservations in exchange for my honest opinion.

I thought this book had so much potential - a travel agent with flickering psychic tendencies befriends a detective and helps him see the missing clues in his case that's gone cold. I had trouble getting into the book, though, and the connecting with the main character's own past seemed a bit far-fetched. I am excited that it's a new series and will check out the next one, but overall this one fell a little flat for me.

As others have said, this would be a perfect tv show - and I couldn't agree more.

Leda is a struggling travel agent who is trying to get her life on track - she just also happens to be an amateur psychic. Her life truly changes when she saves a police detective from getting on plane that explodes. This book is a fun, quirky, adventurous ride. Not a hardcore thriller, but perfect for someone who looking for a mystery with fantastic writing.

Thank you Netgalley & Atria Books for the ARC!

▫️REVIEW▫️

Grave Reservations ~ Cherie Priest

🙏🏼 Thank you to @netgalley and @atriabooks for this gifted eARC copy.

▫️READ IF:
* You have gotten a reading from a psychic or seem to have a sixth sense yourself.
* Forgot about dogs or cats - you love your pet fish!
* You frequent a local bar that feels like home.

▫️SYNOPSIS: When Detective Grady Merritt gets a call from his travel agent telling him NOT to get on his flight, he’s confused and also a little annoyed. That all changes as he watches the plane blow up at the end of the tarmac - it is then that he realizes that Leda Foley not only saved his life but she might also be psychic.

With a cold case to solve, Grady convinces Leda to try and channel her abilities to shed light on the case. But he’s not the only one with something to gain - Leda’s fiancé was found dead, presumably murdered, and his case remains unsolved as well. Together, this odd pair set out to find answers, and in doing so realize they have more in common then they think!

▫️REVIEW: I was super psyched to read this one but it fell a little short for me - and I can’t quite figure out why! The characters were quirky and Leda and Grady’s interactions would make me giggle at times. I found the plot creative and I love how the book started, with Grady’s flight cancellation. However, I never had that feeling in my gut, heart, or head to pick it up and read. That anticipation when you can’t wait to get home and read or you are late to where you’re headed because you need to get in one more chapter…that was never there for me with this one!

The reviews are great for this one and the quirk is fun so I am hoping it could land in the hands of someone who will absolutely love and appreciate it!

Leda Foley is a travel agent in Seattle. She has a small office that she hopes one day to pay for with said travel agency, but for now, she’s using some of her savings and living cheaply. It helps that she can drink for free at Castaways, a local bar where her best friend’s boyfriend works and where she sometimes takes over the stage for her Klairvoyant Karaoke, where she feels an object offered up by a customer and then sings the song she feels would be the best choice. Sometimes the customers thank her for the song, sometimes they cry, but she is starting to gain a following there. Hence, free drinks.

But work at the travel agency is a little slow, until the day she changed Grady Merritt’s flight without talking to him first. He’s trying to get home to Seattle, and while he was stuck in traffic, he was still going to make his connecting flight. Except that his travel agent switched the flight on him. He called Foley’s Flights of Fancy, upset about the change, when he sees his original plane turn to smoke from his spot in the terminal.

Although Leda has always felt uncertain of her psychic powers as they seemed too random to be helpful to anyone, when she saved Merritt’s life, he became a believer in Leda. He shows up at her office and explains that he’s a detective for the Seattle PD, and he wants her help for a case that he’d been chasing for months. Leda isn’t at all certain that she can help, but she agrees to a trip to the place where the murder happened, just to see if she had any flashes.

Christopher Gilman had been a shady businessman, and any number of people may have wanted him dead, but his son Kevin was a good man, and he was trying to turn their business around, to make sure they were acting legally and ethically, even compassionately. So while it wasn’t a surprise that Christopher had been shot in a seedy hotel, the fact that Kevin had been with him and had gotten shot also was a surprise, and the police hadn’t been able to find any motive for his murder. The investigation had hit a dead end, and Detective Merritt was hoping Leda could pick up something from the hotel room where it had all gone down.

And while their trip to the seedy hotel where the murders had happened got Leda some background information on Merritt’s case, it wasn’t until they were leaving that Leda had a psychic flash unlike anything she had ever experienced before. It actually knocked her out completely, and as she came to with an EMT standing over her, she realized what had happened. As it turns out, Merritt’s case was linked to a cold case that was very dear to Leda’s heart, the murder of her fiancé Tod.

Now Leda is at least as motivated as Merritt to solve the murders, so she is doing her best to bring her psychic powers forward. But as her flashes bring her closer to the answers, they also bring her closer to the killer. Will she be able to see the case through to the end, or will she become another part of the case for Merritt to investigate?

Grave Reservations is a completely charming new mystery from award-winning writer Cherie Priest. She partners a strong plot with unforgettable characters, and adds lots of humor, irreverence, snark, friendship, and alcohol. Priest had a lot of fun writing this story, and I’m thrilled to say that it’s the first in a series and there is more Leda Foley to come.

I was hooked by the cover picture of Grave Reservations, and I was not disappointed with this fun murder mystery. The characters are so much fun to spend time with, and I liked how the crimes unraveled little by little, the pieces slowly falling into place until you could see the whole picture. I definitely recommend this one for anyone looking for a lighter mystery with a sincere heart to it, and for myself, I can’t wait until I can book another trip with Foley’s Flights of Fancy!

Egalleys for Grave Reservations were provided by Atria Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.

Grave Reservations follows Leda Foley, a travel agent/small business owner/sort of psychic working in Seattle. One evening she feels a compulsion to have her client, Detective Grady Merritt, miss his flight, which turns out to be a blessing in disguise because as he is watching his flight take off....it catches on fire! After Grady thanks and confronts Leda about her premonitions/6th sense, he asks her to assist him in a cold case that has been nagging at him for some time. Leda says yes, but she has her own reasons for doing so....primarily she hopes that Grady can help solve her fiancé's murder at the same time. Their investigation ends up taking them through some twists and turns and it turns out the cases may even be linked!

This one read like a cozy mystery. Candidly, I was not overly invested in the cases that the duo worked, but I enjoyed the interactions between Leda and Nikki, her best friend, and I liked Leda and Grady platonic working relationship. I loved the Klairvoyant Karaoke bits and would totally go to that bar IRL. I hope that if there is a book 2 the fun and hijinx are dialed up a bit more kind of like in the Stephanie Plum or Finlay Donovan series.
True rating: 3.5 stars

Thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for the advanced reader's copy to review

Grave Reservations is light-hearted and entertaining despite being a murder mystery. I guess you could call it a cozy mystery of sorts. Leda is a struggling travel agent in Seattle, owning her own business (which has an oddball name) and a police detective, Grady, had booked his conference travel through her agency. Leda has psychic tendencies and has a really bad feeling about his return flight, so rebooks him on a different flight, thus saving him from being on a plane that winds up crashing. So Grady figures maybe Leda’s talents can help him with a cold case. That’s the basic setup of the book.

The book has two well-defined main characters: Leda and Grady, along with some fun side characters: Nikki, Matt, Ben, and Tiffany, most of whom are associated with Castaways, the bar where Leda does her “klairvoyant karaoke” act. Leda holds someone’s personal item and decides on a song to sing based on whatever feeling she gets from that item. Fun idea! There are great descriptions of Seattle and its citizens, which often had me smiling; Seattle is sort of a character in this book!

This is my first book by this author and, although I understand this is a new genre for her, I will definitely look into her other books now, because I enjoyed her writing style so much. Example: there’s a reference to a burrito from Chipotle and the author has described it as being the size of a newborn.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to read an advance readers copy of this book. All opinions are my own.