First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones

I'm not the first reviewer here on the blog to discuss Charley Davidson books. Actually, Lili reviewed and was "Daring You to Read..." this very book a few years back. I don't know why I waited so long to get into this series, but I'm really glad I did. First Grave on the Right is hilarious, fun and witty.

I think it's a perfect book to listen to as an audiobook. To be honest, this was the first audiobook I ever listened to in its entirety. I've tried to listen to books multiple times but I've never quite understood the appeal, until now. The narrator of First Grave on the Right, Loralei King, is wonderful and easy to listen to. The voices and the accents she uses makes it easy to follow and differentiate the characters. She reads the sarcastic comments perfectly and simply "gets" Charley Davidson's humour. Berls from Fantasy is More Fun actually recommended this series based on the narrator, and I think from now on, I'll be making more informed purchases when it comes to audiobooks.

As for the actual story, it's the perfect mix of mystery, paranormal and romance. If it wasn't for the paranormal aspects, the story would actually read like a cozie mystery. It has the humour and the crazy situations of a cozie but the author added this wonderful twist, which is Charley Davidson. Charley is a private investigator/police consultant/bartender/grim reaper. That last job title is obviously not on her business card. When we first meet her, she has a lot on her plate but even with her disorganized life she's able to do her job. She's able to juggle four murders, a comatose prisoner from her past, a mysterious shadowy lover, a mysterious shadowy Big Bad, and oh so many ghosts. As a grim reaper, she can see ghosts, and her job as a grim reaper is to try to help them get to the other side. Wherever that may be. As for being a PI, she got into that business because ever since she was five years old, her detective father and uncle have used her special ability to solve murders.

Charley is the perfect female PI for a paranormal romance. She's smart, courageous and resourceful. Her sarcastic wit is very similar to mine so I feel like we would get along perfectly. Her obsession with coffee borders on unhealthy, but come to think of it, so does mine. Her sensual encounters with a mysterious shadow being are pretty steamy, and the more the being interacts with Charley, the more she's led to believe he's Reyes, a complicated character she once met when she was in high school. Charley knows very little about this Reyes, but the more she investigate, the more she wants to find out. We do end up finding out who and what he is at the end of the book, and although I'm not surprised, it raises so many more interesting questions!

If you're a newbie to audiobooks like me, I highly recommend trying this one out as an audio. If you're reluctant, or simply prefer reading, this story is still a great choice. Be prepared to laugh out loud and get sucked into this grim reaper tale.



https://soundcloud.com/macaudio-2/first-grave-on-the-right-by-darynda-jones-audiobook-excerpt

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Posted by Tynga at 02:00

 Audio, Charley Davidson, Darynda Jones, ghost, Grim Reaper, Macmillan, Paranormal Romance, Purchased, Review  1 Person left their mark

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

City of Ashes is the second book in the Mortal Instruments series, so there will be spoilers in this review for the first book, City of Bones. You've been warned.  Also, this is kind of a "Throwback Thursday" type of review.  Here on Tynga's Reviews, we've already reviewed books #3, #4, #5, and #6; but not #2!  Here we go...

(A quick aside on the cover: the focal point is Clary's chest. Does that bother anyone else?)

City of Ashes opens with Jace being investigated and massive death and destruction in the City of Bones. A very harsh Inquisitor is investigating Jace because the Clave worries that Jace took the second Mortal Instrument, the Soul-Sword. Is Jace guilty? Did he help his father, Valentine, take the sword, which would still make him culpable? On top of the drama at the Institute, someone is killing NYC Downworlder children. Clary and Simon join up with the Shadowhunters to solve the mystery before any more Downworlder children die, and before Jace is locked up for a crime he may or may not have committed.

I was totally torn over this book. I loved most of the storyline, and I thought the pacing of the action was great. I listened to this book on CD, and even though it was much longer than some other books I've listened to recently it felt like it flew by. I also really liked how even though this is the second book in a six-book series, it didn't feel like a "bridge." It definitely had it's own conflict which developed and was resolved (for the most part). It's not a stand-alone; you'd want to have read City of Bones in order to understand how the characters fit together, but it didn't leave me hanging at the end. I appreciate that.

There is so much action in City of Ashes! A werewolf fight in a nightclub to a meeting with fairies to prison escapes... The reader never gets to sit still and catch their breath. I will say that Cassandra Clare did a great job of squeezing in a few feelings in between all the action, so that we can see relationships blossom between characters. But we never linger on feelings. The only down side is that in order to squeeze in those feelings, Ms. Clare did more telling than showing. As in, the characters state out loud or in their thoughts how they feel, instead of demonstrating those feelings. Oh well. Can't be perfect, and it's not terrible.

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Posted by Tynga at 01:00

 Action amp; Adventure, Audio, Cassandra Clare, downworlders, Fantasy amp; Magic, Library, Review, shadowhunters, The Mortal Instruments, young adult  4 People left their mark

Forever by Maggie Stiefvater

I want to flip things around in this review and open by talking about the great narration of Forever.  I listened to this on CD, and I'm so glad I did!  First, there's four narrators.  Each of the main characters are read by a different person, so it's easy to immediately identify which point of view the reader is hearing.  And here's the big, exciting part:  Maggie Stiefvater herself reads the part of Grace!  She does a great job.  How cool is it that you get to have the author right there, reading to you?  All four readers really give this book life.  The cadence is nice and even, even with switching between multiple actors.  The tone is steady; I never had to fiddle with the volume knob, even with the changes between male and female readers.  Overall, a fantastic audiobook.

Now on to the story itself.... In Shiver, Sam was a wolf and Grace was a girl; how could their love survive against those odds?  In Linger, Sam is a boy but Grace becomes a wolf; can their love continue to endure this shift?  Now, in Forever, Sam faces incredible odds as he tries to save the girl (sometimes a wolf) that he loves, and the rest of his wolfpack, as the town calls for a major hunt to eradicate the wolves from Mercy Falls.  He'll face these challenged head-on with Isabelle and Cole beside him. You'll notice the overabundance of the word "love" in my previous paragraph... if you're into romance, especially star-crossed romance, this is definitely the series for you!  Sam and Grace are so sweet together.  I love how they always tighten ranks to face adversity together; they never let rough circumstances or outside influences mar their devotion to each other.  Their relationship develops at a realistic pace too; they're teens, so it's a little quicker to get deeper than a more reserved adult relationship, but it's very much within the realm of possibility among young adults.  The fact that the characters are older teens, and that these books are aimed at teens, means that the shows of affection are mostly chaste.

All four of the main characters are very well-rounded by the time the reader gets to this third book.  One thing that I personally love in a book is dry, snarky humor.  Isabelle Culpepper delivers!  I love her sarcasm.  She's so confident and strong, and never hesitates to tell Sam and Cole exactly what she's thinking!  On the flip side, she's also fiercely loyal to Sam, Cole, and Grace, even to the point of going against her parents' wishes.  And we already know from the previous books how loyal Sam and Grace are to the rest of the group.  Their devotion to each other doesn't decrease in any way the time that they give to their friends.  And finally Cole... possibly the most complicated character that I've read in awhile.  On the one hand, he's a crazy rockstar living a rockstar life; on the other hand he's a quiet, introspective, and inquisitive guy.  Maggie Stiefvater does Cole very well; he is complex, but you never feel like he's bipolar.  He's just very multi-faceted.

The narration and the characters kept me interested in Forever through to the end, but I did feel like I had a bit of a rough start at the beginning of the book.  I felt like there was no plot, no development of conflict, throughout the first third of the book or so.  You know how books always have a build-up toward a conflict, then resolution?  At the risk of a bad pun, I thought it took forever to get to the plot point of Forever.  Never fear!  Be reassured: we definitely do get to a point eventually.  And perhaps I missed a hint or two earlier in the book; I was listening to this while driving.  I do not regret sticking to the book at all, and do plan to read Sinner before I leave the world of Mercy Falls.

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Posted by Tynga at 01:00

 Audio, Library, Maggie Stiefvater, Paranormal Romance, Review, werewolves, Wolves of Mercy Falls, young adult  Leave your mark