REVIEW : Eight Grave After Dark (Charley Davidson, #8) By Darynda Jones

Genre:

Paranormal Romance/ Urban Fantasy

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Synopsis On Goodreads:

With twelve hellhounds after her, pregnant Charley Davidson takes refuge at the only place she thinks they can’t get to her: the grounds of an abandoned convent. But after months of being cooped up there, Charley is ready to pop. Both metaphorically and literally since she is now roughly the size of a beached whale. Fortunately, a new case has captured her attention, one that involves a murder on the very grounds the team has taken shelter upon. A decades-old murder of the newly-vowed nun she keeps seeing in the shadows is almost enough to pull her out of her doldrums.

Charley’s been forbidden to step foot off the sacred grounds. While the angry hellhounds can’t traverse the consecrated soil, they can lurk just beyond its borders. They have the entire team on edge, especially Reyes. And if Charley didn’t know better, she would swear Reyes is getting sick. He grows hotter with every moment that passes, his heat scorching across her skin every time he’s near, but naturally he swears he’s fine.

While the team searches for clues on the Twelve, Charley just wants answers and is powerless to get them. But the mass of friends they’ve accrued helps. They convince her even more that everyone in her recent life has somehow been drawn to her, as though they were a part of a bigger picture all along. But the good feelings don’t last for long because Charley is about to get the surprise of her crazy, mixed-up, supernatural life….

RATING: 3/5 STARS

*** REVIEW ***

My expectations before reading the newest installment in Charley Davidson series were:

a) Epic battle between Good vs. Evil

b) Charley, Reyes and the rest of the gang on the winning side

c) Arrival of Beep

Now, after I've read the book, I must admit that even though I did like the story despite some "issues", I also can understand the more critical/negative reviews and even side with some of the issues the other fans of this series pointed out and which I'll list now in short in my review too.

But before the negative stuff, I have to say that these characters are still dear to my heart. There were some parts of the story that I loved and I'm definitely going to continue with the series. It's just that I don't think that the story is on the same level yet as my favorite series of this genre (Fever series by K. M. Moning, Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews, Guild Hunter series by Nalini Singh.)

The reasons for 3 stars rating (NO SPOILERS):

~ The main reason for my 3 stars rating is the ending where the epic battle or rather epic failure of the battle between the good guys vs. the bad guys took place. Why failure? Well, it had all the elements to be epic, but in my opinion it was poorly developed and concluded. No offense, but it was rushed and kind of sloppy. How come the best and the most expected part of the story happened in less than 20 pages? And what about the poor portrayal of the new, important characters who instead of scary, bad-ass and ruthless turned out weak and boring? You all know whom I mean.

~ Charley's constant reckless and naive behavior. When are we finally see some character growth ???

~ Confusing theory about Charley's origin. This constant re-adjusting of her origin theory is only confusing me more and more and resulting in loopholes. First she is this, then she is that and now she is smth else etc.

~ Charley & Reyes being secretive with each other even now. Trust issues, trust issues everywhere.

All in all, I liked the book, but I didn't love it. I'm sure the majority of the Charley fandom will love it though. Considering all the amazing books I've read so far, this is a 3 stars read for me.

xoxo,

Purple