Early Review: The Dirt on Ninth Grave by Darynda Jones

The Dirt on Ninth Grave

Author:Darynda Jones

Release Date: January 12, 2016

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Charley Davidson Book #9

ISBN:  1250074487

ISBN13:  9781250074485

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Review Copy Source: Publisher

In a small village in New York lives Jane Doe, a girl with no memory of who she is or where she came from. So when she is working at a diner and slowly begins to realize she can see dead people, she's more than a little taken aback. Stranger still are the people entering her life. They seem to know things about her. Things they hide with lies and half-truths. Soon, she senses something far darker. A force that wants to cause her harm, she is sure of it. Her saving grace comes in the form of a new friend she feels she can confide in and the fry cook, a devastatingly handsome man whose smile is breathtaking and touch is scalding. He stays close, and she almost feels safe with him around.

But no one can outrun their past, and the more lies that swirl around her—even from her new and trusted friends—the more disoriented she becomes, until she is confronted by a man who claims to have been sent to kill her. Sent by the darkest force in the universe. A force that absolutely will not stop until she is dead. Thankfully, she has a Rottweiler. But that doesn't help in her quest to find her identity and recover what she's lost. That will take all her courage and a touch of the power she feels flowing like electricity through her veins. She almost feels sorry for him. The devil in blue jeans. The disarming fry cook who lies with every breath he takes. She will get to the bottom of what he knows if it kills her. Or him. Either way.

We watched Charley's mind break at the end of EIGHTH GRAVE AFTER DARK. In THE DIRT ON NINTH GRAVE we got to watch Charley put herself back together.

Charley continuously proves to us that she is a strong woman and THE DIRT ON NINTH GRAVE is no different. I could never begin to imagine what it would be like to not know who you are. With Charley she has the added struggle of her gifts freaking her out. She handles everything pretty well in my opinion.

Even with her memories missing you could see the old Charley peeking through with almost everything she said and did and I absolutely loved that everyone who loved Charley was by her side the whole time. It really reiterates the fact that no matter what happens, they love her and will be there for her like she is always there for them.

Let's talk romance. Even with her memories of their love gone the spark that is Charley and Reyes is as strong as ever. It was fun getting to watch them sorta start over and re-discover each other. It was also kinda funny watching Charley's reactions to other woman throwing themselves at Reyes.

Charley comes a long way in THE DIRT ON NINTH GRAVE, but she's still a bit broken and I don't think what is broken will be healed until the danger is gone and her daughter is able to come home. THE DIRT ON NINTH GRAVE was sort of a refresh in my mind and I really enjoyed all the twists that were thrown in. The Charley Davidson series continues to surprise me and I don't see there ever being a time where I won't want to get my hands on the next installment as soon as Jones is done writing it. As always, I look forward to more.

I gave it 5/5 stars

* This book was provided free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.