The Trouble with Twelfth Grave (Charley Davidson, #12)

by Darynda Jones

[chymerra]

So I did a very silly thing with this series. I read First Grave on the Right and then jumped right to The Trouble with Twelfth Grave. I skipped every single book between. So, yeah, I was a teeny-weeny bit confused while reading The Trouble with Twelfth Grave. I didn’t let my confusion get in the way of reading the book. It was the new relationships/new people who threw me off.

The Trouble with Twelfth Grave starts with Charley unloading her problems on a ghost. Long story short, she sent Reyes into a hell dimension. Reyes was supposed to save some innocent people who were trapped inside. Only thing….she accidentally trapped him inside the god glass pendant. He was trapped with an evil priest, a demon assassin and a malevolent deity. Reyes changed when trapped in that dimension. He reverted back to his deity form. And that deity form hates human. He also hates Charley because Charley, when in her deity form, had trapped him in that hell dimension. So, yeah, it made things a bit awkward.

Charley has her hands full. She is trying to convince everyone that Reyes will remember her….in time. She is also hiding her daughter from the Vatican, who has taken an interest in her. Her best friend’s teenage daughter has decided to open a PI venture. She is also trying to keep a friend out of jail by covering up the murder of a hot-headed criminal. On top of that, she also gets a case when someone or something is attacking and killing humans who are sensitive to the paranormal world. It’s a lot on her plate and will it implode on her?

Charley was still her snarky self in The Trouble with Twelfth Grave, which was awesome. Charley is that one girl that you can count on to help you out. When Peri told her what happened, Charley was there with a plan to help her. That plan cracked me up and I did sing The Mission Impossible theme song in my head the entire time they were doing it. I could see myself being friends with Charley, she was that interesting to be around.

I do wish Reyes was more in this book. I loved reading the sexual tension between Charley and him. Also, seeing him fight that evil part of himself was very interesting. I did think that the author included a very interesting plot twist towards the end of the book with Reyes. Makes me think about what could be happening in book 13.

The sexual tension between Charley and Reyes could be cut with a knife. He did what he did in book 1 and would show up and molest her. There was that one sex scene where Charley burned her clothes off. Talk about hot!!

The end of the book was pretty busy. All the storylines except the one with Beep and the one with the PI venture were ended very nicely. I was not expecting the twist that came with Reyes at the end. I also was most definitely expecting what happened at the end of the book. That bit of a cliffhanger definitely makes me want to read book 13.

The Trouble with Twelfth Grave was a very good book. I enjoyed reading it. The plot and characters were fleshed out. Unfortunately, you do need to read the earlier 11 books before reading this one. It is not a stand-alone book.

Will I reread: Yes (after I have read the earlier books)

Will I recommend to family and friends: Yes

Age range: Adult

Why: Sex, violence, language

I would like to thank Darynda Jones, St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review The Trouble with Twelfth Grave.

All opinions stated in this review of The Trouble with Twelfth Grave are mine

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**