Wow, Charley Davidson's voice is one of THE best voices I've ever had the pleasure of reading!
I wasn't really sure what to expect with this book, but it was the gorgeous cover that convinced me to give it a try (and buy it). Once again, I am in debt to pretty covers.
Edit: I admit I no longer find this cover pretty. I've grown tired of faces on covers. Still, I'm thankful to my past tastes in book covers.
With Charley Davidson, duh!
Charley is the main character of the story and the one who tells it. Her narration is just so awesome! She is a Grim Reaper, and the least Grim person I've ever had the pleasure of reading of. In fact, how do the departed know to find her? She glows. Yes, folks - glows. Like looking into the sun, or a newborn galaxy or something (don't be jealous, Edward, it's okay to just sparkle.) She is sarcastic, hilarious, has a big case of ADHD (and I love every second of it), easily distracted, kind of silly and says so many quotable sentences she's to die for. Err, just don't take that literally...
"Maybe if I hovered over the pot, it would develop an inferiority complex and brew faster just to prove it could."
Charley also has so many near-death experiences she should be glad she is, in some ways, a messenger of death, or she wouldn't be alive now. And that would create quite a few problems, as she is the only grim reaper in existence. How exactly is she supposed to cross-over if she's not there to cross her over??? Wait. What happens when she dies?
Then there is the rest of the cast, all absolutely fantastic; uncle Bob (Or Ubie, if you ask Charley), Swoops (sexy), Reyes (sex on a stick!!), Angel, Cookie, the Lawyers and more! Actually, this book probably has one of the biggest character set I've ever read of, but somehow Jones manages to include them all without getting us confused for a moment. That takes talent, folks!
Maybe I needed sensitivity training. I once signed up for an anger management class, but the instructor pissed me off.
Reyes is the strongest love interest in the book, what with them having sex and all... in dreams. Yeah, don't expect me to explain that one. Let's just say they have a unique relationship. I think Reyes is great. We didn't get to see him much, but he's pretty sexy, hot, and sounds like a really good person, despite his past. But, c'mon, with a father like that, he was bound to have some mishaps, until he finally saw the light (literally and figuratively).
As for the romance itself... I enjoyed it! Sometimes, the fact Charley says stuff like "she doesn't know what she'll do if he wasn't in this world" when she doesn't even really know him bugged me, and at others I could ignore that. It was one of the better handled stories with a kind of 'insta-love' feel for it, because the romance didn't take stage center much.
Plus, the story was super hot, without being that explicit.
My fore-parts, as you so eloquently put it, have names." I pointed to my right breast. "This is Danger." Then my left. "And this is Will Robinson. I would appreciate it if you addressed them accordingly.”
I thought the plot was great; we had many angles and they all mixed together well and flowed perfectly. The whole pace of the book is very well done; it's not too quick but there are really no dull moments. Also, the world-building doesn't overshadow the plot, slow the story or takes from it, as sometimes it does. It's perfectly done!The story is fun, funny and light, though you can detect many dark undertones beneath it. Some parts of it, especially Charley's views on herself, are surprising and really sad. The whole situation with her stepmother is rather heartbreaking, and I hope that sometime along the series those two can patch up things a little.
Also, I love the title of the book, and the general theme for the series titles. It makes it so easy to know the books' order, and from a person who often gets frustrated with that at bookstores (being unable to tell which book comes first in a series), I think that is just fantastic!
Originally published on my blog.