There are so many winding turns when reading a book in this series that they should come with a Soap Opera cautionary sticker on the cover. The drama as well as the sarcastic narrator is a lot to handle at once. And the reality that Charley and Reyes seem to tolerate giving up their child seemed too lacking.
Reyes’ character is actually withdrawing more and more from the books with each new release. He seems to be there for the much lauded and incredibly done-with eye candy role with brooding, pouting looks and quicksilver, panty-melting grins? So over that since book one. I want to know his motivations, why he’s so into Charley, his feelings towards giving up his baby, descriptions of being raised and living in a hell dimension. I also want to understand more about these Gods’ creation: how they came to be, how they can create worlds, their purpose, etc. I feel like there is so much chatter and filler in these books and no meat.

And then Charley still randomly tells people (strangers) about her God status, but then never told the people she was closest to in her actual life about her existence. I just don’t understand her continued lack of maturity and growth.

The thing is: I don’t know why I continue to read this series. It’s probably because I have this emptiness inside of me due to wanting to know how this nonsense ends. I also feel like Darynda Jones is going to make a whole other series for Baby Beep out of The Adventures of Charley.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Rated 4.5 Stars

The Curse Of Tenth Grave had me glued to the pages from the very beginning and didn't let me go until the end, in fact it still has a hold on me. I devoured this book in one sitting. So many things happened in this book that I'm practically giddy to see where the story goes next. I highly recommend this book and series to all paranormal and urban fantasy lovers.

Charley Davidson and her hubby, Reyes, are having problems. Ever since Charley's recovery from her amnesia, she feels Reyes has been keeping her at a distance. They are both keeping secrets from one another, but neither can reveal them at the moment. To do so could mean putting her baby, Beep's, life at risk.

In the meantime, Charley has a lot going on. She has to deal with two sets of stalkers on her tail, trying to solve a missing/potentially dead girl's case, find out who's trying to kill a homeless girl, all while trying to find another escaped god who is after Beep. Another issue is that Charley has yet to tell Reyes who or what he really is. She just hopes when the time comes, he will not turn into the big bad.

****SPOILERS****
I give author Darynda Jones's THE CURSE OF TENTH GRAVE a 3.5 star rating. There is some character-building in THE CURSE OF TENTH GRAVE, which kind of saves the book for me, but it doesn't happen until almost the very end. Honestly, I found this addition to the series to be a little slow and kind of all over the place. It's kind of to-be-expected due to Charley and her ADHD ways, but I had a hard time getting through the first half of the story. That ending though! I know we kind of see it coming, but I was not prepared for how easily Reyes took things and how it all turned out. And what we learn about Charley's uncle. I can only hope she can change that for the better. Although THE CURSE OF TENTH GRAVE is not my favorite in the series, it does have it's purpose in furthering the storyline. I look forward to reading the next installment, ELEVENTH GRAVE IN MOONLIGHT.

It’s always so good to be back with our Charley. Even after ten books, she’s still such a breath of fresh air and she always makes us laugh. There’s been a lot of heartbreak in her life lately, but she always manages to stay upbeat and spread sarcasm wherever she turns.

reading through this series in order has been fun. I'm loving Charley and her antics and sarcasm.

The author still does too much recapping for those that have read earlier books...so if you haven't started yet you could possibly jump in here, but you won't get the full affect of some of the actions and decisions.

Yet another amazing story to add to the series. I just love the characters and the world that has been created. The character development and relationship buildings have been great throughout. This is a 'must read' for sure!!!

I’m binge reading this books and I’m in love with this series. It’s wonderful.
You must read it if you love urban fantasy and humorous books
Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for this ARC

Love the Charley Daniels series; Jones continues to write engaging plots and great characters. I always look forward to the next installment!

This was such a great read. Charley is still solving cases and the distance between Charley and Reyes is growing by the day. They are also keeping secrets from each other, but how long can the secrets they have stay hidden. Charley is also understanding and learning about her powers more and more. Her and Reyes past lives are entwined more than she could have imagined. Michael pays Charley more than one visit and warns her of the danger that can happen if she tries to stop what is suppose to happen to someone she loves. This story was full of suspense, mystery, surprises, steamy scenes and characters you will love and make you laugh. I'm really starting to enjoy Osh more and more. I can't wait to read the next book in this series.

Full disclaimer, I've basically read the last several books in this series back to back without coming up for air in between and I'm smitten. Fully smitten. I adore Charley and Reyes together and I'm a little concerned (for lack of a better word) about how these two keep thinking it's a good idea to KEEP SECRETS from one another. I mean, REALLY, you two. Even if one of you *might* be an evil god, that's no reason to get all secretive.

Okay, maybe I'm kidding just a little. There might have been minor cause for secret-keeping. Minor.

But the two of them really are better together, so let's minimize the secrets and play to your strengths. Which is getting frisky in unconventional places and thwarting bad guys. Okay?

That said, I'm digging this series. While I might hope for more open communication between our two favorite immortal beings, I know Charley's going to be Charley and try to figure things out on her own before opening up to her one true love.

We got some Beep time, some Osh time, some preternatural baddies popping up in weird places. All in all, I was satisfied. And now I'm a little scared of what's to come. Calm before the storm, people. CALM BEFORE THE STORM.

I'm going in.

When you think Charlie cannot do worse or better as a god, we get this book, and you think wrong. There are different threads being pulled in this story, three, to be precise. We have Reyes and Charlie at odds with each other, especially since Reyes had not touched her in days. Then Charlie discovered Reyes paying child support for a child in Texas. His???? Horrors of horrors!!! As she and Cookie were investigating this heartbreaker, Charlie got a case of a woman supposedly killed by her fiancée, who her family said is innocent. Charlie is also looking for her daughter, Beep, and Reyes won't tell her where she is.

Oh, lest I forget, a video of her performing exorcism on a girl in Africa surfaced, and she is now more notorious. Not famous. So, just another walk in the park for our Charlie, a god or goddess. Reyes is also now a god or was, but of light or darkness? Who knows. The cast of secondary characters are also alive and well, Ehn...dead.

I also have the pleasure of listening to Lorelei King doing Reyes and that was superb. The audio version of this book did better justice to the depth and nuisances of the story. Listening is believing. The lead in to the next story was also included. Just don't tell Charlie something is impossible. That is tempting fate. We shall see.

Gosh, is this becoming a Game of Thrones series??? LOL!!!! I think by this point I'm not really caring about the side mystery cases. They seem like they are there to drag the story out longer. I think its because the main story arc is becoming very intense and progressing quite fast. At least we're almost to the end.

Absolutely great.. The story moves along quickly and, as always, Charley is snarky, Cookie is funny, and Reyes is hotter than the flames in which he was born. The entire series is the best ever!

Charlie and Reyes adventures just keep going on and going on the story is still engaging and great the cover is bomb and I'm still binging onto book 11

This is the 10th book in this series and I am still loving the characters and the story line. This book does bring up a lot of questions that I hope will be answered soon. I wonder how long she can continue with this series

“The fact that there’s a Highway to Hell and only a Stairway to Heaven says a lot about anticipated traffic numbers. —”
― Darynda Jones, The Curse of Tenth Grave

“I tried to start a gang once.
It turned into a book club.
—MEME”
― Darynda Jones, The Curse of Tenth Grave

Had to dig deep for flaws

Spoilers

To prepare for the release of Summoned to Thirteenth Grave in January, I started re-listening to the Grave series audiobooks a couple of months ago (Lorelei King is AMAZING). The first time I read through the series, I went through them so fast back-to-back that they all blurred together, so it’s been nice getting them sorted out in my head during this second pass. For instance, one favorite moment that always stuck out in my memory is when Charley forces Osh to consume her soul so she can go around incognito. I used to think that was part of Twelve, but now I know it actually occurred here in Ten.

Here’s the gist of what else happened in Ten:

Central plot: Charley and the gang need to defeat the gods of Uzan without incurring the wrath of the angels, and move one step closer to bringing her daughter home.

Subplot 1: A video of Charley performing an exorcism has believers in the supernatural on her tail.

Subplot 2: Charley and her husband, Reyes, are keeping secrets from each other.

Subplot 3: Far too many children are dying at one particular kids’ home.

Subplot 4: An innocent young man is being framed for his girlfriend’s murder.

Subplot 5: Agent Carson’s coworker is being haunted.

All this and more is packed into a funny, fast-paced story. How Jones does it, I simply cannot fathom. I said something akin to this in my review for Twelve because I treated that as a review for the series as a whole (so I apologize if I’m being redundant), but it astounds me that she can interweave all of these plots and yet not confuse me—at least not plot-wise; mythology-wise she loses me a couple times, but in those instances I usually get the general idea and remain enveloped in the story.

All that plot, and it wasn’t even that long of a book. Every word is important and relevant—well, for the most part. The sex sequence with Reyes might be debatable; the bit with the champagne—while hot as hell—was pretty gratuitous. A good number of the sex scenes in the series are; I skip most of them because Reyes and Charley have so much scorching chemistry that I don’t need them; also, they’re written a bit too explicitly for my taste. Nothing really wrong with them, I just don’t need them.

My thoughts on the characters haven’t changed. Charley is 100% entertaining, and though her smartass comments and ADHD tangents can try my patience once in a while, she is the very life of this series. Reyes can be an ass—I wanted to smack him when he wouldn’t talk to Charley and more or less encouraged her to stay at Cookie’s; sure, she was keeping secrets too, but she was at least making an effort to bridge the gap that had formed between them—but I understand that’s his personality. His insecurities tend to manifest as assholery, and his fear manifests as anger. He makes up for that character flaw with complete and unconditional love for his family.

Ubie, Cookie, Amber, Quentin, Peri, and Garrett are their usual quirky, likable selves. And Osh. *dreamy sigh* I don’t know what it is about that boy, but somehow he’s my favorite. We see him for a lamentably short amount of time.

If I were forced to pick one thing that took me out of the story, it would be Reyes talking about wills and what-if arrangements. I understand why it was there, but it was a bit too real for such an outlandish story. Also, I get that having uber-intelligent and rich characters can be convenient, but 30 billion? I mean, come on. That amount of money is so unreal to me that he might as well have said 200 trillion-gazillion times infinity. I knew they were rich enough to make their lives a lot easier; I didn’t need a number.

Overall, I liked this book as much as I’ve liked the others—which is to say, I will be rereading them again and again and again and again…

I have been a huge fan of Darynda Jones since my bookclub read her first book, First Grave on the Right, a couple of years ago. I absolutely love the humor that she infuses into her books, particularly in the main character, Charley Davidson. Darynda's books, whether read or listened to, are always a fun ride into the paranormal and The Curse of the Tenth Grave is no exception.

After the last two books, it was almost a relief to return to the joyful, chaotic escapades of Charlie Davidson. These novels remind me of cozy mysteries, only with the paranormal touch of Charlie being the Grim Reaper and in love with the devil. In this one of Charlie's least favorite persecutors asks her to help his friend, while he prosecutes! Needless to say, Charlie and Cookie wander where they shouldn't, survive what they shouldn't, and save the vday.

Darynda Jones has become one of my favorite authors since I read the first book of Charley Davidson´s series.

Charley it´s a witty, badass P.I. who hook me in with her sassiness and banter with Sookie and Reyes, the ultimate stud. OMG, he´s just perfection in every way possible.
The Curse in tenth grave it´s a long way from the first grave on the right, all the characters has grown in its depth and Charley prove to be not only, sassiness, but a woman who would do evrything to save her loved ones.
Charley and Reyes forever.