This one features another long-time fan-favorite, the Charley Davidson series by Darynda Jones.
If you haven’t tried this series yet, you’re missing out. It leans heavily into the Paranormal Romance genre, but with enough character/magic/worldbuilding to satisfy that Urban Fantasy itch. It’s hilarious and serious, quirky and steamy, and I love how well the overarching series plot evolves.
In First Grave on the Right, we meet Charley, who is the Grim Reaper, which means she is a portal that shines like a beacon for the dead. They come to her, they “cross through her,” and she sees the memories of their past life, but all that is just the stage she’s standing on. It’s not even the good part.
Charley is tough and kick-butt, a little goofy, and a pure force of chaos. She’s besties with Cookie, her work pal, who is the Lula to her Stephanie Plum. They make a fantastic and hilarious duo. Charley runs a detective agency. The menfolk in her family are cops, and Darynda does an amazing job weaving that into the series-long storyline in unique ways.
For her entire life, Charley has been dreaming of a very specific hottie. She’s not sure if he’s an actual person or if her mind is playing tricks on her. When she hears the name Reyes Farrow in the real world, she figures out he does, indeed, exist, which puts her firmly on a mission to find him. What unfolds in each and every book is always something new that I never expected. These books are honestly hard to sum up in simple sentences.
There’s family drama, relationship drama, bad guy drama, and a kind of star-crossed lovers drama, plus Charley’s always in danger of one sort or another. There are ghosts and magic and hellhounds, plus Reyes, who is a special kind of supernatural being all by himself. Throw in some biker gangs, serial killers, and criminal best-friends for a well-rounded series that somehow hits every emotional lever you’ve got, and that’s the best summary I can provide without spoiling the show. I don’t think I’ve ever read a storyline quite this unique with characters I love this much. This series is in my top three series ever read. It’s COMPLETE (huge bonus points there) and ties off so well at the end. Highly recommend.
(I would be remiss if I didn’t say the sexy boyfriend thing is steamy and very present in pretty much every single book, in case you’re specifically looking for “not that.” Otherwise, enjoy!)
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