[REVIEW] The Dirt on Ninth Grave – Darynda Jones

Darynda Jones
The Dirt on Ninth Grave (Charley Davidson, Book 9)
Hachette Little, Brown Piatkus (UK & AU: 12th January 2016); Macmillan St. Martin’s (US: 31st May 2016)
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WARNING: Chapter 9 includes finding the corpse of a murdered dog.

I preferred this series when Charley Davidson was just a reaper. But when the true nature of her heritage was revealed, as well as celestial names and everything else I’ve forgot…Charley became a bit too “special snowflake”. And Eighth Grave After Dark totally jumped the shark with the birth of her daughter, followed by Charley’s amnesia.

The Dirt on Ninth Grave picks up where the previous episode left off. Charley is now a Jane Doe, working as a waitress in Sleepy Hollow. While the book has been described as Charley – and readers – falling in love with Reyes all over again, Ninth just goes to show that their relationship’s not based on much substance. It’s incredibly superficial, and they can’t seem to have any conversation without going on about how attractive the other one is, and it’s too over-the-top and boring. Reyes always has come across as a stalker, and this book does nothing to change that.

Meanwhile, Garret Swopes has a genuine friendship with Charley – I ship THEM together. Reyes is too obvious, but Garret is real and has a lot more going for him than just good looks and sexual prowess.

The book is at its best when Charley investigates the mystery of her co-worker’s daughter. But this unfortunately takes up very few pages in comparison to the rest.

31st May 2016 Releases

Happy Release Day to:

Sharon Cameron
Rook
Scholastic (US: 31st May 2016)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Centuries after a shifting of the Earth’s poles, the Sunken City that was once Paris is in the grips of a revolution. All who oppose the new regime are put to the blade, except for those who disappear from their prison cells, a red-tipped rook feather left in their place. Is the mysterious Red Rook a saviour of the innocent or a criminal? Meanwhile, across the sea in the Commonwealth, Sophia Bellamy’s arranged marriage to the wealthy René Hasard is the last chance to save her family from ruin. But when the search for the Red Rook comes straight to her doorstep, Sophia discovers that her fiancé is not all he seems. Which is only fair, because neither is she. As the Red Rook grows bolder and the stakes grow higher, Sophia and René find themselves locked in a tantalizing game of cat and mouse.

Darynda Jones
The Dirt on Ninth Grave (Charley Davidson, Book 9)
Macmillan St. Martin’s (US: 31st May 2016)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Charley Davidson is living in New York City as Jane Doe, a girl with no memory of who she is or where she came from. So when she begins to realize she can see dead people, she’s more than a bit taken aback. Strangers who enter the diner where she works seem to know things about her… Then she is confronted by a man who claims to have been sent to kill her. Sent by the darkest force in the universe. An enemy that will not stop until she is dead. Thankfully, she has a Rottweiler. And the diner’s devastatingly handsome fry cook, who vows to protect her even though he seems to be lying with every breath he takes. But in the face of such grave danger, who can Jane/Charley/whoever-she-is trust? She will find the truth even if it kills her…or the fry cook. Either way…

Kathleen Peacock
Willowgrove (Hemlock, Book 3)
HarperCollins Katherine Tegen (US & CA: 31st May 2016)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Ever since Mac’s best friend, Amy, was murdered, Hemlock has been a dangerous place. But now that Mac, her boyfriend, Kyle, and Amy’s ex, Jason, instigated a mass breakout from Thornhill, a werewolf “rehabilitation” camp, the danger has only grown. Fear of the infection spreading is now at an all-time high and anyone with a scar is suspected of being a wolf. What makes Mac even more afraid, though, are the dark experiments that the warden of Thornhill was performing on wolves in a secret asylum called Willowgrove. Uncovering the truth about what happened may be the only way for Mac to save everyone she loves and end her nightmares for good.

Vicki Pettersson
Swerve
Simon & Schuster Pocket (US & CA: 31st May 2016)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
When Kristine Rush’s fiancé is abducted from a desolate rest stop en route from Las Vegas to Lake Arrowhead, California, she is forced to choose: return home unharmed or plunge forward into the searing Mojave desert to find him…where a murderer lies in wait. Speeding against the clock, and uncertain if danger lies ahead or behind, Kristine blazes an epic path through the gaudy flash of roadside casinos, abandoned highway stops, and a landscape rife with unimaginable horrors. Desperate to save her doomed husband-to-be, she must summon long forgotten resources to go head-to-head against an unpredictable killer. And she’d better hurry. Because she only has twenty-four hours…to make one hell of a trip.

May 2016 Releases

Done with April 2016 Releases? Here are May 2016 Releases. For future releases, check Reading Wishlist.

12th January 2016 Releases

Happy Release Day to:

Jennifer Bosworth
The Killing Jar
Macmillan Farrar, Straus and Giroux (US: 12th January 2016)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Seventeen-year-old Kenna Marsden has a secret. She’s haunted by a violent tragedy she can’t explain. Kenna’s past has kept people – even her own mother – at a distance for years. Just when she finds a friend who loves her and life begins to improve, she’s plunged into a new nightmare: her mom and twin sister are attacked, and the dark powers Kenna has struggled to suppress awaken with a vengeance. On the heels of the assault, Kenna is exiled to a nearby commune, known as Eclipse, to live with a relative she never knew she had. There, she discovers an extraordinary new way of life as she learns who she really is, and the wonders she’s capable of. For the first time, she starts to feel like she belongs somewhere; that her terrible secret makes her beautiful and strong, not dangerous. But the longer she stays at Eclipse, the more she senses there is something menacing lurking underneath its idyllic veneer. And she begins to suspect that her new family may have sinister plans for her…

Amy Rose Capetta
Unmade (Entangled, Book 2)
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (US: 12th January 2016)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Cadence is in a race against time and space to save her family and friends from the Unmakers, who are tracking the last vestiges of humanity across the galaxy. In the final battle, the universe spins out of control…and Cade alone must face the music.

Darynda Jones
The Dirt on Ninth Grave (Charley Davidson, Book 9)
Macmillan St. Martin’s (US: 12th January 2016); Hachette Little, Brown Piatkus (UK & AU: 12th January 2016)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
In a small village in New York Charley Davidson is living as 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.

Jennifer Rush
Reborn (Altered, Book 3)
Hachette Little, Brown (US: 12th January 2016)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
The Branch is in shambles, but Anna, Sam, Cas, and Nick can’t rest easy. Remnants of the organization lurk unseen and the flashbacks to their old lives are only getting stronger – especially Nick’s. Following scattered memories and clues from his Branch file, Nick sets off alone in search of answers – and the girl who haunts his dreams. But the sleepy town where she lives in full of secrets, and Nick soon learns that uncovering their shared past may have deadly consequences.

January 2016 Releases

Done with December 2015 Releases? Here are January 2016 Releases. For future releases, check Reading Wishlist.

5 New Covers (Beckett, Cline, Harrison, Jones, Meyer)

7 New Covers (Bickle et al, Jones, Schmidt, Shepherd, Umminger, Vincent, Walker)

Now Available for US Pre-Order

Tara Altebrando: THE LEAVING: 7th June 2016: Buy (US)
Lenore Appelhans, Lydia Kang, R. C. Lewis, Demitria Lunetta, Mindy McGinnis, Phoebe North, Kate Karyus Quinn, Beth Revis et al: AMONG THE SHADOWS: 14th September 2015: Buy (US)
Kelley Armstrong: CITY OF THE LOST: 10th May 2016: Buy (US)
Jennifer Lynn Barnes: THE LONG GAME: 7th June 2016: Buy (US)
Kady Cross: SISTERS OF BLOOD AND SPIRIT (paperback): 29th March 2016: Buy (US)
Kady Cross: SISTERS OF SALT AND IRON: 29th March 2016: Buy (US)
Darynda Jones: THE DIRT ON NINTH GRAVE (mass market paperback): 31st May 2016: Buy (US)
Jenny Martin: MARKED: 17th May 2016: Buy (US)
Katie McGarry: WALK THE EDGE: 29th March 2016: Buy (US)
Amanda Panitch: DAMAGE DONE (paperback): 17th May 2016: Buy (US)
Veronica Roth: FOUR (paperback): 19th January 2016: Buy (US)
Madeleine Roux: THE WARDEN: 2nd February 2016: Buy (US)
Holly Schindler: SPARK: 17th May 2016: Buy (US)
Amanda Sun: HEIR TO THE SKY: 26th April 2016: Buy (US)
Paul Tremblay: A HEAD FULL OF GHOSTS (paperback): 10th May 2016: Buy (US)
Alison Umminger: MY FAVORITE MANSON GIRL: 7th June 2016: Buy (US)

6 New Covers (Jones, Leicht & Neal, Littlefield, Sheehan)

Now Available for US Pre-Order

S. A. Bodeen: THE DETOUR: 6th October 2015: Buy (US)
Stephanie Diaz: EVOLUTION: 8th September 2015: Buy (US)
Janet Edwards: EARTH FLIGHT: 8th September 2015: Buy (US)
Faith Hunter: THE ROGUE MAGE RPG GAME MASTER’S GUIDE: 1st December 2014: Buy (US)
Emiko Jean: WE’LL NEVER BE APART: 6th October 2015: Buy (US)
Darynda Jones: EIGHTH GRAVE AFTER DARK (paperback): 6th October 2015: Buy (US)
Darynda Jones: THE DIRT ON NINTH GRAVE: 13th October 2015: Buy (US)
Amelia Kahaney: THE INVISIBLE (paperback): 8th September 2015: Buy (US)
Sophie Littlefield: THE END OF ORDINARY TIME: 16th June 2015: Buy (US)
Marie Lu: THE ROSE SOCIETY: 6th October 2015: Buy (US)
Mindy McGinnis: IN A HANDFUL OF DUST (paperback): 8th September 2015: Buy (US)