Charley and ReyesI love these books but I want Charley and Reyes to really be together. Please make it happen, Ms Jones?!
Full review to come at Fiction Vixen Book Reviews
Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet picks up about two months after the last book. Charley was tortured by Reyes’ father and now suffers from a serious case of PTSD. She has not left her house and spends all her time buying stuff from the home shopping network while sitting on her couch with her dead Aunt Lillian. She is pretty much afraid of everything and angry at everyone. She has not gotten over the fact that her father had her arrested while she in the hospital recovering from her torture session. Her father claims it was for her own protection; Charley doesn’t care and only sees it as a betrayal.
Cookie finally decides she has to kick Charley into shape by cancelling all her credit cards and forcing her to look for a job. They have bills to pay. Charley takes Cookie’s advice and with great effort leaves her apartment. On her way out she runs into a client. The client has been subtly harassed her whole life and nobody believes her. Charley believes her and will find out what is going on.
In order to pay some bills Charley seeks out Reyes to make him pay up for finding his father thus proving him innocent of killing said father and getting him released from prison. She comes up with a ridiculous number of $1M to charge Reyes. She summons Angel to tell her where Reyes is and is surprised to find him cage fighting. When she arrives at the cage fighting she finds out that he is really fighting demons in order to protect her. The demons are the couple that are leftover from when he was being kept by them. He needs to get rid of those final few so that Charley can be safe.
Like most Charley books this one focuses on her trying to solve her individual mystery while trying not to destroy the world in whatever way she can. I liked her new relationship with her sister Gemma. Charley needed someone else after the betrayal from her father. Gemma is someone Charley needed because not only is she family but she is a therapist too. With Charley’s new issues she needs serious tlc. Cookie is fantastic, as always. Garrett is back and he has a new story to him. When he died in the previous book not only did he see Charley but he was also summoned to meet Reyes father, Satan. Apparently, Satan told him the story of Reyes and now Garrett is back with a new outlook on life. Angel, Rocket, Taft, Uncle Bob, Donovan and several other secondary characters also play a role in this one.
The biggest draw to this series is obviously Reyes and Charley. Against all odds the two continue to be drawn to each other. They are able to have sex in corporeal form for the first time. Of course, immediately after it happens they are on the outs again. It is very clear that they are it for each other so I wonder how long Ms. Jones will make us wait for them to be a couple. Trust me when I say that I don’t think it will take anything away from the series. One question that was stuck in my head and really bugged me is that I wonder if Reyes was sleeping with his stalker or if he was just staying at her house. Right before him and Charley have sex he says that it has been a long, long time so maybe that means he was just staying there?
As he usually does Reyes saves Charley several times and stalks her for most of the book. We see several moments of vulnerability from him when he sees Charley with another man. I wanted to smack Charley for those times even if it was just a kiss. I really just wanted to yell at this couple to shit or get off the pot.
My biggest complaint with every book I read now is that there seem to be more questions than answers. Fourth Grave was the same way. What in the world is Reyes now? What powers does Charley really have? Why was Reyes really sent? What is this key and lock thing? Charley could be betrayed by the one she loves the most and lots of people die, is that Reyes? Sometimes I just want a HEA and the book to end where it ends. I know this is a UF series so it won’t ever do that but I want my couples to be couples. I hate having to guess if someone will show up and steal the spotlight in the next book.
Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet was still a great book. This series is one of my favorites for the snappy writing and quirky dialogue. Charley is a nut and Reyes is a badass alphahole. I just wish they would settle together and do the whole save the world gig as a couple. I am starting to get whiplash with their hot and cold relationship. That doesn’t mean I won’t glom up the next book when it immediately comes out. Final grade- B+
Favorite Quote:
“There is a fine line between love and hate, or haven’t you heard? Sometimes it’s hard to decipher exactly which emotion is strongest.”
I raised my chin. “I don’t love you either.”
He lowered his head and watched me from underneath his dark lashes. “Are you certain? Because the emotion pouring out of you every time I’m near you is certainly not disinterest.”
“That doesn’t mean it’s love.”
“It could be, I promise you. Take off that sweater and give me ten minutes, and you’ll believe beyond a shadow of a doubt you’re in love.”