Audiobook Review – The Dirt on the Ninth Grave (Charley Davidson, Book 9) by Darynda Jones, Narrated by Lorelei King (5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Length: 10 hours and 11 minutes (385 pages)
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Release Date: January 12, 2016
ASIN: B0189QXB0M
Stand Alone or Series: 9th book in the Charley Davidson series
Source: Audiobook from Audible.com
Rating: 5/5 stars

“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.”

This is the ninth book in the Charley Davidson series and it was a very good book in this series. I continue to enjoy this series a lot; it is humorous and highly entertaining. Right now there are eleven books in this series. There are spoilers ahead for those who haven’t read previous books.

I listened to this on audiobook and King does an awesome job narrating this series. I would highly recommend listening to this on audiobook if you enjoy audiobooks.

Janie (formerly Charley) is working at the Firelight diner as a server. She has no memory of the time before she woke up in that alley. However, she does notice some strange things…like how she can see ghosts and stop time. Then there is her fellow waitress Cookie, who was instantly an awesome friend to Janie….and those three brooding handsome men who stop by for meals three times a day.

It was fun and heart-breaking to see Janie try to rebuild her life from scratch. I love watching her unravel the mysteries surrounding her. As with previous books there is a mystery to be solved in this book, as well as the larger story-arc that continues. Towards the end of the book we learn some truly fascinating things about gods and demons.

This book really drives home how important Charley’s friends, and their support, are to her. They have truly gone out of their way to protect and nurture Charley/Janie while she works through her issues. Getting to watch Janie and Reyes fall in love all over again was also highly entertaining.

I loved where the story ended and can’t wait to find out what happens next. My only complaint about this series is the amount of time spent describing Reyes’ body over and over and over again. I really know what he looks like by now and that he’s supposed to be really hot…enough of that…no more please.

Overall a spectacular addition to the Charley Davidson series. I was a bit nervous about the whole “lost my memory” storyline, but Jones made it work beautifully for this series. I highly recommend this urban fantasy series to those who enjoy light-hearted urban fantasy.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Audiobook Reading Challenge
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– Paranormal Reading Challenge