Thursday, April 18, 2013

Review: Grave Secret by Charlaine Harris

Grave Secret (Harper Connelly, #4)
Grave Secret (Harper Connelly #4)
by Charlaine Harris


Lightning-struck sleuth Harper Connelly and her stepbrother Tolliver take a break from looking for the dead to visit the two little girls they both think of as sisters. But, as always happens when they travel to Texas, memories of their horrible childhood resurface.

To make matters worse, Tolliver learns from his older brother that their father is out of jail and trying to reestablish contact with other family members. Tolliver wants no part of the man- but he may not have a choice in the matter.

Soon, family secrets ensnare them both, as Harper finally discovers what happened to her missing sister, Cameron, so many years before.

And what she finds out will change her world forever.


Berkley

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My Review


I wasn't expecting to enjoy this serias as much as I did. I happened upon the first volume and decided to give it a try after SO many Sookie books. I have always been attracted to the paranormal, i.e., mediums, ghosts, the whole thing. I don't necessarily BELIEVE in the people that say they have the power to talk/see/help the dead, but I DO like to read about it and ponder over the possibility.

I quickly warmed up to Harper and to Harris' no-nonsense narration. She's very to-the-point (no wonder how short her books are), and that is always refreshing to me. Sometimes too much description takes over the real plot and makes the reader lose some of the focus that should be on the story, not the surroundings. Not that Harris doesn't manage to make us aware of the places where the story takes place, she does, but she ALSO makes it all much more easy to digest. The same goes for secondary characters' descriptions. I like it very much, but some may not.

Like I said, Harper was a delight. Even when people kept pestering her to do her corpse-searching job right, and then acting in disbelief about the 'legitimacy' of her very accurate results, she would always find the best way to deal with the complainer. In this last book Harper FINALLY had the chance to prove she is capable of taking care of herself, and I was happy to see it happening, as she always came off quite dependant upon her brother-turned-lover, not to mention almost weak. And not just physically weak, but mentally as well, sometimes.

The book managed to close every mystery that was still open (what happened to Harper's sister, what was the deal with her and Tolliver's other siblings, etc) AND still surprised us some things we didn't quite see coming (at least not in MY case. I could not have been more surprised. LOL). I was also suprised with the romance between them, but I quickly got over it.

The series isn't perfect, sure, but there is SOMEthing about it.... I enjoyed it so much that after I was done with the first book, I instantly grabbed the second, and then so on. I ignored my immense TBR list and found time to read the four books, one right after the other, as quickly as possible. And if THAT doesn't tell you something, then I don't know what else to say. ;)

5 comments:

  1. "always find the beast way to deal with the complainer." what's the beast way? or do you mean best?......So brother-turned-lover huh sounds weird, highly curious how this came about.

    The ignoring of the TBR list because of getting sidetracked by a new series. we've all been there :)

    I've read 2 Stackhouse books. were there similarities between these series?

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    1. YES, she became a beast! LOL. I have GOT to get another keyboard (always blame the keyboard).
      There is a similar style, of fluidity and of 'telling things as they appear', but this one is far more believable than the Sookie series. ;P

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    2. you blame the keyboard too!! :D I mean, oh we have the same crappy keyboard.

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  2. Harper seems like great character, and I like the sound of the no-nonsense narration.
    Brandi @ Blkosiner’s Book Blog

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  3. Oh I loved this series. It was my first one with this sort of power and I thought it was fascinating. I really liked their relationship too. Took me a couple beats to adjust to it but after that it so worked for me. Man you have me wanting to go back and re-read these now. LOL It's been 3 or so years since I read them.

    Great review!!

    ~Anna
    herding cats & burning soup

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I would love to read what you have to say. :)