A delicious level of snark, humour and creativity - I’m so sorry this day on my TBR pile for so long, as it was fabulous to read once I started. Characters felt like I’d known them for ages, and I’m already looking forward to book 2. More please!

I received a free ARC copy of this via NetGalley and the publishers in return for an unbiased review. Apologies for the delay!

First of all a big thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publishers for sending me a copy of this to read and review.

This was.. not at all what I was expecting. It is an interesting plot and storyline but the relationships didn’t make sense to me. The story seemed to drag on for a while but it was a quick and easy read read. Anything with vamps and I’m your girl.

Lavington Windsor (Toni) has been raising the dead since she was a little girl. It is second nature to her. She is also a real estate agent and has been to help find an estate to a new vampires in town. She finds the vampire very sexy and they start a relationship. Someone wants the vampires to go away and Lavington gets targeted by the group as well.

Toni's attracted to Oscar but I like her relationship with Peter more. He seems much more attentive to her and her needs. Oscar is very one dimensional character but his superior Benedict Akil is more interesting to me.

It was a fun read even though it was rather violent. Lots of heads flying off. LOL.

Utterly enjoyable antics with a slice of supernatural powers atop. Looking forward to more from Alice James

Move over Anita Blake, there's a new necromancer in town! Real estate agent by day, necromancer by night. I love snarky, fun MC so I thought this one would be a winner, but unfortunately, it ended up not being for me. I've tried it a couple of times and just can't get into the characters. I'm waving the white flag.

Not for me but I wanted to give it a try. Way too campy for me to enjoy but I know people love light hearted supernatural horror, just wasnt for me

This is very far from my regular reads. It sounded intriguing and I was excited to try it. It was different for me but it was enjoyable enough. I would recommend to others who like more supernatural stuff. It’s a decent book just not really my type.

Agatha Raisin meets Sookie Stackhouse you say? Sign me up for that.

Unfortunately, the characters were meh, the mystery was meh, the insta-love romance was meh.

Thank you Netgalley, Alice James and Rebellion publishing for the Advanced reader copy.

<i> Toni Windsor is trying to live a quiet life in the green and pleasant county of Staffordshire. She’d love to finally master the rules of croquet, acquire a decent boyfriend and make some commission as an estate agent. All that might have to wait, though, because there are zombies rising from their graves, vampires sneaking out of their coffins and a murder to solve. And it’s all made rather more complicated by the fact that she’s the one raising all the zombies. Oh, and she’s dating one of the vampires too. </i>


CAWPILE Rating: 5.21 => 2.5 stars

Characters: 6.0
Atmosphere: 5.0
Writing: 7.0
Plot: 4.0
Intrigue: 4.0
Logic: 5.0
Enjoyment: 5.5

My main complaint about this book is that there are too many things happening. We have a love story with a vampire, "bad" vampires in the neighbourhood, awakening the dead and a Jane Doe case that needs to be solved. All these storylines feel really rushed and not fleshed out. The love story is insta loving and there is no build up or tension which makes the story unbelievable.
The action with the bad vampires was written really well and I think that is the best part of the novels, but it also felt that our main character was too overpowered / overconfident for a mortal.

I enjoyed the premise of the awakening the dead and would have loved to see more focus on that one.
and the Jane Doe just felt like added salt and did not really give something to the story

In general I did enjoy the writing style and the characters, it was all just a little too much

This book was a nice read that I enjoyed, quick and easy to read. It wasn't exactly my cup of tea or a book that I usually read, but I enjoyed some parts of it.

Fun and witty twist on the vampire insta-love trope. Toni was hilarious and stubborn and I thoroughly enjoyed her story.

This was fun. Very English and very funny in parts, you do need to be a 'believer' in vampires, necromancers, and zombies, otherwise it's just not for you. I wasn't aware it would be quite so chock full of these, as I don't usually stack my TBR pile with books of that nature. But Toni is hilarious, and I loved the fact that she was so outspoken and able to take care of herself when it came to facing down dangerous vampires and having to rescue her friends.

The romance is a bit full on. Being 'in love' with each other after almost one date is a bit much, but...I guess? So, that part really didn't work for me, but then, I've never dated a vampire either, so perhaps that's how it works in that world. I don't really know. I think I would prefer she date Peter, despite him being only a boring human consort, but as the story is about her and Oscar it wouldn't really work if that happened.

An easy, enjoyable read, though, and I will be keeping my eyes open for the next in the series.

Unfortunately I had to purchase a new Kindle device and could no longer access this book. I will come back and review if I read this in the future.

All Toni want s is a quiet life in Staffordshire, but when she raises zombies and is dating a vampire is that really realistic?

Fun witty and well written with a supernatural twist. I absolutely loved this book and will be looking out for more by the author.

A humorous, lively book about the dead lol. Vampires and Zombies. There are good vampires and bad vampires. Good humans and bad humans. Every race has their bad apples. The author did a wonderful job balancing those., Also, no characters out did the other. Strong smart woman and strong smart men. I love that in a book! Most books nowadays the female character is so overly abundantly smart and strong and the all the male characters are weak and spineless. I did not get that in this book, and for that I want to Thank the author. I love Toni's attitude on things. She gets groped by certain guys and she knows what to expect. She never plays the victim. I love her sarcasm and she can laugh at herself. This is a fun read!
In this book you get wit, sarcasm, blood lots of blood, open minded relationships, and a rabbit that didn't know what hit him. To me it is more if an action book with a small mystery, paranormal and romance. I give this book 5 stars. I am looking forward to the second book in this series. Can't wait to read more about Toni, Bredon, Oscar and Peter.

The summary of this book sounded like a cute, fun novel that I would really enjoy. It started off really strong for me then by the middle I found myself bored. My main problem was that I couldn't connect with any of the characters. Unfortunately this book just wasn't for me and I had to dnf it.

I do believe a lot of people could really enjoy this book so I would still recommend it.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

I thought from the synopsis and the cover that Grave Secrets was a paranormal cozy mystery however I personally wouldn't class it as a mystery at all. I would say it's more of a paranormal romance / urban fantasy.
By day Toni Windsor is an estate agent in the English countryside and by night she is a necromancer. She meets a totally hot vampire who is new to the village and is tasked to help him find a new home. The trouble is, she can't keep her mind on the job because the vamp is irresistible! When a gang of 'bad vampires' starts murdering people and causing trouble in the local area Toni is caught up in the chaos and tries to help solve the problem.
The only issue I had with this book is that I'm not a fan of instalove. Toni falls in love within days and it just felt ridiculous. That being said, I did still enjoy it. It was such a fun and easy read. The type of book that I turn to as palate cleansers when I need a break from the heavy stuff. Is it the best writing? No. Does that matter? Not really. It's not supposed to have a complex plot or characters so it does it's job. I will definitely be reading the rest of the series when the books are available.

Really enjoyed the writing style of this and found the characters to-be really good fun.
The pace of the book was on the whole good and held my attention well.
It is a great book for the spooky season and is a lighthearted spook book and not too heavy. Would definitely recommend for others to pick up as it is a fun read

This was part of my annual attempt to read vampire and zombie books in the run up to Halloween. Sometimes it works for me, sometimes it doesn’t. Sadly this was a doesn’t. Nice set up, clever idea and funny opening but just didn’t work in the execution for me. Never mind. May work for other people.

This is a funny, romantic story which include Vampires and Zombies alike. It is also action filled, can be a little bloody at times, but rather lighthearted most of the time. It’s a fun read and I look forward to more adventures with the protagonist, MS Lavington Winter, who not only is a version of Bridget Jones by also is a necromancer who is able to raise and communicate with the dead or undead shall we say.