Grave Memory: An Alex Craft Novel (Alex Craft Series Book 3)

Synopsis: Alex and her changeling friend, Rianna, officially open the offices of "Tongues of the Dead Investigations"--and they see a man jump of a building. Except his ghost comes out and Alex sees him frantically denying he didn't commit suicide. Both of her love interests left havoc on her emotions and had to disappear, so Alex throws herself into this case. But thennnnn . . . Review: Another excellent installment. I read this book way into the night because I couldn't sleep. I'm sure me wanting to find out what happens played a part in that, also ;). The writing style and plot originality keeps readers interested, page after page. Although it is part of a very typical UF genre formula, it's a formula I like. If the second book was about Alex and Falin, then this book was about Alex and Death. I think I lean towards Death, although I really like both guys--which means the author handled the love triangle really well. Alex's emotions are conveyed to the reader as if the reader was feeling the emotions themselves. We feel how torn Alex is between the two men, because we are also torn. We feel her fear of faerie and the joy she feels when she is there because we are also fearful and joyful along with her. I am still not quite happy with Alex herself, as sometimes she is mature, and other times immature. Her character is inconsistent, and sometimes, she is a bore. I have fallen in love with this series. This series is a must read for every UF reader out there! Sex: hot sex scene, kissing Violence: a bit more grosser than the books before, but still not gory. Rating: 5 out of 5 stars Series Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars Quote: "So what, I need to take a test?" I yawned again, my eyes momentarily tearing from exhaustion "Yeah, a test. And about forty hours of classes, which, as the teacher wouldn't be able to see you, you would be hard-pressed to prove you attended." "That's discrimination." "Well, you could gather a bunch of ghosts and protest discrimination against the corporeally challenged. Unfortunately, no one would notice." Next Book: I don't know, but I can't wait to read it!

The third book in the Alex Craft series contained a lot of interesting elements, but didn't really make any forward progress in the overall story. I enjoyed the ride we were taken on, but I hope that things will begin to change in the next book. Alex and Rianna have opened a PI agency, Tongues for the Dead, and their first case involves an apparent suicide. Alex is trying to prove that it was murder and to find the person or entity responsible. I liked the mystery aspect and I thought the action flowed pretty well. I also enjoyed seeing all of Alex's friends come together to help her defeat the villain. On the fae side of things, Alex still hasn't picked a court or identified herself as independent. The raids are still happening weekly and they are ticking Caleb off. I wish Alex would take the decision a little more seriously and actually do some research into the different courts and what it really means to be an independent. She just pushes it to the side and that isn't doing her or her friends any favors. She does learn some mysterious facts about her family's fae heritage from her father but nothing concrete. He loves to drop a little mind bomb here and there but not fill in the details. Falin is also caught up in the fae mess. He still can't have anything to do with Alex and, even though I know it is the Queen's orders, it really made me dislike him in this installment. The Death plot line was very, very interesting. I love learning about the soul collectors and we got a huge block of info towards the end. Death is a great character and I find myself liking him more and more with each book. Circumstances give him and Alex a chance to explore their feelings more and I think it is obvious how much her loves her. Even though I loved the time they spent together in this book, the ending was disappointing. Their (forbidden) relationship ended up back in the same place as the previous books. I have to say that I am getting a little tired of this love triangle but, from the ending of the book, I don't think it will be decided any time soon. I am firmly on Team Death now, but it seems like the set up for the next book is faery time.

I love this series. This is the third in the adventures of Alex Craft and if you haven't read the first two books, I recommend that you buy them immediately and start there. Since others have given great descriptions of the story, I won't repeat them. I'll just give reasons why I like this series and why you should give it a try. The world building is fantastic. We learn more and more about Alex's history and the Fey world with each book. Secrets and motivations are slowly revealed and build upon each other to provide an incredibly rich backdrop for the characters. The main character, Alex, is evolving too. In this book we learn more about Alex's history and heritage, which is fascinating. Alex's love life, which has included two impossible relationships takes a few turns in this book and it was fun to learn more about Death. It still feels like the story is building and while the ending of this book is satisfying, I can't wait until the next installment. If you're a fan of either the Kate Daniels series or the Mercy Thompson series, I think you'll like this one. Kalayna Price tells as great a story.

My Review: OMG, such a good book! The problem...there's no set release date for Book #4....NO!!!!! In this book, things are transitioning pretty quickly for Alex. She's dealing with the changes to her life that being Fae have wrought...and NONE of them are easy. She and Rhianna have opened an actual investigations office. Falin has been ordered by the Winter Queen to have no contact with her. Death is in pretty much the same circumstance...staying as far away as possible. But there are a string of bizarre suicides happening that make no sense. They also bring Briar, a new character, onto the scene. At first, I couldn't stand her, but the more she was there, the more I liked her. Briar lives in her own little reality that's pretty overzealous and tends to drive Alex crazy. She's armed to the teeth with various magical potions and she's not afraid to use them. We found out new information about Alex's parentage and that side of the story line is becoming more and more intriguing. I really just love this series. Even though the guys aren't supposed to be interacting with Alex in this book, both of their story lines and their relationship with Alex ramped up in this book...OMG, LOVE!! The last 10% of the book was nothing short of amazing. Everything zoomed out of control so quickly, it left me gasping for breath and when all the chips fell, I couldn't believe where the book ended up. Please, please, PLEASE...Kalayna Price, please write faster. I can't wait to read/listen to book #4 in this series. BTW, the narrator in this series...FABULOUS!!! She does GREAT voices and inflections!

I feel I should review this as 2 books...the first half would be a 3; the last half a 4.25 I really like this series, but this book didn't grab my attention until almost half way in. I found myself skimming through parts that we're either recapping from previous books, or got very complicated and detailed. Granted, Alex's abilities are a bit complex, but the mystery/case that's introduced in the beginning just didn't hold my interest very well. Although we see a lot of Rhianna, Roy, Tamara and a few other friends in the beginning, as Alex opens her own PI firm, we see very little of Falin or Death. And I'll admit, I like a good bit of romance in my UF series. It wasn't until about the half way mark that this got rolling for me. The case they're working to solve becomes more interesting. Alex and Falin's interaction is interesting (I officially hate the Winter Queen) and Death finally makes an appearance. Still have the love triangle, but I'm sort of on the fence about it. I think I may be in the minority, and though I do like them both, I'd like to see things work out with Falin. Maybe because there's been more relationship interaction with them. With Death, we definitely do see some progress, and lord knows he's hot, and sweet, and funny, but I just don't see how Death can ever be a real relationship because of what he is (he can't even have a real name!) .... and he can never go to Faerie. Not a good thing as we see Alex becoming a full fledged fae! So I'm holding out hope things can work out with Falin. He's like that tortured hero that steals your heart- was literally born to be the Queen's knight, taken from his parents as a baby and raised to be her bloodied hands, stripped of his free will from birth. Enter Alex, they fall for each other, and he becomes a different type of weapon for the Queen, a weapon of the emotional kind to try and force Alex's will. For her protection, he tries to keep the emotional wall up, while still trying to find any small loophole in the Queen's edict to interact with her, confesses his love, but warns her, she must not to trust him because of the Queen's control. I find it heartbreaking - especially as she leaves him in Faerie during the revelry. But I keep remembering in book 2, he really fought for her and when they were escaping through Faerie, he told her his story; they talked of the Queen, of his being bound to her will & her word.....AND he told Alex he would not be bound forever. The curse will pass to the next bloodied hands when his service to her is complete. Because I like Falin and the time she spends in Faerie, (I mean, she has a freakin' castle she hasn't even been inside of yet!), I'm hoping things will ramp up even more as her fae blood becomes more dominate...really want to know more about her Parents....their history and the childhood she can't remember. But more than anything, I'd like to see her kick that Winter Queen's ass, and have a HEA with Falin. So there.

I'm torn between Falin and Death. The story, however, is so much fun and there are so many plot twists that the romance is definitely not on the front seat in these series. Which makes me happy. I'm crazy about urban fantasy, and if you enjoyed Mercy Thompson, Cassie Palmer, Dorina, Ilona Andrew's Kate Daniells and other similar strong female character books, you will love this one as well. I very much enjoy a bit of spicy romance when it is called for, but I don't like e paranormal series in which romance and sex dominate the story. It's one has five stars from me, because IMO it strikes the perfect balance. Great adventure, can't wait for the next installment!

I liked the first two books in the series. I also enjoyed this one, and read it in a day. I almost gave it four stars. It started out well, with Alex and Rianna opening their new office, and then almost witnessing a suicide, But then the ghost of the suicide pops out of the body, screaming that he didn't do it. Alex and Rianna begin an investigation on behalf of the dead man's pregnant wife, which leads them to more inexplicable suicides, preceded by "lost" days --days the shade of the dead person doesn't remember, but during which each one enjoyed a sybaritic lifestyle. Alex receives short visits from each of her "forbidden" boyfriends, Death warning her to stay away from the investigation, and Falin warning her to stay away from him. (Death is a much more appealing character except for his name). OK, so what's wrong with this book? Well, for one thing, it clearly wasn't proofread. The worst (p.66) was a sentence where John, Alex's cop friend, says "It hasn't exactly engendered you with the brass." Well, no, that doesn't make sense, since "engender" means to create, to give life to, to make, as in "Your actions engendered dislike among the others in the group." But what was meant was either "It hasn't exactly endeared you to the brass" or "It hasn't engendered warm feelings toward you among the brass." This should have been fixed, and yes, call me pedantic, but I think if a book is worth reading it out to be worth at least one good proofread before printing. Another error was the pervasive use of an adjective where an adverb was needed, for example, where one character says to another "Move slow" instead of "Move slowly". I know that adverbs are having a tough time surviving in current chopped off English, but writers should not encourage this abbreviated ad-speak. On a more substantive level, I am afraid that Ms. Price may be falling into the trap of inventing new powers and new explanations in such profusion that the rules lose coherence. I hope she slows down a bit and firms up the different powers of fae, witches, soul collectors, etc. in the next book. Right now I don't really understand the distinctions between a "rider", a ghoul, and other entities -- are they fae? if not, what are they? and what exactly is a soul collector in terms of the attributes of all these non-humans? Despite these reservations, I really enjoyed "Grave Memory" and will certainly read the next in the series. Oh, and I think Falin is a yawn and should go.

Alex’s life isn’t going so well at the moment. The Grave Witch has not seen either Falin or Death in the past month. The police department who used to bring her in on more cases, hasn’t been calling. The FIB, acting on orders from the Winter Queen is harassing Caleb with ridiculous raids on his house, trying to force Alex to join the Winter Court. And her eyesight is getting worse as her plane bending abilities get stronger. But she surprised Rianna with a new office for the two of them to run their business, making Rianna a full partner. And their first case is this book’s mystery; people are committing suicide, although both their ghosts and their shades’ last memories before their death are three days prior. How can that happen? And there is a great deal going on in both Alex’s life as well as those of some of her close friends, and we learn a little bit more about the soul collectors; all of which will be important in future stories. We also get a cross over with the Darque Files series—her own story in the anthology Kicking It--with Briar Darque playing a pretty big role. I expect we’d see her in future stories as well. Wow, it’s been almost 3 years since I read this book, but when seeing that the 4th book, Grave Visions, finally has a release date in Feb 2016, I just had to reread the series, and I’m glad I did. Partly because I didn’t remember much of anything from that first read. But mostly because I just enjoy the characters, relationships and situations that much. The who, what and why are always unique and I love the group effort involved in stopping the bad guy in this one.

Fun book to read

I thoroughly enjoyed this latest installment in the series. Just when you think that things can't get more crazy, complicated, or convoluted for poor Alex, events always occur that make me go, OMG. From Death and Falin both tugging on her heart, problems with her best friends, and a very dangerous serial killer, this is a dark but exciting story.

Ca faisait déjà un moment que j’attendais impatiemment ce nouveau tome des aventures d’Alex Craft. Il faut dire que le tome précédent nous laissait sur notre faim avec de nombreuses questions quant à la suite des relations d’Alex avec Falin et Death mais aussi par rapport à sa nouvelle condition. Alexis va devoir dans ce roman s’occuper de plusieurs suicides qui sembleraient finalement être une série de meurtres dont personne n’arrive à comprendre le fonctionnement. Avec l’aide de Royce et de ses amis, elle va essayer de résoudre ce mystère sans se rendre compte que cette affaire est plus dangereuse que toutes celles qu’elle a pu avoir auparavant, surtout maintenant que la police ne veut plus qu’elle se mêle à leur travail. J’ai tout de suite été intriguée par ces morts inexpliquées et on suit les hypothèses et conclusions de notre héroïne tout au long de l’histoire, nous faisant douter et comprendre ce qu’il se passe. En trouvant les réponses on ne s’attend pas à de telles répercutions sur la vie d’Alex. Frôlant la mort de nombreuses fois, bataillant chaque fois pour sa survie et même tout risquer pour sauver ses proches. J’avais aussi hâte de voir ce qu’il allait se passer avec Falin et Death et je ne suis vraiment pas déçue. J’avoue qu’on a mal au cœur pour notre héroïne face à ces deux relations impossibles. Bien qu’elle essaie de trouver des solutions, rien n’est facile. Et quand on pense finalement avoir une petite lueur d’espoir, on est très vite ramené à la réalité. Pour ce qui est de Falin, notre agent de FIB, on voit assez vite où cette histoire va mener, surtout étant sous le joug de la Reine de l’Hiver. On ne s’imagine cependant pas l’esprit tordu et les idées terrifiantes qu’elle peut avoir, et quand c’est par rapport à notre jeune détective, elle est finalement très imaginative, notamment avec cette fin atroce. Mais quelle idée de finir avec un tel événement ? Comment vais-je faire pour attendre le tome 4 maintenant ? Mon cœur balance cependant plus pour Death, il est vraiment touchant et leur relation interdite nous interpelle à chaque fois. On espère qu’il trouvera une solution pour être avec elle mais on se doute que ça ne sera pas simple. Mais c’est avec plaisir qu’on voit ce qu’ils sont prêts à faire tous les deux pour le bonheur de l’autre. Mais comment ne pas succomber pour ce personnage quand on voit qui il est vraiment. On apprendra beaucoup plus d’informations sur le métier de Death et sur ce que cela signifie, sur sa nature et ses pouvoirs, ce qui était vraiment très intéressant étant donné que nous n’avions eu que des aperçus. On comprendra aussi un peu mieux le monde Fae et la personne qu’Alex est en train de devenir petit à petit. On attend d’ailleurs avec impatience de savoir ce qu’elle va finalement choisir comme statut. Les problèmes ne font que commencer et on a hâte de voir ce qu’il va se passer. Comme toujours j’ai été totalement emportée avec cette nouvelle aventure, l’histoire est bien rythmée et on se laisse prendre au jeu comme à chaque fois. Alex Craft est une de mes séries préférées et je ne suis jamais déçue par les idées de Kalayna Price. Un joli mélange de mystère, complot et amour.

Alex and her best friend Rianna have finally opened their own PI firm called Tongues for the Dead but their first case is a lot more complicated than they had bargained for. What initially looks like a simple suicide case turns out to be much more when Alex realises that the Shade has no memory of the days leading up to the death - something that should be impossible. As the rate of public suicides continues to rise it becomes clear that something darker is going on but what could be behind the deaths? As if Alex's professional life wasn't complicated enough her personal life is even worse - with Falin under orders from the Winter Queen to keep his distance regarding anything that isn't work related, and Death nowhere in sight since his declaration, Alex is desperately missing both of the men in her life. She is also feeling more disconnected with her friends than ever before thanks to the efforts of the Winter Queen and the latest revelations about her own past. Before she can worry about her personal life she is going to have to deal with whatever is causing the current spate of suicides though, but can she do it before any of the people closest to her end up getting hurt? Grave Memory is the third book in Kalayna Price's Alex Craft series and in my opinion this series just gets better and better with every instalment. I just wish I didn't have to wait for the next book to be published! This is one of the only series I can think of that has a love triangle that isn't driving me completely crazy, I can see why Alex is attracted to both Falin and Death so although I definitely know which team I'm on (Team Death of course!) I understand why Alex is finding it so hard to make a decision. I don't think Falin is a bad guy but the fact that he is tied to the Winter Queen makes it impossible to trust any of his actions, something that is really proved to Alex in this book. I would like to see him break his ties to the Winter Queen but to be honest I'm really hoping that Alex ends up with Death! I have been crushing on Death since the first book but so far he had remained very much a mystery man and we didn't know very much about him so I was incredibly excited that he had a much larger role in this story. If I had a crush on him before I am completely 100% head over heels in love with him now - he is such a sexy guy and his actions in this book were completely swoonworthy. There is no doubt in my mind that he loves Alex and would do anything to keep her safe and he proves that time and time again no matter what it costs him. The only problem is that love between a human and a soul collector is forbidden so any future for them isn't going to be easy. There just has to be a way for them to make it work though - I refuse to accept any other alternative! Although I love the romance in this series it is by no means the main focus of the story which is something I really appreciate. I enjoyed the mystery surrounding the suicides and it was great to see Alex and Rianna reconnect after spending so many years apart. Rianna is having a hard time adjusting to having freedom again but I think Alex did a great job of helping her find her feet and start to experience life again. I also enjoyed learning more about the Fae and I don't envy Alex the choices that she is going to have to make when it comes to allying herself with one of the courts or declaring herself an independent. It seems like no matter which way she decides to go she is going to cause problems for herself of one kind or another. One of the things I like the most about this series is the way using magic has a price, that always makes it seem much more realistic to me but I have to admit that I don't envy Alex and Rianna their abilities. The cost of using her gift is becoming greater every time Alex accesses her grave magic and that is just going to make things even more complicated for her in the future. Kalayna Price has created a fantastic urban fantasy series that is fast becoming one of my favourites and I can't wait for the next instalment. If you aren't reading this series yet then I'd highly recommend starting with the first book Grave Witch but if you're already a fan then you're going to love this latest instalment!

It was certainly entertaining and I look forward to reading the next book in the series. The author creates a world that is interesting and exciting. While some elements and themes might be a little expected the story still told in a fun and enjoyable way.