Early Review: Grave Matters by Lauren M. Roy (Night Owls #2)

Grave Matters (Night Owls #2)
Lauren M. Roy
Published: Feb. 24, 2015 (Ace)
Purchase: Book Depository or Amazon
Review source: copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review

Reviewed by: Margaret

Rating (out of 5): 3.5 stars

Note: While review will be spoiler free, it does make reference to previous books in the series. If you haven’t started yet, check out VBC’s review of Night Owls.

Night Owls bookstore and its staff have almost recovered from the Creep attack a month ago when ghosts and ghouls start showing up all over town. An unidentified necromancer seems to be somehow involved in every character’s life. When they start to share their stories, they realize that things are not adding up. The most troubling sightings come from Elly in her new job as an enforcer for the Stregoi Ivanov. The necromancer seems to be trying to start a vampire turf war. Her friends all band together to investigate and try to protect Elly.

Night Owls felt like Val and Elly’s story, but in this book it’s really the men who stand out. I felt bad for Chaz being the Xander of the group and trying to find a way to contribute. But I especially liked getting to know Cavale better. He seemed like an outsider before, even though he knew the group before Elly came to town. Grave Matters is told in part from Cavale’s point of view and takes readers to his day job reading tarot cards as well as on his nocturnal monster hunts. I also liked his careful efforts to reach out to Elly and his appreciation for how far they both have come. I hope to learn more about him later in the series, like what happened during the years that Elly was out of his life.

It seems the second book in a series is usually the one where the main character gets all angsty and introspective and deals with some issue from their past. Grave Matters is a multi-POV story with ALL of the characters having the feels. There was just a little too much angsty introspection at once. Elly’s fear of making friends especially bothered me, so I was glad she got over that quickly. But her romance still felt too YA to me.

Those were really the only things that bothered me while I was reading the book. When I started making notes afterward though, I realized that the reappearance of a character from the first book really doesn’t make sense, even though it answered some lingering questions. Though I suppose it might all be explained in a later book.

It’s not my all-time favorite, but I’m enjoying the Night Owls series. The characters are interesting and the mythology is just a little bit different. I’m curious about what other creatures exist in this world and how this motley and bookish crew will deal with them.

Sexual content: kissing