Grave Witch: An Alex Craft Novel (Alex Craft Series Book 1)

This book has come up so many times on my recommended list, I decided to give it a shot. This is about Alex (Alexis) Craft, a grave witch who is caught up in a sinister case where women are brutally killed and used for very black magic. Of course our heroine seems to be the only one who can actually tell any of this is going on. To the rest of the world, these women were killed but they couldn’t see the magic.This world is an alternate timeline one where the Fae came out of hiding many years ago and magic is studied, licensed and all that in this world. Alex, as a grave witch, has the ability to call on dead peoples’ souls or essence? The book wasn’t 100% clear on what a shade actually represents. Anyway, she’s apparently really good at this but terrible at all other magic. Oh and her family has disowned her due to their hating magic stance. Um okay.So, first of all, the description of what Alex calls her grave sight was repeated way, way too many times. Trust me, we didn’t forget so it was a bit irritating to read the same description so many times. Second, the characterization lacked some depth so I didn’t really feel like I knew any of the characters and thus didn’t root for or oppose in general. Hard to get me invested in the goings on of a character who lacked personality besides, yeah, she’s a grave witch with family issues and sees the world with grave sight. Yeah.So the romance part of this story suffers the same fate. Death is represented as some regular looking Joe but isn’t of course. Then you had Falin who was pulling the gruff cop, stay out it routine and suddenly they’re together? Wait what? Oh and not just kind of together but full on devoted to her and protecting her, etc, etc. Talk about pulling a full 180 without warning.Ultimately she wins the day, gets surprising information from Death, and learns a secret about Falin that’s going to keep him out of her bed. There’s several sub-plots left dangling.Basically, it was an okay book. Not sure if I’ll continue the series or not. Three stars.

I always hate moving out of KU books and into paid series. Since KU keeps me from spending thousands on my little book addiction, paying for a bad book really ruins my week these days. But I rolled the dice with this one since the teaser chapters enticed me, and I have to say that I'm only sorry because now it looks like I'll be paying for the whole series. Great set up to a new series, solid world building, and intriguing mysteries behind the characters. A love triangle, but a unique one that is not predictable at this point. Character is refreshing: no off-the-hook weeping or overly emotional rage bursts, no taunting the bad guys and the authority figures alike with useless threats right before she gets her butt kicked, no blushing 17-year-old virgin, or any of the other tropes you run across in UF these days. Just a person living their life and trying to survive under increasingly strange and complicated conditions while they discover surprising things about themselves and the people around them. Reminded me of the October Daye series by Seanan McGuire in some ways. Some twists in the end keep it interesting enough that I'm off to happily pay for the next one.

Alex Craft is a grave witch. That is, a sort of necromancer. She lives in a world where everyone knows about magic and the fae. Magic, spells, and charms are part of every day life, so much so that everyone--even members of the Humans First party--wears them. Complexion charms are as common as makeup.Alex raises shades, which are sort of like ghosts but not aware. Best of all, they can't lie, but one has never taken the stand in a murder trial. Until now. And it's bringing Alex no end of trouble. First, there's the army of news reporters who won't leave her alone. Then there's this weird ghost who seems to be stalking her. Death, a soul collector, is constantly flirting with her and then disappearing... Oh, and then there's the body changing ritual murders that have left a handful of women dead.She's certainly got lots to do, especially if she wants to make the rent on time.I found the book fun and engaging, a great new take on urban fantasy. Alex was a welcome relief from the constant parade of snarky katana-wielding heroines in urban fantasy these days, and her powers were neat and different. There's romance, which I surprisingly liked (and I'm a very tough customer when it comes to romance). I didn't even mind the love triangle because this was a fresh take on it. The plot itself isn't new, but then what is? Still, the way it was handled was different. The adventure lots of fun. The mystery kept me guessing almost to the end, even if I did figure out parts of it.I bought the second book before even finishing the first.

Author Kalayn Price brings us the opening tale for the Alex Craft series with Grave Witch. Alex Craft has the fae ability to see the dead and to raise their shades (ghosts). She is also a PI working with the local police department to solve the crime of the dead former Governor's body, a body that didn't belong to him in the first place. Alex is also joined by an FIB agent that wants to see the creature that has laid waist to the city put in it's place. While Alex investigates this case she comes across a ghost who was the original occupant to the former Governor's body. She helps him and even gets him in front of the local witch news as well as set him up for an interview later. But the person who called Alex into the case was her sister Casey who is practicing gray magic but not telling her sister until she crashes a party at the Governor's residence. This was a great book and one that I highly recommend for all fantasy fans. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

I love discovering a new Urban Fantasy series, and trying this one, in delighted that it has everything in looking for.Alex Craft is a Grave Witch; her job includes raising shades (memories of dead people) to help others interview them for court , the police or family looking for answers.Alex is hired by her sister to find out who killed a prominent politician, but intriguing, arrogant yet handsome cop Falin keeps getting in her way, and also saving her a few times. Much like Death, who looks like a hot biker.There's magic, Faerie, ghosts, soul collectors and a fantastic gargoyle statue called Fred.There's also blood magic, secrets, girlfriends and danger.Falin is my new favourite book boyfriend, or is Death? I can't decide

I really enjoyed this book! We have our main character Alex who is a grave which trying to solve a series of murders.I loved Alex as a character I thought she had a winning personality and was a strong capable woman.I thought the magic system was really cool and the way it was described you could close your eyes and imagine exactly how to do the magic which was fantastic.The only thing I didn’t like as much was Falins treatment of Alex at times. However the intimate scenes were well written and extremely hot.So overall that’s 4 stars for Grave Witch, I’m looking forward to the next in the series.

Fairly standard urban fantasy with no real surprises. Heroine Alex Craft saves the world with her white witch skills while simultaneously dealing with an amorous Death (who of course manifests as a dark-haired hunk); a mysterious police detective (another hunk) with a secret who is attracted/antagonistic to her; complicated family relations - you know, the usual. Nothing wrong with it. Nothing particular to make it stand out for me. It's the usual mix of romance/urban fantasy which is a style that has carved out its own niche. I prefer some of the harder-edged writers in the genre such as Ilona Andrews with her Kate Daniels series.

Alex Craft is a Wyrd witch scraping a living by raising and questioning 'shades', memories of the dead. When a case gets messy Alex finds her self battling a cursed spell against the clock. When Death is your oldest friend trouble is never far from her door, the adventure and mystery twists to the final page.Well written, funny and action packed, this has become one of my favourite current series.

Alex is a grave witch, meaning she can raise dead peoples "shades" and communicate with them. It is a time when witches and the fae are a part of everyday life. Alex is currently making history because for the first time ever, a shade is taking the witness stand for her own murder. However something strange is happening to some shades and an important politician was not who everyone thought he was. Unfortunately they don't find this out until Alex tries to raise his shade and encounters something completely new and dangerous. Now Alex is in danger and with the help of a handsome if arrogant fae and Death himself (who is sexy as hell and incidentally is in love with Alex) she needs to find out what is going on before it is too late for her.I did like this book but it took me a while to get into it. I was confused at the beginning because it just took you straight into the world where witches were accepted with no introduction to it etc so I was left trying to work out what was going on. It was a book that I kept getting distracted from in the beginning and reading without taking it in. It got better however and I like Alex as a character. I think if you like this you will definitely like the Charley Davidson series by Darynda Jones as she has a similar concept but I enjoyed it a lot more than this book. I will probably buy the next book but it will have to be really good for me to read the one after that.