I had the squeal-inducing good fortune to meet Darynda Jones and have her sign a copy of this for me last week at an author visit. The ethereal and charming Jones confessed that she wrote this book because she wanted to give Charley a chance to fall in love with Reyes again. (She is also planning a spinoff for Beep. Cue more squealing.)

With that romantic thought in mind, I approached this book not as an exhausting interlude between the action of book eight and whatever will happen in book ten, but as a chance to re-meet the wonderful characters that Jones has built. She somehow managed to keep all of Charley's warmth and do-good-er-ness along with her snappy humor, while dropping her into a whole new environment and re-introducing all of her friends. Make no mistake, this book is full of pain, terror, and new revelations about the world--but it is also full of love, and light, and kindness. Jones is a marvel.