I grabbed Angela Roquet‘s Graveyard Shift (Lana Harvey, Reapers Inc. #1) from the Amazon free list. I then bought the sequel, Pocket Full of Posies. You can win paperback copies of all the first three Reaper books here.

As a side note, I just discovered she lives not too far from me, which makes her feel like a local celebrity (’cause you know I idolize authors over just about anyone else)….or maybe that idea just makes me a little bit internet-stalker-creepy. Hope not.

Description from Goodreads:
The Inferno has evolved…Lana Harvey is a reaper, and a lousy one at that. But when Grim promotes her to a high risk assignment, all hell breaks loose…literally.

Review:
This was a joy to read—fresh, funny, well-written, well-edited, and just plain engaging. I enjoyed Lana’s sarcastic personality and lackluster…or rather lack of ambition. She is a marvelous slacker who, despite her worst intentions, can’t help but get the job done–with a little help from her friends (and occasional frienemies). Said friends are also a lot of fun, especially Gabriel.

I occasionally had a little trouble following how things hung together. How Winston fit his bill, for example. But the general plot is an interesting one. I especially liked seeing all of the religions mashed together in a reasonably peaceful way and the politics of Eternity.

Additionally, I think it’s worth a small mention that with all the Islam-bashing that has been going on in the press and such lately, I thought it was a nice change to see Muslim characters presented as good guys. It would have taken so little for Roquet to cast them in the oft-envisioned role of villain and play to the modern xenophobic fears of the West. I was pleased to see that she didn’t.

All-in-all a fun start to a new series. I can’t wait to start book two, Pocket Full of Posies.

Description from Goodreads:
Not Your Grandma’s Afterlife…
The promise of peace in Limbo City is threatened once again, but this time the terrorists have a more specific target in mind: Lana Harvey. The up and coming reaper thought passing her classes at the Reaper Academy was going to be her biggest challenge, but when a rebel demon sends her apartment up in flames, she realizes that her victories from the previous year haven’t gone so unnoticed after all…

To make matters worse, the Afterlife Council has taken notice of Lana too. The Egyptian god Horus is blackmailing her into joining the Posy Unit so she can do an illegal side job for him, and Cindy Morningstar, Lucifer’s daughter, insists that she take a two week training course with the devilishly tempting Beelzebub, much to her angelic boyfriend’s chagrin.

Review:
I’m still really loving this series. Watching poor Lana struggling to keep it all together is a lot of fun. I especially enjoyed her strong independent spirit and how she handled the whole Maalik situation–best passage of the book, right here:

“…I’m tired of constantly having to fight with you just to live my life the way I see fit.”
“Then stop fighting me,” he said, and like it was actually a legitimate solution.

Yep, that summed Maalik up pretty well–best intentions, worst execution. Loved it.

I do have to admit I found the book to be a bit repetitive. Not just because it recapped the events of book one, that’s kind of to be expected. But because the reader is told the same general information more than once, things like Reaper’s lack of Deity rights or Josie’s strict rule-following nature. The information fit the flow of the passage each time, but it really didn’t need to be repeated.

The book also felt like a middle book, fair enough, it is after all. But while I enjoyed almost every word of it, it felt a bit more like a setup for future books than a story on its own. Here Lana struggles through her education so that she can join the Posy Unit, but it’s joining the Unit and doing things in it that carries the heft, and that’s held off for book three. It was still a lot of fun to follow her around and see her succeed, though. So I’m hoping to get my greedy little paws on the next installment of Lana Harvey, Reapers Inc.

Description from Goodreads:
Lana Harvey isn’t just any reaper. She’s the new captain of the Posy Unit, a specialty group dedicated to harvesting mass quantities of souls from natural disaster sites, battlefields, and the like. The new title didn’t come without a price, though. Lana made some promises along the way, and now it’s time to follow through… even if that means putting herself in the path of the three Fates, a fickle and mighty force to be reckoned with. The Fates run a soul recycling plant in Limbo City, and if Lana isn’t careful, they just might recycle her.

Review:
This series keeps getting better and better. However, I wish I knew if it will be limited to a certain number of books (I know there’s supposed to be a 4th next year) or if it is one of those series that expands and expands endlessly. Because while this volume was a lot of fun to read, the tale shows no evidence of winding down anytime soon and I like to know what kind of commitment I am making when I dedicate myself to reading a series. Having said that, I liked this book every bit as much as the previous two (more than the second actually).

Honestly, I tend to stop reviewing the books in a series at about this point because the reviews have a tendency to become redundant or simply a way to say I liked this book more or less than the previous ones. We’ve already established that I like the story, characters, and writing. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have made it to book three. That all remains true. I still like Roquet’s sarcastic narrative style, Lana’s personality, and all the interesting side characters. (Grim and Gabriel took especially interesting turns in this one.) I think the story is still quite interesting and I’m looking forward to seeing how it eventually works itself out.

Essentially, if you’ve liked the series up to this point you’re pretty likely to like this 3rd book too. The series maintains its high standards, too. It’s well-written and fairly well-edited. I noticed a few missing words, mostly a’s oddly, but not enough to break the flow of reading.