Review: One Foot in the Grave (The Mortician’s Daughter #1) by C.C. Hunter

One Foot in the Grave

Author: C.C. Hunter

Series: The Mortician’s Daughter

Pages: 325

Publisher: EverAfter Romance

Release date: 31^st October 2017

Synopsis:

Her dad’s job is with the dead . . . and he’s bringing his work home with him.

Once again, seventeen-year-old Riley Smith is the new kid in school and her dad’s career has her back to being dubbed a freak. Truth is, she’s a much bigger freak than her classmates think. The only company she keeps these days is the dead who follow Dad home from work. She can see them. She can speak to them. And Fate seems to think she can help them solve their last problems so that they can move on to the other side. Which is odd, because with the loss of her mother and her father’s alcoholism, she’s got enough problems of her own.

But nothing could prepare her for the next tormented young spirit who darkens Riley’s door. The young woman’s death wasn’t the accident everyone believes. Soon Riley finds herself face-to-face with the killer and her only protection comes in the form of another spirit, Hayden, a boy her age with a heart-melting smile and understanding eyes that make her feel safe. If she can escape becoming the killer’s next victim, Riley knows she’ll have to help Hayden move on too, but what if she can’t let him go?

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Review: 5 out of 5 stars

One Foot in the Grave is the first book in The Mortician’s Daughter series by C.C. Hunter. I have adored everything that I have read by this wonderful author so I was eager to dive into this and it didn’t fail to disappoint.

Our MC is seventeen-year-old Riley Smith, the daughter of a mortician who seems to bring the ghosts home with him much to Riley’s annoyance as she has the ability to communicate and see the dead as well as help them to resolve their issues and move on.

Riley was such a great character, she has never fit in at school because of her father’s occupation and her mother died when she was four years-old but she is ready for a new start in her new school and to start afresh. It is her second move in a short period of time as her father keeps losing his jobs, she believes as a result of him being a closet alcoholic but she hasn’t been able to prove it.

When a ghost comes to Riley, she realises that he is very different to the others, he looks different and is more ‘real’, he is also very clearly hiding something but she can’t stop her growing feelings for him the more time that they spend together clearly knowing that there can be no future between them.

I thought Hayden was great and I was able to guess his story from the beginning but I wanted to know more! I loved his interactions with Riley but I never felt a romance was a possibility especially when there was someone ‘living’, Jacob Adams that was paying her attention. It was a strange love-triangle.

The story also follows a ghost who has come to Riley begging for help to find her ring to pass on to her family but Riley soon realises that she didn’t die by accident and when she stumbles across the location she also stumbles across the murderer who has his sights now on Riley.

There was a lot going on in this book which made for an exciting read! Between Riley’s feelings between two boys, her father’s issues, her ghostly problems, a serial rapist with Riley on his mind; it was entertaining and mysterious with a great cast of characters. The ending has also left me eager for the next book in the series, Two Feet in the Grave.

If you are after a mysterious, entertaining and well-written paranormal YA, I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to EverAfter Romance via Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review One Foot in the Grave.

About the author: C.C. Hunter grew up in Alabama, where she caught lightning bugs, ran barefoot, and regularly rescued potential princes, in the form of Alabama bullfrogs, from her brothers. Today, she's still fascinated with lightning bugs, mostly wears shoes, but has turned her focus to rescuing mammals. She now lives in Texas with her four rescued cats, one dog, and a prince of a husband, who for the record, is so not a frog. When she's not writing, she's reading, spending time with her family, or is shooting things-with a camera, not a gun.

C.C. Hunter is a pseudonym. Her real name is Christie Craig and she also writes humorous romantic suspense romance novels for Grand Central. www.christie-craig.com

C.C. would love to hear from you. Because of deadlines, it may take her a day or so to get back with you, but she will reply. cc@cchunterbooks.com