Bunny's Reviews: Grave Secrets Review Spotlight

We are thrilled to be touring Grave Secrets by Cassandra Aston this week! Read on for more details!

Grave Secrets, a dark urban fantasy romance novel, is the first book in Cassandra Aston’s Prophecies of Angels and Demons Trilogy. The first thing that drew me to this book was the gorgeous cover. It intrigued me and made me curious to know more about the story tucked inside. Like an onion, (yes, I’m semi-quoting Shrek LOL) this book has a lot of layers. It’s going to take a touch of patience and some digging, but they will yield up their secrets...one at a time.

Grave Secrets details the story of the main character by the name of Alexandra Graves. She died at the young age of 17, but was brought back...for a price. Six years of servitude to the angels in which she would hunt demons for them. At the end of those six years? Cue Men in Black! Mind wipe. Sounds absolutely worth it right? For six years, you do dirty work for the angels and nothing else. You don’t even get paid!! Come on now! At least compensate folks for what they do! From how it plays out it sounds like she’s not able to get an actual paying job! What kind of mess is that?! Girl has to scrimp by with what she can and stay as much under the radar as she can. Talk about tough times! Ugh!

Brace for some changes though as someone...or better yet...some THING sneaks into her place. Now, first thought? A demon, BUT that’s not the case. At least this time. What this creature does though is open up a Pandora’s box of questions. But what’s more is that it alerts the angels (through her) to that it is even around. Prepare to be barraged with questions (in your mind) because you’re not getting any answers anytime soon. LOL! So just hold tight. Eventually you will get them, but it’s going to take quite a bit of patience.

This is a slow-paced book. Perhaps it was this way for me because I’m not the biggest fan of Allie. In the beginning she comes off as an interesting character. She seems like a kick-ass kinda chick, but then she begins to stumble and falter. She starts coming off as more flighty and more than a little whiny. I think I expected more from her too quickly. She’s a demon hunter, so I expected her to be tough, smart, savvy, and someone who thinks things through. Let’s just say I probably built her up too much in my head. My bad.

She makes quite a few mistakes in the first few chapters, especially when she decides to head “home.” The way that she goes about it you’d think that she was running away from someone, instead of heading to some place with a list of intentions in place. She obviously does not have a plan in place because she’s really taking things by the seat of her pants. Though when she gets to this new town she’s heading to...prepare for more questions to arise. There’s something about the place that just HAS to be off. You’ll see what I mean. Of course, this is where the story begins to unfold ad piece together. But continue to exercise patience, because it’s going to be awhile before things really take off.

Allie is going to meet, again, the young man who crossed her path before. But as the days pass she’s going to be learning his secrets. Simon is an interesting character, but good Lord, his storytelling...you’ll understand why Allie tends to interrupt him when he’s talking. Of course, it does read rude when she does it – simply because she wants him to skip the “non-important” content. The back and forth between Allie and Simon at times is bizarre. Simon has done little to nothing to make Allie treat a certain way, but boy does she go off the deep end...frequently. It makes you wonder if there’s something going on with her we just don’t know about.

The pacing of this story is...slow. There is a ton of backstory, and some of the conversations are strange, and a touch overly wordy. Some of the wordiness could be cut out and we’d get a shorter story, but the odds are it would flow a lot better than it currently does. Which is unfortunate. Allie is supposed to be finding out about her past, helping Simon figure out who/what he is, but it takes about to the 60% mark to get to that point. There’s some action sprinkled in here and there, but it’s mostly Allie milling about the house looking for answers. When the big revelation comes out the story’s pace does pick-up, but you have to be exceedingly patient to get there.

I went into this book with too high of expectations. Go into this book looking for a good story, that will have a slow to moderate pace and I don’t think you’ll be too disappointed. As this book is part of a series, you’re going to be left with an open ending. No, there really isn’t this huge cliffhanger. Might have been better if there had been one, but as it is – this is what you get. You’ll be left with some questions, but that’s about it.

This book has potential, but it misses the mark to really be a page-turner. Grave Secrets feels like this book is the one that will set the stage for more impactful drama to come later on. Let’s hope, because I’m curious enough to give this series a continuing shot in the hopes that things will get more interesting quicker with book 2.

4 out of 5 stars

Thank you to the author, Cassandra Aston, and R&R Book Tours for the opportunity to read and review this book. I look forward to what comes next.

Grave Secrets (Prophecies of Angels and Demons #1)

Publication Date: April 24th, 2023

Genre: Dark Urban Fantasy/ Fantasy Romance

What would you sacrifice for the truth?

Life feels infinite when you’re young, but Allie Graves knows all too well that she’s living on borrowed time. Six years ago, she made a deal to save her life in exchange for service to the angels.

It seemed like a sweet bargain when she made it, but what do seventeen-year-olds know about making life choices? Now her six years of service are up and returning to her mortal life comes with some serious consequences.

To top it off, a mystery man has come into her life, but the angels aren’t fond of his brand of magic, so they’ve made it their mission to end him. How’s a girl supposed to get a date when the guy might not survive the week?

Allie has less than a month to uncover a family secret, save the hottie, and plan for life after angel duty. It’s a tall order.

Fans of J Bree and Patricia Briggs will be swept away by this urban fantasy romance full of dark magic, family secrets, and gut-wrenching twists. From the first page to the last, you won’t want to put it down. This book is recommended for 18+ due to mature content.

Available Amazon

About the Author

Cassandra Aston grew up near Austin, TX on a ranch just outside the city. She holds a BA in Communications and an MS in Psychology, from USC.

Her love of reading and writing began when she was nine years old. She is a fan of all things fantasy but especially loves the Fae. Although her first series Prophecies of Angels and Demons doesn’t delve into the realm of the Fae, her 2022 NaNoWriMo project, which will be released in 2024, is an urban fantasy, stand-alone story that will take the reader deep into the world of Faerie.

Cassandra currently lives in Houston, TX with her family of four.

Cassandra Aston