Reviews

Brighter Than the Sun by Darynda Jones

emmybird86's review against another edition

5.0

I loved getting to see things from Reyes’ point of view. The things he went through were just awful. I have a better understanding of him and of some of what he can do. I recommend reading this is you are reading the series.

bookwifereviews's review against another edition

4.0

I have never been a huge fan of Reyes Farrow's.. Well not until I think the 5th book. I kind of hated him. I knew he had a hard childhood. I knew his 'father'/step father whatever Earl was to him abused him terribly but I still didn't understand why he treated Charley the way that he did. And I didn't understand Charley's fascination with him besides the fact that he was attractive. All I got was Charley going on and on about how sexy Reyes Farrow was and then he was a total dick to her. I just didn't get it. After book 5 I started to like Reyes. He was less of a dick and more of a sweetie pie... in a alpha male way. But after this book I kind of understand a little bit more of what was going on in the first couple of books.

Charley Davidson fans should not expect the same quirky humor that has been in the other books. This is not like those book. It is kind of darker. I am glad that it doesn't go into great detail about what Earl did to him. It's a good book to get into Reyes head. But I need to get back into Charleys head. I need her spunk. Reyes's story totally brought me down. On to book number 9!

veronica87's review against another edition

2.0

I love Reyes but I thought this novella from his POV was just so-so. It reads like a cliff notes version of his life through the course of the series and I just think that so much more could have been done with it. Reyes' life was truly tragic- and quite frankly I don't know why he never killed Earl when he so easily could have - but this story seemed only to skim the surface and, as a result, never really packed the emotional punch such a life deserved.

But there WAS that one little interesting tidbit about Uncle Bob/Ubie....

slayra's review against another edition

3.0

This short story is told from Reyes' point of view. It is shorter than it looks because the chapters are quite short, making it very easy to read in one sitting. I enjoyed reading and understanding a little better how Reyes grew up and became the adult he did. There is a bomb there regarding uncle Bob, autch. Still I wish there was more of it, I wanted to know how Reyes felt when he learnt he was going to be a dad and when his daughter was born. Still, it is hard to pass on this one if you enjoy the series.

mudder17's review against another edition

4.0

This was a very interesting novella about Reyes from his point of view. It helps that I've been binging the series lately so I was able to connect each of his experiences in this story with many events in the regular books from the point of view of Charley. This was definitely a much more serious story compared to the usual series because his life was so dark. But this is a story that you should definitely wait to read until you've read the previous books or it will feel incomplete.

mc10's review against another edition

3.0

Took me a while but I finally finished it. I'm really not a big fan of reading the same thing from another character's perspective but at least there was interesting new info, even if it's not that influential to where the series is at the end.

It really made me wonder if the author actually knew where the story was going before starting to write it because even if she didn't plan everything, this could have been a little bit less... over the top. Reading this while reading the last book made me realize all the twists, forgotten characters, plot holes, and honestly, the useless parts. But then I remember that Charley is always chaotic, but we still like her anyway.

gilwen's review against another edition

4.0

Dur et poignant, loin de la légèreté à laquelle nous avait habituée la série. A la clé, une belle plongée dans le passé et les pensées de Reyes qui offre une perspective un peu différente sur ce personnage si mystérieux.

suzjustsuz's review against another edition

4.0

I think I prefer the stuff from Reyes' perspective. While I like Charley's humor I have often found it tedious. I like Reyes' serious, straightforward approach to things. It reads especially well when juxtaposed against one of the novels from Charley's perspective, functioning as a bit of a palatte cleanser.

The narration enabled full immersion.

amythebookbat's review against another edition

4.0

This is marked as 8.5 in the series, but would work better as 1.5 since it is Reyes's story up to that point.

hguthrie's review against another edition

1.0

CW: child abuse (both physical and sexual), attempted rape, incarceration, and others.

This was just so unnecessary.