Originally seen on my book blog!The characters. The characters. The characters. DEVELOPMENT. CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. Okay, I started this series with book 5, then skipped to 17 and 19 and then went back to the start. When I went back to book number one, I noticed that some characters were so different and some were still their witty hilarious self. Now that I’ve read the last 8 in a row, I can say that I’ve seen these characters come together, grow apart, change, grow, and some always seem to stay the same. Evanovich is a master at writing about a bounty hunter for 20+ books with all the same characters and still making every book different enough to not get boring. I read these books for the mystery, humor, and for the characters.I love the romance in these books too and I love her relationship with both Ranger and Morelli. If you know anything about me, you know I hate love triangles, so why would I like this one? Well probably because these people are not teenagers and Stephanie isn’t shown as “needing” either guy. I also hate the “”perfect”" guy so why would I like either of these guys? Because they aren’t perfect even if they seem perfect. Ranger is dark and mysterious (and sexy) but he also has trust issues and doesn’t open up to people. Morelli is in love with Stephanie but wants her to quit her job. Both men have flaws but both care about Stephanie enough to let her do what she wants. Every book I end up wanting her to end up with one of the guys and then the next book I end up switching guys. This book was definitely a Ranger book. Their relationship grew a lot more in this book.As I’ve said, there are some characters that stay the same. Lula and Grandma Mazur are those characters. Lula is still witty and hilarious. I really do think she’s my spirit animal. “I’m late for work on account of I go to night school now.” ”You go once a week.” “Yeah but I gotta study. It’s not like this shit comes easy. It’s not like my former occupation as a ho helps me out, you know. I don’t think my final exam’s gonna be about handjobs.” 20 page in and I’m already cracking up. Claps for you, Lula.Then there’s Grandma who is described as “mid-seventies but doesn’t look a day over ninety.” She’s awkward and a little sexual but it’s hilarious and I’d love to be related to her.This book was a tad bit different in the way that she wasn’t just picking up (and losing) FTA’s. [failure to appear] Stephanie was at her parents house when their neighbor stopped by and said she needed to talk to Stephanie about something. The neighbor told Stephanie that her daughter ran away and she wanted Stephanie to try to find her. Stephanie isn’t a private investigator but she took her on anyway. I thought Stephanie was a bad bounty hunter, but she’d be an even worse PI and that’s what made this book hilarious. Not only was she trying to find the woman, a few other people were as well. Stephanie had tough competition and it was awesome and sometimes scary watching her try to beat all of them.100 pages in to the book, she lost a few different pairs of handcuffs, a stolen car, and had a few threats. How does she get into these situations? I kept track of how many times these things happened and it seems to get higher every book.Things I took out of this book: I would love to job shadow her for a day and maybe life shadow her as well. Lula truly is my inspiration. Definitely Team Ranger.
I finished this one at about 2:30 in the morning, it's all the previous books fault. I wanted to see if Stephanie paid up on her end of the deal with Ranger, but she doesn't, at the beginning anyways. I should have stopped there, but the potential Ranger goodness sucked me in. And I wasn't disappointed. =D I don't think there's going to be any long term Stephanie-Ranger cause the books seem to always bring her back to boring Morelli, but I'll take what I can get. Ranger's always lurking around with his awesomeness. =)Lots of good stuff in this book, I enjoyed Stephanie and her cousin Vinnie teaming up to pick up FTAs, they haven't caught one yet, but they are pretty hilarious with Vinnie likely to shoot up places(which might have been a different book, but, again, blurry lines between books for me =) and Stephanie hanging out car windows to shoot at men in bunny costumes.Speaking of, her mom running over said man in bunny costume, was both funny and terrible, but mostly funny cause this is fiction after all. =)(view spoiler)[Finally Ranger kills someone who's after Stephanie! (real life: killing=bad. books: killing=not so bad =) There were a couple other instances in books I was hoping Ranger would show up at opportune times but never did. I had high hopes as the book neared the end and the crazy guy of this book was still at large and Ranger didn't disappoint. And in his awesomeness he made it look like a suicide. Stephanie is already back in Morelli's arms(boo!) by the end, but I'm thinking Stephanie isn't going to look as fondly on Ranger's activities as I did. =D In case it's not obvious by now I'm reading the books 75% for Ranger and 25% to see how Stephanie's car gets destroyed each book. =D (hide spoiler)]
What do You think about Hard Eight (2003)?
This was a good recovery from the last book for me. I laughed quite a few times in this book and was getting the evil eye from my husband for it again so that's a good thing.What is it with Stephanie and picking up every stray in the Burg? Kloughn just cracked me up, Lula, God... what a team the three of them make. Misfit Ragtag, but damn funny to read. The dryer scene, I nearly pee'd my pants on that one. Very funny.And Psycho's? What's up with every psycho in the Burg wanting a piece of her! I swear she attracts them like bears to honey.Sweet Jesus... the Geese? I was kicked out of the bed room over that one. Ranger... well, at least they've done it now and at least she wasn't cheating on Morelli when she did. I'm happy about that, but I'm still not loving the Ranger/Steph couple as much as Morelli/Steph. Ranger will not commit, I think he's made that abundantly clear and deep down I know Stephanie wants to commit, she's just too damn stubborn to accept it.I'm glad that there is still a Morelli / Stephanie and I hope they resolve things in the near future, because I love them together.
—Tammy
I enjoyed this the least of the Stephanie Plum books, and I suspect the series is taking a downward plunge from here. I do plan on reading the next one, though, just to see if there's any improvement, or if my suspicions are correct.A lot of the elements I liked were in here, and the way Lula plays off the character-introduced-in-this-book (there's at least one per book, per the Plum Formula) was frequently funny. I found myself laughing out loud at some of the interactions.And Evanovich does a much better job in this book of having Stephanie react in a believable and realistic way to all the craziness around her. Someone is stalking and threatening her, and, for the first time in the series, I actually believe she's really afraid, instead of merely reacting for the plot's sake.All that said, though, the ending really let me down. Stephanie had nothing to do with the conclusion, and even her FTA was completely out of her hands. That was merely a subplot, but, with the way she was left out of the action at the end, I was hoping she'd at least get that victory. A lot of the book seemed to be Evanovich expressing that she was sick and tired of Stephanie, and so, if she had to keep writing her, she was going to make her suffer.Overall, this was disappointing, and, if this is the direction the series is headed, I don't see myself catching all the way up.
—Alice
Oops, forgot to put this on my "To read" (well, listen to), but these works don't take long, and are filled with all your favorite characters from The Burg and greater Trenton. Some of the book is taken up with brief back-stories, so's you are up to date on the relationships good, bad and - well - complicated. So this time our plucky ex-lingerie-buyer is hot on the trail of a divorcing mother and her, as well as an aging mobster who seems to escape every time you get a cuff on 'im. Yup, Stephanie loses a bunch of handcuffs, plus manages to get not one but two cars blown up. Wouldn't be a Plum mystery without that! Ranger and Morelli continue to try to figure out whose - uh - ego is bigger, Joyce Barnhart interferes, Mom makes pot roast and decries the fate of her children (oh, yeah, Sister Valerie seems done with being a Lesbian, but is quite confused in other ways), Grandma Mazur wants to get laid, Lula provides muscle and insight, and Vinnie is just an oily little weasel. Yeah, formulaic, and I'm just halfway through the series! Well, the next one is one of those between-the-numbers ones in which some character named Deisel is introduced. See ya then!
—Tim
