Recently, I had the immense delight of reading Plum Lovin’ by Janet Evanovich! I’ve been waiting for this book to come out for what seems like ages, but it really hasn’t been that long. But still, when you desire a book it seems like forever.I had such fun reading the book, but there is one HUGE problem with it. It’s TOO SHORT!Plum Lovin’ is a Valentine’s Day novella that takes place between the numbers of the other Stephanie Plum novels. This one takes place between Twelve Sharp and the forthcoming Lean Mean Thirteen.There are some negative reviews of this little novella, but I don’t think the negative Nancy’s and I were reading the same book; Plum Lovin’ was an absolute riot!Diesel, who last appeared in Visions of Sugar Plums (the Christmas novella that goes between Hard Eight and To the Nines) and he needs her help again: Annie Hart, a bond jumper, is being tracked by an Unmentionable. She’s also a big ticket bond for Stephanie.Diesel gives Stephanie an ultimatum: help him track down the man after her and he’ll give her Annie Hart. Except there’s a catch: Annie Hart is a relationship expert; Stephanie must make sure that everyone in Annie’s files has a happy Valentine’s Day.The people Stephanie has to help are lovelorn and desperate: an overworked single mother, a shy butcher, an older woman who’s afraid of sex and her sister’s boyfriend Albert who’s afraid of marriage. The results when Stephanie decides to play Cupid are hilarious and this is one Valentine’s Day caper that I’m going to have to read a few more times.I don’t understand the negative reviews myself. Sure, it’s short, but it’s a novella. And it’s freaking hilarious! I finished it in two days and laughed myself silly through most of it.One memorable scene includes Stephanie’s grandmother and lip injections. Great stuff, hilarious!My only major complaint is that I WANT MORE. Sigh.I guess I’m just going to have to read Plum Lovin’ again a few more times and take another spin with Twelve Sharp until Lean Mean Thirteen comes out in June.This visit with Stephanie Plum may have been short this time around, but man was it worth it!
What do You think about Plum Lovin' (2007)?
I have been a reading fool lately (which means that I haven't been getting a lot of sleep). I picked up another book at the library, Plum Lovin' (Stephanie Plum: Between the Numbers)by Janet Evanovich, which I read very quickly. I was excited to start that after finishing the last novel and now they are being returned to the library together and I am on to the next one.In this book, Stephanie is working with Diesel to take down two people that they both need. Stephanie needs Annie for a failure to appear and Diesel needs Bernie Beaner. Stephanie has to take over Annie's business as a match maker as part of the deal. She has to work on a bunch of different cases to make love matches before Valentine's Day. Stephanie and Diesel work together to make the love matches and catch the bad guy. It is just interesting how that works out but you have to pick up the book to see.I really enjoyed this fast read (even though I read it in the wrong order). It was funny and I loved the change of pace for Stephanie to do something to help couples find love. She was just as lucky that she made those happen as most of the FTAs that she captured. Better to be lucky then good!! I hope that you pick up this between the numbers book and check it out!!
—Alison P
I understand this is the first of several lighter books that will be in between "real" novels. More of a Stephanie helps semi-super natural beings than a mystery, but it works. Maybe even better than many of the real books.It reads very well until you to get a point where Stephanie does a complete detailed inventory from a supermarket shopping trip. At that point you stop reading since you are too busy wondering if anyone edits this stuff or even reads it before it is published. You know the editor SuperJen gets thanked at the beginning of every Evanovich book. Then you begin to wonder if SuperJen is actually an hallucination of the author and then some things start making sense. But I digress. Good book, the characters are in fine form, and all of the tedious stuff that never gets resolved is mostly avoided. There are still 5 Janet Evanovich books on our shelf. This one is from 2007 and the Burg is still the same old Burg. As of 2014 the Burg ain't the same Burg anymore. I am curious to see how/if that gets handled. But as usual, I need to read a 2 or 3 other books before wading back into another Stephanie Plum book.
—Scoats
This was a quick read...cover to cover took only about 2 1/2 hours. There wasn't much to it...not a lot of suspense or intrigue or really much interesting. I've been looking forward to reading this author for a long time, not only because she lives in NH but because everyone seems to be reading her stuff. I hope the rest of her books are more interesting than this one! I guess this would be a good beach/pool read...you know, when you're a little bit too distracted to pay attention to elaborate plots & you don't really care if you get sand in the pages.
—Katie
