I love the Stephen Plum novels; so, how is it that I managed to miss this one?

I noticed this book displayed at the library’s holiday book display and of course, I had to read it.

The book had all my favorite, lovable characters: Stephanie, Joe Morelli, Lula, The Plum parents and of course, Grandma Mazur. It also had Stephanie’s sister, her nieces, and our favorite little person, Randy Briggs.

In this episode, Christmas is closing in and Stephanie needs to collar her skip, one Sandy Claws (formerly known as Sandor Klausen) in order to prepare for Christmas. Being that Stephanie is far from the greatest Bond Agent, in fact she is probably the worse, this will be nearly impossible; after all, she only has four days to collar her skip and no leads.

Well, things would change when a man appears in her kitchen……………

Lovely holiday book!

I guess there’s a reason I don’t read Christmas novels.

I greatly enjoy Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series, but this novella —which takes place between books eight and nine—about a hawt Christmas angel (or whatever he is) and a bail-jumping toy maker was far too silly and self-consciously whimsical for me to get very far.

Stephanie, I’ll be back with Tasty Kakes when the holidays are over.

This was a super short little novella? Or short story?
I thought it was amusing.... very Lifetime movie like. Cheesy meets old lady vulgarity. Weird cringey phrases like “his package” and “he’s a hottie” are all throughout. It’s a pretty silly little story that mixes Christmas fantasy with rom com and a touch crime fiction.

It’s entertaining, it’s short, and it’s about Christmas. Solid 3 stars.

2.5 stars - Cute, but Diesel is not an adequate substitute for Ranger.

As always well done. Novella that was a pleasure to read. I like that she ties in mini stories that connect dots from the next novel. This was my first .5 book from Evanavich but won't be the last!

"I'm starting the day with a doughnut. That's what Christmas does to me. It makes me crazy and then I need a doughnut."

I picked up this novella last night and read it in one sitting. It's short and fast-paced, kind of pointless, and completely hilarious. After doing some research, I discovered that it's a crossover book which introduced a protagonist from a new series that Evanovich was preparing to debut. Diesel is a great character, and I'm definitely curious to know if his supernatural abilities are actually explained in his books, but I don't that I'll actually get around to reading them any time soon. Speaking of supernatural, I so enjoyed the fact that Evanovich just decided to throw in characters out of absolutely nowhere that can control electricity, teleport, and are telekinetic with literally zero explanation! Funnily enough, that exact thing is what lost of a lot of her readers on this one, but I love magical realism so I have no complaints.

So the whole supernatural aspect was somewhat weird and I'm not really a fan of it, at least not in this series. Despite that I laughed out loud numerous occasions.

These are easy to get my hands on and great for filling in the blanks between books while I'm waiting for the library holds to come in. This is a great little Christmas construct, Stephanie Plum style and even though I usually skip "betweens," I got curious about Diesel, I guess.

My only regret is that I didn't read it at Christmastime. It's perfectly harmless and a perfect fluffy read for that season. Ranger and Morelli get the week off, there's a mysterious new stranger in town, Stephanie gets a new nickname, there are plenty of Christmas cookies, and there may or may not be elves.

I like Diesel's philosophy on Christmas; "Aside from all the religious blah, blah, blah which we won't get into... I think Christmas is whatever turns you on. That's what I really believe. Everyone decides what they want out of Christmas then everyone gets a shot at making it happen."

Not enough Lula. She’s the best and the only reason I pick up these books.

Car Casaulties: 1
Christmas Tree Casaulties: 4
Pregnancy Tests: 5

this was a light, quick read. I laughed outloud several times. No sex scenes. It was a perfectly fun christmas read.

Of course I've read this! I've read them all! And love them all! Even the "in-betweens"! :)