This one was pretty funny

SERIE STEPHANIE PLUM n. 5

LETTURA DI GRUPPO E&L

No be ma si finisce così un libro???? É il secondo di fila questo mese!!! Ma nooooooooo!!!
Come al solito Stephanie e la sua combriccola mi fa troppo ridere. Non so come ci riesce la Evanovich. Rido e sogno ad occhi aperti, come mai??? Ma Per Morelli!!!! Il problema è che anche Ranger si è fatto avanti. E per tutto il libro Non si sa chi deciderà..e non quando finalmente mette su il vestito super sexy e con la pesca sceglie un nome...il libro finisce...uffa!!!!!

Cque finalmente nonna Mazur è tornata, e Lula è più spumeggiante che mai. Non so se posso farcela ad aspettare la prossima lettura di gruppo!!!!

I listened to the audio version. As always, highly entertaining.

“Tenía un tío desaparecido que posiblemente había descuartizado a una mujer para luego embutir sus trozos en una bolsa de basura, pero también llevaba un mes de retraso con el alquiler. De alguna forma iba a tener que solucionar ambos problemas.” ~ Sobre la pista de Janet Evanovich.

Stephanie es cazarrecompensas pero últimamente las recompensas son muy bajas y no le llegan para mantenerse. Vive sola y su corazón aún palpita por Joe Morelli, su ex, que además es policía y se siente atraída por Ranger que la contrata para trabajos esporádicos con los que completar sus ingresos.

Ahora su familia le da un nuevo encargo: investigar la desaparición de su Tío Fred, un personaje marcado por la tacañería pero que esconde ciertos hábitos que dan que pensar. Stephanie se ve envuelta así en una investigación que comienza a levantar ampollas y la colocan en el punto de mira de alguien que la quiere matar.

Un libro ligero con mucho humor y unos diálogos y personajes fantásticos. Me declaro fan de su abuela y de Briggs, un experto en informática que por cosas de la vida acaba viviendo en casa de Stephanie. Si buscas un libro lleno de sangre y psicópatas, aquí no los vas a encontrar. Esta es una lectura divertida, con toques románticos y de comedia de enredo. Al parecer es el cuarto o quinto de una serie, no lo tengo claro. Lo cogí en la biblioteca como libro independiente y la verdad es que no he echado nada en falta. Y me lo he pasado tan bien leyéndolo que ya tengo otro en mi mesilla. No sé en qué orden va pero tampoco me importa.

I’m going to keep this brief, because I know sometimes posts about books that are second, third, or, as in this case, fifth in the series can get kind of tedious to all those who have not read the first few yet. All I will say before I get into things that may be slight spoiler territory is that I have had my ups and downs with this series (none of the books were awful, but some were definitely better than others), but this book was the best yet. The Stephanie Plum series is chick lit with a lovely blend of humor and mystery, and while this mystery in this book was rather so-so, the humor was top notch.

In this Stephanie Plum novel, she’s looking out for family. Her Uncle Fred has gone missing, and out of duty, Stephanie agrees to help look for him. In the meantime, she befriends an angry dwarf and sketchy bookie, wrecks several cars, gets hot and steamy with not one but two men, and finds herself in the middle of a shooting… three times. Altogether, this book was fast-paced and adventurous, although the mystery was a little lacking.

I physically laughed out loud in this book more than any other, but I was also able to guess the mystery about halfway through. You win some, you lose some. I would much rather read a hilarious book than one that kept me guessing, though, so I was extremely pleased with how this book turned out.

That was the most I've enjoyed a Stephanie Plum book since the second or third one. I found myself actually laughing out loud at Grandma Mazur's commentary.

In this one, Stephanie looks into a Plum family matter more than she chases down FTAs. Uncle Fred, the family cheapskate and philanderer, hasn't been seen since he left to confront the garbage company over a few missed stops. He pre-pays for the service every quarter and he's going to raise hell until he gets his two dollars back! While Stephanie tracks him down she finds out that her worst nightmare, insane boxer Benito Ramirez, is out of jail and stalking her.

In personal news, her relationship with Joe Morelli has been put on the slow track since Steph figures he'll never buy the cow if he keeps getting the milk for free. Her sexy coworker Ranger makes his own move on our girl by upgrading her blue and white '57 Chevy to a black Porsche Boxster - in exchange for some freelance work. With Joe on one side, Ranger on the other and Ramirez sneaking up behind her, what's our poor Jersey girl to do?

She puts on her big girl skirt and stilettos, of course!

Since I've decided to read these for the humor and sheer insanity, I've rediscovered my joy for this series. This one was tons of fun.

So funny

These books get better as Stephanie evolves as a bounty huntress. This book was filled hysterical lines, ridiculous scenarios, and hunky cohorts. Unlike some of the books in this series, there was a pretty realistic overarching mystery.

E' un brutto periodo per la nostra Stephanie: Vinnie, suo cugino e datore di lavoro, non ha recuperi da affidarle e siccome affitto e bollette non si pagano da sole, la nostra antieroina deve ancora una volta cercare un modo per far quadrare i conti.

Pensate forse che opti per fare la commessa? Nossignori! Stephanie va da Ranger, misterioso ed equivoco collega che l'ha – per così dire – iniziata alla professione di agente di recupero e gli chiede di trovarle qualcosa da fare. Non ci sarebbe niente di particolarmente strano se Ranger non operasse nella zona d'ombra tra la legalità e l'illegalità.

Così inizia la sua carriera parallela e devo dire che non va molto diversamente da quella ufficiale – e come dubitarne? Innanzi tutto, Ranger le si presenta con un'auto aziendale. Una Porche. Mmh... devo davvero specificare che salterà in aria e verrà schiacciata da un camion della nettezza urbana? Per fortuna Ranger non se la prende (probabilmente la conosce abbastanza da essere rassegnato!).

Già, già, Ranger... pare proprio che ci sarà del tenero tra lui e la nostra Stephanie. Devo dire che mi dispiace molto per Morelli. La coppia Ranger-Stephanie non fa ridere quanto la coppia Morelli-Stephanie... quindi, rimango una fan sfegata di Morelli, anche se devo ammettere che Ranger è muy caliente (e che in condizioni normali la mia scelta ricadrebbe su di lui... ma in Stephanie Plum non c'è niente di anche solo lontanamente normale!).

La parte del giallo a questo giro non l'ho capita tanto. Fino a un certo punto ho seguito la raccolta degli indizi, poi mi sono persa nel momento in cui Stephanie mette insieme i pezzi. Le cose sono due. O Stephanie sta diventando davvero brava nel suo mestiere, o ero troppo impegnata a ridere per seguire le sue indagini. Propenderei per la seconda ipotesi.

E adesso devo andare assolutissimamente a leggere il sesto!!! Questo finale mi ha lasciata con l'ansia di sapere chi c'è dietro quella porta!!!

This is one of the most fun installments for me so far - 3.5 stars rounded up.

Stephanie Plum, once again low on cash, is on the hunt for a 3 foot tall man who has skipped bail and is also searching for a missing uncle. Her hamster, Rex, is still in his cage, naturally, but she is moving into the proverbial love (or should I say lust?) triangle with Morelli and Ranger. While I am over love triangles, this book is funny and adventurous enough that I am willing to overlook it.

I like Stephanie Plum series but I'm not one of those who love it. Still I like to read the book from time to time.

This time Stephanie is involved in the case of her uncle Fred missing. The case becomes more complicated with every page. Stephanie has some time to spend on it since there is no people to hunt for money. She also starts to work for Ranger and loses one car after another.

I's a really nice and funny read, though there are also some parts that are rather ridiculous. Like Briggs living in her flat and some things her grandma says and does. But all in all, it is a good entertainment. Still I'm not sure I'm still interested in the relationship of Stephanie and Morelli. I'm a bit bored with all that constant pulling and pushing.

This is probably the twentieth time I've read the Stephanie Plum books. I love them, obviously. When I need a truly entertaining story to make the day better, these are always the books I turn to.


Reread March 2018

**Content Warnings at the Bottom**

The fifth book in the Stephaine Plum series is a rather forgettable entry in my opinion. I didn’t remember much about this novel and I had read it before, which wasn’t the case in the first couple of entries. While I still really enjoy the series, there are parts of it that have really not aged well and bothered me a lot during this read-through. Also, a big part of this novel was focused on the start of the push and pull between Ranger and Morelli for Stephanie, which is really fun at the start, but as Evanovich has published thirty of these novels, I have a feeling it is going to get old eventually.

High Five follows Stephanie whose bank account is empty, her bills are due, and there are no Failures to Appear for her to track down to get some cash. On top of all of that, her mother is asking her to find Uncle Fred, who disappeared one afternoon and has failed to reappear. While Stephanie is attempting to find a man who no one really liked, she reaches out to Ranger to see if he has any work for her that will hold her over until there is a cash flow from her bounty hunter job. Unfortunately, Ranger’s work is always skirting legal and Stephanie has a bad habit of blowing up cars, even when they are expensive company cars. Also, working for Ranger means that Stephanie is around Ranger and now it is hard to hide their attraction to each other, especially since she is off in her on-again-off-again relationship with Morelli. Just when Stephanie doesn’t think she can take any more, an old threat from her past comes back and an FTA moves into her apartment. Suddenly finding a job at the button factory isn’t such a bad idea.

I found that the mystery in this novel was pretty lackluster. While it is realistic that Stephanie can’t find every clue, she got all the information via gossip from the individuals in the Burg. She was rather passive in most of this novel in regards to Uncle Fred being missing. Also, her failing at all the jobs she did for Ranger was comical, with her only win in the novel being bringing in the one FTA, it got slightly annoying. Even with the threat from her past, she refused to tell any of the men who could have protected her, so I couldn’t feel much sympathy when she continued to be put in dangerous situations. Then, she doesn’t even get to resolve that issue. I just found the whole plot rather basic.

My biggest issue with this novel and this readthrough is the way that weight is handled in his series. I know that it started in the 90s, but my god! The way that Stephanie talks about Lula, who is 200 pounds and five foot five would make me believe that a man wrote this novel. Also, Stephanie in other novels complains about her weight, and she is 5 foot 9 and only 135 pounds. When I was a teenager, I never picked up on this, but as an adult, I want to rip the pages out at these parts.

Stephanie, while not shining in other parts of her story, was extremely relatable in her push and pull between Morelli and Ranger. Morelli doesn’t want to marry her, but they obviously care about one another, so is it worth being in a relationship you don’t see going anywhere? Morelli is rather sweet in this novel, but given the past history, I can see why Stephaine can’t trust him. She also knows Ranger would be like putting her hand on an electric fence, but it is still tempting to just see what will happen. I mean, if I had two hot people wanting to get with me knowing they were both not boyfriend material, I would probably be doing the same thing Stephanie is in this novel.

I enjoyed this novel like I have every other book in the series, but it isn’t one of my favorites. This is a 3-star read. Then again, in a series this long they can’t all be five stars, can they?


**Content Warnings**

Ableism, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Death, Gun Violence, Rape


**Old Review**
Alright so this isn't one of my favorite in the series, it's good, but not my favorite. The mystery of the missing Uncle Fred was interesting, but I was far more interested in the Ranger and Stephanie dynamic. This on top of the on again off again relationship with Morelli was more interesting than what happened to cheap Uncle Fred. Though I have to admit that Mabel not giving a damn about him going missing made me smile a bit.

So about the Ranger and Stephanie almost, not really relationship, I don't know how I feel about it. I know that Morelli isn't perfect boyfriend material, but I still enjoy them as a couple because they aren't perfect. That isn't saying that I don't like Ranger, because I do, but in this novel at least his affection seems to have come out of nowhere. Especially since this is the first novel we learn anything about him other than he is basically New Jersey's version of batman. I liked the tension between Stephanie and Ranger, I just don't know if I want them to be a couple.

Overall, a fun read, but not as good as some of the others