High Five by Janet Evanovich is the 5th book in the Stephanie Plum series. Bounty Hunter Stephanie is asked to hunt for a missing uncle who did not come home after complaining that his garbage bin had not been collected. She finds pictures of a dead body in his desk. Another fun book with plenty of laughs. It's always entertaining joining Stephanie and her crazy friends on her adventures. Grandma especially provides plenty of hilarious moments.

This is definitely not one of my favourite Stephanie Plum books, though it's still a long way from being as terrible as any of the -teen numbered books. This is the book where Steph REALLY starts flip flopping between Morelli and Ranger, and it's pretty infuriating for me. Part of the reason for her flip flopping is apparently that Morelli doesn't want to get married, even though STEPH has no desire to get married. But Morelli suggests they get married about three times in the course of the 300-odd pages, so...?!?!?!?!?!

I think the thing that annoyed me most about this book was Steph's almost flippant attitude towards Ramirez. GIRL. HE RAPED YOUR BEST FRIEND WITH A BROKEN BEER BOTTLE, LEFT HER FOR DEAD ON YOUR FIRE ESCAPE, AND TRIED TO RAPE AND MURDER YOU. So yes, you should get a restraining order when he gets out of prison and starts harassing you. Yes, you should go and stay with a friend so that you're not alone in your apartment that Ramirez has broken into several times. Yes, you should carry your gun with bullets in it. Sure, she wants to keep living her normal life, but there's a difference between wanting normality and being totally reckless with your personal safety. Good Lord.

The case-of-the-week isn't especially interesting. Like, it's fine. But it's a long way from being memorable. Instead, the book is filled with the usual elements you'd expect - Steph's car gets blown up/crushed/stolen, Steph's apartment gets broken into by various people, Steph can't make up her mind about which guy to boink, Grandma Mazur does something ridiculous with a weapon (in this case, a stun gun), Steph bungles her job, etc etc etc. It's enjoyable fluff, but I found myself wishing the series had stayed as dark as the first two books were rather than resorting to slapstick humour and predictability.

This was a great one. Grandma Muzar is funny as always and of course Stephanie is still a mess but manages to always get the job done but with so much added fiascos and laughs.

A missing cheapskate Uncle Fred, a “low-level” FTA computer programmer, and a newly paroled psychopath bent on revenge: Stephanie Plum always seems to find herself right in the biggest trouble Trenton, New Jersey has to offer. All the colorful characters are there, including would-be partner Lula, handsome cop / love interest Joe Morelli, and the mysterious bounty-hunter Ranger. Spoiler alert: good chance she’ll wreck a car, eat too many doughnuts, and fall down a flight of stairs or something.

Yes, it’s my guilty pleasure: another Stephanie Plum novel. One year I gave myself a New Year’s resolution: read as many Presidential biographies as I could. This year, should I make it, “Read one Stephanie novel per month so I can catch up to #29…sometime in 2025?”

There’s a financial crime angle to the story that took me a look back once in a while to completely understand. That by itself probably wasn’t enough to carry the story, so enter Ramirez, the murderous former boxer released from prison on a technicality. There’s always a dance between Steph and Morelli, always good for entertainment. Now Ranger’s in the mix as well, and a clever ending involving all three. It was a faster-moving plot than the last few.

As always, tons of side characters with crazy and interesting quirks. Evanovich seems to have created a “Trenton culture” out of the place: fewer than six degrees separates Steph from the whole town, since she seems to have gone to grammar school with the whole gang. And all the settings: Stiva’s funeral parlor, the fast-food joints (though no appearance by Cluck in a Bucket), and of course, The Burg.

I’m of the opinion that it doesn’t matter where you start in this series. It’s still good, still familiar, still funny and entertaining.

It just doesn’t get old for me.

THIS SERIES!!!!!
I know cozy mysteries or "bubblegum reads" aren't for everybody, but I really think this one is. Stephanie is funny, relatable, and after this book stuck in a love triangle that you are dying for her to figure out.
My only qualm with this book was that Stephanie bought a beautiful black dress and strappy heels to wear to a wedding upon Morelli's request. She ultimately decided to save the duo for another day since swearing intimacy with Morelli off for the foreseeable future. She is a lady after all (ha!). My disappoint me turned in to glee by the end of the book as she put Ranger and Morelli's name in a bowl and picked a lucky winner to come over and review the outfit for her.
Now on to the next book to see who the victor is.

Another fun read by Janet.

Morelli, ranger, lula, ramirez, Stephanie plum, cars blowing up, grandma mazur using stun gun; this book had everything and everyone, except for some hard core action from the hamster Rex.

Very quick listen on audio.

I just finished High Five by Janet Evanovich which is #5 in the Stephanie Plum series. This is the first installment that I actually read; I listened to the first four on audiobook but, thanks to Goodreads, I got a heads up that the fifth book was better to read due to a change in narrator. What was enjoyable was that I could hear all the different voices as I read the different parts, especially Grandma Mazur who is a pip!!!! It was enjoyable to catch up with the usual suspects: Morelli, Lula, and Ranger. There were, as usual, great laugh aloud moments and some scary parts: think Ramirez!!! But what really got me was that ending: who's that knocking on the door????? I'm looking forward to listening to the next book!

Go Cards! L1C4!!

This was a particularly funny book in the series.

Initial Reaction (upon finishing): No time to review. Must start next book, now!

Wee! This installment was way fun. Evanovich clearly loves her some kooky, offbeat and unpredictable characters, because there's no shortage of those here. Randy Briggs, the computer-savvy little person, was lots of fun...as was the mysterious Bunchy. I was really pleased to see more Ranger infused into this installment. Stephanie's scenes with this dude are getting to be quite enjoyable. ^_^

I'm also glad that I read a review mentioning the cliffhanger that closes this book. Though it caught me good (and I made sure to have book 6 on hand when I finished this), I felt that it was more of a gimmicky ending than anything else--more on that in my review for Hot Six.

Overall, I really liked this installment. I think I even liked it more than the last. How about that! ^_^

1. I'm in love with Steph and Morelli
2. I'm even on board with Ranger (finally)
3. No offense to CJ Critt, but her voice for Briggs was THE WORST. Glad he's out of the picture. (also ready for Miss Lorelei King)
4. Grandma Mazur remains one of my favorites (along with Lula)
5. Steph needs an unlisted phone number and she also needs to move so these creeps can't find her (preferably back in with Morelli)
6. Too many swoon worthy/laugh out loud moments in this book. It was pretty solid.
7. WHAT WAS THAT ENDING?!
8. I may have finished the book with my hard copy so I can't even cheat by the different voices on my Audiobook.
9. Need Hot Six NOW.
10. Thank goodness there are 20+ books in this series. I can't get enough!

A read-it-in-one-sitting kind of book, as were all of the other Stephanie Plum novels so far!
That naughty little cliffhanger though! I need to know who it was!