Laugh Out Loud, Enticing. Captivating & Exciting Read! I Loved It!

This book was hilarious and so many of the characters were funny. I like how each book is like an episode from a sitcom. Each time there are new characters and a new mystery. In addition, it seems like this one was officially the start of the love triangle between Stephanie, Morrelli, and Ranger. Then, at the end, I once again did not see it coming or how far the whole thing went. Although, one of the character's deaths was extremely satisfying. Overall, a fun read.

These books are quite entertaining. Love how Stephanie's cast of quirky supporting characters grows with each installment. The police spouse in me is intrigued by the mystery. The girly girl part of me loves the cliffhanger at the end.

It's nice to revisit old times when pagers where still widely used and the only thing a person had to worry about was a deranged serial killer.

I am obsessed !! So I am rereading !!

As always a laugh out loud experience. I need these on my long nights. I hope Janet E. continues to bless us with these hilarious novels.

Happy reading everyone

I really enjoyed this installment. I love the character and her trials of issues with cars, characters and family make you laugh and enjoy. It is a smooth roller coaster ride through NJ and every time I find more reasons to read the next book. Can't wait to read more from JE. This book was Plum perfect!!!

This was funny!! She has no luck with cars, but at least she gets to drive some nice ones for about 5 minutes! LOL Seriously, though, she is a walking disaster and she gets into some serious stuff. I did kind of figure out what had happened, but it wrapped up nicely. I know the love triangle goes on and on thoughout the series, but I do like seeing the tension and interactions between them.

Basic Info

Format: Audio
Pages/Length: n/a
Genre: Mystery; Chick Lit

At A Glance

Love Triangle/Insta Love/Obsession?: Triangle.
Cliff Hanger: eh.
Triggers: n/a
Rating: 3 Stars

Score Sheet
All out of ten

Cover: 8
Plot: 9
Characters: 8
World Building: 7
Flow: 8
Series Congruity: 8
Writing: 7
Ending: 8

Total: 7

In Dept

Best Part: Grandma!
Worst Part: Slow going.
Thoughts Had: hey!; creepyyyyy; bored.

Conclusion

Continuing the Series: yes
Recommending: yes

Short Review: This one was a bit more boring to me at least. I didn't care much for the plot. Car still gets killed. She loses more handcuffs. And i want to suggest she get a holster because every time she goes to get it out of her bag, the FTA gets the lead on her. Drive me nuts. The trash truck was a nice touch thou :D

Misc.

Book Boyfriend: Ranger.
Best Friend Material: Lula

Review in GIF Form:

These books are egregiously formulaic, but they are cozies. You know what to expect, down to the types of plot minutiae Evanovich will use to fill in the gaps of Stephanie's life -- junk food, that damn hamster, racism, beautician trips. Her car will blow up. She'll get stalked.

And yet I love the sense of place that Evanovich creates with each of these books. It comforts me, all the squat, characterless brick apartment buildings and tiny, shuttered row homes of Trenton. The garbage in the street. The road names.

See, I live in Philly and work across the bridge(s) from Trenton in Morrisville, PA (check out the opening line of Hot Six, we made the big time, baby). To me, reading these books is as soothing and homey as Stephanie Plum walking around her parents' house in her robe. I recognize these names and places, the Jersey in-jokes, utilitarian city living in a kinda grody, moderately dangerous place and how, after a bit, you don't really notice the trash fluttering by or the weeds coming up in the cracks of the sidewalk. Stephanie Plum really IS the girl next door if these are also your life experiences.

So I get annoyed with the formula, yes, but I don't care. I get annoyed with how dumb Stephanie can be, and her small person body image issues and how the men in her life express out loud that they don't want her to get fat (how gross and awful is that), and how Stephanie stumbles on the solution to the book's mystery by the killer just revealing himself to her rather than by her "wit." I didn't expect a feminist bent to these books, but I expected more from them than total female incompetence.

I don't even know if I'd personally recommend them to someone not from the tri-state region, knowing what the appeal is for me. But I'll still read them.

What can I say? I'm hooked on these books. The writing is mediocre, to be sure. It's pulp-y and if I allow myself a half a second, I'm a bit offended by the first chapter of the next book being at the end of the book you just finished. It weakens your resolve AND assumes you care, which you do because you get sucked in by that first chapter and find yourself at Half-Price Books cursing the fact that they have every single one BUT the one you need (in my case, Hot Six and two weeks ago, Three for the Dough), before running to Target and buying the next two in anticipation that Half-Price Books will let you down when you arrive hungry for the next one, but guilty because it's just not great writing nor is it intellectually stimulating, nor is it educating you in any way except for revealing the fact that you have lowered your standards considerably in hopes of escaping the stress of the work week.

But. . . rambling aside, I'm hooked. And, I love the characters. I find myself rooting for Stephanie and empathizing with the fact that every thing seems to go wrong for her and yet she still succeeds in the end. I love her can-do, never-give-up spirit. I love her humanity. And, I love her complicated attraction to and relationship with Joe Morelli. (Yes, like Stephanie, I swoon a little when he happens upon a page.) I'm frustrated by the growing attraction to Ranger. (And, yes, like Stephanie, I find him a bit too difficult to resist and a bit too easy to fantasize what it must be like. . .) And, I love its simplicity. You can pour through one, be relatively entertained and wonder when you will shake the addiction long enough to read something a little bit more lofty.

So, I'm already two chapters into the next one. And, I'm feeling a bit bad that I'd prefer to lie in bed and read this next installment instead of getting some work done, while at the same time feeling a bit bad that I am giving up my Sunday to get some work done, instead of living vicariously through the adventures of Ms. Plum and the rest of the characters Ms Evanovich has invited into my life. Life could be worse. . . my car could get blown up or squashed by a garbage truck.

I listened to the abridged audiobook, just over 2 hours. I wouldn't have been able to listen t anything longer by this narrator.

Her books are always fun.