In this book, bounty-hunter Stephanie gets a couple two-bit FTAs (failure to appear) to get back to court. She fails miserably a couple times and rewards herself with doughnuts. While juggling lusty feelings for both Ranger and Morelli, she gets an unwanted sidekick tagging along. After getting yet another car destroyed, her neighborhood cops show up to laugh at her. She goes to have dinner with her protective mother and smack-talking grandma, while her father rolls his eyes and quietly eats his dinner. Later, Stephanie and Lulu go on a stake-out, miss their quary, and go out for pizza/shopping. Though both Ranger and Morelli try to protect her, she refuses to be cowed (though still shaking in her boots) and makes the final confrontation with the bad guy.

Sound familiar? That is essentially the plot of all of the Stephanie Plum books that I've read so far. Though it was cute at first, it gets old essentially reading the same story over and over again. I used to get the Plum books out as fluff to read on airplane trips. Now, reading it as a break in between other books, this just seems far to shallow with no real growth in the character over time.

La Evanovich è come sempre magistrale nel farti ridere a crepapelle per le situazioni più inverosimili e bizzarre, senza risultare mai esagerata.
Come al solito, Stephanie è alle prese con macchine che vanno a fuoco, criminali mascherati, sfuggenti e pericolosi, una famiglia esilarante e amici surreali.
Qui deve anche palleggiarsi (finalmente fino in fondo anche con Ranger) tra i suoi due uomini da sballo che le ronzano intorno.
Stephanie è sempre un toccasana.

“He’s the Wizard because he’s magic. He mysteriously passes through locked doors. He seems to read minds. He’s able to refuse dessert. And he can give me a hot flash with the touch of a fingertip.”

5 stars ***** just for sheer laugh-out-loudness!

I love the Stephanie Plum series. She has to be the unluckiest bail bonds-person/private-eye ever! These books are fabulously confusing, over-the-top, well plotted, raunchy, and stuffed with crazy characters & black humour. They have it all and really do have you laughing out loud. The best thing, for me, is that there are lots left in the series for me to read!! Yay! ;)

A second reading of Hard Eight didn't disappoint. Stephanie moves from one crazy situation to another while calm, cool and collected on the outside and completely upset on the inside. We Albert Cloughn and Stephanie's sister Valerie. Valerie is recently divorced and struggling to get her life together. She and Cloughn are an unlikely couple by the conclusion. Stephanie and Lula are great partners as they travel through Trenton looking for skips.

Some dastardly doer named Eddie Abruzzi finally forces Stephanie Plum to have sex with Ranger. There, I’ve said it. Not really a spoiler. If you have been reading this series, you knew it was going to happen eventually. I have to hand it to Janet Evanovich—she really knows how to build her wispy writing to a satisfying climax. (Even though this particular orgasm took seven novels to achieve.) Part of the foreplay involves a new character with the great last name of Kloughn (pronounced ‘clown’) and as much as I hate to admit it—he made me laugh out loud. Both things I hate: laughing out loud, and admitting I’m reading books geared towards middle aged women and post-pubescent teenage girls. Come on, we all have guilty pleasures . . . Jesus, some people even collect stamps! I mean, really! For movies I like anything with flesh-eating Zombies (as opposed to Cheerios eating Zombies); for musical guilty please it would be Liberace’s Greatest Hits (not really, you have permission to feed me to the nearest flesh eating Zombie if that ever happens); for books it would be the Time Life Series on Do-It-Yourself Brain Surgery and Janet Evanovich (watch out Stephanie Meyers, your in my sights for a book burning party). Once again, the plot is superfluous to the madcap characters. Grandma, Morelli, Lula and Bob the Dog all take bows (or bow-wows in some instances). Maybe my electrolytes have leveled off but I actually think the writing is getting better—at least in this installment. Aw hell, Evanovich probably has a whole studio of writers like on SNL, just cranking them out. That’s okay, they are fun and a harmless diversion—as protected in the Constitution—the Right to Entertainment. (Or is that the Bill of Rights? Or the Declaration of Independence? I get them all mixed up. Oh, well . . . as long as we still have free HBO at the Motels along I-40, all is right with the world.)

I loved this! The storyline was gritty and engaging and there was all the elements I've come to love about Stephanie and those around her.

Hard Eight is a fantastic Plum novel and is one of my favorites :) This story is about Stephanie helping out her parent's neighbor. The neighbor's granddaughter Evelyn and great granddaughter Annie have disappeared so Stephanie agrees to help find them. In the process of locating Evelyn and Annie, Stephanie crosses paths with a dangerous individual by the name of Eddie Abruzzi. Eddie threatens Stephanie to try and get her to stop looking for Evelyn and Annie.

One of my favorite parts of this book is the fact that Steph and Ranger finally hook up! I am a huge babe fan and hope that Steph and Ranger get a HEA. Ranger and Steph have a lot of chemistry together and I think that Ranger is more capable of helping her grow as an individual. In this book, you see just how far Ranger is willing to go to protect Steph.

Overall I would give this book 5 stars for the plot, humor, and the fact that Ranger and Steph's relationship grows!

Wow. They’re all good, but this one has some great last chapters. More to come!
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Q: Where do you go when you’re in a reading funk?

A: Trenton, NJ. Speficially, “The Burg.”



You’ll see a few reviews back how frustrated I got with a certain audiobook. It’s my own fault, trying to read a sweeping, descriptive novel half-distracted by things less important, like work, or driving. So, I got smart for once and tapped that Libby app on my phone, searching for my old friend: Stephanie Plum. Sure enough, there was the next book in the line, another step toward the impossible goal of catching up with the entire series.

Stephanie (voiced by the great Lorelei King) instantly put me in a better mood, starting last Monday as I drove the FDR at dawn. There’s a little comfort in seeing (or hearing) the same scenes, situations, and characters as always. Yes, Steph is still a bumbling bounty hunter, still keeps Lula at her side, still puzzles over Morelli and blanches at Ranger. She eats a few donuts, loses some FTAs, and wrecks a few cars. I like these books the way I liked Diff’rent Strokes or The Hulk: I knew I’d hear “Whatchu talking about Willis,” or see Lou Ferrigno rage in green paint. Ahh…..

Funny as always, and no one does witty, naughty banter quite like Janet Evanovich. Again she does a great job of concealing the mystery, of making me guess. This one’s a little different than the rest: sure, Steph’s got an abusive skip to find in nasty Andy Bender, but she’s also agreed to help her elderly neighbor find her daughter and granddaughter. Just when she thinks it’s easy, she runs afoul of spooky crime boss, Eddie Abruzzi, who swears to…do something to her if she interferes.

But does she listen? Nah. That’s not the Stephanie way. For her trouble, she gets a bag of snakes on her door, and spiders in her car, but that still doesn’t stop her. The story unfolds as it often does, waiting for the moment she nearly gives up for the action to escalate, but it gets just a tad more intense and violent. Steph confronts bad guys differently than she often does, but Dumb Luck plays a major role as always. Ranger was a little deus ex machina, I thought, bringing things to a very quick ending, but I was still satisfied.

Some new elements: Valerie and Mrs. Plum get involved, adding to my feelings of suspense. I liked Albert Klaughn (pronounced “Clown”) since I feel like I’ve met a few guys like this. Oh, and about 2/3 of the way through, I thought the thing lacked the usual spice. But then Ranger calls in his “debt” from the previous novel and into the beginning of this one. And…ohhhhhh, boy. Wink-wink, say-no-more! Don’t worry: Morelli is still here, still in love with our heroine, and…er, uh – no spoilers!



Take a look at my GR list and you’ll see: I’ve read this series kinda out of order. But once I finish To the Nines, I’ll have bridged the gap: I can say I’ve read 1 through 14. This one seems to push the characters and series along in a good little direction. Not off-course, and it has yet to jump the shark. (Oh, and I visually read a little, more toward the end. Just as good.)

Got a full week of work coming up, and good ol’ Stephanie Plum will be riding shotgun. Which means my car will explode. Just…great.

A Rabbit, a Bear, and Some Presidents



Stephanie Plum has two men at the ready and both are raring to go. Of course, one's looking for a commitment and the other is far from it. I like that Ranger is up front about his wants and where things can't go, as well as where they can go.

I am giving this book 5 Stars solely on the grounds that it was beyond hilarious. Never in my life I have read anything so ridiculously funny!
Every character, every situation was so full of rollicking stupidity that it made me burst out laughing. The mystery in this book was okay, I didn't really care much about it because in this installment we had an abundance of entertaining side kicks.

Albert Klough's description of looking like a Pillsbury Doughboy made me laugh lout loud EVERY TIME! xD
And the scene where he got stuck in a dryer is the epicest thing I've ever read, I laughed so much that my sides hurt.

Sadly, Grandma Mazur didn't have much role in this one and neither did Morelli but Stephanie's "fornication with the Batman" a.k.a Ranger made up for it.
Ranger.
That guy is so hot his presence makes me want to fan myself. The mystery surrounding his character makes his character even hotter.

Plus, there was THE Rabbit. And Stephanie's mom. And Valerie. Oh God, this book is the most humorous thing EVER.

Hard Eight was just priceless but still Hot Six remains the best and my favorite book in the series so far.

Because the sixth book in the series wasn’t as refreshing as the rest have been, I let quite some time pass before picking up the seventh one. While it still wasn’t up there with books one to five, I had a pretty good time with it and soon after, I decided to have a go with Hard Eight, the – can you guess? – eighth instalment in the Stephanie Plum series. The novel is aptly titled, cause it had me laughing quite hard.

When seven-year-old Annie Soder and her mother Evelyn go missing, it’s up to Stephanie to retrace their steps and find them. If it’s not for getting them safely home, it’s because Evelyn’s husband demands money and if he’s not getting it, another Bail Bonds agency will take possession of Evelyn’s grandma’s house. While this might not be a case that’s fitted for Stephanie, her grandmother and parents don’t want to see their neighbour lose her house, so Stephanie does what’s in her power to find the child and her mother, even if it means getting involved with Ranger, a dangerous man named Abruzzi and another bounty hunter.
When it comes to mad plots, I think this one is the maddest yet in the series. From the very first page I was engaged in the story and things took a turn for the crazy, but in a good way. In almost every other chapter, something crazy happens or Stephanie manages to get herself in a ridiculous situation and whereas this might drive me crazy in other books, with Stephanie Plum, I am accustomed to the madness and the crazier it gets, the better. These books shouldn’t be read for their tight plotting, and this one is no exception. It’s fun, more than fun, but there’s nothing more to the main story.
Next to a crazy main mystery, the side stories are doing their best as well to keep you entertained. The relationship between Stephanie and Ranger is heating up and then there is Morelli. As far as work-related relationships go, I did like the encounter she had with Jeanne Ellen Burrows. I really like Stephanie’s competitive side and of course an attitude like that is bound to get her into trouble.
The characters are all old reliable, in the sense that you can rest assure that they will provide plenty of entertainment. Lula in particular is quite a woman and from the very first moment she appeared on the page, I went completely giddy. She has the ability to evoke genuine laughter by just being there and if she was crazy in the previous novels, she’s going completely loose in this one. Great character, no doubt about that.

I’m glad I’m not that easy a quitter when it comes to series, cause if I was, I would have stopped after the sixth book and wouldn’t have gotten around to reading this one. That would have been a shame, cause this one is right up there with the first two in terms of craziness and altogether fun. The plot might be completely over the top and absurd, but the characters and their interactions are just so great that I can’t but love this series. Hard Eight is another great addition to a wonderful series.