Stephanie has a slightly different challenge to face in this instalment - she's been asked to track down a missing young girl on behalf of her very worried grandmother. Unfortunately the search puts her in the sights of Eddie Abruzzi, a nasty piece of work who is in business with the child's father. As the danger ratchets up a notch and Morelli continues to keep his distance after their latest fallout it's up to Ranger to come to Stephanie's aid when she needs him the most.

This series is just so much fun to read, I don't care that Stephanie is the world's worst bounty hunter who can't hold onto a pair of handcuffs for more than five minutes and who manages to get her cars blown up on a pretty much daily basis. Let's face it the worse Stephanie is the more excuses she has to call Ranger or Morelli in for help and that's never going to be a bad thing in my eyes!

These stories aren't meant to be taken too seriously but they are fantastic light entertainment. I pick up these books when I want something that is going to put a smile on my face, they never fail to make me laugh out loud and I just love Stephanie and the crazy people she surrounds herself with. Hard Eight sees her love life get even more complicated which makes for brilliant reading. Things are in the off-again position with Morelli but that just allows Ranger to finally make his move and bow chicka wow wow has that been a long time coming (but well worth the wait!). I can't wait to continue my reread of this series and I'm looking forward to finally finding out who she chooses in the long run.

Hard Eight (Stephanie Plum #8) by Janet Evanovich

Synopsis /

Hard Up
Fugitive Apprehension Agent Stephanie Plum has a big problem on her hands: Seven-year-old Annie Soder and her mother, Evelyn, have disappeared. Evelyn's estranged husband, Steven, a shady owner of a seedy bar, is not at all happy. Finding a kidnapped child is not an assignment for a bounty hunter. But Evelyn's grandmother lives next door to Stephanie's parents, so Stephanie follows the trail left by Annie and Evelyn-and finds a lot more than she bargained for.

Hard Risk
Steven Soder is somehow linked with a very scary Eddie Abruzzi. Trenton cop and on-again, off-again fiancé Joe Morelli and Stephanie's mentor and tormentor, Ranger, warn Stephanie about Abruzzi, but it's Abruzzi's eyes and mannerisms that frighten Stephanie most. Stephanie needs Ranger's savvy and expertise, and she's willing to accept his help to find Annie even though it might mean getting too involved with Ranger. Stephanie, Ranger, Lula (who's not going to miss riding with Ranger), and Evelyn's lawyer/Laundromat manager set out to find Annie. The search turns out to be a race among Stephanie's posse, the True Blue Bonds' agent - a Rangerette known as Jeanne Ellen Burrows, and the Abruzzi crew. Plus, there's a killer rabbit on the loose!

My Thoughts /

I don't like guns or violence. Don't care about doughnuts and fast food restaurants. Three destroyed cars is a bit too much for one book.

Love the Stephanie Plum series

"Love the Stephanie Plum Series - always fun and full of laughs. Be sure and get the audio book as Lorelei King is the best performer and makes the characters come alive!

Fugitive Apprehension Agent Stephanie Plum has a big problem on her hands: Seven-year-old Annie Soder and her mother, Evelyn, have disappeared. Grandma Mazar, Morelli, Ranger, and Lulu will always leave you smiling! Strap on your helmet and get ready for the ride of your life as always trouble in Trenton....The world of Plum has never been wilder!"

I've read most of the Stephanie Plum novels dating back to the first four which I read out of order.

Since then, I'd anxiously await the publishing of a new one where I'd run to the store and purchase. They're all good, laugh out loud funny, and just great entertainment.

This particular book remains a favorite of the series. Maybe one of the more edgier of the group as lately the author seems to have scaled back a bit.

This one was a little bit of a let-down after the previous books. I mean, yeah, there were plenty of cars getting blown-up and a killer in a rabbit suit chasing her, but there was also a kind of sad undertone because of the break-up. I don't want sad and serious in these books! I read them to get away from sad and serious stuff. I'm a sad & serious avoider. It's one of my life-goals.



Stephanie is also not really improving as a bounty hunter. She is afraid of her gun, can never get her pepper spray out of her purse in time, and her stun gun is on the fritz. She also loses more handcuffs than a dom with erectile dysfunction. And, just like that dom, she is constantly unable to finish the job. It's kind of pathetic.



The GOOD news in this book is that she finally gets down and dirty with Ranger. It's about freaking time! A guy like that will definitely finish the job - a couple of times.


I want to visit the bat cave!

3.5 stars

Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time rolling on the ground with men who think a stiffy represents personal growth. The rolling around has nothing to do with my sex life. The rolling around is what happens when a bust goes crapola and there’s a last ditch effort to hog-tie a big, dumb bad guy possessing a congenitally defective frontal lobe.

Stephanie and Lula make a wonderful team. They met in book one. Stephanie was just beginning her journey as a bounty hunter and Lula was still working the street corners as a ‘ho.

Stephanie will usually deal with fear in her usual manner; doughnuts, fried crispy chicken or frozen cookie dough. This makes Lula the perfect teammate. She can eat the store and still have the smiling energy to go shopping.

In the first book of this series, One for the Money, both Stephanie and Lula suffer an insane amount of fear and physically traumatic and unimaginably paralyzing defeat. Bad guy, Benito, was a sexual sadist. A sociopath with limitless amount of perseverance when it comes to stalking and hunting down the women he chooses to play with.

After book One for the Money, everything has been more or less a giggling ride with Lula and Stephanie. In this book, Hard Eight, memories crash through them, and they are reminded of the terrible things they survived.

“I know who you are, too. You’re one of Benito’s whores. How did it feel to spend time with Benito? Did you enjoy it? Did you feel privileged? Did you learn anything?”

“I don’t feel so good,” Lula said. And she fainted dead away, crashing into Kloughn, taking him down with her.

Bad guy and super asshole, Abruzzi shows his ugly face in Hard Eight. One of the reasons book one really got to me, was reading about what Stephanie and Lula endured. To be utterly brutalized, raped and sliced apart and left for dead, this book really has its moments that I do not enjoy. Unfortunately, sometimes when you want the laughter, you must be reminded of the bad times as well. Perhaps that is what makes you appreciate the funny moments even more.

Stephanie suffers sadistic pranks in this book by a man who has only begun to toy with her. Of course, you have your usual assholes in Evanovich’s books, but this one is a little different. The madness that drives Abruzzi is throat clenching and unbearable.

I turned my head to look, and a spider the size of a dinner plate jumped at me.

“Eeeeyow! Holy shit! HOLY SHIT!” I sideswiped a parked car, took the curb, and came to a stop on a patch of lawn.

From being attacked by killer rabbits, to finding themselves in a babysitting situation, Lula never disappoints.

“Listen to me, you punk-ass loser, you don’t want to call me no Aunt Jemima or I’m gonna give you Aunt Jemima in the face with this fry pan. Only thing stopping me is I don’t want to k-i-l-l you in front of the b-r-a-t-s.”

Dealing with Morelli during an off on-again-off-again relationship, and Ranger’s smooth sexy yumminess, Stephanie is faced with a dilemma. On one had, Morelli was a man she loved but whom didn’t want to marry her. The feeling was mutual. And on the other hand, Ranger pushes himself against her body and life, leaving her toes tingling and thoughts rumbling through erotic dreams and nipple-teasing hard ons.

One of the coolest pages in this book explains the rules of Stephanie’s house. I have similar rules, they just aren’t followed.

I hung up and retreated to the living room. If you sat in front of the television in my parents’ house, you weren’t expected to talk. Even if asked a direct question, the viewer had the discretion of feigning hearing loss. Those were the rules.

Hah!

I love it.

This book slams you through the past and really leaves your chest hurting, a weight that seems to crush down on you. There are certain things an individual reader will react to. I don’t like to read about women being brutalized. It upsets me.

I recommend this book to all mature adults. Moderate violence and mild to moderate sexual content. (Yay! You’ll see .. woo hoo!) Sensitive content and some morally suggestive moments, but other than that, this book has my two thumbs up!

Now it’s time for To the Nines!

Happy reading!

When more description is given to the homocidal masturbating bunny than Plum's first time with Ranger . . . Something's not quite right.

Amusing, fun, but decidedly disappointing.

Now To the Nines ....

Je m'étais dit que j'allais faire une pause après celui ci vu que c'est la rentrée et que je devrais peut être lire des trucs un peu plus sérieux... Mais Morelli veut lui parler bordel, je vais être obligée de lire la suite du coup !

You know what this series is like? It's Casualty. Each episode has a different story or two related to the job, and sometimes those caught up in it have some sort of connection with one of the regulars, but meanwhile there's a soap-opera plot which depends more on the personalities and out-of-work life of the main characters. A slightly new tale, a familiar formula and the latest status updates from people you've come to care for. OK, so this is bond enforcement in New Jersey, not A&E in Holby; the genre is comedy rather than drama; and you know Stephanie's going to get a car destroyed rather than knowing that person working in the factory is going to have a horrid accident - but you see what I mean don't you? If you're British that is. I think Alexander McCall Smith's No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency may be heading the same way too, although to a lesser extent. There are touches of it in Sue Grafton's alphabet books too. So, I wonder, is it an inevitable fate, or a necessary or/and sufficient condition for the success of a long-running series? Discuss.

Anyway, in spite of that, the one-book only plot is more centre-stage here than it was in Seven Up which does make it a little less manic, but no less fun than usual. This one has to include the most sinister life-sized rabbit since Donnie Darko. Also rather sinister is what happens to the villan at the end - Joe has good reason to worry about Stephanie methinks.

Oh, my, Ranger collects Stephanie's debt Stephanie had begun to accept in Book seven....

Stephanie Plum may be a Fugitive Apprehension Agent but how can she say no to her parent's neighbor when she asks Stephanie to investigate her daughter (Evelyn) and granddaughter's (Annie) disappearance? She really wants to suggest a real investigator until she learns a bit about what the trouble stems from. Apparently, when Evelyn became estranged from her shady husband, Steven, they were required to sign a child custody bond.

Stephanie does not offer this bonding service, so Stephanie must investigate the bond first. Apparently, when the bond is set so that if one of the parents abscond with the child, the other parent receives money to track down the parent and locate/retrieve the child. The bond was secured with the home of Stephanie's parent's neighbor; and neither her Mother or her Grandmother will allow her to neglect a neighbor in need.

Stephanie's plate is already filled with fugitives who missed their court dates like a little old lady car thief and an abusive drunk that Stephanie wrestled back into the system before. Still, she starts tracking down the neighbor's daughter, despite the fact that she learns the estranged husband is somehow connected to Eddie Abruzzi, a man who scares most people in Trenton.

The more Stephanie learns, the more certain she is that she must locate Evelyn and Annie, even if it means relying on Ranger and paying her debt to him. Especially since she is now dealing with a slew of unknown bounty hunters and killer rabbits!

It's all in a day's work for Stephanie Plum!