I wanted to like this book. I have been watching the growth of the chick lit genre with interest, especially in the sub-sub-genre of chick-lit legal thrillers and mysteries. I think there's cool stuff happening here.

Unfortunatley, I'm not a fan of this book, and I won't be continuing this series. I was looking for something easy and breezy, but not dumb. Stephanie Plum, the main character, made decisions that didn't make sense to me. I suppose the writer could have described the complex emotions that might lead a female bounty hunter to kiss a man she knows is wanted for murder rather than pepper spray him, handcuff him, and haul him into jail. The author's explanation, from Stephanie Plum's point of view: "He sure knew how to kiss." What?

Also I felt like the bubblegum quality of the writing was jarring when it was discussing serious subjects such as torture and rape. Linda Fairstein, Patricia Cornwall, and Lisa Scottoline all do a better job.

Fun filled detective story....characters gave me many good laughs.

Funny and light-hearted book with a likeable heroine who never loses track of her goal to earn 10,000 dollars as a bounty hunter. Too bad it´s an old ex-lover she has to find but then - she still has a bone to pick with him....
This first book in the series made me jump outright on the Stephanie Plum-bandwagon and I prepare myself for an enjoyable ride!

Honesty time.



I'm among the 1%.




n  n
Whoa, folks. Not this 1% (although how awesome would that be? Owning attack hounds. Rocking a monocle. Wearing titanium shoes. Using fancy words like 'indubitably' and 'mustachioed'. I'd be the best billionaire evah.)

I'm talking about the other 1%. You know, the people who read One for the Money and didn't like it. People such as:

n  n
The Church Lady

n  n
Grumpy Old Man

n  n
These guys


n  n
...Me...

(I guess this means I'm officially old and boring or whatever.)

But yeah, I totally do not like this book unlike 99% of the GoodReads population. As far as I'm concerned One for the Money is a dated, exceptionally lame version of The Jersey Shore in which everyone is sporting spandex, big hair, and sexist attitudes.

So basically it's almost exactly the same as every episode of The Jersey Shore. Except with more guns.

n  n
Not these guns...

n  n
Now that's more like it.

Exactly like the Jersey Shore with lots of real guns. And a really dumb grown woman who cannot be bothered to learn how to shoot a gun even though she's carrying one with her at all times.

Why, you ask?

Because she's being stalked by a rapist. A really violent, super-dangerous raping-rapist who totally wants to rape her. A lot.

But that's not all, folks. There is also a really mysterious mystery. (A rape-y mystery.)

This really attractive MENSA candidate wrapped in spandex who can't shoot a gun to save her life is named Stephanie Plum. Stephanie is trying to solve a mystery so she can help clear the name and reputation of the guy who sexually assaulted her when they were children the smoosh-worthy skeevy man-whore love interest. All so she can haul him into jail for jumping bail and collect the $20,000 bounty on his head, or whatever.

In the meantime sexual tension is building between the two. They're tripping over all the innuendo. It's sexy and mysterious. And full of (dumb-)damsel-in-distress like situations.

How could I not love this book, you ask? I just don't. Although, I think I just proved I'm old and boring. If you're not old or boring, and you really love the Jersey Shore, One for the Money might just be the book for you.

Can't remember if this is the one where she flirts with Joe or flirts with Ranger, but love all of them because hey, it's Stephanie Plum.

The movie came out a few weeks ago, and I haven't seen it yet. I figured this would be a good time to write a review about this book, since I read it a few months ago, but never got a chance to review it.


This book was highly recommended to me, because although I really do read a bit of everything I find chick-lit to be the most entertaining. When I'm in a bad mood I can sit down with a chick-lit about some crazy chick with usually unrealistic problems that makes my life seem boring and laugh my butt off until my mood perks up. Chick-lit is like chocolate to me in that way.


I know that comedy is subjective, but I didn't laugh reading this book once. I don't get it. That was supposedly this books biggest selling point. Also, I was able to read the whole thing since it was super short, but I thought about quitting this one about 10 times in a very short period. Why? It just wasn't that interesting. Stephanie is a broke girl who decides to become a bounty hunter to make money. The first person she needs to pick up is a guy that she hooked up with years ago. Most of the book seemed really corny to me, and that's saying a lot, considering I normally don't mind that in chick-lits. The plot was pretty boring, predictable and unable to hold my attention.


The characters. They were genuine and felt real, but again didn't interest me at all. The love triangle starts from book one, and now here we are several years, and many books later and apparently that's still her big choice?


Needless to say this is one of the most hyped, critically acclaimed chick-lits I have ever heard of. Everyone who is into cozies always says this is the best. Also, everyone who recommended it said those things like "I'm hooked" or "You will NOT be able to put this one down!"...Me? Not so much.


I'm wondering if I'm missing something here or if the series just improves greatly as the books go on. Right now after reading "One for the Money" I don't think Stephanie, her love triangle, and her strange family are people I want to invest the time in. There are like 18 books so far to this series now I think. I will probably try #2 in the future since everyone highly recommended this series to me, and some have insisted that it get's better.


This book obviously has tons of fans so I recommend if you like chick-lit give it a try and see how you like it. I feel like I'm one of the only women in the world who isn't a fan of this series, but oh well.

I will stick with Sophie Kinsella for my chick-lit fixes from now on.

1.5/5 stars

No he entendido que este novela corta fuera un bestseller en los noventa, la verdad. Y que la autora haya escrito una veintena de libros con esta protagonista, menos aún.

La trama es entretenidilla solamente, es superpredecible, todos los personajes son bastante desagradables y el libro desprende un tufillo machista, sexista, clasista y hasta pelin racista. De las mallas ciclistas hasta en la sopa, hablamos otro dia.

#Popsugar21 Reto 10: Un éxito de ventas (bestseller) de la década de 1990.

Sometimes you just need to read a book like this. With mediocre writing and a plot as see-through as Grandma's underpants, it will take your mind off life's more substantial material for a while.

This was a book way off of my genre but it had got such good ratings that I just had to try it to see would I like it..............well I did not like it as the plot is so predictable and the characters so flat, it was like watching a bad movie you know exactly whats going to happen but you watch it anyhow. 2 star read for me.

First in the long, long series of Stephanie Plum books. It's snappy, sassy, and short, maybe 50,000 words. As with the other books, a lot of New Jersey flavoring, and the setup for Plum's career, love life, and friends. I guess the story works: it's all a bit tongue-in-cheek, so if somebody you want to talk to is murdered, or a psycho killer calls you up and says he's coming over, these are just every-day irritations in New Jersey, things to be dealt with like a dead battery or an unpaid parking ticket. The pace is relentless so the reader does not have time to think: murder is serious! It's just another plot twist, and we've moved on to hilarious low-lifes who have missed their court date. The violence is not cartoonish, but the reaction is, and that's part of the fun.

Okay, it's official. This book did not work for me.

Let's start with a confession: I am a Jersey girl. That's right, born and bred. Jersey girl from birth to present with a brief Boston interlude for college.

So, because of that, I really thought I would click with this series. I love anything funny, I can relate to all things Jersey, and most of my GR friends are crazy about this book. A sure thing, right?? Alas, this book just didn't do it for me. I found it to be really dated, not particularly funny (I didn't laugh once), and sort of boring. I had to force myself to read 66 pages before I called it quits. I think it is a "it's not you, it's me" sort of deal. Sorry Stephanie Plum, I'm dropping you!

Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/

Dear Janet E:

n  n

Actually, that’s a boldface lie. I obviously have no desire to ever give up on our one-sided relationship. I mean, I’ve faithfully read about Stephanie Plum, her exploding cars, her gun-toting Granny, her former ho bestie, and her will she-won’t she relationships for over 10 years now. Not to mention all of her other series I’ve dabbled in, as well as some of her romance books, and dare I forget the pretty godawful movie version of this one that I just haaaaaad to watch . . . .

n  n

When I saw my friend Beverly was giving this a listen, I thought it might be right up my alley. Since my commute isn’t very long, I prefer shortie shorts that don’t require me to remember a lot of details in order to stay involved in the story. My mind tends to wander when dealing with the spoken rather than written word. You know what I mean . . . .

n  n

Twenty-plus books into this series, I forgot how solid this first one was. The slapstick level had not yet appeared, nor had the never-ending love triangle. Lula was still an actual ho and Stephanie had to contend with a pretty rough bad guy instead of the flashers of her future. But the most important thing? Lori Petty’s narration . . . . .

n  n

Holy crap she was good. Which means I’ll probably end up falling down this dang rabbit hole and re-experiencing these all over again . . . .

n  n