4 Stars

In this installment, Stephanie Plum gets some heat when she gets assigned to bring in a local community leader. The series has hit its grove. The characters are more developed, and it’s overall a little funnier than the first two books. There is more interaction with Morelli and Ranger. The romance scenes do tend to be on the borderline between steamy and cheesy. But Three to Get Deadly is fun, entertaining, and the mystery still kept me guessing.


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 4 Stars
Writing Style: 4 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 3 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 4 Stars
Level of Captivation: 4 Stars
Originality: 3 Stars

I’ll be honest and say I didn’t get much out of this book. When I realized that one book didn’t build on the other in this series, I didn’t bother to rewind if I missed something. I’m pretty sure I missed half this book.

Plus, the cat and mouse between Stephanie and Joe is not endearing but rather annoying. I hate when an author uses an interruption as a plot device to keep the couple apart or doing the deed. I’ll give an author a pass on one, but this author continues to use this multiple times in each book.

I would prefer if the half ass romance wasn’t in the book. It’s more of a distraction for me.

Additionally, Stephanie hasn’t grown. She repeats the dames mistakes in each book.

Narrator is good.

Another fun edition to the series with Stephanie finally getting a little better at her new job as bounty hunter! And just as well because she needs to track down "Uncle Mo" who is everyone's favourite corner store owner and would never do anything wrong.

I think this is the first time I can say I actually like this series. Quite engaging and fun.

I am so enjoying these books! Great fun!

More enjoyable than Two for the Dough, as there’s indeed a mystery to be unraveled. But let’s not talk about how highly unlikely is that Stephanie would have managed to stay out of prison in this one!

Ranger is pretty cool, Lula is amusing, and Joe Morelli… Well, smart guy, what can I say?:)

More Stephanie Plum. I did not like this one as much as the others. It has a few good parts like when her hair gets dyed orange and a when a body flew off the roof of a car on the interstate. You do get to know Ranger more in this book, but other than that I had a hard time reading it. The case she was working was not very interesting and I got tired of reading about her feeding her hamster and taking a shower. It would be better if she started learning how to be a bounty hunter instead of bumbling through it. Maybe in the next book...

These books are so fun!! Stephanie has a new case and it’s the beloved Mo Bedemier, the local ice cream man. She and Lula are a hot mess together but it’s so entertaining. Taking down a chicken armed with sauce squirters, hauling a random dead man in their trunk, Stephanie chasing a fugitive through the mall with foil still in her hair, getting shit blown up for the 10th time, and the threat to the hamster that took it way too far. Don’t mess with Rex, assholes.

Omg the 90’s vibes are real in the these books and I love it. So freaking funny and I won’t stop reading them!

I absolutely love the way Evanovich writes and aspire to craft my characters as well as she does

4.5 stars

Janet Evanovich wants me dead.

If I keep reading this series (which I LOVE, so the probabilities are high up here) I’ll end up seriously dying of laughters.

This time the FTA was less exciting than the ones in the previous two book but I can swear to you, this book is funnier than those two. I don’t know how it’s possible

I don't like Stephanie's new sidekick but I can ignore her and enjoy the rest.

Book on CD read by Lori Petty

Book three in the Stephanie Plum series features “Uncle Max” – the proprietor of a storied candy shop / soda fountain who has gone missing. Stephanie needs to find him because he’d skipped his court appearance on a traffic warrant, but the closer she gets to finding him the more elusive he seems to be, and the more bodies Stephanie comes across.

I first read this long before I joined either Shelfari or Goodreads, so the first date read is a bit of a guess. This is a hugely entertaining series that continues to delight and make me chuckle even on re-reading.

The success of the series is due in part to the likeable Stephanie, and her romantic conflict between Joe Morelli and Ranger. But the supporting characters are also marvelous: her long-suffering mother, who almost always has a pot roast just about ready; her Grandma Mazur, whose chief hobby is attending funerals (and there had better be an open casket!); and Lula, the former whore turned file clerk at the bonds office, and who frequently accompanies Stephanie on her adventures.

Lori Petty does a great job of reading the abridged audio version of this book. Having read the book previously, I didn’t feel I was missing much by the listening to the abridged version. Petty sets a good pace and I loved the voices she used for both Stephanie and Lula.