87) Turbo Twenty-Three by Janet Evanovich

The Blurb :

Larry Virgil skipped out on his latest court date after he was arrested for hijacking an eighteen-wheeler full of premium bourbon. Fortunately for bounty hunter Stephanie Plum, Larry is just stupid enough to attempt almost the exact same crime again. Only this time he flees the scene, leaving behind a freezer truck loaded with Bogart ice cream and a dead body—frozen solid and covered in chocolate and chopped pecans.

As fate would have it, Stephanie’s mentor and occasional employer, Ranger, needs her to go undercover at the Bogart factory to find out who’s putting their employees on ice and sabotaging the business. It’s going to be hard for Stephanie to keep her hands off all that ice cream, and even harder for her to keep her hands off Ranger. It’s also going to be hard to explain to Trenton’s hottest cop, Joe Morelli, why she is spending late nights with Ranger, late nights with Lula and Randy Briggs—who are naked and afraid—and late nights keeping tabs on Grandma Mazur and her new fella. Stephanie Plum has a lot on her plate, but for a girl who claims to have “virtually no marketable skills,” these are the kinds of sweet assignments she does best.

My Thoughts :

It has been way too quiet around here and I apologise.  I won't bore you with the details but will just say that life got in the way and there hasn't been much reading going on.  It hasn't been from lack of trying though and when I realised the new Stephanie Plum book was out I got an Audible copy and started it straight away.  Finished it quickly and then didn't get around to coming here until today to write about it!

So another Stephanie Plum!  Twenty-Three books in and sometimes you have to admit it feels like deja vu.  Stephanie goes out to get a bail skip, finds a dead body, gets sucked into the investigation and finally after madness and mayhem she solves the whole thing.  Insert Morelli and Ranger problems and sex, include some craziness from Lula and Grandma Mazur then wait for the typical jokes, wit and sarcasm.  It sounds monotonous but to tell you the truth I love each and every installment as much as the last.

Stephanie never ceases to amaze me.  She gets into some really unbelievable and funny predicaments while making some very stupid decisions but there are always laughs and the plot keeps you hooked.  Despite following more or less the same pattern, each book manages to stand out and be different in some way.  Even though the whole Morelli vs. Ranger angle is one of the things you finally want solved, you know that it would be extremely boring it that chemistry and indecision was gone.

Kudos to Evanovich for another Plum success.  I only wish that they would come out more often.  After all they don't seem like much and I sure she could get out two or three a year.  Maybe that would ruin things but I just want more of the funniest and most relaxing series there is out there.  I love visiting Trenton and catching up with the crazy characters.  I could do with more of this getaway in my life.

If you have the chance make sure to check out the audio version of the books.  Lorelei King, the best audio book narrator there is, lends her voice to this series and she does it as well as she does to all the others she brings to life.  She is amazing.

116) Tricky Twenty-Two by Janet Evanovich

The Blurb :

Something big is brewing in Trenton, N.J., and it could blow at any minute.

Stephanie Plum might not be the world's greatest bounty hunter, but she knows when she's being played. Ken Globovic (aka Gobbles), hailed as the Supreme Exalted Zookeeper of the animal house known as Zeta fraternity, has been arrested for beating up the dean of students at Kiltman College. Gobbles has missed his court date and gone into hiding. People have seen him on campus, but no one will talk. Things just aren't adding up, and Stephanie can't shake the feeling that something funny is going on at the college - and it's not just Zeta fraternity pranks.

As much as people love Gobbles, they hate Doug Linken. When Linken is gunned down in his backyard it's good riddance, and the list of possible murder suspects is long. The only people who care about finding Linken's killer are Trenton cop Joe Morelli, who has been assigned the case, security expert Ranger, who was hired to protect Linken, and Stephanie, who has her eye on a cash prize and hopefully has some tricks up her sleeve.

My Thoughts :

Twenty-two books into the series and some readers may think that things in Plum Land are getting old and boring.  Sure you know that Stephanie is going to save the day and solve the mystery but the question of how she will do it is always open and it is always entertaining.

This new installment keeps the entertainment level high with all your favourites and more.  Lula is being Lula with her outrageous outfits, comments and actions. Grandma Mazur is promising people she doesn't have a gun and using Stephanie's details to do some catfishing.  Morelli is acting strange and Ranger is being as strange as always.

There is a certain amount of done deals in every Plum books.  Cars are ruined, Cluck in a Bucket gets a visit and Vinnie is locked in his office.  Some things don't change but the how, who and why is always fresh and funny.  You will roll your eyes, laugh out loud and do some giggling.  You can't help it.  Evanovich and Plum are a great team

I will always pick up another chapter in this series because not only is like visiting an old friend, it is also one of the funniest series I have read.  I love the humour and the characters are each hilarious in their own way.  There was a little action from Stephanie's mother this time around and it may even look like Stephanie has picked a guy and will settle down.  Although I won't hold my breathe on that one!

Keep writing these and I will keep reading.  Things maybe seem a little boring after twenty-two installments but this is way too funny to miss.

83) Top Secret Twenty-One by Janet Evanovich

The Blurb :

Trenton, New Jersey’s favorite used-car dealer, Jimmy Poletti, was caught selling a lot more than used cars out of his dealerships. Now he’s out on bail and has missed his date in court, and bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is looking to bring him in. Leads are quickly turning into dead ends, and all too frequently into dead bodies. Even Joe Morelli, the city’s hottest cop, is struggling to find a clue to the suspected killer’s whereabouts. These are desperate times, and they call for desperate measures. So Stephanie is going to have to do something she really doesn’t want to do: protect former hospital security guard and general pain in her behind Randy Briggs. Briggs was picking up quick cash as Poletti’s bookkeeper and knows all his boss’s dirty secrets. Now Briggs is next on Poletti’s list of people to put six feet under.

To top things off, Ranger—resident security expert and Stephanie’s greatest temptation—has been the target of an assassination plot. He’s dodged the bullet this time, but if Ranger wants to survive the next attempt on his life, he’ll have to enlist Stephanie’s help and reveal a bit more of his mysterious past.

Death threats, highly trained assassins, highly untrained assassins, and Stark Street being overrun by a pack of feral Chihuahuas are all in a day’s work for Stephanie Plum. The real challenge is dealing with her Grandma Mazur’s wild bucket list. A boob job and getting revenge on Joe Morelli’s Grandma Bella can barely hold a candle to what’s number one on the list—but that’s top secret.

My Thoughts :

The Stephanie Plum series is one of those books I found in the local library before I really knew what I wanted to read.  So many books on the shelves but this one popped out (they used to have brighter interesting covers) and I took a chance on the author I had never heard of before.  I remember buying all the books available in the series within a couple of weeks of reading that first book and since then I have followed Stephanie through all of her adventures.

Twenty-one installments and nothing much has changed.  This isn't a bad thing but it also isn't a really good thing.  You know that Stephanie's car is going to blow up at least once, Lula is going to get into some very weird trouble, Grandma will be causing havoc at the funeral home and Ranger will be saving Stephanie's butt while Morelli plays cop.

There are so many expectations that, after all these years, it is slowly becoming a little boring.  I still want something to happen.  Something big.  Stephanie getting pregnant, her sister turning up again and leaving her the kids to look after, Marrying one of the guys while drunk....anything!  Just something different and shocking because the life of Stephanie Plum is still the same as it was 21 books ago.

Once again there was laugh out loud moments and it was nice to be back in Trenton (I only spent a few minutes in the train station while passing through but it looked nice enough) with all the usual suspects and a few more to make things interesting.  There were some nice location changes this time around with the adventure taking Stephanie and Ranger to New York City and Atlantic City.  Otherwise it was much of the same.

I keep following the series because it is amusing, different and addictive.  I will keep following it until it ends and always look forward to the madcap comedy this series offers while solving various weird and interesting crimes.  It is a series I now follow via Audible and have to give the narrator big kudos because she does an amazing job.  She is the same voice that lends her skills to the Charley Davidson series by Darynda Jones and the books are worth following just because she is narrating them.

If you haven't had the pleasure of spending time with Stephanie Plum then make sure you do sometime.  Despite my moans and groans there is always a good plot and lots of giggles.  Well worth reading and one to seriously think about listening to.

↑ Grab this Headline Animator

14) Takedown Twenty by Janet Evanovich

The Blurb :


New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum knows better than to mess with family. But when powerful mobster Salvatore “Uncle Sunny” Sunucchi goes on the lam in Trenton, it’s up to Stephanie to find him. Uncle Sunny is charged with murder for running over a guy (twice), and nobody wants to turn him in—not his poker buddies, not his bimbo girlfriend, not his two right-hand men, Shorty and Moe. Even Trenton’s hottest cop, Joe Morelli, has skin in the game, because—just Stephanie’s luck—the godfather is his actual godfather. And while Morelli understands that the law is the law, his old-world grandmother, Bella, is doing everything she can to throw Stephanie off the trail.

It’s not just Uncle Sunny giving Stephanie the run-around. Security specialist Ranger needs her help to solve the bizarre death of a top client’s mother, a woman who happened to play bingo with Stephanie’s Grandma Mazur. Before Stephanie knows it, she’s working side by side with Ranger and Grandma at the senior center, trying to catch a killer on the loose—and the bingo balls are not rolling in their favor.

With bullet holes in her car, henchmen on her tail, and a giraffe named Kevin running wild in the streets of Trenton, Stephanie will have to up her game for the ultimate takedown.

My Thoughts :

Twenty books into the series and things are still going strong.  Stephanie is still unsure about which guy she wants and what kind of commitment she is ready for. Lulu is still squeezing herself into small bright clothes.  Grandma Mazur is busy at the funeral home while Stephanie's mum is ironing the stress away.  They are all characters and traits that make this series not only unforgettable but also very addictive.

This time around we also get some good Grandma Bella action with Stephanie getting a bit more than just 'The Eye'.  Ranger is his usual nonchalant self and manages to save the leading lady more than once.  Morelli is recovering from an injury he got in the last book but he always there to pick up the weird and wonderful pieces of the mess Stephanie manages to get into.

A giraffe running around Trenton keeps the girls busy in Takedown Twenty but they also have a few skips that need to be caught.  You can't help laughing at the slapstick takedowns that involve giraffes, designer bags and a lot of peach schnapps.  Despite this series being twenty books in, it still isn't getting old or boring.  Yes, I would like to see some actual developments on the Ranger/Morelli front but if Janet Evanovich keeps writing funny mysteries like this then I am going to keep reading them.

If you haven't already tried this series then I highly recommend you do.  Easy, laugh out loud fun and some serious craziness is always guaranteed!



 

↑ Grab this Headline Animator

4) Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich

The Blurb :

Just when Stephanie thinks her life can't get any more complicated, in walks the mysterious Diesel. A man who seems to show up at the most inconvenient moments. This time, he's the instigator for Stephanie's new adventure, which involves camping in the Pine Barrens with Lula, and perhaps even a sighting of the Jersey Devil...

My Thoughts :

I love the Stephanie Plum series!  They are guaranteed to make you laugh and the story is always good.  With so many books in the series there is always going to be one you love more than the others but there has never been an installment that I hated.  The constant indecision between Ranger and Morelli can be frustrating but Grandma Mazur and Lulu's antics more than make up for that!  How will Stephanie's car get destroyed this time? is always a question you need to ask yourself before reading each book and it is always fun to find out the answer.

So it is surprising that I had not yet read Plum Spooky, the between the novels book, that has been out for a good few years now.  The one main reason for me was the price.  Despite how much I love the series the cost of each new release in this series is becoming a little over the top.  Hardback maybe but a Kindle version that costs the same price as four normal kindle books is one that makes me stop and think about my book budget.  Finally that price has gone down and I snapped this one up the other week and couldn't wait to read it.

Everything that you could expect was in this story.  Ok, maybe not everything.  If you were expecting monkeys then you are on the right track but if you didn't think there would be animals involved you are going to get a surprise.  A great madcap adventure as always but I did think things were drawn out a little longer than necessary.  After the third time Stephanie searched the Pine Barrens I was ready to give up but the funny bits and  bobs here and there were too much to keep me away.

A must read for any Plum fans and one that could be read to introduce you to the series.  I actually thought this was a novella (another reason I was so reluctant to get a copy at that price) but it actually turned out to be a full length novel.  It could have been cut down to a novella but then we would have missed out on some fire farts and Easter Bunny moments.  That would have been sad.

I am glad I have finally read this one.  Now I can go back to the series knowing I haven't missed much in the on-going story.  Diesel's appearances are extra to the series and don't really seem to fit in to the big picture but do make things a little supernatural for a short time.  Which for any paranormal lovers is a nice twist.




 

↑ Grab this Headline Animator

86) Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich

The Blurb :

New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is certain of three truths: People don’t just vanish into thin air. Never anger old people. And don’t do what Tiki tells you to do.

After a slow summer of chasing low-level skips for her cousin Vinnie’s bail bonds agency, Stephanie Plum finally lands an assignment that could put her checkbook back in the black. Geoffrey Cubbin, facing trial for embezzling millions from Trenton’s premier assisted-living facility, has mysteriously vanished from the hospital after an emergency appendectomy. Now it’s on Stephanie to track down the con man. Unfortunately, Cubbin has disappeared without a trace, a witness, or his money-hungry wife. Rumors are stirring that he must have had help with the daring escape . . . or that maybe he never made it out of his room alive. Since the hospital staff’s lips seem to be tighter than the security, and it’s hard for Stephanie to blend in to assisted living, Stephanie’s Grandma Mazur goes in undercover. But when a second felon goes missing from the same hospital, Stephanie is forced into working side by side with Trenton’s hottest cop, Joe Morelli, in order to crack the case.

The real problem is, no Cubbin also means no way to pay the rent. Desperate for money—or maybe just desperate—Stephanie accepts a secondary job guarding her secretive and mouthwatering mentor Ranger from a deadly Special Forces adversary. While Stephanie is notorious for finding trouble, she may have found a little more than she bargained for this time around. Then again—a little food poisoning, some threatening notes, and a bridesmaid’s dress with an excess of taffeta never killed anyone . . . or did they? If Stephanie Plum wants to bring in a paycheck, she’ll have to remember: No guts, no glory. . . .

My Thoughts :

I forgot how much I loved Stephanie Plum until I read book #18 a couple of weeks ago.  So the idea of #19 still not being read was annoying me slightly and I decided I needed to get a copy as soon as possible.  While over on Audible.com I noticed that Nototious Nineteen was read by Lorelei King (she also narrates the Charley Davidson series by Darynda Jones) and I just couldn't resist using my credit to listen to the book.  She is a spectacular narrator and as soon as the file was on my iPod I started listening.

Everything that I expected and much more was inside this 19th installment.  Stephanie managed to blow up at least two cars and got tasered, posioned, cut and nearly blown up herself.  Madcap action the whole way through and loads of dieting tips from her sidekick Lula.  Also some nice 'babe' moments from Ranger and some 'Cupcake' sweetness from Morelli.  The whole gang was involved and you know it is going to be good when Grandma Mazur starts packing heat.

Laughing alert!  This audiobook isn't one to listen to on public transport.  I am sure some people thought I was up to something because I must have had a constant huge smile on my face and then suddenly started laughing.  My rolling eyes must have also had some people worried about my health but if they could hear what I was hearing...wow this book was just amazingly good and funny!

If you are a fan you will love this book as much as I did and if you haven't yet tried this series, well you should seriously consider it.  I always feel so good after a Stephanie Plum episode and even now, a few days later, I still find myself smiling and giggling when I remember certain things that happened in this book.  Great plot and highly entertaining! Can't wait for more!




 

↑ Grab this Headline Animator

65) Explosive Eighteen by Janet Evanovich

The Blurb :

Before Stephanie can even step foot off Flight 127 from Hawaii to Newark, she’s knee deep in trouble. Her dream vacation turned into a nightmare, she’s flying back to New Jersey solo, and someone who sounds like Sasquatch is snoring in row 22. Worse still, her seatmate never returned to the plane after the L.A. layover. Now he’s dead, in a garbage can, waiting for curbside pickup. His killer could be anyone. The FBI, the fake FBI, and guns-for-hire are all looking for a photograph the dead man was supposed to be carrying.

Only one other person has seen the missing photograph—Stephanie Plum. Now she’s the target, and she doesn’t intend to end up in a garbage can. With the help of an FBI sketch artist Stephanie re-creates the person in the photo. Unfortunately the first sketch turns out to look like Tom Cruise, and the second sketch like Ashton Kutcher. Until Stephanie can improve her descriptive skills, she’ll need to watch her back.

Over at the Bail Bonds Agency it’s business as usual—until the bonds bus serving as Vinnie’s temporary HQ goes up in smoke, Stephanie’s wheelman, Lula, falls in love with their “largest” FTA yet, lifetime arch nemesis Joyce Barnhardt moves into Stephanie’s apartment, and everyone wants to know what happened in Hawaii?!


My Thoughts :

A long time ago, before I was a reader, I picked up a Janet Evanovich book and was pulled into the amazing fun and wacky world of Bounty Hunter Stephanie Plum.  That trip to the local library turned my world around as I became a huge Stephanie Plum fan and started to enjoy reading.  Now I am a little behind on the series and over the years I have moved onto other genres but this is a series I have to read.  It is just too funny to pass up on.

Yes there are already eighteen books in the series and yes Stephanie still hasn't made her mind up but the weird and hilarious episodes of her life make up for the torturous on-going storyline.  The Morelli or Ranger t debate takes a back burner while Stephanie runs around with Lula trying to taser people into court reappearances and managing to eat up a storm at the local fast food joints.  Something usually gets blown up and grandma tries her best to get her gun out in every book.  There are some moments you just know are going come along in every book and you know you are going to laugh out loud as soon as it happens.  It never gets old.

This time around the plot revolves around a picture that Stephanie picked up by accident.  It is a fun story that involves her being followed for the majority of the book and also threatened.  These two things aren't actually unusual for the Bounty Hunter and she seems to take things in her stride these days and manages to make the people involved pay for their idiocy.  All the events that lead to the bad guys being caught are full of laughs and giggles which make this series even better.  I need a nice stupid and fun book now and again and this series really does hit the spot.

Number Nineteen is now on my wishlist and I am pretty sure there are more in this series to come.  Although I want the story of Stephanie Plum to come end at some point but I really don't want to loose this quirky mad-cap series.  However long this one keeps coming, I will keep reading.  I just don't rush out on release day to get a copy any more.  I wait for the moment that I need some Stephanie Plum antics to brighten up my reading day.