Summary:
It's almost Valentine's Day. There's hardly anything going on at the bond office, and Stephanie's only case, Annie Hart, is being held out of her reach by none other than Diesel, Steph's slightly supernatural bud. The catch this time around is that Stephanie's got to play Cupid while Annie can't, while Diesel finds the guy that's so ticked off at Annie, he's going after her with a vengeance. Annie's in the "relationship specialist" business, and Diesel forces Stephanie to help the five schlubs that can't find love before Valentine's Day. Most are easy, but one of the poor schmucks is Stephanie's sister's boyfriend, who wants to BE married to her sister, but just can't get to the GETTING married part without passing out cold. It's a race with the clock to get these unhappy people to find their happily ever afters.
Thoughts:
More fun holiday mayhem with our buddy Diesel. You might remember him from Visions of Sugar Plums, the Christmas book from two months ago. He's back, with more vaguely supernatural hijinks to throw upon Stephanie. When Diesel is around, you know there's going to be something fun and holiday-related. This one's fun for Valentine's time but, having read it during September, it's still fun to read at any time of the year. It's a standard mystery, like the rest of the Plum series, but this time the romance doesn't circle entirely around Stephanie. Like the previous Between-The-Numbers book from Evanovich, it's short and sweet, though this one's got a little bit more meat to it. And who doesn't love a happy ending?
Book 47 of 50
Pages: 164
Genre: Mystery, romance
Grade: B+
Would I Recommend?: Great little read for Valentine's time, though I'd try to keep it in order with the rest of the series... There might be some spoilers otherwise.
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Twelve Sharp (Janet Evanovich)
Summary:
Stephanie Plum, almost-average bounty hunter, finds herself the target of one Carmen Manoso, the self-proclaimed wife of Ranger, hottie extraordinaire and sometimes love interest of Stephanie herself. Carmen has found out that Stephanie has slept with Ranger, and wants revenge. Ranger's not around to dispute the claim, thanks to some "bad business" of his in Miami. Stephanie finds Crazy Carmen around every corner for a while. Days later, news gets out that Ranger's daughter has been kidnapped, and Ranger is the police's only suspect. And then Stephanie starts to wonder why Carmen's car, which has been watching the bond office where her friends Lula and Connie work (and where she gets handed her bounty assignments), hasn't moved in days. Stephanie peeks inside to see that Carmen's not in the driver's seat, and there's a body shaped lump in the trunk. Now that things are getting serious, Ranger happens to show up without his daughter, but with a suspected stalker coming after him, trying to BE him. And Stephanie is his next target...
Thoughts:
Really a great story. The stalker/wannabe is always a step ahead of not only the cops, but Ranger too, which is odd for him. This one sees Ranger moving himself into Steph's space for a change, and all the standard concern Steph has regarding Ranger vs. Joe Morelli is there in full force. Their concern for her safety trumps their fighting each other for her hand every time, but it's still always there for the two men, and poor Stephanie just has no idea who to choose. I'm starting to get used to this whole limbo thing she's got going on for her, though for her own sanity, she should probably make a decision some day... We all know, though, that it's never going to happen. Poor girl
Book 46 of 50
Pages: 320
Genre: Mystery with a touch of romance
Grade: B+
Would I Recommend?: Oh of course. This late in the series, though, I'll suggest reading more of the early books, so there's nothing missing when you get to this guy.
Stephanie Plum, almost-average bounty hunter, finds herself the target of one Carmen Manoso, the self-proclaimed wife of Ranger, hottie extraordinaire and sometimes love interest of Stephanie herself. Carmen has found out that Stephanie has slept with Ranger, and wants revenge. Ranger's not around to dispute the claim, thanks to some "bad business" of his in Miami. Stephanie finds Crazy Carmen around every corner for a while. Days later, news gets out that Ranger's daughter has been kidnapped, and Ranger is the police's only suspect. And then Stephanie starts to wonder why Carmen's car, which has been watching the bond office where her friends Lula and Connie work (and where she gets handed her bounty assignments), hasn't moved in days. Stephanie peeks inside to see that Carmen's not in the driver's seat, and there's a body shaped lump in the trunk. Now that things are getting serious, Ranger happens to show up without his daughter, but with a suspected stalker coming after him, trying to BE him. And Stephanie is his next target...
Thoughts:
Really a great story. The stalker/wannabe is always a step ahead of not only the cops, but Ranger too, which is odd for him. This one sees Ranger moving himself into Steph's space for a change, and all the standard concern Steph has regarding Ranger vs. Joe Morelli is there in full force. Their concern for her safety trumps their fighting each other for her hand every time, but it's still always there for the two men, and poor Stephanie just has no idea who to choose. I'm starting to get used to this whole limbo thing she's got going on for her, though for her own sanity, she should probably make a decision some day... We all know, though, that it's never going to happen. Poor girl
Book 46 of 50
Pages: 320
Genre: Mystery with a touch of romance
Grade: B+
Would I Recommend?: Oh of course. This late in the series, though, I'll suggest reading more of the early books, so there's nothing missing when you get to this guy.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Little Shop of Homicide (Denise Swanson)
Summary:
Devereaux Sinclair is a financial hot-shot turned small town shop keeper living in her tiny home town, whose storied past gets her accused by a vindictive detective from nearby Kansas City of the murder of her high school boyfriend's fiancee. Dev hasn't even seen her ex for years, let alone cared that he was getting married to someone else. Her grandmother, whose health is okay but mind is failing, decides to get the neighbor's hot grandson to help Dev out. It helps that grandson Jake is an injured deputy U.S. Marshall, and has the time to spare helping Dev out. Sparks fly when Jake is around, and Dev can't help but love spending time with him, even if her life is on the line...
Thoughts:
If you've read this blog much, you'll know that my opinion of Ms. Swanson has fallen recently, thanks to her other series, with Skye Denison in Scumble River, drastically reducing in quality. This book was not much better. In fact, it borders on worse, if I'm being honest. It was plain from the start that Devereaux was going to fall in love with someone coming along soon within the book. At first, I expected her love interest to be Detective Woods, because it was the first man she was to encounter, but he turned out to be a crazy S.O.B. that no one would want around for any extended length of time (or pages), so as soon as Dev spotted Jake walk in her store, I knew it was going to be him. It didn't help that her best friends told her she should start dating some man to get the detective off her trail, and then in walks a very handsome man whose sole purpose was to help her get out of trouble. Who wouldn't fall for that mess? It was very predictable, even the love scenes. I could tell when someone was about to walk in on them, because they were getting to into the idea of hooking up. Even the "other woman" scenario Swanson throws into the mix was easily figured. Jake gets a phone call- conveniently for Swanson, it comes right in the middle of their first make-out session- and Dev can hear it's a woman's voice, and who does it turn out to be? Jake's uninterested ex-wife. Predictable. Shamefully so. The worst part of the whole book, though, was the fact that it didn't actually end. It had a resolution to the crime, sure. But it ended with a paragraph full of questions. Why would you even bother with that if you were an author? Two reasons that I can see, both equally heinous: The first is padding the word count so that your publisher doesn't bitch that your book was under 250 pages. The second is so your readers don't have to read between the lines to remember which plot holes you left open. I find this one offensive thanks to the fact that it makes us as readers seem like unobservant asses, and it shows that she knows damn well that she's going to be writing more in the series, so why bother ending it cleanly? I doubt I'll pick up the next book in the series, unless I can get my hands on it for free, or very cheap.
Book 44 of 50
Pages: 250
Genre: An even split between mystery and romance
Grade: C+ at most
Would I Recommend?: Meh. It's a light read, easily breezed through in a few hours' reading time, but it's not especially fantastic. If you like Swanson's work, go for it. If not, you don't need to go there.
Devereaux Sinclair is a financial hot-shot turned small town shop keeper living in her tiny home town, whose storied past gets her accused by a vindictive detective from nearby Kansas City of the murder of her high school boyfriend's fiancee. Dev hasn't even seen her ex for years, let alone cared that he was getting married to someone else. Her grandmother, whose health is okay but mind is failing, decides to get the neighbor's hot grandson to help Dev out. It helps that grandson Jake is an injured deputy U.S. Marshall, and has the time to spare helping Dev out. Sparks fly when Jake is around, and Dev can't help but love spending time with him, even if her life is on the line...
Thoughts:
If you've read this blog much, you'll know that my opinion of Ms. Swanson has fallen recently, thanks to her other series, with Skye Denison in Scumble River, drastically reducing in quality. This book was not much better. In fact, it borders on worse, if I'm being honest. It was plain from the start that Devereaux was going to fall in love with someone coming along soon within the book. At first, I expected her love interest to be Detective Woods, because it was the first man she was to encounter, but he turned out to be a crazy S.O.B. that no one would want around for any extended length of time (or pages), so as soon as Dev spotted Jake walk in her store, I knew it was going to be him. It didn't help that her best friends told her she should start dating some man to get the detective off her trail, and then in walks a very handsome man whose sole purpose was to help her get out of trouble. Who wouldn't fall for that mess? It was very predictable, even the love scenes. I could tell when someone was about to walk in on them, because they were getting to into the idea of hooking up. Even the "other woman" scenario Swanson throws into the mix was easily figured. Jake gets a phone call- conveniently for Swanson, it comes right in the middle of their first make-out session- and Dev can hear it's a woman's voice, and who does it turn out to be? Jake's uninterested ex-wife. Predictable. Shamefully so. The worst part of the whole book, though, was the fact that it didn't actually end. It had a resolution to the crime, sure. But it ended with a paragraph full of questions. Why would you even bother with that if you were an author? Two reasons that I can see, both equally heinous: The first is padding the word count so that your publisher doesn't bitch that your book was under 250 pages. The second is so your readers don't have to read between the lines to remember which plot holes you left open. I find this one offensive thanks to the fact that it makes us as readers seem like unobservant asses, and it shows that she knows damn well that she's going to be writing more in the series, so why bother ending it cleanly? I doubt I'll pick up the next book in the series, unless I can get my hands on it for free, or very cheap.
Book 44 of 50
Pages: 250
Genre: An even split between mystery and romance
Grade: C+ at most
Would I Recommend?: Meh. It's a light read, easily breezed through in a few hours' reading time, but it's not especially fantastic. If you like Swanson's work, go for it. If not, you don't need to go there.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
You Have Seven Messages (Stewart Lewis)
Summary:
Luna has recently lost her mother, and when visiting her mother's old studio, she finds her mother's cell phone, and a man's cuff link she doesn't recognize. She checks the phone, and there are seven messages left on the phone. She is curious, and wants to figure out why there's a stranger's cuff link in her mother's studio, and why her dad isn't telling her everything. The cute boy across the street from her even offers to help solve the mystery. But will her whole world change when she finds out the truth?
Thoughts:
Very interesting. I really enjoyed this. Sure, Luna takes some really big risks, and should probably have not done all the things she did (she's only fourteen), but if she feels she's ready to know the things she winds up knowing, she's got a right to it. The book really deals with a teen that's not completely ready to let go of her mother yet, and is aided in that process by the messages she finds, and the people she meets along the way. The last few chapters are, I'll admit, a little weird. (She travels to Italy to get away from New York City and the things she finds out about her mother.) But it works out fairly well by the end. Sure, the book ends with a lot of open endings, but sometimes life doesn't get that happy ending we're always expecting, or even an ending at all. For once, this non-ending ending is not as offensive as many others I've encountered.
Book 43 of 50
Pages: 304
Genre: teen lit
Grade: B
Would I Recommend?: Sure, especially a teenager trying to deal with a loss.
Luna has recently lost her mother, and when visiting her mother's old studio, she finds her mother's cell phone, and a man's cuff link she doesn't recognize. She checks the phone, and there are seven messages left on the phone. She is curious, and wants to figure out why there's a stranger's cuff link in her mother's studio, and why her dad isn't telling her everything. The cute boy across the street from her even offers to help solve the mystery. But will her whole world change when she finds out the truth?
Thoughts:
Very interesting. I really enjoyed this. Sure, Luna takes some really big risks, and should probably have not done all the things she did (she's only fourteen), but if she feels she's ready to know the things she winds up knowing, she's got a right to it. The book really deals with a teen that's not completely ready to let go of her mother yet, and is aided in that process by the messages she finds, and the people she meets along the way. The last few chapters are, I'll admit, a little weird. (She travels to Italy to get away from New York City and the things she finds out about her mother.) But it works out fairly well by the end. Sure, the book ends with a lot of open endings, but sometimes life doesn't get that happy ending we're always expecting, or even an ending at all. For once, this non-ending ending is not as offensive as many others I've encountered.
Book 43 of 50
Pages: 304
Genre: teen lit
Grade: B
Would I Recommend?: Sure, especially a teenager trying to deal with a loss.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)