Easter Book Haul

Hello again.

Due to unforeseen circumstances (aka, pulling a muscle in my back/hip) the video I'd planned on filming has been put on the back burner for now.  Instead I filmed a really quick video on Easter Sunday so I could share with you the bookmail that had been trickling in over the last week.

I was hoping to save all my parcels, and some still aren't here!, until I had them all in a glorious pile and then I'd open them on camera.  However, I got so excited when I ended up with 5 parcels in one day that I forgot about that and tore into them - oops! ;-D

Anyway, I've already devoured two of the Amanda Quick titles, Til Death Do Us Part and The Girl Who Knew Too Much, and they were just the thing I needed to get me out of the reading funk I'd slipped into after binge watching seasons 1 & 2 of Wynonna Earp (ps. such a great urban horror/western series!).

Still have to get to the two cozy mystery books, as well as the final two Jayne Ann Krentz novels and The Immortals (which I have my fingers crossed for because I love a good urban fantasy with gods and goddess' in a modern setting).

So with all that reading still to do I'm going to love you and leave you.  And until I see you next time,

 

Book Review || One for the Money

Original 1994 hardcover

One for the Money
Stephanie Plum, Book 1
Janet Evanovich

Originally Published: 1994
Review Edition: 2012

Penguin, Format B paperback, 290p.
ISBN: 978-0-241-95703-5
 

Winner of the Crime Writer’s Association John Creasy Memorial Dagger

Stephanie Plum is down on her luck.  She’s lost her job, her car’s on the brink of repossession, and her apartment is fast becoming furniture-free.

Enter Cousin Vinnie, a low-life who runs a bail-bond company.  If Stephanie can bring in vice cop turned outlaw Joe Morelli, she stands to pick up $10,000.  But tracking down a cop wanted for murder isn’t easy.  And when Benito Ramirez, a prize-fighter with more menace than mentality, wants to be her friend Stephanie soon knows what its like to be pursued.  Unfortunately the best person to protect her just happens to be on the run. . .

First off, I can't believe that it's been over 10 years since I picked up my first Stephanie Plum book, and over 20 since Stephanie Plum first burst onto the scene in One for the Money!  I wanted to re-read One for the Money for the first time in over 8 years, to see what I think of it.  Has it aged well, or is it just a product of it's time?

What I love about this book (and the series) is that Stephanie is a just a woman.  No superpowers, or kickass abilities.  She screws up - a lot! - and makes a complete fool of herself at times, but she's also warm and funny.  Her attempts to snag FTAs, Morelli in this instance, are just laughable.  She has to be the most inept bounty hunter in history.  She doesn't like guns, has no clue as to how to take down an FTA, but she can lie through her teeth without blinking an eyelash - perhaps her most valuable skill.

Book Review || Tricky Twenty-Two

Tricky Twenty-Two

Stephanie Plum #22

Janet Evanovich

Published: 16 Nov, 2015

Headline, Trade, 280p.

ISBN: 978-1-4722-0165-2

Something big is brewing in Trenton, New Jersey, 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), the unofficial student leader of the notorious Zeta fraternity, has been arrested for beating up the dean of students at Kiltman College.  Gobbles has missed his court date and has 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.

As much as people love Gobbles, they hate Doug LInken.  When Linken is gunned down in his backyard, 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 Kinked, and Stephanie, who has her eye on a cash prize and hopefully has some tricks up her sleeve...

NOTE: this will contain SPOILERS as I can't avoid them if I want to give you a full run down of what I thought of this book.

So much happened in this book that I almost don't know where to start.   After having numerous problems with the declining quality over the last couple of years, I was half dreading this book.  Thankfully Evanovich has really upped her game and addressed some of the issues that were becoming a real problem with the series.

The main change comes with character development.  Two major changes occur in Tricky Twenty-Two.  Firstly, in a twist I couldn't have anticipated, Morelli dumps Stephanie!  Yes, the hot Italian cop dropped this bomb out of the blue - and thought that the time to tell her they should see other people was while they were in bed... right after they'd had sex! So, for the rest of the book Stephanie and Morelli are broken up - for mysterious reasons that he's not telling anyone!  I was so shocked to read this that I literally stared at that paragraph for a good 2 minutes.  24 hours later, and I was still having trouble getting my mind around this!

Secondly, is the rethink of Stephanie's continued klutziness in recapturing FTA's.  In the first couple of books, Stephanie was a newbie bounty hunter, so of course we were expecting her to be totally inept.  However, when it was still happening in Eleven on Top it was becoming monotonous to have your main character as the comic relief.  She was still getting thrown into tables of food - or garbage bins! - and the only person more inept than Stephanie was Lula.  She's been at this for years now and so I would expect that she should have gained some skills!  It's not good to have your female lead to always be rescued by the hot ex-Special Forces guy.  So when I read that not only was Stephanie able to rescue herself, and another character, as well as take down the lawn mowing FTA in short order, I took heart that perhaps some of Stephanie's shortcomings regarding this issue will finally be rectified.

As well as the above major plot points, here are a few other changes that I took note of:

• Mrs Plum tackles the killer - and beats the crap out of him! - and finally admits that she gets why Stephanie doesn't quit.  Yes, it's only taken 22 books (and 20 years) for Stephanie to get some validation.
• Stephanie actually baked a cake... and it was edible!  She didn't really find it a fulfilling experience, but she did it!
• Self defence and firearm training is now on Stephanie's to-do list (or so she says).
• Morelli and Stephanie are finally more open to getting married at some stage in the future.
• Surprising health issues raised for Morelli.  This is the issue that sends his relationship with Stephanie into splitsville.
• Ella tells Stephanie that she is the only woman to come to Ranger's place!
• We finally get a reason for Lula being such a terrible shot.  She has glasses that she won't wear as it's not a good fashion choice.
•  Sexual tension between Stephanie and Ranger is a little bland.  A hint of things to come, or just the calm before the storm?

I took all of these as a sign that I should not give up on this series.  After all, I have been reading this series for nearly 12 years, and I have invested far too much time, energy - not to mention money! - to give up on Stephanie, Ranger and Morelli now.  Evanovich has made a few seemingly minor, but much needed, tweeks that pretty much guarantee I will be looking forward to Book 23 all that much more.

Stephanie Plum is a great series if you want something that's fast, straight forward, uncomplicated, funny and light to read.  While I love the earlier books more, Tricky Twenty-Two lets me believe that there is still some get up and go in this series.

Until next time,

Finally finished this book!

Yes, it's true.  I finally finished this book yesterday morning!  It has taken me forever to finish, and along with The Rithmatist, it is the only time I have ever left a book unfinished - ever!

However, now that I have read the final sentence, the annoying thing is that it wasn't as bad as I'd found the first third of the book.  Perhaps I was just in a reading funk?  Well, whatever the reason I found it to be a lot more enjoyable than I'd dreaded.

I will try and get a review up shortly.  But until then, I would recommend you give it a try.  Just remember it's not an action packed, fast paced book.  

Until next time,

 

Book Review || Jane Austen in Scarsdale

Jane Austen in Scarsdale
Or, Love, Death, and the SATs
Paula Marantz Cohen

Published in 2006

St. Martin's Press, hardcover, 275p.
ISBN: 9780312325022

Anne Ehrlich is a dedicated guidance counselor steering her high-school charges through the perils of college admission.  Thirteen years ago, when she was graduating from Columbia University, her wealthy family - especially her dear grandmother Winnie - persuaded her to give up the love of her life, Ben Cutler, a penniless boy from Queens College.  Anne has never married and hasn't seen Ben since - until his nephew turns up in her high school and starts applying to college.

Now Ben is a successful writer, a world traveler, and a soon-to-be-married man, and Winnie's health is beginning to fail.  These changes have Anne beginning to wonder... Can old love be rekindled, or are past mistakes too painful to forget?

This is a fluffy, romantic contemporary that I picked up from the library purely because of the Jane Austen association, and while I am still undecided as to what I really think of this book I do know that I will not be adding it to my bookshelves.

As you can tell from the synopsis above it all sounds rather familiar doesn't it - like a Jane Austen book perhaps?  And you would be right as this is the basic premise that Austen used in Persuasion.  So this book is basically an updated, and contemporary version of Austen's final book.

Even though I know this, I was still hoping to enjoy the book.  Sadly it was not to be.  I found the characters to be rather two dimensional and I had no emotional connection to them whatsoever.  I didn't care if they got reunited, fell in love, or just wandered off into the sunset alone.  I just wanted to get to the end of the book!

To be fair, there were bits I did like.  Winnie's final letter was well done, as was the final scene with the fiance and Anne.  The cover is quite attractive, and for a hardcover it was easy to handle while read.  However, that is about all the positive aspects I can say about this book.

This alone tells me that I was either in a reading funk of enormous proportions - or I really didn't like this book.  I may give it another read-through before sending it back to the library {just to make sure that I gave it a fair chance}, but I won't be checking out any more books by this author for a while regardless.

If you want to read a great book about getting a second chance at love, with all the feels, then read Persuasion and save yourself the disappointment.

Overall I rated this book:

Until next time,