I adore the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich! There is no reading experience that compares to this for me! Each installment makes me laugh out loud...not just once or twice, but many many times. The characters and situations are so crazy and "unbelievable" as to be, well, almost believable!
There are 21 books in this series at present. They are perhaps easily recognizable by the fact that their titles are sequentially numbered: One for the Money, Two for the Dough, Three to Get Deadly,...all the way to Top Secret Twenty-One. I own each and every one of these books as well as the "between" novels: Visions of Sugar Plums, Plum Lovin', Plum Lucky, and Plum Spooky. These latter novels tend to be much shorter.
Although you most certainly do not have to read these in order, I really like to reread them in order every few years. I just feel it gives me much more appreciation for Stephanie's development (or lack thereof) through all her bizarre experiences. Perhaps the most entertaining part of reading this series is getting to know the "supporting cast" of characters. I find it difficult to believe that one person can create and develop such specifically oddball and unique characters! Evanovich has more than a fertile imagination--it qualifies as out of this world!
Perhaps the two most scintillating characters are Ranger and Morelli; one the man who took Stephanie's virginity and the other sometimes rescues her and/or employs her. I'm going on record--I never want Stephanie to choose only one of these men! I think one of the most enjoyable aspects of this series is the fact that she has both of them in her life and they both (in their own way) do love her, and she them...
Then there is Stephanie's family: her mother who 'tipples' and irons when she gets extremely upset; her father who rarely speaks, communicating mainly using grunts; her Grandma Mazur who much prefers open casket funerals and will do her darnedest to attend every single funeral held in the Burg and make sure the casket IS open; and her perhaps-not-so-perfect sister, Valerie and her two children and new attorney husband... Morelli's Grandma Bella and "the eye." Don't forget the ex-husband, Dickie Orr, and new arch-nemesis fellow bounty hunter Joyce Barnhardt, the woman Stephanie caught with Dickie about 15 minutes before filing for divorce...
Who could ever forget Lula, the neon-colored 3-sizes-too-small spandex wearing "big-boned" but vertically-challenged ex-hooker, Vinny's file clerk and sometimes Stephanie's personal apprehension assistant! Transvestite rocker Sally Sweet, an obnoxious short person Randy Briggs, the I'll-eat-anything gigantic dog Bob, stoners Mooner and Dougie, office manager Connie, Mr. Jingles the alligator, Salvatore Sunucchi, to name just a few!
Interestingly, I notice readers post disgruntled reviews on Goodreads about this series, complaining that things never seem to change--each book is the same--yada yada yada. However, they keep reading and posting with each new release! Their complaints are exactly what I love about this series...so very predictable, especially the fact that I will laugh as I do at no other writing!
I can't really pinpoint in detail what makes these books so darned appealing to me--I just know they are! How 'bout you? Have you tried one yet? If not, I suggest you do! Fun, fun, fun...
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