SIZZLING SIXTEEN by Janet Evanovich

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Date published: June 2010
ISBN: 978-0-7393-7772-7
Romantic Comedy
Hardcover
Reviewed by Tammy
Obtained via library


Janet Evanovich’s latest Stephanie Plum caper, SIZZLING SIXTEEN, fails to produce the hoped for heat.

Trenton’s favorite bounty hunter, Stephanie Plum, is back to her usual hi-jinks when her boss and weasel-like cousin, Vinnie, is kidnapped and held ransom for a ridiculous sum after he runs up a debt he can’t pay back to the wrong people and it is up to Steph, Lula and Connie to save the day.

Ms. Evanovich had the opportunity to redeem her title as queen of romantic comedy with her latest Stephanie Plum caper SIZZLING SIXTEEN after ho hum reviews for her latest Plum books, but sadly failed to produce. The title in no way represented what was inside the jacket. This book simply fizzled. There were a few places here and there that produced a chuckle such as Stephanie and Lula meeting Mr. Jingles and Vinnie leading the hobbits to save the day. But with a title like SIZZLING SIXTEEN, this reader expected there to be a little heat between the pages, hopefully of the Ranger/Steph variety (or even of the Morelli/Steph variety if we have to endure it yet again), but alas, that was not to be. Stephanie and Morelli are still very much unsure of where they want their relationship to go, if anywhere other than bed, and Stephanie is still afraid to take the leap with Ranger. As Stephanie is still as immature and bungling as she was in the first books, it is no surprise that Ranger, who is now a successful businessman, is wary of offering too much to the constantly confused Stephanie.

Now this reader understands that Ms. Evanovich is afraid to give her fans what they want in a Steph/Ranger pairing for fear that she will have written herself into a corner. Note to Janet: you don’t have to have Stephanie settle down and become domesticated with anyone in the course of one book. Why can’t Stephanie try to make it work with Ranger for a while and continue her silly capers while maturing as a person for a change? Why she left Ranger’s employ and went back to working full-time for Vinnie made absolutely no sense. She had a steady paycheck, benefits, a job that allowed her to still do some bounty hunting and an opportunity for maturity and decided to leave that and go back to an unsteady paycheck, complete lack of health benefits and a relationship that wasn’t working?? There is a difference between zany and stupid. With this latest misadventure, Stephanie has moved into the land of stupid. Perhaps if Ms. Evanovich wasn’t spreading herself so thin with her between the numbers books and other lesser selling books and spent more time trying to fix the Plum series, she could still steer this train back on the tracks and bring back lost readers. If however, she stays on her present course and delivers yet another short and painful trip into idiocy for the Peter Pan of bounty hunting, this reader fears that it may mark the demise of Ms. Evanovich’s remaining loyal fan base.

Still, if you have never picked up a Stephanie Plum book before and decided to dive in with SIZZLING SIXTEEN, you will probably find it amusing and a fun read. Sadly, for those of us who have read all sixteen books in the Plum series, SIZZLING SIXTEEN simply fizzled.

This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.

FINGER LICKIN’ FIFTEEN *Stephanie Plum series Book 15* by Janet Evanovich

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Date published: June 2009
ISBN: 978-0-312-38328-2
Romantic adventure
Hardcover
Reviewed by Tammy


Janet Evanovich once again starts the summer off with her latest Stephanie Plum romantic adventure, FINGER LICKIN’ FIFTEEN. Heads are rolling, stomachs churning and our favorite Jersey girl is once again on the case.

FINGER LICKIN’ FIFTEEN once again highlights the antics of everyone’s favorite bounty hunter, Stephanie Plum, as her apartment is once again firebombed, cars are again blown up left and right, heads are rolling and BBQ sauce is redefined. Stephanie finds herself once again working, and sometimes living, with the sexy and seductive Ranger after Rangeman has a string of security breaches and Stephanie is asked to look into the case. Loyal sidekick Lula finds herself chased by a giggling, knife-wielding murderer after witnessing the beheading of a celebrity chef in Trenton for a BBQ contest. And while all this is happening, on-again, off-again boyfriend, Detective Morelli, is there shaking his head at the zaniness that follows Stephanie everywhere she goes.

Following a lackluster FEARLESS FOURTEEN, it’s a relief to see Ms. Evanovich going back to a more balanced Morelli/Ranger storyline for FINGER LICKIN’ FIFTEEN. Although there are probably an equal number of Stephanie/Morelli and Stephanie/Ranger fans out there, this reader understands how difficult it would be for Ms. Evanovich to have Stephanie live happily ever after with either hunky hero, as that is almost always the kiss of death to a series. Teasing the fans by leaving us wondering is extremely frustrating for her readers, but it is exactly that teasing that keeps us coming back for more. And with the exception of perhaps the last paragraph (which this reader could have done without), FINGER LICKIN’ FIFTEEN really delivers a nice character balance.

FINGER LICKIN’ FIFTEEN has all the comedy, adventure and sexual possibility that Evanovich fans come back for again and again. Now if Janet can just drop those incredibly unanticipated between the number books and put all her concentration on the sixteenth book, this reader truly believes Plum fans will be back in droves.

FEARLESS FOURTEEN: A Stephanie Plum Novel by Janet Evanovich

Publisher St. Martin’s Press
Date published June 2008
ISBN 978-0-312-34951-6
Mystery
Hardcover
Reviewed by Tammy



Trenton, New Jersey’s favorite bounty hunter, Stephanie Plum, is back with another wacky look at life and love in the Burg in Janet Evanovich’s feisty FEARLESS FOURTEEN.

When yet another bad apple on the Morelli family tree, Dom Rizzi, Joe’s cousin, is paroled after doing his time for robbing a bank, Joe’s basement is being broken into and dead bodies are piling up. Then Dom’s sister Loretta misses a court date and ends up on Stephanie’s list of skips before getting herself kidnapped and leaving her son in Steph’s temporary care. Hidden millions, a monkey named Carl, a bodyguard assignment, a stalker and a surprise engagement keep the laughs coming as Stephanie and friends plod their way through another day in the wonderfully wacky world of Jersey’s own Stephanie Plum, bounty hunter.

Like all the Plum books, FEARLESS FOURTEEN, is just another day at work for Jersey’s most famous bounty hunter, Stephanie Plum, if just another day means having severed toes in your freezer, discovering yet another dead body, stalkers guarding your boyfriend’s house with potato guns and a surprise engagement complete with a passed out mercenary.

On the plus side, FEARLESS FOURTEEN had this reader laughing out loud often while reading Stephanie’s latest adventure. And it was nice to see some personal growth in Stephanie, as her relationship with Trenton cop and boyfriend Joe Morelli appears to be on firmer ground. Sure, there were several cut and paste portions of this book from previous books. But when you need to give the same background information in fourteen books, there are only so many ways you can relate that same information, so this reader can forgive this little bit of repetition.

On the negative side, FEARLESS FOURTEEN felt sort of Plum-lite in a sense. It just didn’t have the punch that we come to expect from a Plum novel. Perhaps a big reason for this seamless lack was the oh so short and way too professional appearance of Ranger Manoso, Stephanie’s sometime love interest, occasional boss, mentor and man of mystery. In this reader’s opinion, what makes the Plum books so incredibly popular is not just the wacky adventures Stephanie finds herself in, but the incredible way Evanovich manages to balance the two sexy alpha men in Stephanie’s life, Ranger and Joe, so that at the end of each book fans are left cheering for both men almost equally. The books that this reader enjoyed the most in this series are the ones where both men got equal time and attention on the personal front from Stephanie. That is not the case in this book and this reader believes this unbalance is what has led to so much reader dissatisfaction associated with FEARLESS FOURTEEN. Though Evanovich only generally releases one Plum book each year, perhaps it would serve this talented author better if she were to skip with the rewrites of her earlier works and the in between number books and concentrate more on finding a balance that showcases the men in Stephanie’s life alongside of whatever wacky caper she happens to be involved with for book fifteen. Just a suggestion, but one that this reader feels strongly Ms. Evanovich should give some serious thought to.

If you are a fan of Ms. Evanovich’s Plum mystery series or just want to find out what all the fuss is about, her latest installment, FEARLESS FOURTEEN, will prove to be an enjoyable and fairly quick read. But maybe, just maybe, you might want to wait for the paperback version to come out or pick up a copy at your local library and save the steeper expense of a hardcover book for something that stands out from the pack just a little bit more.