Metro Girl by Janet Evanovich ★★☆☆☆

A chore to read.

Fiction – Mystery(Cozy)

384 pages

Publication Date:  2004

Alex Barnaby #1

Alexandra (Barney) Barnaby is in pursuit of her wayward brother, Bill, in Miami.  She hopes to find him and save him from whatever fresh catastrophe he has gotten himself into this time.  During her search she runs into Sam Hooker, a NASCAR driver who is pursuing Bill for the theft of his boat.  They learn that Bill is in pursuit of a sunken treasure, but he isn’t the only one.  Together Barney and Hooker race to the finish line to find Bill before the  “others” can get to him and the sunken treasure he has found.

Try as I might I could never find the rhythm of the story and slip into it.  While things did get a little better as the story progressed it never reached the point of redemption and in the end just trying to finish the book was a real chore.  I never warmed up to Barney and as a first person narrative from viewpoint that was a real problem.  Barney’s character just didn’t feel authentic to me for some reason.  I found Hooker unlikable and got sick of his constant NASCAR references really quickly.  The secondary characters were rather disappointing, especially since I know that is one of the areas Evanovich tends to shine in.  The mystery itself could have been incredibly interesting, but the characters were just too distracting to really get into it.  I regret the time I spent on this one!

ISBN  0060584025 (ISBN13: 9780060584023)

Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich ★★★☆☆

Still waiting for the climax!

Fiction – Mystery (Cozy)

302 pages

Publication Date:  November 20th 2012

Stephanie Plum #19

When Geoffrey Cubbin, a man headed for trial for embezzling millions from an assisted-living facility, vanishes from the hospital without a trace Stephanie Plum, even more desperate for money than usual, is eager to take up the case.   While contending with murderous senior citizens, a ticked off wife and a crazed homeless man with aspirations toward holiness Stephanie realizes that this case isn’t going to be solved easily, so she takes on a secondary job.  Ranger needs a body guard against an invisible foe and that job comes with its’ own list of problems.  But if Stephanie can survive poisoning, the bridesmaid dress from hell, and Ranger’s enemy turning his sights onto her then maybe she’ll be able to make rent this month.

As usual I was completely lured in by the book jacket blurb and ready for a good time (whoever wrote it is a genius and I would be very interested in having him/her look at some of my query letters – sorry mine sort of sucks in comparison).  At first I found the start a bit slow and stale.  Another car blown up, another junk food stop and I was beginning to wonder if I was starting to lose my loyalty to the series.  But then the story really started to pick up and I was pulled in again.  As the story progressed all of the pieces fell into place and I remembered why I keep coming back, because Evanovich is a good story teller and funny as hell.

After I finished the book I realized, in the whole 20 minutes I devote to thinking about this blog ;) in between doing dishes and yelling at children, while I found the story line great and I liked the ending it was rather anticlimactic.  I think both the Cubbin and Ranger story lines deserved to be more developed than they were.  Where is the pizzazz and suspense of Twelve Sharp; the irresistible need to find out what happens next?  This plot line had so much unfilled promise, kind of like there was a rush at the end to finish it instead of making it great like it should have been.  Also, I am bored with the Morelli versus Ranger thing; it’s time to spice it up.  Maybe Stephanie should move to a more commitment adult-like relationship with a spectacular break up plot device, seems to work real well in TV.  Oh and I really loved Tiki.  I personally have a Chrome Gnome named CG who vigorously protects our living room ( he was originally in my bedroom, but CG really creeped my Husband out, and my well thought out and cleverly worded protests that he was protecting us against giant Lego Darth Vader alarm clock killing us in our sleep did nothing to win him a reprieve).  I liked this book, but it certainly wasn’t one of Evanonvich’s best, sadly it could have been.

ISBN-10: 0345527747

Wicked Business by Janet Evanovich ★★★☆☆

Evanovich is starting to renew my faith in her!

Fiction – Mystery – Urban Fantasy

299 pages

Publication Date:  January 1st 2012

Lizzy & Diesel #2

The Luxria Stone, believed to contain the power of lust, surfaces with the murder of English professor Gilbert Reedy, and Diesel and Lizzy are hot on its trail.  Racing against Wulf and a new mysterious player to get to the stone first Lizzy and Diesel follow clues from a book of nineteenth-century sonnets in Prof. Reedy’s collection guiding them through historic Boston.  Pilfering churches, historic residences, creating public disturbances and ultimately navigating their way through creepy catacombs Lizzy and Diesel’s chaotic and outlandish journey creates unexpected and high cost results for more than one person.

It was a bit of a slow start and the writing was a little choppy, but this novel was a marked improvement on Wicked Appetite, with a more thought out plot line and better pacing of action and suspense.  My buy in was a lot higher this time, meaning I actually cared somewhat about what happened.  I felt more connected to the characters and found the sequence of events able to hold my attention.  Wulf is starting to become a more fleshed out character and I enjoyed the different dynamic in the group of characters when a new more potent villain was introduced.  Over all I am much happier and the Lizzy & Diesel series has won a sort of reprieve.  With some reservation I plan on reading the next book- with tempered hopes of it improving even more- instead of abandoning the series like I planned if I didn’t see enough progress.

ISBN  0345527771 (ISBN13: 9780345527776)