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

A Slice of Murder by Chris Cavender ★★★☆☆

It’s a Gamble

Fiction – Mystery (Cozy)

304 pages

Publication Date:  August 1st 2009

Pizza Lovers #1

Eleanor Swift thinks she has all she can handle spending her time trying to keep A Slice of Delight pizza parlor in the black and getting over the death of her husband, but the little town of Timber Ridge is about to become a lot less sleepy, and Eleanor is smack dab in the middle of the excitement.  Making a last minute pizza delivery Eleanor finds the dead body of her customer plunging her into a mystery with far reaching consequences for some the town’s most prominent citizens.

Okay, so admittedly the name of this book sounds like a title for a Psych episode and whenever I read it the voice in my head is Shawn Spencer drawing out the word murder.  Which is probably 87% of the reason I read it, but of course I’ve read things for far less reasonable reasons and tend to take on the attitude of “what the hell”.  I apologize if you had higher expectations for my taste in books, but I also refuse to take any real ownership for your dashed hopes.  And while I love you my fellow readers and appreciate your willingness to hear my thoughts and opinions on subjects far beyond my understanding and education my advice would be get over it, because apparently none of my limitations will stop me from spouting off –occasionally unfounded – opinions (why else would I have a blog?).  That aside I want to preface my review with the idea that reading this book is a gamble.  For the first hundred pages I planned on making it a two starrer but in the second hundred pages it managed to squeak itself into the three star range.  So here are my findings.

The action starts from the very first sentence(a plus).  The pacing is a little hectic and definitely uncomfortable (big minus).  I liked the small town atmosphere, but didn’t need to be continually slapped in the face with it.  The humor was a bit forced, but eventually I did become mildly interested in the plot and felt some sympathy for Eleanor.  This book wasn’t taxing to read and that is on occasion very desirable when you just need a break.  On the other hand you could find other books like this of a higher caliber.

Overall I’ve came away from this book with kind of a “meh” feeling, meaning I could take it or leave it.  Rather unhelpful, I know, but unfortunately that’s all I’ve got.

ISBN  0758229488 (ISBN13: 9780758229489)