I just read all of the Janet Evanovich Stephanie Plum series. They were GREAT! I read all 15 of the numbered series and the 4 Between-the-Numbers books in 3 and a half weeks. In this review I will single out the 1st book in the series One for the Money.
I LOVED the character Stephanie Plum. She is just your average girl, she is pretty and well built, she is of at least average intelligence but she is lost. She thinks there is nothing she is good and mostly because she is inept at a lot of what she does.
Stephanie loses her job as a lingerie buyer for a small department store in Newark, New Jersey. This Jersey girl from the “Burg” in Trenton then gets her car repossessed and looks to a family member for a job. She “cons” her cousin Vinnie into employing her as a Bond Enforcement Agent or a Bounty Hunter … she hunts down people who don’t show up for their court dates after Vinnie bonds them out.
The cast of characters starts small with her family and Joe Morelli, Ranger and Lula. Joe is a cop which she has a long and tempestuous relationship with; he is all Italian, gorgeous and worth $10,000 to Stephanie. Stephanie has to find Joe Morelli after he is arrested for murder … problem is she doesn’t think he did it and can’t seem to capture him. Shenanigans ensue!
Ranger is a HOT Latino that is good at everything he does. He is a Bounty Hunter as well and Stephanie often compares him to Batman.
Her mom and dad are your typical mom and dad, dad ignores everything but TV and food and mom is out to feed everyone and protect the family’s good standing in the community. Then there is Grandma Mazur, she is a “pip”. I really don’t know exactly what that means but it is used by Grandma Mazur throughout the series. Stephanie’s Grandma is in her 70’s but acts like she is a teenager and is a constant source of entertainment for the reader & irritation for her mother.
Lula is a “Ho” that Stephanie meets and sort of befriends while looking for her first FTA … look out for Lula in the next 18 books!
There are other lesser characters that make little or no impact on the series as a whole but they all lend to the current story and define the character of Stephanie Plum.
This book was good from start to finish and I went out the day I finished the book and checked out the next several in the series from my library. I laughed a lot when reading this book as there were one-liners brilliantly sprinkled throughout the story. The story is not unbelievable … perhaps a little far fetched but not completely impossible. I love that the main character Stephanie is just your average Jersey girl and in some ways is just incompetent. She may be the worst Bounty Hunter ever … though some would say it is all part of her process. What she has going for her is a crazy family, large set of contacts, and a ready supply of short skirts, mascara, hairspray & stubbornness. There is enough sizzle to make it a fun read for your romance lover but not so much smut that you feel dirty after reading it. There are explosions, fires, shooting and action to keep the guys happy as well!
My recommendation is to READ THIS BOOK!
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