Literary Marie: Series Sunday

July 3, 2011

Series Sunday

Series Sunday is a new bookish meme hosted by yours truly, Literary Marie of Precision Reviews. I encourage all of my fellow book bloggers and bookhearts to play along.

Read an installment of a series.

Post a review/recommendation on your blog, FB, Twitter, Goodreads, or Shelfari pages.

Share your review/recommendation by posting the link in the comments section below.

Include the title, author, and name of the series so that other Series Sunday participants can add the book to their TBR Lists.

Smokin' Seventeen: A Stephanie Plum Novel

My Series Sunday pick is Smokin' Seventeen, the 17th book in the Stephanie Plum series. The New Jersey bounty hunter and friends are back. Dead bodies keep turning up at the empty construction lot of the Vincent Plum Bail Bonds office. Between finding the identity of the killer, Stephanie of course has to capture two FTA's (Failure to Appears). The difference in this installment is Stephanie's family and friends urge her to finally choose between the two men in her life. Trenton cop, Joe Morelli is her on-again-off-again boyfriend. Security expert Ranger is her mysterious protector. A third man enters her life: a high school classmate who just moved back to town.

I could read this with my eyes closed it was so predictable. I don't even laugh at the jokes anymore but just roll my eyes. The only thing smokin' about this book were my tires driving back to the library so I could return it. The same events happen in the same order. Stephanie still can't choose between Morelli and Ranger. Connie and Lula are still working, eating donuts and fried chicken in a bucket. Grandma Mazur still hangs out at the funeral home. And Grandma Bella casts the eye. Readers figure out the obvious killer early on, while the characters are still baffled. Although, this book attempted to incorporate a vampire too. Failed attempt!

The back of the hardcover has two purple stickers: "I ♡ Morelli" and "I ♡ Ranger." There is also an ad for the 18th installment which is releasing this November. How far is this series going to run??? I haven't decided yet whether I'll continue this series. On one hand, I'm interested to know who Stephanie finally chooses. But I am not willing to wait until Final Forty. According to the video interview below, Janet Evanovich doesn't plan to end the series anytime soon. Ma'am, wrap it up!