Monday, July 27, 2009

Review of "Finger Lickin' Fifteen" by Janet Evanovich!


Well.. to be honest, I've been procrastinating this review for a while now. I just don't know how I feel about it. I love the Stephanie Plum series, mostly for the drama and the characters reaction to said drama, but this one.. Hm, well let's get into what it was about first.

In "Finger Lickin' Fifteen," the fifteenth novel in the Stephanie Plum series (minus the "Between the Numbers novels), it's the people in Stephanie's life that have problems, not her. Houses and businesses protected by RangeMan Security are getting broken into, and he needs Stephanie's help fingering the culprit. And Lula, former 'ho, witnesses a man getting his head chopped off, and now the murderers are after her to keep her quiet. With Lula hiding out in Stephanie's apartment, Stephanie goes to stay in Ranger's apartment at RangeMan, and nervous sexual tension ensues.

Now.. as for my opinion. Well, I love the series, as I mentioned, and I love the characters, but this book almost felt like one big joke to me. The drama was nonexistant, it wasn't even Stephanie that was having problems, unless you include losing two cars (a common event in each novel), and having to deal with Lula's snoring. This book felt more like a short story to me, more like one of her between the numbers novels, but less satisfying. I felt a little cheated. I've waited a long time for the next book in the series, and it just didn't satisfy me. That being said, I'll still keep reading the series, but I'm really hoping for a redemption in the next novel, whenever that will come out.

So as much as I love Stephanie Plum, I'll have to give this book two and a half stars out of five. I probably won't be suggesting "Finger Lickin' Fifteen" to anyone that isn't already a fan of the series. This definitely wasn't Janet Evanovich's finest Stephanie Plum novel.

Now off I go to continue watching some Family Guy, Seinfeld, then Stargate SG-1. A schedule, I has one. Happy reading, everyone!
Morning Glow

1 comment:

Venus Vaughn said...

I finished this book not long ago and quite enjoyed it. I can see where you had issues with it, and I think a lot of the long-time readers of the series are looking for something indefinable in the later books that they were able to get in the early books.

Personally I think the series peaked at book 6 or so, but I also think that's when it started getting really popular and Evanovich responded to the "it's so funny" reviews by focusing on the ridiculousness of the characters instead of the development of the characters. She also started shying away from the ugly, gory, and terrifying things that were in the earlier books.

I've read all of them, starting in 1999 or so. I've watched it evolve (hell, I was reading Evanovich when she was still writing romances.) There's less story in the Plum books now, and the characters don't have many surprises left - but I still like them. Hell, I love them.



*SPOILER*

I think Evanovich should have just let Stephanie sleep with Ranger this time around. That would have provided the tension needed to propel us into the next book, but I think so many of her old romance fans kicked up a fuss the last time that she doesn't want to repeat the same action. They see Stephanie as destined for Morelli.