Review: Twisted Twenty-Six

* Book 26 in the Stephanie Plum series *

Grandma Mazur is a widow...again. This time her marriage lasted a whole 45 minutes. The unlucky groom was one Jimmy Rosolli, local gangster, lothario (senior division) and heart attack waiting to happen...well, the waiting's over.

It's a sad day, but if she can't have Jimmy at least Grandma can have all the attention she wants as the dutiful widow. But some kinds of attention are not welcomed, particularly when Jimmy's former "business partners" are convinced that his widow is keeping the keys to their financial success for herself.

As someone who has spent an entire career finding bad guys, a set of missing keys should be no challenge for Stephanie Plum. Problem is, the facts are as twisted as a boardwalk pretzel with mustard. (summary from the publisher).

My Thoughts: 26 is a long series - but these books are still delightful. I loved that this book focuses more on Grandma Mazur. She's one of my favorite characters. I laughed my way through this book. I liked that Stephanie's questioning her life choices. Another fun quick read in the series. Looking forward to whatever's coming next. 

Cover Thoughts: Solid but not that interesting
Source: My library
Library Recommendation: This series is a must have for your public libraries
Fun Fact: There's a spin-off series coming!

Mysterious Saturday Review: Top Secret 21

 Jimmy Poletti's famous for selling cars, but that's not all he was doing. His illegal activities get him arrested. Since he missed his court date, it's Stephanie's job to track him down.

As she looks for him, she starts finding bodies of his poker friends. Soon the leads dry up and her only lead is that someone wants to kill Randy Briggs.

Briggs hangs out with Stephanie during the day and sleeps on her couch at night. As much as he annoys her, Stephanie uses him as bait.

Plus, Ranger's life is in serious danger and he needs Stephanie's help to smoke out his would be assassin.

My Thoughts: I really look forward to these books and devour them when they come out. I know I need to set aside a chunk of undisturbed time because I want to read them in one sitting. As usual, the danger and the action kept me turning the pages along with the humor and the romantic tension.

Fun: I was lucky enough to attend a Stephanie Plum event as a kick-off for the book. I'm a huge fan of this series and loved meeting Janet Evanovich again.

Here are some photos:

Janet and the moderator talking onstage.

They talked about 

1. Grandma Mazur's bucket list (which is hilarious and a fantastic part of the book)

2. Janet's writing schedule and how it got thrown off when her son became really sick (he's good now)

3. If Stephanie ages at all during the book series - she doesn't

4. If Stephanie will ever choose between the two men - which would kind of end the series

5. How Janet plans never to stop writing the series as long as people want to read them

6. The movie and if there were any more plans for more - there aren't plans for movies, but some TV options are in the works, which would be Fantastic!

7. Janet talked about her romance books and how she thought of herself as a failed romance writer

8. She mentioned that the first Plum book was darker and her editors asked her to lighten the second book

9. She talked about growing up in the burbs and how characters in her book mirror people she knows in real life.

10. She also talked about her writing process with co-authors.

Morelli and Ranger 

I'm a Ranger fan. Plus these amazing book cupcakes.

And finally us together! 

Mysterious Saturday Review: Takedown Twenty

* Book 20 in the Stephanie Plum series * 

Stephanie thinks she might need a new job - and this time she's serious. She's supposed to be hunting down a mob guy, but the problem is he's related to half of Trenton (including Morelli) and no one is giving up an information.

Stephanie's getting shot at, given the evil eye, and she's having to play bingo to catch a guy murdering old ladies and leaving them in dumpsters. She's broke, unhappy, and getting into skirmishes all over town - but that's another day in her life. 

My Thoughts: I'm addicted to his series for the humor, the action, the danger, and the romance. Janet Evanovich has perfected this blend. I loved the addition of Kevin, the giraffe. As always, Lulu kills me, Grandma Mazer's entertaining, and Ranger's intriguing. It's entertaining as always and the perfect fun read.

Cover Thoughts: Funky
Source: My Library

Mysterious Saturday Review: Notorious Nineteen

 * A Stephanie Plum novel*

Stephanie's still down on her luck. She's currently looking for a man who's vanished from the hospital without a trace. He's about to miss his court appearance. She looks at the surveillance tapes, but they show absolutely nothing. She can't figure it out, but that's not going to stop her from asking questions. Plus her grandmother isn't above helping her nose around. Between the two of them surely, they can come up with something.

Ranger needs her help in solving a case. Someone's threatening him and one of his Special Forces brothers. His brother's getting married and someone from their past is targeting the bride and groom. Ranger needs Stephanie to help keep an eye on the bride. It involves a hideous pink dress, with a large bow.

Meanwhile, Morelli's on the verge on wanting more out of their relationship. Stephanie's not sure she wants more. She's still on the fence as far as her life is concerned, but she realized that she like the craziness that has become normal.

My Thoughts: I love this series - for the action, the danger, the love triangle, and humor. This book doesn't diverge from the formula of these books, but it's still addictive. I can't read just one chapter, I have to wait until I know I can finish it because I won't be able to stop myself. As usual, I found Grandma Mazur and Lulu the comic relief. 

Cover Thoughts: I've never been crazy about these covers
Source: My Library

Mysterious Saturday Review: Explosive 18

Stephanie got herself into a HUGE mess in Hawaii.

Now she's back in Jersey and trying to straighten out her mess of a life.

She has a number of fugitives to bring back to jail who have skipped their court date. As usual, they all give her quite a hard time.

She's also being followed by the FBI, 2 guys claiming to be FBI, and one fiancee. They all want a photograph that someone stuck in her purse. The main problem - she threw it away after only glancing at it.

Now she's the only one who knows what the photo looks like - and no one's leaving her alone until she produces it. Except maybe the men in her life.

My Thoughts: I really love this hilarious, thrilling, entertaining read. It's hard to read these books in public because they always make me laugh too hard! I also can't read these books unless I know I have time to finish them because I never want to stop reading them. I loved trying to unravel what went down in Hawaii. I loved Lulu's decision to be more like Ranger. I love Grandma. This book wasn't as funny as some of the previous books meaning I didn't laugh until I couldn't breathe anymore, but it was funny. A great edition to the series.

Cover Thoughts: I find these covers bland.

Source: My Library

Mysterious Saturday Review: Smokin' Seventeen

After the fire burned down the bail bonds office, Stephanie's boss (and cousin) is planning to rebuild. Before he can, a body appears at the building site. Before long, another body turns up. No one's sure how the bodies are connected.

While the police are trying to connect the murders, Stephanie attempts to catch her fugitives. There's a man who swears he's a vampire. Another man puts his dancing bear up for bond money. Somehow Stephanie agrees to take care of the bear if the man goes to jail. As usual, her professional life is one step away from ruining her life.

Stephanie has troubles in the romance department. Her mother's fed up with her on-again off-again relationship with Morelli. She's starting to introduce her daughter to other men. Morelli's grandmother starts putting curses on Stephanie in hopes of breaking them up permanently. Plus, as always, Ranger makes his interest in Stephanie known.

Will this be the case that brings everything down around Stephanie?

My Thoughts: I love this series. I'm so addicted that I read the books in one sitting because I can't stop. It was no different with this book. I didn't laugh out loud as much, but I was thoroughly entertained. I love the love triangle - I'm a fan of Ranger. I love the scrapes Stephanie gets into when she's attempting to bring someone back to jail. I LOVE Grandma Mazur. I love Lulu. There's nothing that I don't love about these books.

Cover Thoughts: It flows with the rest of the series, but none impress me.

Source: My Library

Mysterious Saturday Review: Sizzling Sixteen

Stephanie Plum's boss and cousin got himself into hot water with his gambling issues. He's been taken for ransom - in hopes that his wealthy father-in-law will pay up. He won't - which leaves it up to Stephanie, Lulu, and Connie to track him down and rescue him or come up with the money to spring him.

Unfortunately, Vinnie doesn't stay in one place long. As each attempt fails because someone beats the trio to the job, buildings go up in smoke. It becomes clear that it's not just about a gambling debt, but that he's also caught up in a war between a middle man and his boss.

If Vinnie goes down, so does the bond agency. Even though she doesn't like him as a person, Stephanie's ready to do what ever it takes to get Vinnie out of danger. She'll even listen to Lulu's crazy ideas that's bound to get her into real trouble.

My Thoughts: I LOVE this series. I got my hands on as soon as it came in and read it that night. There's no other series/book that makes me laugh as hard as Stephanie Plum's adventures. The humor combines with danger, mystery, and romance makes me love each and every book in the series.

Cover: I'm not crazy about the covers for these books, but I'm not sure what would work better.

Source: My library

Fun Fact: I simply can't wait for the movie version to come out! Coming out 1012