Plum Lovin' (A Between-the-Numbers Novel) by Janet Evanovich
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Book Reviews of Plum Lovin' (A Between-the-Numbers Novel)
Book Review: A bit slow, but still entertaining
Summary: 3 Stars
This book is not up to the entertainment and funny value of other Plum books but it is still worth the read when you want more of Stephanie and her gang and the next number book is not due for some time. It is nice to revisit the Burg and her family and collection of odd associates. I recommend it, but be ready for the fact that is not as well developed as other number books.Book Review: Not Really Luv'n it....
Summary: 3 Stars
I have read all the # book's so was really into reading the in-between goods. I was a bit let down.
But, with that said I am awaiting #15! Keep working Janet and Stephanie!Plum Lovin' (A Between-the-Numbers Novel)
Book Review: Just Ok
Summary: 3 Stars
While this is written in the same genre as her numbered series, I always find her "in-between" work a bit disappointing. I don't laugh as often as I do with her Numbers novels. I have come to expect that of Evanovich, hence the disappointment with this series.Book Review: Plumbing the Depths
Summary: 2 Stars
I bought this book at a drugstore while on vacation with nothing to read. The alternatives were several variants on "How to Flatten Your Abs," a few Sue-Grafton wannabe mysteries, and romance novels with the authors' names in raised gold lettering.
The only excuse for buying this book is if you're on vacation wtih nothing to read.
I've read a couple of Stephanie Plum books (Janet Evanovich's self-effacing, Jerseyed-out bond agent), and they were OK escapist mysteries, fluffy with some light humor. Unfortunately, Plum Lovin' has a wildly improbable plot, stereotypic characters, and and an unsuccessful mix of science fiction, romance, sex without the sex, and a little mystery. The plot, such as it is, involves Ms. Plum helping a hunky bond agent named "Diesel" (how manly!)find a guy named Beaner who's out to get a matchmaker he's protecting jumped bail and is wanted by Beaner. Diesel will turn over Annie (the matchmaker) if Plum will help Ms. Hill finish five people find love (or just a good dinner companion) by Valentines' Day. The result is a contrived mishmosh with pasted-on characters and a facile resolution.
OK, so the plot's just a vehicle, right--it doesn't matter if it's convoluted as long as we're in for a fun ride. Too bad the characters are unbelievable, buffoonish stereotypes or the expected testosterone-laden men with a heart of gold. There's a strange device in which Diesel and Bean are among the "Unmentionables," people who lurk among we innocents with strange, powers. Evanovich hints at these darkly, using them to portray Beaner's menacing danger and elusive movements, and Diesel's sexually-charge and unsuccessful moves for Stephanie.
Again, excusable if this jokey implausibility served as a backdrop for quick-witter satire, or any real sense of mystery or suspense. However, Beaner's power is the ability to spread hives (hives!) without skin contact, and Diesel's brutish sexuality consists of lam-o repeated suggestions to Stephanie that have all the subtlety and wit of a junior high bathroom wall. The pursuit of Beaner and Annie (and a Jersey gangster inserted to make the story make sense) all take a backseat at times to deal with the five lonelyhearts, who, of course, "comically" find their Valentines with the same kind of dumb luck and convenient fortuity as Stephanie and Diesel.
Although there are some clever lines, and one or two of the heartbroken "Marty-like" lovebirds have interesting trajectories, this is the literary (if one may use that word here) equivalent of Muzak. If the contrived teasers had been pruned, and some real excitement and adult sexuality generated (along with some sleuthing that didn't rely so heavily on a drunken informant), there might have been enough substance to hold up the froth.
Book Review: Not a Tasty Plum
Summary: 2 Stars
I am a hard core Janet Evanovich fan, with her Stephanie Plum (bounty hunter) series. I never thought I'd read one that wasn't great. Sadly, this one was not great.
Apparently these "books between the numbers" Plum short novels feature "Diesel" as her male opposite. Diesel first appeared in "Visions of Sugar Plums", her first between-the-numbers book that was charming, different, and Christmas-y.
With this third book, Diesel again co-stars and he isn't exciting. He's more just "there". Even the hint of his having super powers has diminished. His character is not fleshed out enough for us to get to know him. If there is a fourth "between the numbers" book, I hope that Ms. Evanovich either gives us more about Diesel so that we care about him or hooks us in about him, or that she changes Stephanie Plum's "between the numbers" co-character.
I think the book lacked the author's sparkling humor. The book had a lot of different characters in it - too many for such a short book - and by the time I got towards the end I had to go back and re-read the beginning to remember who was who.
This is one Stephanie Plum book I could have missed - and should have.