Reviews and Comments

Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum has to bring Maxine Nowicki to the police, but it turns out the case isn't as simple as she initially thought. Maxine's ex-boyfriend pressed charges against her on account of car theft and decides to hire Stephanie to find Maxine as well. The whole case gets more mysterious when Maxine's ex starts starts receiving encrypted messages, and it is Stephanie who decodes them with the help of a dressing drag queen - Sally Sweet. To confuse the plot even more, Maxine's best friend and mother show up with missing body parts and there are fake $20 bills circulating in Trenton. Is Stephanie going to outsmart Maxine? The whole set of funny characters is back: Morelli, Lula, Grandma Mazur and even Joyce!

It seems Evanovich's imagination is far from running dry in this 4th book of the series. As the others, this story is very funny and there are a lot of passages you'll feel the need to share and read out loud. The mystery is intriguing and compelling, Maxine is smart and that helps the plot. I liked Sally Sweet, I think he was a good addition to the unusual set of characters in the novels and Stephanie's family keeps the good moments coming. Explosions, dangerous situations, weird mysteries and even more laughs - this book won't disappoint the fans.

Alex Craft's work involves giving voice to the deceased, which doesn't guarantee she gets paid as not everybody is happy paying after learning what the dead have to say. She is a grave witch that can rise shades from the dead and also has connections in the police and helps with some cases. Alex's sister Casey lives with her father and even though they are a rich family, both ignore Alex until a high-profile case brings Casey to Alex. Alex also meets police detective Falin Andrews who is the new detective in charge of said case, and sometimes has Death for company - a very good looking soul collector that she met when she was 5. The mystery deepens as Alex can see more than everyone else connected with the case and her soul gets seriously hurt. Will she live enough to save herself and solve the mysterious deaths?

I really enjoyed this book. Not only most of it was pretty original to me, Alex is extremely likeable and she knows how to choose her friends. Most characters are very interesting and the story develops pretty fast, which makes it quite difficult to stop reading. I hope to read the second book soon as all the surprising developments in the end of this book gave me a serious case of acute curiosity.

I thought this book wouldn't be as fun as [b:Dragon Bound|9637479|Dragon Bound (Elder Races, #1)|Thea Harrison|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1312822853s/9637479.jpg|14524855], but I was wrong! It was extremely entertaining! Dragos killed Urien in the first book and left the Dark Fae kingless. The next in line is Tricks, whose real name is Niniane, and while she tries to prepare herself for her new role, she discovers the hard way not everybody thinks she should rule the Dark Fae. Tiago Black Eagle (a.k.a. thunderbird) is sent to protect Niniane and keep her alive until her coronation day, but his world will be shaken by a different kind of storm. Together they'll have to fight against an invisible enemy and stay strong as an interracial couple to find their way into the palace.

Niniane is a great character, she is funny, smart and although Tiago protects her way too much, their dialogues are awesome! One of the first scenes shows Niniane drunk and she is hilarious: "Whatever, don't let it go to your head," she said with scorn. "You're not as sexy as I think you are." She squinted. Wait. The book never slows down and there's always some sort of action going on. I was quite pleased reading it, I giggled a lot and even though there's no real mystery there is some sort of suspense going on.

Warning: this book is long, really long! The story is divided into three volumes, and the first definitely requires patience and a lot of will to go on reading. It is mostly because it is very directed at developing characters and no so much at advancing in the story. It tells us how magic is slowly leaving England, how nobody seems to know how to use it any more and how the magicians left are actually theoretical magicians that read books on the subject. Then Mr. Norrell comes along and we find out that he can actually perform magic. He's a reclusive man that is also awfully full of himself and decides that no one should be studying magic besides him, after all, he is the only practical magician alive. Norrell ends up in London doing what he wants: helping the English fight the French with magic - Clarke writes beautiful scenes on account of that. In the meantime, the magician also spends a lot of energy trying to stop the other so-called magicians and hides every book of magic he can get his hands on. This volume is quite slow paced but some of the scenes where magic is taking place are beautifully described and a pleasure to read.

But it turns out Norrell is not the only magician left, since there's also a handsome man called Jonathan Strange who can perform magic, even if he's quite unaware of his abilities until someone tells him he is part of a prophesy. Mr. Norrell takes this news badly and sees Strange as his rival. The second and third volumes are easier to read. I've read some review that said some readers could start in the second volume if they think they cannot endure the first one, which probably is a good advice. Jonathan Strange is brought into the spotlight in the second volume and he is much more likeable than Norrell, even though he is too easily distracted to understand at once what's happening and that is a little exasperating sometimes. As the war against France escalates, Strange is sent to Portugal to help Wellington fight the french with his magic. Clarke did an amazing job intertwining her magical story with England's History. There's also a funny and suspenseful scene involving a visit to King George, the mad King who happens to be able to see and talk to fairies - like most madmen apparently do. Although this book is not exactly funny and sometimes is rather dark, some bits do feel like magic.

I don't give it five starts for a set of reasons, starting with the first volume being quite dull. The footnotes are too many and too long, some of those footnotes could be standalone stories. It's interesting to know that the whole world behind the book is so well thought, but at the same time it keeps breaking the pace and a number of times I lost track of the story when I got back to the main text. I guess some readers can just ignore the footnotes altogether. I have to admit I was beginning to cringe at every paragraph that started with "Stephen and the gentleman with the thistle-down hair", most of it was just chatter that didn't enrich the story or helped it move on. Honestly, I was as bored as Stephen listening to the fairy. And I still don't understand the magic court "The Cinque Dragownes" chapter, it seems completely pointless.

I think I would have made it quite shorter, but this book is undoubtedly a beautiful read full of magic. It's like you're transported to a complete different world and feel each character as a friend and understand their doubts and actions. It's really well written.

Poppy Wyatt is about to marry Magnus Tavish and is really happy about it until she loses her engagement ring while partying with her girlfriends. And then someone steals her mobile phone and Poppy panics because that's the number she gave out in case someone finds her ring. As she is on the verge of a nervous breakdown, Poppy finds a phone in a bin and starts using that number. She finds out that the phone belongs to Sam Roxton's ex-PA, who has just quit her job. Poppy turns out helping Sam, and since he owes Poppy one, he lets her use the phone until her ring is found and as long as she forwards him his messages. Sharing a mailbox turns out to be slightly weird and quite amusing!

This book took me by surprise. I thought I had it all figured out in the beginning but then I found myself thinking "Oh no, she didn't!!" a couple of times, which shows I wasn't really expecting the twists and turns that followed. Even in the end I was a bit blindsided by the events. I'm definitely reading other [a:Sophie Kinsella|6160|Sophie Kinsella|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1245821549p2/6160.jpg]'s books. The text dialogues between Sam and Poppy are very funny and the plot is slightly spiced up with some mysterious phone calls. Most characters are highly likeable and the ones that aren't turn out to be interesting on their own, specially Magnus' parents. I really enjoyed the book, but I must say the excess of footnotes was irritating. Some were funny and worth reading, but there were too many of them - I know it's part of the joke, but still.

Maddie Springer designs shoes for kids and dates a lawyer named Richard. All is fine with their four-month relationship when Maddie realises she might be pregnant. But before she is able to tell Richard, he disappears along with twenty million dollars. Then comes along a sexy LAPD detective named Jack Ramirez that doesn't believe Richard is innocent but finds Maddie cute. Eventually Maddie finds out she didn't really know her boyfriend but she is determined to prove his innocence because she sort of believes it and mostly because she rather meddle with dangerous people than take a pregnancy test.

This story is slow to take-off, but it finally does around Chapter 7. Unlike some reviews, I didn't find it as funny as [a:Janet Evanovich|2384|Janet Evanovich|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1308327981p2/2384.jpg]'s Stephanie Plum, but it had its moments. Even though it's supposedly Maddie who is trying to find Richard and putting the pieces together, Maddie's best friend Dana is the one with the brains - all the good ideas and logical bits come from her. The end is quite satisfying and I enjoyed reading the last 2/3 of the book, but I didn't find Maddie that interesting or lovable. And what's the thing with room two-ten that becomes two-twelve? I actually thought it was part of the plot, but now it definitely looks like it is a typo. It's an entertaining read, but it could be better.

Marty Andrews is obsessed with selling make-up and make it up to the top, which actually means getting a sky blue convertible. She's supervising Nina and Wanda sales and one night after one of their meetings, Marty's poodle attacks a big dog and Marty is accidentally bitten. In the following days, Marty tries hard to ignore the fact that she is going from blonde to brunette, a ton of wax couldn't cope with the growing hair in her legs and she is ready to fight her poodle over a bone, even though she is a vegan. Then hunk Keegan Flaherty comes along and tells her he is a werewolf and that she is turning into one too.

At first I didn't understand why Marty was the main character since Nina sounded a lot more promising (I understand she is the lead in [b:Accidentally Dead|3121124|Accidentally Dead (Accidental Friends, #2)|Dakota Cassidy|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1312518743s/3121124.jpg|3152467]). Marty is very in control and slightly annoying, so when everything in her life spirals out of control we finally get to see the real Marty emerge as she tries hard to fit in a new world: They couldn’t be much different than humans. They’d love her back, too. If it frickin' killed her. Or them. Whichever came first. She also has to avoid a weird tendency to be abducted but Marty manages to fight it off by herself, which is quite cool. She turns out to be a lovable character, as well as the nucleus of the Flaherty's family and the business partners turned friends, Nina and Wanda. This book is very easy to read, quite funny and entertaining.

In this third instalment, bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is after Uncle Mo who owns a candy shop and happens to be regarded almost as a saint in his neighbourhood. Things get complicated when drug dealers' corpses start piling up around Stephanie and a group of vigilantes "invites" her to flee town and stop snooping about. To make things worse, Stephanie has Lula at her heels because she wants to become a bounty hunter. Ranger and Morelli are also on the hunt even though everyone is clueless. As Stephanie puts it: When in doubt, always look like you know what you're doing.

I'm not sure how Evanovich keeps this up, but it was again a very funny crime story. Lula replaces Grandma Mazur as Stephanie's sidekick and is responsible for a lot of laugh out moments - I learnt the hard way not to eat soup while reading Plum's books. It gets even better when Lula develops a fixation on Ranger, while Stephanie is way more worried about Morelli's personality change. Together with the fact that Stephanie is trying hard to replace her Buick with a truck that is falling apart and a "tiny" problem at her hairdresser, you won't want to miss this story!

If I ever thought about what "paranormal" means to me, I'd probably say something like enraged ghosts, ouija boards, witch-hunts, humans contacting spirits, ... - and the whole package is in this book. Fabian has a crush on a ghost named Elisabeth that has been trying to "kill" another ghost for centuries. So far she has been unsuccessful and asks Cat and Bones to help her catch Heinrich Kramer - a witch-hunter that burns women alive every Halloween. And Kramer turns out be quite the challenge!

As stupid as it sounds, I had a hard time focusing on ghosts strong enough to inflict pain, portals opened by ouija boards, burning sage to keep ghosts away, paranormal teams... It all sounded far-fetched, even for a vampire book. Anyway, it's an action-filled story with bits of romance and I enjoyed reading it, even if wasn't as good as [b:This Side of the Grave|6871617|This Side of the Grave (Night Huntress, #5)|Jeaniene Frost|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1282659107s/6871617.jpg|7087993]. It's great that Ian appears a lot since I really like him! Medium Tyler is responsible for most of the fun bits and I was relieved that Cat uses her head to solve her problems. And for me, the better story was the mystery behind the team's new chief - there is more to him than it shows, but I guess I'll have to wait for the next book!

This is a somewhat short story about vampires. In Anchorage, Alaska, all the rumours you've heard about vampires are true: they can't walk in the sun, they can't enter houses without being invited and their energy is so powerful that they can't handle gadgets without blowing them to pieces. Therefore they rely on couriers/runners to deliver their messages and packages, but usually these runners are short-lived. Mary Pike (whose real name is Sydney Kildare) is a courier to a very important vampire and she's preparing to retire as a war between another vampire and her "boss" erupts.

Even though it's a story about vampires, this is quite an original take on the theme. I liked Mary a lot, not only she has quite an attitude as she drives an Audi! She'll of course meet a handsome vampire along the way, as well as some explosions. Quite an entertaining story that I honestly hope to see developed in a series or in a longer book. It definitely left me wanting more!

Lalla Bains is still working for her father as a crop duster and her main worry is a homeless veteran, Billy Wayne, who showered her loved red Cadillac with paper snowflakes. When Lalla tries to talk Billy into his senses, she finds him just in time to listen to his final words: "The more there is, the less you see". Armed with that strange clue and a couple of snooping friends, Lalla tries to find Billy's murderer while trying to ignore a special proposal from Sheriff Caleb - her boyfriend.

This mystery doesn't have as many twists and turns as the first book of the series, [b:A Dead Red Cadillac|10779852|A Dead Red Cadillac|R.P. Dahlke|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1328014993s/10779852.jpg|15691755], but I found myself suspecting of almost every character and feeling that Lalla was in danger at whatever she did. The suspense definitely worked for me! I empathise a lot with Lalla, but my favourite character in this book was Lalla's father: Noah Bains. Noah and Lalla dialogues are quite funny and surprising, not the usual father/daughter thing, though they obviously care for each other. He is a little crazy and I couldn't help but laugh while imagining a 68 year-old man wearing a lime green zoot-suit! He's quite the character and tries to give good advice to Lalla while driving her - and every widow on the block - nuts. Filled with a lot of funny, strange and very dark characters, this is another great Lalla Bains book!

Lalla Bains is a little too worried about the impending doom of her 40th birthday. With two failed marriages, a failed modelling career and some other failures to add up, Lalla considers herself a loser - an old loser, in fact. While Lalla thinks her age is the worst of her problems, her beloved red Cadillac is found in a lake with an almost blind old lady behind the wheel. She becomes a suspect in the murder case and decides she can solve the mystery and prove her and her father's innocence. Her snooping around exasperates her best friend, who happens to be the Sheriff.

I think the book starts a little slow, but it catches up fast. It's cleverly written and it makes you think you understand what's going on until the story catches up and you're completely outside the loop in the last twist. I like the main character a lot! Lalla Bains doesn't take herself too seriously and is definitely smart and funny, not the silly female character that annoys people so much we start hoping the killer actually gets her. If we forget her past taste in men, she knows how to use her brains: she connects the dots, doesn't stall, tries to defend herself and her loved ones, and knows how to choose her real friends. I like how she could just be daddy's girl and even how Caleb keeps trying to protect her, but she just has to show them she can take care of herself and that things can turn out right - even if she's in charge. Oh, and she has a license to fly! How cool is that?!

It's a nice debut from [a:R.P. Dahlke|4714290|R.P. Dahlke|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1321307656p2/4714290.jpg] and I look forward to read the second book in the series, [b:A DEAD RED HEART|11190164|A DEAD RED HEART|R.P. Dahlke|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1328041859s/11190164.jpg|16114950].

I wasn't expecting this book to be as funny as the first one, but guess what? It really was! (Hence the 5 stars) This time bounty hunter Stephanie Plum has to find Kenny Mancuso, a guy who shot his best friend and happens to be related to Joe Morelli. This case eventually leads Stephanie to a funeral home and she can count with the counselling of an expert: Grandma Mazur. Her grandma doesn't miss a good funeral and as Stephanie puts it, Grandma Mazur reads the obituary columns like they’re part of the paper's entertainment section. Other communities have country clubs and fraternal orders. The burg has funeral parlors. Once things start to get complicated, Stephenie knows she can count on Morelli to have her back and to make fun of her.

Again, it's easy to understand what's happening and there's no real mystery, but it's exactly the opposite when it comes to her private life and her family. I never know what to expect of her family. The whole book is filled with funny quotes (Beyond Kenny I couldn’t imagine who would be threatening me. Maybe one of Kenny’s friends. Maybe Morelli. Maybe my mother.) but there's a scene involving the hamster Rex that made me laugh out loud. There are also a lot of jokes about the Buick she is driving and her lack of ability to park it - I knew I was close when I heard glass breaking - but I guess I like destruction derbies because I smiled every time she wrecked a car. If you want a funny book with some adventures, some dark humour, a lot of misfortunes and a very light touch of romance - you've found it.