Thursday, May 11, 2017

BOOK REVIEW - TWELVE SHARP by JANET EVANOVICH - STEPHANIE PLUM # 12 - CONTEMPORARY CRIME - HEADLINE

By: Janet Evanovich
Published By: Headline
Released: Available Now
Details : OP Shop paperback haul, 340 Pages

RATING: 4 STARS

Blurb: Goodreads

Welcome to Trenton, New Jersey, where bounty hunter Stephanie Plum's life is about to implode in Janet Evanovich's wildest, hottest novel yet!

FIRST A STRANGER APPEARS
While chasing down the usual cast of miscreants and weirdos Stephanie discovers that a crazed woman is stalking her.

THEN THE STRANGER REVEALS HER SECRETS
The woman dresses in black, carries a 9mm Glock, and has a bad attitude and a mysterious connection to dark and dangerous Carlos Manoso …street name, Ranger.

NEXT, SOMEBODY DIES
The action turns deadly serious, and Stephanie goes from hunting skips to hunting a murderer.

SOON, THE CHASE IS ON
Ranger needs Stephanie for more reasons than he can say. And now, the two are working together to find a killer, rescue a missing child, and stop a lunatic from raising the body count. When Stephanie Plum and Ranger get too close for comfort, vice cop Joe Morelli (her on-again, off-again boyfriend) steps in.

Will the ticking clock stop at the stroke of twelve, or will a stranger in the wind find a way to stop Stephanie Plum…forever? Filled with Janet Evanovich's trademark action, nonstop adventure, and sharp humor, Twelve Sharp shows why her novels have been called "hot stuff" (The New York Times), and Evanovich herself "the master" (San Francisco Examiner).



BOOK REVIEW:


I’m still on the Stephanie Plum trail and enjoying the rinse-and-repeat shenanigans and formula that goes into one of these books.

Reading a lot of books in succession—isn’t probably the wisest thing to do, knowing the formula—but, eh, away I go.

I went from 5 stars in Ten Big Ones to regressing back to 4 stars. It was good while it lasted that high I got from Steph being under Ranger’s roof and stepping it up and working for RangeMan. A new direction was refreshing for me as a reader of this series.

Now we are back at Vinnie’s and Joyce is back at Vinnie's and Steph and Lula have forgotten all the skills they should have learned by now, but I’m still coming back for more.

Ranger is Ranger and dang, I am having all sorts of moral dilemmas with Ranger-Steph-Joe. I am trying hard not to as this is meant to be a series of silliness and wit and a mystery to solve, Scooby…but—

I gotta address the Ranger situation, and I am #teamranger, but I got me a moral code too. 

So Ranger's in Steph’s bed, all platonic until it heats up (as we discover when Morelli comes-a-knockin’). 

He kissed me, and our tongues touched, and his mouth moved lower and lower ... and lower! And this is the thing I knew about Ranger from the one time we'd been together. Ranger made love. And Ranger liked to kiss. Ranger kissed everything. A lot.

Ranger froze in mid-kiss.

"What? I asked.

"Someone's at your door. I just heard the lock tumble."

"How could you possibly hear the lock tumble? You had your head under the covers!"

He moved off me, slipped out of bed, and started for the door.

"Holy cow!" I said. "You can't go to the door like that!"

"My gun's in the kitchen."

"Yes, but your underwear's on the floor in my bedroom!" And that wasn't the biggest problem.

The front door to my apartment opened, and the chain caught with a snap. There was a moment's silence, and then Morelli's voice sounding impatient.

"Steph?"


#totallyteamranger

BUT!!

Steph calls Joe her boyfriend, loosely. I feel like this lot need to do a threesome and get it over with…not that I think Joe or Ranger would be in on a MMF, they would be more the MFF.

Morelli is a smart guy, so why is he dumbed down when he has walked in on a situation? Why? Because he loves Steph and trusts her.


STEPH!!

Ranger is so damn sexy, has the best lines—babe. He has the moves, the wit and the sex appeal.

Then we have Joe, who in my reader eyes needs to fight for his woman, but he is so blasé. 

A little effort goes into him being a bit put-out by Ranger and Steph…but not much else—dude!

I am only at book 12 so I know this is gonna go on for a lot longer, possibly still is at book 24, but day-um!

It is such a weird thing reading these 3 characters and how Steph processes it in her inner monologues.

Ranger is honest, he lays it out and flirts it up and tries to get some, because he knows he can.

Joe is kinda a flat character romantically and I gotta say he feels like a bit of a doormat.

*GASP*

I said that out loud.

No guy should be written as a doormat 12 books in.

*face plant*

In saying all that, I am still hooked on this series. It just feels off- putting when I get to these parts, like Steph is a cheater and isn't taking real world feelings into consideration.

In the real world, would I want that done to me? No.

Would I want Ranger done to me. Yes! With a big grin on my face. Would I want to hurt Joe? No!

Break Joe and Steph up and let Ranger and her get their thing on for several books ( and for my viewing pleasure), because I feel, Janet, it all leads back to Steph and Joe anyway, but cut the cheating. There is no other way I can look at it. This line Steph crosses isn’t called friends-with-benefits. If it was, that would be okay.

I love the shenanigans and all the silly and all the Lula and sidekicks and predictability of this series as these are poolside reads for me (minus the pool), but I am just not getting Joe-the-doormat and Steph. I don’t ‘feel’ anything there on Steph’s side.

Ranger is honest about his Steph-urges, he says what he thinks. Steph’s like a brand new tennis ball bouncing back and forth. I don’t know? I think I might have lost a little bit of respect for Steph where Joe is concerned. I might not be #teamjoe, but dude needs a bit of respect in their relationship.

Oh the dilemma of the next 12 books.

This isn’t a triangle, it is more of a merry-go-round that keeps going round and round, with no end in sight. Well, I have 11 more books to see what happens there. I can't assume this early.

Another thing that got my goat was Ranger's daughter is abducted...and he's upset, Ranger-style, but I wasn't believing it when he was more concerned for Steph in some places, and a few other things. I get he holds his emotions in, but...

Considering the little girl acknowledges he's her father, ya would think he would show more desperation in locating her. I felt Janet wrote this a bit lazy. No dude should be thinking of sex when their daughter is missing, no matter how little he sees of her. 

I think this book just rubbed me a bit sideways in certain areas, but other areas it was shenanigans and giggles as usual.

 What can I say? I'm addicted to the series.

Oh, and a car was blown up. :) 


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