Fearless Fourteen (Stephanie Plum, No. 14)

Fearless Fourteen (Stephanie Plum, No. 14)
This series of books offers great adventure and fun lovin'. Janet Evanovich has given these characters great personalities and fun storylines. This review is by my wife. She has read every book in this series and loves them.

I was pleasantly surprised with Fearless Fourteen. I was bumming after the last one and approached JE's latest with some fear and trepidation. There are the same over-the-top situations and characters (I confess I DID find Brenda annoying, but I likely was supposed to) but the humor was not lost at the expense of the ridiculous. And other than Brenda, I really liked the new characters, especially Zook and Mooner. I have a teenage son and I may know Zook. Many Zooks, in fact. And anyone who gets a hoot out of the Leo character from That 70's Show can't help but love Mooner. He's cast in the same mold and even if lifted whole, that's cool man.

After finishing, I started reading the reviews here and began to rethink myself but decided that was not fair. As I closed the book, I realized I had genuinely enjoyed it. In thinking about the reviews though, especially comments that Stephanie is not growing and the characters are not developing, it occurred to me this whole book probably occupies about a week in book time. On JE's website, there's a comment that I'm possibly taking out of context, but in response to a question about age, the answer is the characters are the same age they always are. Years are not passing for these characters; how much growth could there be? Yet there was some. Stephanie does not want to bring in a skip with a camera crew riding along because she knows she and Lula are much more Lucy and Ethel than Cagney and Lacey. And once Stephanie is committed to carrying out an action for the police, we see Morelli exhibiting frustration at events he cannot control. Now, I confess I had to suspend disbelief when Morelli made tomato sauce from scratch the day before it was needed but it totally made me want him even more.

Ranger's part was much less than in the past, but that's ok with this Cupcake girl. According to the website, JE has two more books on her current contract. In thinking about this one as a step toward a possible end, I know who I want her to end up with. It occurs to me in this one, we are faced with the potential Zook is more than a cousin to Morelli and Stephanie thinks about how she would feel about that. Hmmm, she's considering parenthood. Geez, I can't believe I'm about to recommend unplanned parenthood, but for these two characters, surrounded by this supporting cast, the potential is delicious.

I have read all fourteen books in the Plum series. These are fun entertainment reading, not dark, deep, and heady.......if you want to laugh out loud, and I did "several times", you will love Evanovich's Fearless Fourteen. I am eagerly awaiting number fifteen.
Good stuff.

I was very disappointed with this book. The last few books, as a matter of fact, but this one hit me the hardest. I think I have read too many good authors this summer(ex. Stephanie Meyer, Charlaine Harris, Rachel Gibson), then chose to follow up with this one out of loyality to J.E. There really has been no development in any of the characters except that now they have cell phones and are more tech savy. I miss the romantic tension that was there between Stephanie and Ranger as well as Morelli and Stephanie. They are like an old married couple without the spice that Morelli and Steph once had. Most of the book is reiterating the previous books' information, so I am able to read this in about 3 hours. Janet, you could do so much better...

What has happened to the characters that I used to love? Stephanie was endearing because she never got too cocky and her insecurities made her likable. Now apparently she has two hot men at her beck and call. Morelli as a neutered house husband? Yuk - so not sexy. Ranger is more Batman than human. To be fair it's not just this book - the series has been going downhill for me for the last several books. Seems like Janet is just churning them out at yearly intervals for the paycheck. Kind of get the vibe that she doesn't even like these characters anymore. Mediocre at best.