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Review: "Explosive Eighteen" by Janet Evanovich

From Goodreads:  Before Stephanie can even step foot off Flight 127 from Hawaii to Newark, she’s knee deep in trouble. Her dream vacation turned into a nightmare, she’s flying back to New Jersey solo, and someone who sounds like Sasquatch is snoring in row 22. Worse still, her seatmate never returned to the plane after the L.A. layover. Now he’s dead, in a garbage can, waiting for curbside pickup. His killer could be anyone. The FBI, the fake FBI, and guns-for-hire are all looking for a photograph the dead man was supposed to be carrying.

Only one other person has seen the missing photograph—Stephanie Plum. Now she’s the target, and she doesn’t intend to end up in a garbage can. With the help of an FBI sketch artist Stephanie re-creates the person in the photo. Unfortunately the first sketch turns out to look like Tom Cruise, and the second sketch like Ashton Kutcher. Until Stephanie can improve her descriptive skills, she’ll need to watch her back.

Over at the Bail Bonds Agency it’s business as usual—until the bonds bus serving as Vinnie’s temporary HQ goes up in smoke, Stephanie’s wheelman, Lula, falls in love with their “largest” FTA yet, lifetime arch nemesis Joyce Barnhardt moves into Stephanie’s apartment, and everyone wants to know what happened in Hawaii?!

Morelli, Trenton’s hottest cop, isn’t talking about Hawaii. Ranger, the man of mystery, isn’t talking about Hawaii.  And all Stephanie is willing to say about her Hawaiian vacation is . . . It’s complicated.

My Thoughts:  Ugh.  I used to really enjoy the Stephanie Plum series.  The first 6 or 7 books were hysterical and I couldn't get enough.  That is no longer the case.  The stories are getting less and less original and more and more stupid.  They're formulaic and it's not funny anymore to see Stephanie make a fool of herself while trying to be a bounty hunter.  Lula, who I have always loved, is starting to get on my nerves and Grandma Mazur is just not nearly as sassy as in past books.  I am also getting tired of the love triangle between Stephanie, Morelli and Ranger.  In the beginning, it didn't seem so bad but now Stephanie is starting to be a brat and I don't think it's cute or funny to have a main character who uses the men in her life.  I know that these are big money makers for Evanovich but I am hoping she finishes the series soon because the story is getting old and I am not liking who her characters are becoming.  It's so sad to watch such a great series slowly go down the toilet.  2 stars.  (This is book #1 for the Support Your Local Library Challenge).
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  1. ItaliaMay 28, 2012 at 5:18 AM

    I fell in love with this series and I couldn't wait to read the latest book. But I have to admit that it wasn't up to par....I mean there were a few funny parts but I felt like it was a big let down on how everything came together..

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