Comments on: Eight Was Enough

By: Booksquare

Booksquare — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 00:26:09 +0000

I did so love the Plum books, but even I, with my amazing capacity to suspend disbelief and to reread the same thing over and over, reached my limit. Sometimes even the best ideas run their course!

And, yeah, I wanted hotter sex. But Stephanie’s always been a close-the-door kind of narrator.

By: Susan Gable

Susan Gable — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 18:28:01 +0000

I got really cranky when, after teasing us with the possibility of Ranger sex for several BOOKS for goodness’ sake, we only got a lousy paragraph or so of Ranger sex. We deserved MORE by then! (VBG) Her writing roots are in romance, for goodness’ sake. She should have known we’d feel ripped off after all that teasing! I was outraged. (g) It might have been good for Stephanie, but it wasn’t good for me.

I got crankier after spending $6.99 for the Christmas Stephanie Plum paperback. It was a NOVELLA, for crying out loud. Not only that, but it had extra blank sheets between chapters, and the whole back of the book was the first chapter of One for the Money. What a rip-off! Now, had they only charged me $4-5 for it, I might not have gotten so mad. But to charge me the price of a full novel for THAT – well, I got so ticked I didn’t buy the next new Stephanie book, I borrowed it from the library. Refused to spend money on my own copy. That may continue.

That’s a shame, because I enjoy the books. Even though Stephanie has shown no growth whatsoever, and that’s kind of sad. She should get a grip already. Do some growing. Maybe one of the men should die. (g) That ought to throw a monkey wrench into the works. lol. We already know where they’d have the wake and funeral. (g)

There’s a comfort to seeing familiar characters and behavior patterns. And being a former Jersey Girl myself, (Janet and I share the same alma mater – Douglass College – though different years!) I “get” all the Jersey jokes. lol.

I liked Metro Girl – hadn’t realized until this article that it was published with another publisher. (That should tell the publishers SOMETHING if they think readers are checking out the spines to see who pubbed the book.) Hey, given the way things go in this business, I think writers diversifying is a GOOD thing, although I didn’t realize that even someone as “big” as Janet Evonovitch would feel the need for it.

By: jmfausti

jmfausti — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 15:32:29 +0000

The Stephanie Plum books are absolutely my guilty pleasure, comfort reading. I own everyone in hard back and I listen to the audio books on road trips. In my defense, I read 82 books last year. This year I’ve read Twain, Rand, Joyce, Huxley, Murakami, Nabokov, etc. I still get all excited knowing that a new Stephanie Plum book is coming out. There are very few authors who still make me feel that way about their books. They are like old friends that I look forward to seeing again.

Evanovich has never made any bones about what she’s providing with the Plum books. Grandma Mazur will remain the same, just like we want her. Rex will never die and Stephanie will always be 30 years old and have an amped up version of everygirl’s life. She’s got two attractive and exciting men to have to choose between, career and financial woes, but with an edge, and a family that is in turns embarrassing, funny, unbalanced and totally supportive.

I don’t think Metro Girl was as good as the Stephanie Plum series. But, it is far better book than the Full ____ series and her old romance books which are being reissued due to her popularity. Plenty of authors write multiple series and do it well. John Sandford and Lawrence Block are both good examples of this. James Patterson, on the other hand, has spread himself so thin, that his books are now little more than barely interesting outlines.