Review: Smokin’ Seventeen by Janet Evanovich (audio)

Smokin’ Seventeen by Janet Evanovich

Series: Stephanie Plum, #17

Read by Lorelei King

Random House Audio

2011

Length: 6 hours, 22 minutes

Source: Library

Where there’s smoke there’s fire, and no one knows this better than New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum.

Dead bodies are showing up in shallow graves on the
empty construction lot of Vincent Plum Bail Bonds. No one is sure who
the killer is, or why the victims have been offed, but what is clear is that Stephanie’s name is on the killer’s list.

Short
on time to find evidence proving the killer’s identity, Stephanie faces
further complications when her family and friends decide that it’s time
for her to choose between her longtime off-again-on-again boyfriend,
Trenton cop Joe Morelli, and the bad boy in her life, security expert
Ranger. Stephanie’s mom is encouraging Stephanie to dump them both and
choose a former high school football star who’s just returned to town.
Stephanie’s sidekick, Lula, is encouraging Stephanie to have a red-hot
boudoir “bake-off.” And Grandma Bella, Morelli’s old-world grandmother,
is encouraging Stephanie to move to a new state when she puts “the eye”
on Stephanie.

With a cold-blooded killer after her, a handful of
hot men, and a capture list that includes a dancing bear and a senior
citizen vampire, Stephanie’s life looks like it’s about to go up in
smoke.

My thoughts: I really have to admit that listening to these Stephanie Plum books is almost like a guilty pleasure – I put it on knowing that I’m going to laugh and have a good time listening to the book.

In this installment, the book opens with Stephanie running into Morelli’s Grandma Bella and she puts a curse on Stephanie…the Vordo curse. While the curse doesn’t really work, it does cause Stephanie to lose her mind when it comes to sex and willpower. And it doesn’t help that she is in constant contact with both Morelli and Ranger…is she ever going to choose? And, do I want her to? I am rather enjoying this love triangle. Plus, in this book, there’s another man in the mix – a man that I will say outright I questioned and was skeptical of from the beginning and that instinct proved right.

As far as the bond office goes, after the disaster that happened in the last book, the firm is office-less and decided, due to lack of viable options, to use Mooner’s bus as an office. The funny part of this decision is that the office is now mobile…and you never know where it might be. I think Mooner might be my second favorite character after Lula…he’s just so out there.

Once again there are plenty of funny lines throughout the book, but one from Ranger really stands out because it’s just so true. He says to Stephanie after she manages to blow up yet another car that working at Rangeman is a high stress job and she’s a source of comic relief to the men. He gives her a car and the guys take bets on how long it will take for her to trash it and that she’s a line item under entertainment. How funny is that!?!

Filled with the usual action, fires, dinners at Stephanie’s parents’ house, a few calls from Grandma Mazur for a ride to the newest viewing at the funeral home, Lula’s crazy outfits and work ethic and we have a fun, fast-paced story. As I get closer to the end of this series, I find myself in a little bit of a quandry…I want to catch up to the latest book out, but am enjoying the stories so much, I don’t want them to end.

 

Are there any books or series that you would consider to be a guilty pleasure?

Audio thoughts: Lorelei King just rocks this one…I don’t know how she manages to keep the voices straight and consistent. Once I finish this series, I will definitely be wanting to check out what else she narrates. Have you listened to any non-Janet Evanovich books that she’s narrated?

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Books in this series:

     1.  One for the Money                         12.  Twelve Sharp
     2.  Two for the Dough                         12.5  Plum Lovin’
     3.  Three to Get Deadly                      13.  Lean Mean Thirteen
     4.  Four to Score                                   13.5  Plum Lucky
     5.  High Five                                           14.  Fearless Fourteen
     6.  Hot Six                                                14.5  Plum Spooky
     7.  Seven Up                                           15.  Finger Lickin’ Fifteen
     8.  Hard Eight                                         16.  Sizzling Sixteen

     8.5  Visions of Sugar Plums              17.  Smokin’ Seventeen

     9.  To the Nines                                      18.  Explosive Eighteen

    10.  Ten Big Ones                                    19.  Notorious Nineteen

    11.  Eleven on Top