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3.51 AVERAGE
3.51 AVERAGE
I liked her Stephanie Plumb series for easy candy type reading but this one felt like a rehashed version of the same stories same characters more or less and way too wacky for my taste. Ah well was a decent listen for a stressful week but don’t plan on continuing this series.
Since this isn't the genre that I typically review here, I'll make this one quick. It was an interesting start to the series, but I can see some similarities between this and the Stephanie Plum books....not that I'm complaining. It was an entertaining read, and I'm looking forward to the other books in the series. The plot was definitely unique, and it held my interest. Unlike the Plum books, however, I don't think I'll buy these for my collection.
I was entertained by this, what can I say?
Diesel was always the best part of the Between-the-Numbers books!
Diesel was always the best part of the Between-the-Numbers books!
Summary:
Lizzy likes her little house in Salem, MA, her job baking the best cupcakes, and her seemly normal life. Until one day a handsome, but evil looking stranger burns her with a touch and the hot looking Diesel pops into her life telling her she is an unmentionable, and has the ability to sense empowered objects when she touches them. Now her life is turned upside down as she finds herself saddled with a one-eyed cat, a monkey, and Diesel who won’t go away until she finds the gluttony stone.
Review:
Janet Evanovich has a way of writing which always brightens my day. Sometimes you need a good laugh, and you can usually find one in her books—no matter how ridiculous it is. I can honestly say I have needed some lighter fare in my reading lately and Evanovich lets me have that.
Her characters are always quirky. You have Lizzy who reminds me a lot of Stephanie in the Stephanie Plum novels. She seems normal, but her life is anything but normal. All the weird and fun characters that walking in and out of Lizzy’s life are a riot. Nobody else makes odd seem normal the way Evanovich does.
The story is lighthearted and despite the danger never takes itself too seriously. I love that I can pick these novels up and they put me in a good mood in no time. Reading Evanovich is bibliotherapy for me. It is escapism at its best, and best of all they make me laugh.
I know some people complained about Carl the Monkey, but honestly he didn’t bother me too much. It is one of Evanovich’s classic motifs. She has a tendency to over burden her main characters with the oddest set of circumstances—in this case a homeless monkey who gives people the finger.
I won’t say the novel is perfect, because perfect is hard to attain. I admit I prefer the Stephanie Plum novels when given the choice, but even those have been a bit predictable lately. This was an interesting change of pace, a lot of fun, and well worth the read.
Audiobook Review:
The audio version of this novel is published by Macmillan Audio and is seven CDs or roughly 7 hours in length. It is read by Lorelei King who reads most of the books in the Stephanie Plum series, and admittedly for a while I felt like I was listening to another Stephanie Plum novel. Eventually though, I settled in with the characters. King is a very talented reader, and does a great job with both male and female voices—and in this novel Monkeys. The production is well done and free of flaw—it is definitely a good listening experience.
Overall:
This was a fun book, and I needed something fun right now. It has classic Evanovich humor, and an interesting array of characters. A series starter with potential, I look forward to reading the next novel Wicked Business.
Lizzy likes her little house in Salem, MA, her job baking the best cupcakes, and her seemly normal life. Until one day a handsome, but evil looking stranger burns her with a touch and the hot looking Diesel pops into her life telling her she is an unmentionable, and has the ability to sense empowered objects when she touches them. Now her life is turned upside down as she finds herself saddled with a one-eyed cat, a monkey, and Diesel who won’t go away until she finds the gluttony stone.
Review:
Janet Evanovich has a way of writing which always brightens my day. Sometimes you need a good laugh, and you can usually find one in her books—no matter how ridiculous it is. I can honestly say I have needed some lighter fare in my reading lately and Evanovich lets me have that.
Her characters are always quirky. You have Lizzy who reminds me a lot of Stephanie in the Stephanie Plum novels. She seems normal, but her life is anything but normal. All the weird and fun characters that walking in and out of Lizzy’s life are a riot. Nobody else makes odd seem normal the way Evanovich does.
The story is lighthearted and despite the danger never takes itself too seriously. I love that I can pick these novels up and they put me in a good mood in no time. Reading Evanovich is bibliotherapy for me. It is escapism at its best, and best of all they make me laugh.
I know some people complained about Carl the Monkey, but honestly he didn’t bother me too much. It is one of Evanovich’s classic motifs. She has a tendency to over burden her main characters with the oddest set of circumstances—in this case a homeless monkey who gives people the finger.
I won’t say the novel is perfect, because perfect is hard to attain. I admit I prefer the Stephanie Plum novels when given the choice, but even those have been a bit predictable lately. This was an interesting change of pace, a lot of fun, and well worth the read.
Audiobook Review:
The audio version of this novel is published by Macmillan Audio and is seven CDs or roughly 7 hours in length. It is read by Lorelei King who reads most of the books in the Stephanie Plum series, and admittedly for a while I felt like I was listening to another Stephanie Plum novel. Eventually though, I settled in with the characters. King is a very talented reader, and does a great job with both male and female voices—and in this novel Monkeys. The production is well done and free of flaw—it is definitely a good listening experience.
Overall:
This was a fun book, and I needed something fun right now. It has classic Evanovich humor, and an interesting array of characters. A series starter with potential, I look forward to reading the next novel Wicked Business.
I listened to this book on audio in the car. I gave it 2 stars because some of it was pretty funny. But for some reason, the narrator though that someone from Virginia should sound like a female Huckleberry Finn only not as smart. Lizzy is loud and juvenile and talks like she's twelve. Glo is a ridiculous character, and there is no reason for the monkey at all.
Even though this was supposed to be a magic story, with a fun witch and protector vibe, it comes off as more like a skit from SNL. I didn't like anyone. Except the cat.
Very disappointing read.
Even though this was supposed to be a magic story, with a fun witch and protector vibe, it comes off as more like a skit from SNL. I didn't like anyone. Except the cat.
Very disappointing read.
I'm not even sure how to classify this book. It's not really a mystery or a romance... general fiction is the best I can do and even that seems wrong because I suspect the author intended something else.
Some thoughts:
1 - I've never read anything else by Evanovich. I kept feeling like there was more I'd have understood about the story if I had, little in-jokes to catch. This was especially true of the Diesel-Carl relationship.
2 - Actually, I kept feeling like there should be more to the story, period. There were no plot twists, no surprises, no reveals, no reversals, just an entirely linear storyline.
3 - The characters all talk the same way. This is a pet peeve of mine - I like to be able to "hear" the different voices and that was impossible with this book.
4 - The ending was totally anti-climatic. Wulf and Diesel don't seem to have any actual animosity towards one another, despite several Diesel speeches about how evil Wulf really is. There's no final fight, no promise of a confrontation, no closure. Diesel and Wulf might as well have been working together.
5 - Speaking of evil Wulf, I never felt like Lizzy was scared at any point. She accepts numerous bizarre occurrences as just part of her life and keeps going, despite not having a clue as to what's happening. No one acts this way. It's a very "tell, don't show" book when it would be better the other way around.
6 - I knew this was supposed to be paranormal in some aspects. But anyone who classifies this as fantasy has never read a fantasy book. Ever. Fantasy books explain their magic to some degree and it is integral to the story and its development; in this book, the magic was just sort of there and not explained except as far as it was needed as a plot device.
7 - The cat was my favorite character. There was some un-revealed mystery there and some back story. Lots of potential for future development.
Overall, it is a light and easy read with nothing scary, controversial, or difficult in any way. It just has no depth, no surprise, and nothing that I was interested in as part of the story. Apparently I'm not the intended audience for this type of fiction; I need more depth and more realistic characters, even in light novels.
Some thoughts:
1 - I've never read anything else by Evanovich. I kept feeling like there was more I'd have understood about the story if I had, little in-jokes to catch. This was especially true of the Diesel-Carl relationship.
2 - Actually, I kept feeling like there should be more to the story, period. There were no plot twists, no surprises, no reveals, no reversals, just an entirely linear storyline.
3 - The characters all talk the same way. This is a pet peeve of mine - I like to be able to "hear" the different voices and that was impossible with this book.
4 - The ending was totally anti-climatic. Wulf and Diesel don't seem to have any actual animosity towards one another, despite several Diesel speeches about how evil Wulf really is. There's no final fight, no promise of a confrontation, no closure. Diesel and Wulf might as well have been working together.
5 - Speaking of evil Wulf, I never felt like Lizzy was scared at any point. She accepts numerous bizarre occurrences as just part of her life and keeps going, despite not having a clue as to what's happening. No one acts this way. It's a very "tell, don't show" book when it would be better the other way around.
6 - I knew this was supposed to be paranormal in some aspects. But anyone who classifies this as fantasy has never read a fantasy book. Ever. Fantasy books explain their magic to some degree and it is integral to the story and its development; in this book, the magic was just sort of there and not explained except as far as it was needed as a plot device.
7 - The cat was my favorite character. There was some un-revealed mystery there and some back story. Lots of potential for future development.
Overall, it is a light and easy read with nothing scary, controversial, or difficult in any way. It just has no depth, no surprise, and nothing that I was interested in as part of the story. Apparently I'm not the intended audience for this type of fiction; I need more depth and more realistic characters, even in light novels.
Wonderful Evanovich wit shines thru in this one. The completely implausible story is told with such silly humor that you can't help but smile!
I liked this fast read. I'm glad we choose this month to read it in our book club. It was a refreshing getaway.
This book was a little too cliched and cheesy with its characters, dialogue, and plot. There were some humorous moments, but they seemed to be the product of randomness than anything witty. The plot was a little slow-moving for me as well. I was thinking that they'd be searching out all of the stones, instead of just the one. Maybe this is supposed to end up as a series? Maybe I just didn't stick with it long enough. I lost interest, and couldn't motivate myself to actually finish the book.