Smokin' Seventeen
(Libby/OverDrive eBook, Kindle)

Things are not going well for the Jersey Girl bail-bondswoman Stephanie Plum or for her creator. Stephanie's sometimes-boyfriend Morelli's grandma Bella has put the evil eye on her, and Evanovich seems to be running out of steam in this long-running series. Worse, the story ends with Stephanie going off to Hawaii with & whom? Her cousin Vinny's bail-bonds office is now run temporarily out of stoner Mooner's van, since the office was incinerated. Her sidekick Lula's gone from bigger-than-life to complete cliche (there is a Lula food fight, but it is Stephanie who ends up smelling of sauerkraut). There are a couple of very scary villains, one of whom Stephanie's mother and grandmother are trying to set her up with, although his creepiness only comes out slowly. There's also a vampire story line we kid you not! And besides Morelli, there is Ranger, the other man in Stephanie's life. This long-running series, starting with One for the Money (1994), used to be funny and sexy and smart, but the characters are sketched in increasingly broad strokes and are no longer growing or learning or changing. Or very much fun this outing. To end on a cliff-hanger is just mean.--DeCandido, GraceAnne A. Copyright 2010 Booklist

Things are not going well for the Jersey Girl bail-bondswoman Stephanie Plum—or for her creator. Stephanie's sometimes-boyfriend Morelli's grandma Bella has put the evil eye on her, and Evanovich seems to be running out of steam in this long-running series. Worse, the story ends with Stephanie going off to Hawaii with … whom? Her cousin Vinny's bail-bonds office is now run temporarily out of stoner Mooner's van, since the office was incinerated. Her sidekick Lula's gone from bigger-than-life to complete cliché (there is a Lula food fight, but it is Stephanie who ends up smelling of sauerkraut). There are a couple of very scary villains, one of whom Stephanie's mother and grandmother are trying to set her up with, although his creepiness only comes out slowly. There's also a vampire story line—we kid you not! And besides Morelli, there is Ranger, the other man in Stephanie's life. This long-running series, starting with One for the Money (1994), used to be funny and sexy and smart, but the characters are sketched in increasingly broad strokes and are no longer growing or learning or changing. Or very much fun this outing. To end on a cliff-hanger is just mean. Copyright 2012 Booklist Reviews.

Some 75 million copies of Evanovich's 33 novels have been sold worldwide, the last Stephanie Plum novel debuted in the top spot on the New York Times best sellers list, the film version of One for Money (starring Katherine Heigl) is set for a summer 2011 release, and Evanovich's new publisher is planning a smash-up campaign for her latest. I'm telling you all this because no plot details are available, but you still know you'll need to buy lots.