Thursday, May 31, 2007

Not so Hot-Cha-Cha


HOT STUFF by Janet Evanovich and Leanne Banks(St. Martin's Paperbacks, c2007, ISBN 0-312-94146-3) was definitely not my favorite Evanovich book and I think fans of Janet's PLUM books will be disappointed with this. (To be fair, I've never read Leanne Banks so I can't give an honest opinion to her writing, but I've read plenty of JE's books!) To me, it was a formulaic read, one that I've read before only with different main characters, different cops and different dogs, yet the same. The only saving grace for me on this book was that it was set in Boston, MA which I called home for several years.


In this book you have Cate Madigan (aspiring teacher/by night bartender) Kellen McBride Kostner (ex-cop and PI) and Beast (Bull Mastiff, havoc-creating pooch). The girl is running from the bad guys, the ex-cop is trying to watch after her and solve the crime at the same time and the dog is just getting in the way. Throw in a couple of support characters, some adorable and some annoying and you have this book.


The 1st sentence:

Cate Madigan had mentally stripped the guy across the table from her, and he'd come up short in every possible way.


I will always rave about the Stephanie Plum books because she is just my FAVORITE, but I may have to step back and quit reading these just-add-water books because they're not really doing anything for me.

3 comments:

JoanneMarie Faust said...

I, too, love love love the Stephanie Plum books. I even like the Alexandra Barnaby books, but I'm not that crazy about all the others, though. I've been blaming Charlotte Hughes for the crap that is the 'Full ___' series. I have no one else to blame for all of her old paperback romances that are being released and they are pretty lame.

I'm waiting impatiently for 'Lean Mean Thirteen' later this month, and I will enjoy every minute of it. I think I'll skip the Leanne Banks corroborations, though.

Shannon said...

I, too, am waiting albeit quite impatiently for LEAN MEAN THIRTEEN. I have a group of women who are tearing through the number books and think they might get #13 before moi. No, they won't and that's because I am the boss who gets the big piece of chicken. I've waited for a full YEAR to read this one and I will read it first.
Have you ever tried the Sarah Strohmeyer BUBBLES series? Quite similar in vein of the PLUM books although a little bit lighter. I usually read those in between the waits although the last one looked just like that...the last one. I've yet to find anyone who engages me as completely, but I keep looking. I'm pretty sure I was Stephanie Plum in another life.

JoanneMarie Faust said...

I've heard a bit about the Bubbles books, but haven't read any yet. I'll have to look into them.

I can't claim to have been Stephanie in another life, but we did go to the same Girl Scouts Camp. I think I squealed when I read in one of the books that she went to Camp Sacajawea. Being such a Jersey girl, I love all the references to home.