Finger Lickin’ Fifteen
Why even bother doing a chapter by chapter analysis on a Stephanie Plum book? It’s probably the only time I’ll ever do one on of Janet Evanovich’s books. They’re all generally the same story flavored differently. I love them for their spice.
And the mystery begins! What did Lula see? Could it have been anything serious? Is someone likely to be after her now? Why are Stephanie and Morelli broken up? What’s going on with Ranger and these robberies? Will Stephanie finally get it on with him? Oh the possibilities.
My guesses: Lula and/or Stephanie will almost get killed by the end of this book. Stephanie will get REALLY CLOSE, but not go all the way with Ranger. Grandma Mazur will do something hysterical. Stephanie will either make up with Morelli for a romantic ending, or stay mad at him on principle…or both.
Who is messing with Ranger? Could this be someone from his mysterious past?
Can’t even make it out of chapter three without Stephanie needing to change her clothes? Guess not. At least it paint this time and not dog … ew.
Pay attention to Ramon. Either I’m over-thinking it, or he doth praise Ranger WAY too much. And Stephanie’s going to eat something Lula cooked … willingly. Bad idea.
And here it comes. As expected, enter Grandma Mazur.
Awe, that was kinda disappointing. Maybe the fun part of the chapter is next.
Well, I was right about Lula almost getting killed, but it’s still early…it may happen again.
We all know Stephanie is ultimately going to end up with Morelli. I think that’s why Evanovich invented this fight we haven’t seen. However, I’ve always been a fan of Ranger. I’d totally do Ranger. Stephanie has a lot more self-control than I do. She and Morelli are technically broken up … right?
Keep an eye on that list. Stephanie is a silly girl, it’s probably the one she least suspects. And do we really need another crack at these ribs? There better be an explosion or something!
No sooner were the words out of my mouth…BOOM! Dogs managed to intrude too. Miss Evanovich is getting way too good at this. She knows Stephanie is going to end up with Morelli. She just loves writing these books, and I’m not sure she thinks they’ll work with a “settled” Stephanie. Though, she doesn’t have to be SINGLE to be unsettled! Let her take up with Morelli! It’s driving me bonkers. Otherwise, she needs to sleep with Ranger.
98% sure it’s not Diaz. He’s got to be the closest thing to family Ranger has around, and he’s too obvious the way that he is. Nope. Not him. However, I do think Stephanie will get him to smile by the end of the book. At least, I hope she does.
So, I took a two month hiatus from this book to read other things. This is uncommon of a Plum book–they’re so easy to read–but I’m glad I did this commentary, because it has allowed me to catch up and continue reading. I’ve done most of the recent reading away from the computer, hence the lack in chapter by chapter responses.
Stephanie has seen more fires, explosions and has been painted again. Joyce Burnhart is back, ugh. I kind of hope she’s the one breaking into the Rangeman houses. She’s crazy enough to. Her only purpose is to make Stephanie’s life a living hell.
This book is a bit of a disconnect from the others. I liked where Evanovich was going … to hell with this monkey wrench! Come on. Give Stephanie SOME happiness! If the series has to die, so be it. I highly doubt it will though. Stop teasing us Ms. Evanovich! Let’s tie the knot with Morelli and Plum! Think about the possibilities after THAT happens! There should be an epic fight with Morelli and Ranger for Stephanie and Stephanie should see why Morelli is the right man for her forever. Or however you want it to end up … but it has to end up … we can’t go on like this ad nauseum.
Okay, Larry dressed as Julia Child redeemed almost all the issues I’ve had with the book thus far. That fight was totally ten-year-old worth it. What ever happened to Miss Sally Sweet? Evanovich sure likes her men in drag.
Yeah … I think we’ve had enough explosions and things on fire. And fart jokes?
Grandma Mazur going to Rangeman … why do I have a baaaad feeling about this?
Awe, no Grandma and Ranger action, but she did get to fire her gun … always fun.
Either the book has gotten better or I was just not in the right state of mind for Plum when I started reading. Both are equally possible. This chapter was great. Too bad Morelli interrupted Stephanie and Ranger. I think Morelli’s turn around is just as random as the fight they supposedly had before the book begins … but I’m glad things are back to normal.
Now THIS is the Stephanie Plum I know and love.
Certainly not the best Plum, but not entirely disappointing. I hope the next one is better. It seems like Ms. Evanovich is milking old tricks when she was going in a nice direction in the books before this one. Keep going Ms. Evanovich! Don’t reinvent the wheel with every book. We know enough about the characters now for them to be a bit more three dimensional. They had been in the last two books. I want more of that.
And I’m sorry to say that I didn’t find Ranger’s ending satisfying. All that build up and it’s just a couple of random kids. Evanovich had us going in a completely different direction, and the ending had no connection with the rest of the plot. Rhiannon’s going to say I’m expecting too much … it’s just supposed to be fun. I say it can be fun AND interesting! Fun in inherent with Stephanie Plum mysteries, and we’ve certainly seen better Plums!
P.S. I can’t WAIT to read “Plum Spooky!” The first full length “Between-the-Numbers” book … which means a full length Diesel book. <333
Tags: Books, Genre: Mystery
Thoughts on Books | Joey | 
12 December 2009 9:10 PM
11 Comments
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By Liz, 13 December 2009 @ 5:23 AM
I think this chapter-by-chapter analysis was better than the book! Though I’m adamantly against Stephanie and Morelli tying the knot…. no no no. That would be as disappointing an end to the series as the two kids ripping off Ranger were to this book. She’d end up like her mother, and her mother depresses the hell out of me. Aside from that, I wish the series would get out of its rut, have some decent plots and some decent bad guys like in the previous ones. The last two were just too gimmicky and saccharine, like someone who’s trying too hard to inject cutesy humor to cover up the fact that there’s really no point to the story. I’d trade in a million monkeys and celebrity chefs for one more Abruzzi (from book eight) or Scrog (from book 12).
By Joeysan, 13 December 2009 @ 9:40 AM
Thank you for the comment! I’d be happy with Stephanie married or without. However, there is a contract made with a reader and writer in first few chapters of every book, and if the reader continues it’s the writer’s job to fulfill that contract. Ms. Evanovich set us up for SO much in this book and didn’t deliver hardly anything. It makes me sad.
Have you read “Plum Spooky?” I SO want to.
By Liz, 13 December 2009 @ 3:42 PM
I did read Plum Spooky, and it was… eh, it was okay. There were some good scenes, but it was mostly stupid slapstick done better in other books. Take the monkey from 14, give him a gameboy and a dozen monkey friends, add that together with the absurdity of the other “between the novels” books, have Ranger save the day a few times while Morelli acts like a jerk in the background, and there you have it. If you want to read it, go ahead, but I would strongly urge you not to BUY it, unless you can get it used for a couple of bucks. It has a better plot than 14 or 15, but still meanders at a snail’s pace. I think I gave it a C-.
I SO agree with you that Evanovich signed a contract with the readers, and when it comes to the Ranger/Morelli debate, I feel as though she signed two conflicting contracts and now has no intention of honoring either of them for fear it might affect her bottom line. Seeing as how her last two numbered books have fallen below their projected sales, I guess she’s probably right. But then, I stopped buying them because of the sloppy writing, non-existent plots, and (I gag as I write this) excessive use of fart jokes.
As for the Stephanie just marrying Morelli already thing… Maybe I’m in the minority, but I just don’t buy that relationship as a good one. It’s too one-sided, and Morelli often comes across as a huge arse. Even their history–which seems to be a huge selling point among the pro-Morelli folk–is degrading, when you consider the only history they had was a one night stand that he boasted about and she got in trouble for. The way I see it, Evanovich has had ample time–15 years–to flesh out his character, give it some depth, and make him not a pig. Instead, she just makes him worse every year. While I agree with you that she needs to either fish or move away from the pond, I’d much rather she move away from the pond and get back to defining Stephanie as a character independent of her love interests, instead of trying to shove her into the mold of someone’s wife or girlfriend. If she marries Morelli, we’ll never really get to know who Stephanie Plum is, and that’s been my biggest nitpick of the last two books–that there wasn’t enough Stephanie. She was just sort of going through the motions.
By Joeysan, 13 December 2009 @ 9:33 PM
I could go with that. I’m pretty easy to please as a reader. I let the author do whatever they want as long as it’s plausible for their story. In the first few chapters of any book you don’t only get introductions to characters, you get the “rules” of the world of the realm the book takes place in … she’s breaking all her rules left and right … setting us up, then letting everything fall to pieces.
P.S. My other half might hate this discussion. She’s the reason I read Ms. Evanovich. Maybe (somehow) the author will read this and give us something great next time around. I’m totally on her side. She’s given us great things in the past.
By Liz, 13 December 2009 @ 10:01 PM
You nailed it. She’s been caught writing a revisionist history, and as a reader, it’s kind of impacted not only her most recent books for me, but the ones I loved, too. It’s like watching season 4 of Angel. Or season 6 of Gilmore Girls. There’s all this set-up, all this anticipation, and then, right when it’s getting good, someone has the brilliant idea to undermine the whole thing and say, “All I told you in the past is crap. This is the new truth, not because it makes sense, but because I say so. And you’re my reader/watcher, so you have to do as I say.” It’s really sad, because I used to love these books, humping dogs and all.
But enough of that negativity stuff. I spent the better part of the morning reading about your NaNo experience. 80K words in a month? Do y’all run on Energizer?
By Joeysan, 13 December 2009 @ 10:09 PM
We really love to write, and we really love our story. It’s very much based on our lives, and we took a lot of time getting to know our characters, researching our plot, and discussing how the story was going to be told.
When the writing gets fun (and it was fun in November) it’s really easy to write. The characters do most of the work. My only job as author is to make sure that the plot works. Rory, Ray and Brian (my leads) make all the “important” decisions. Giving over control of the novel to them was the best choice we ever made … especially since they are, essentially, us.
I’m glad you read about WriMo. It’s one of my favorite times of the year. Not only do I get to write alongside a great partner, but I have the whole world fighting the good fight with me.
If you think 80,000 words in a month is intense, LAST November I saw a participant max out at 500,000 words … with no intention to publish–ever! Now there is pure insanity/inspiration.
By Liz, 13 December 2009 @ 11:40 PM
500,000 words is overkill. Admirable overkill, but still overkill. Though I guess I could do it if I counted blog posts, blog comments, email, work stuff, instant messages, grocery lists, lorem ipsum, etc. Then again, maybe not. That’s still 17,000 words a day, give or take, and even though I’m only 27, I doubt my wrists were made for that kind of work.
It’s refreshing to hear someone say they love writing. Too often the world of publishing sucks the fun out of the world of writing and people become so obsessed with writing “what sells” and “what is publishable” that they forget to write what they love. Then writing becomes a chore, the whole world is against them, and no one has suffered like they have suffered. It’s kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy in and of itself, when you think about it, because a book that’s a chore to write is often a chore to read, and who wants to read a book that takes work?
By Joeysan, 14 December 2009 @ 6:12 AM
Our modus operandi is to have fun with our writing. We have been fans of books and stories most of our lives, and getting the chance to be the creators of them is a dream come true for both of us. It’s been a journey of self-discovery for both of us, and–we readily admit–it’s tough at times. However, we are determined to be our own biggest fans.
Sometimes I think our greatest advantage is that there are two minds to R. J. Spindle. We bounce ideas off each other. The good ones stick and find their way into the story. The not so good ones get discussed and dropped. We’ve done a smart thing in saving everything: AIM conversations, emails, and hundreds of typed pages of notes.
The worst that can happen to us is every publisher in the world turns us down, and our books never go anywhere other than our families eyes. This isn’t a huge fear of ours though. Walk into any grocery store and there’s a myriad of “trash fiction” lining shelves near the cash register. If stuff like that finds it’s way into print, and some make pretty good livings off writing such stories, then we’ll surely be published.
Seriously, the past year in writing has been one of the most transformative for me. Rhiannon and I have been able to explore our friendship in this book. We’ve gotten to answer the question: “What if we grew up together? What if things were always like they are now?” We’re effectively rewriting our past–which is something not many people (even writers) get a chance to do. We’ve faced a lot of fears with our characters, knowing full well they are braver versions of ourselves, but their experiences have helped us nonetheless. Most importantly, though, we’re addicted to imagination … and we want to pass that on to whoever comes after us. That, and writing books are the only way I’m ever going to get my mother to read one.
By-the-by, what’s your blog? Mayhaps we can keep in touch. It’s good to know there’s another appreciator of the process out there!
By Liz, 14 December 2009 @ 12:31 PM
I’m going outside the box for a moment, so if I don’t make sense, it’s not you.
Years and years ago, my cousin had Donkey Kong Country on Super NES. I don’t remember much about the game, but I do remember there was this one level we could never seem to beat. In it, Diddy and Donkey are in a mine cart, and as the cart rolled forward, there were these obstacles and gaps in the track you had to jump over. Look, I even found it on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mf9AQBmLJss&feature=fvw
Anyway, for some obscure reason unrelated to Donkey Kong or SNES, I’ve always imagined the road to writing a novel–and later, the fork that takes you to publication–as being a lot like that. It’s not a solid track from point A to point B. There are obstacles and gaps that you have to jump over. Sometimes they’re little things you clear on the first try. And sometimes they’re bigger things that, even after years of practice and knowing to anticipate them, you still don’t get right. From reading your blog yesterday, and the post above, I get the feeling you’ve come to a place where you’ve jumped a gap and crossed a checkpoint, and that’s really cool because now, even if you get tripped up on an abandoned mine cart or fall through a hole, you don’t have to start at the very beginning. You’ll just come back to where you are here, now, and try again.
You’re absolutely right that the worst that could happen is no one buys the book. So what. Write another one, a different one, a better one, and try again. The important thing is what you got out of writing it–the experience, the bond between you and your writing partner, and the mental high that comes from using your imagination. Whether it sells or not won’t take any of those things away from you. The same can’t be said for those people who write because they want fame and glory and money and bestseller lists and movie options… Wanting those things is fine, don’t get me wrong, but if it’s your only motivator (and I know tons of people for whom it IS their only motivator), you’ll end up bitter and disappointed (I know tons of these people, too).
As for my blawg, I gave it up when I started working 60 hours a week. I kind of miss it, and am kind of intimidated at starting another one. I think it’s something I want to get back into in 2010, but I want to have a good idea of what I want to do with it before I go creating one all willy-nilly. But don’t worry. I’ll probably be stalking y’all for a while.
By Joey, 14 December 2009 @ 1:54 PM
I approve! A million times I approve! Glad to have another mind aboard.
By Rhiannon, 14 December 2009 @ 6:01 PM
Well, first of all I agree with everything said about Evanovich. She was once my favorite writer, but now I pick up the book for the ride and then forget about it moments later. It’s escape at work.
Second, I love the DK metaphor. I agree with Joey, I approve!