Smokin Seventeen by Janet Evanovich

Rating: 3 out of 5
Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 439 KB
Print Length: 320 pages
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 075538489X
Publisher: Review (June 21, 2011)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
Language: English
ASIN: B0051GY24S

Stephnie is back in her 17th adventure as a Bounty hunter in Jersey. This time Stephanie has a serial killer leaving her presents and she needs to discover who the murderer is before he decides to kill her.

My initial feelings towards this book is that it was not as good as her last, and that this book was rather average. Though other reviewers seem to think the opposit that the last book was crap and this was great. For me the story line was predictable, and the same as the previous sixteen adventures with no real development character and story wise. Most of the humor I found centered around Lula and Grandma Mazur and I was laughing out loud at some of their antics.I am starting to think Grandma Mazur and Lula should get their own spin off series as detectives, and throw in Mooner and Sally, which I think would make an awesome book. But I am getting off topic.

There has been some rather harsh criticism around the web about this book. Most seem to be rather apposed to Stephanie sleeping with both Morellie and Ranger one after another. If I recall correctly in the other books Stephanie was either with one or the other in a relationship, when she slept with either man. But in this book it just seemed to be for the sake of it (blamed on vordoo).

Now I personally do not have a problem with this, its a romantic comedy type book so if your a bit prudish about it all read another series. What I do have a problem with is Stephanie needs to seriously make a decision, one or the other, or even neither. The reason I have a problem with her lack of decision is that I am really getting rather bored now with the whole love triangle. Also I felt there was a lack of chemistry between all of them, there was no spark, and as a reader I just didn’t care if Stephanie was with Ranger or Morellie.

To be honest I found Stepahnie to be well, a whinger, in this book. I started to get annoyed with her “oh woe is me I need a change” mantra that she repeated over and over again. Stephanie’s character needs some development, and the story line needs to move forward. It’s stagnated and I think that is really where most of the criticism about this book is coming from. People are getting bored.

I think the author knows this, and may even be setting the scene for a change. There were numerous references by Stephanie and other characters to Stephanie needing to change her life and pick a man. I hope the author does something soon either to progress the story/character development, or to end the series. I really think it needs that to keep it fresh.

BUT having said that I still enjoyed the book, and I would recommend it to fans. Because lets face it if you have stuck with the series for this long, you like the formula and know what to expect. There are no surprises with a Stephanie Plumb book and this book doesn’t fail on the expectations. You have the outrageous skips, the hilarious take downs, witty one liners, a ruined car (and what Stephanie Plumb novel wouldn’t have a destroyed car), the antics of Lula and Grandma Mazur, and finally the love triangle that is Morellie, Ranger and Stephanie.

Even though I have been a little negative about this book in this review, I did still enjoy it and will buy the new one due out in November (just in time for Christmas holiday's Thanks Janet Evanovich).

Extras
If you want to read an excerpt you can find on here on Janet Evanovich's website

Rex Riders by J.P Carlson

Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Reading level: Ages 12 and up
Hardcover: 440 pages
Publisher: Monstrosities Books (June 21, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0982579632
ISBN-13: 978-0982579633

This book was an advanced reader copy obtained through the Library Thing website reviewers program.

“When 14-year-old Zeke Calhoun goes to live at his Uncle Jesse's broken-down ranch in Texas, he discovers that he has a natural way with horses and loves to ride. But this is nothing compared to what he finds in a riverbed near the ranch: a mysterious stranger, riddled with bullets, lying face down in the dirt, and a juvenile T-Rex keeping a pack of hungry wolves at bay. Where did the stranger come from? Who shot him and why? While Zeke saves the stranger and sets out to answer these questions, he finds something much more interesting--a bridle in the dinosaur's mouth. From that moment on he knows he is destined to ride the T-Rex. What he does not know, however, is that his actions will set off a chain of events plunging him into an incredible adventure, one that will lead to the discovery of a deadly alliance between Earth and a prehistoric world that could threaten the very fabric of both “

Welcome to the Wild West but not as we know it.

Initial First Impressions
To start with the story was a little slow and choppy. It bounced back and forth between various character point of views trying to set the scene and tell the story. To be honest it got distracting and annoying. But it settled down and then the story flowed easier I then found myself rather enjoying the book. This book is a blend of westerns, sci-fi, and teen angst. I am not normally drawn to or read either of the Western or Sc-Fi genre and I have no idea why this sparked my interest when it became available as an advance reader copy, it just did. I am glad I read it even though it took me a month (eep, to be fair this was not the books fault but my fault for not being able to find time. These days life is busy, busy, busy!).

Characters
There are a lot of characters but I guess the main three would be Zeke, Uncle Jesse and Angelina. They were believable but a smidgeon stereotypical of western movies. However, Angelina was not, and was quite an interesting character with strong morals, a little bit of spunk, and intelligence.

Stumpy the cook was perhaps my most favorite character to read and he brought a lot of humor to the book. He was the wise, gentle old man who sort of played negotiator between Uncle Jesse and Zeke.

The bad guy D’allsandro was a fairly decent bad guy. On the scale of baddies one to ten he would be about a six. He was more of an oily snake kind of character then an out right pure evil type of character. He did have a “moment” toward the end of the book, but that was again more of an arrogance moment then pure evil bastard moment.

Story
The story was good and interesting. The blending of the western genre and sci-fi (the dinosaurs) was an interesting twist. Other then the choppy point of view and the slow start, the story actually moved at a fairly fast pace with lots of action and excitement.

This is classic pulp fiction. If you are not a fun of the pulp fiction style of writing then it is probably best to stay away from this book. Otherwise it is a fun story .

I really enjoyed the concept of this book. What if humans and dinosaurs had co-existed? Could we have domesticated them? Could we have used them as working animals? How would civilization look with domesticated t-rex’s rather then dogs?

What I didn’t Like
Well the constant jumping from point of views. It seemed really random and sometimes right in the middle of paragraph for about the space of a line. But this is more of a personal I thing. I really hate it when the point of view jumps around so much, for me it is distracting and often I just don’t see the point of knowing what a minor character is thinking when it is obvious (ie the baddie’s henchman not liking one of the main characters, the fact that he always tries to hit,shoot, belittle and bully the main character kinda gives it away that they don’t like each other).

I am not entirely sure how accurate the Professor character was.While fossils had been discovered and collected before 1800’s the first dinosaur wasn’t named till the mid 1800’s. Also given that information took a lot longer to filter around the world back then, depending on his academic base it would be hard for him to be up to date with the latest discoveries. So in short I am not sure if he would have been able to accurately identify the majority of the dinosaurs they discovered, at least not with the terms we know now. This is really a small quibble to be honest as I understand the need for a little suspension of belief to make it easier for today’s readers to understand. Also he would have been forever explaining dinosaurs. But on further thought having the paleontologist making up names could have been a fun experience.

In short
This book was fun. It is not a serious book at all; it’s light, fluffy and campy. I was not the target audience which really would be the teen male market from 13-18 (depending on likes and reading ability), and have seen a few reviews from younger readers who loved this book. Do not take it seriously and you should enjoy it. As for the target group; what teenage boy wouldn’t like this book with cowboys, cool sci-fi devices, Dinosaurs, and action?

To read an excerpt go to Rex Riders

A New Way To Comment

I have been a little unhappy with blogger's commenting system for awhile. I have been most frustrated with the lack of reply function.

So I have decided to move over to Disqus commenting. I have seen this system popping up on numerous blogs now and find it interesting enough to give it a go.

Hopefully Disqus will address three major irks for me that blogger has. So I should now be able to do the following:

1. A reply feature.
2. Notification that you have been replied too (please let me know if this is not the case).
3. More flexibility with who can comment and how, but not letting spammers through.

This is a trial, and hopefully it will be successful. I am hopeful this will be successful.

Please any feedback will be welcomed, Disqus users any tips would be appreciated, hope you enjoy this new way of commenting.

Movie Reviews - August 2011

We were a bit light on movies this month. There are a couple we have half watched but not yet finished. Never mind, will do better next time I promise :)

Cars 2 - A

I really did enjoy this film and it was one of the few movies I have managed to see in a cinema in the last two years YAY! This movie differs from the first movie in that it focuses more on Mater. There is also a host of new characters that take more of a centre stage. Only negative was the car death toll, and yes there actually was one which surprised me, but there was nothing traumatic about it. All that aside I still enjoyed it and laughed loudly at in a lot of sections. A great kids movie that shouldn't fail to please.

Super 8 - B-

This movie had an interesting storyline that was mostly mystery/teen drama for roughly 70% of the movie. It also had a dash of mystery and tension from the spooky happenings, so if you were expecting a kill em all kinda movie your will be disappointed. You don't get to see the monster until the end when all the action really kicks in. The focus is on the teenagers and how they are dealing with their own lives as well as the strange happenings that have started in the town. Up until the last 10 minutes this movie was good but then the very end happened and, for me it failed to hit the mark. To be honest I felt the ending was lame. But I did like the film regardless of the lame ending.

Movie Reviews - July 2011

Unknown - A

A clever conspiracy theory type action film. The first 10 minutes are a little slow as it sets everything up, but then it really goes bang. Lots of action and a great story that unravels as the movie progresses. Not predictable at all. Liam Neeson is becoming quite the action film star. A good film which I enjoyed.

The Dilemma - D

BORING. Was not interested at all by this film, in fact I even contemplated doing house chores! However hubby watched it all and seemed to like it so maybe it was just me?

No Strings Attached - C+

Was an average romantic comedy film. Nothing out standing or special. The only real thing it had going for it was that the woman in this movie was the one who didn't want a "relationship" and the man did. A few laughs but not rip snortingly funny. Save your money and watch for free on TV.

Kings Speech - B

Was definitely worth all the accolades and awards. A great historical movie that told a fascinating story you hardly ever hear about. It really humanised the royal family. The acting was superb by everyone. But it was a little too slow paced for me and I did find myself drifting and doing stuff on the internet. But Is till really enjoyed the film and would recommend it.

Gnomeo and Juliette - B+

I love animated films and this re-telling of Romeo and Juliette is original, cute and funny. I had some really good laughs and chuckles. There were even some sad moments. It is a surprisingly clever script and a good introduction for children to the Romeo and Juliette story. However my mother thought it was ok, but a friends two daughters (aged 8 & 9) loved it.

Burlesque - D+

This film was just boring. I watched about half of it before I gave up. It didn't really do anything, it was slow and plodding. Cher's character was supposed to be (I think) this hard ass, bombastic, performer but she just kinda did nothing except stand around looking weird (she is starting to look like the cat lady). Christina Aguilira was actually ok acting wise and could (depending on the roles) carve out a decent acting career. I was thinking this would be similar to Moulin Rouge but it wasn't even close. This move overall was boring, the actors were under utilised, and the script predictable.

Old School

Transformers 1 & 2 - A

I love these movies, that is all. Ok a little bit more they are great action films, with a wonderful humour, great CGI, and good acting.

Daddy Day Care - C+

When this first came out I wasn't terribly impressed with this film. However this time round (now that I have a kid maybe?) I found it quite funny. Perhaps it resonated with me better at this stage in my life? Anyway I found myself chuckling a lot more to it this time round.

Bolt - A

Such a cute fun movie. I just LOVE Tank and Mitten is awesome. A road trip movie with a difference. A must see if you have kids or like me just like animated films.