Monday, December 23, 2013

Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich

“Fearless Fourteen” is, as you might have guessed, the fourteenth book in the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. I will admit that I enjoyed the book but mostly just because it’s a very quick and easy read and I know the characters so well by now. But knowing the characters is almost a bad thing because in the case of this series every single character and the situations they get into are predictable.

There seems to be a formula for the books in this series and for awhile it worked, especially when she Stephanie was just learning how to be a bounty hunter and how to live life as a recently unemployed divorcee. But fourteen books later she’s still going into life or death situations without calling in backup, things are still getting blown up around her and at least one of her apprehensions ends in hilarity. You’d think by now she would have learned a thing or two.

Though the formula was mostly the same we did have a tiny bit of growth. Stephanie seems a bit more secure in her relationship and we get to see her show a little responsibility when it came to babysitting her house guests.

I know that there are at least six more books in this series and who knows how many more to come and I’ll probably read them all but I’m really hoping Stephanie will grow up soon. Fine, keep the love triangle aspect alive for a little longer if you really want to Evanovich but at least show a few scenes where the girls take some self defense classes and actually take them seriously. That’s all I want.

Saturday, December 14, 2013

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

Disclaimer: This was the first book I received from NetGalley (though I didn't get a chance to read it before it was officially published).

"These Broken Stars" follows the lives of Lilac and Tarver, the richest girl in the galaxy and a boy from the wrong side of the tracks,as they learn to work together after their spaceliner crashes onto a planet with a very mysterious past.

Now there are two types of good books. Ones that you simply enjoy, finish, and immediately want to pick up something else to read. And then there are books like this. The ones that are a roller coaster ride of emotions where you finish it and you have all these feelings and you can't force to pick another book up for hours.

Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner took the perfect approach to making the reader fall in love with their characters. Chapters alternated between Tarver and Lilac and we were able to get into both of their heads so that when their actions were annoying at least you understood why. Also the story was set up so that each chapter ended with a few lines of Tarver's interrogation after the incident. There was enough information passed that you knew Tarver was lying about everything but it wasn't until the end that you fully understood why and that was perfect. It kept me reading because I needed to know what they were hiding and why.

I also liked how neither character was really stereotypical at all. Lilac had a few moments where she was a privileged prima donna but she was also a strong female character with intelligence and the guts to pull things off. The strong military type Tarver wasn't just full of brute force, he was caring and sympathetic. It's always nice when a novel has characters with layers.

I knew this would be a 5 star book when I wasn't even half done because the characters came alive, the story was emotional, and the writing was fabulous. I look forward to reading the second in the series though I'm sad to see it won't be about Tarver and Lilac.