The Running Bibliophile

Explosive Eighteen (Stephanie Plum, #18) by Janet Evanovich finds Stephanie Plum returning home from a dream vacation in Hawaii, but it was everything but a dream. To top things off, one of the passengers is snoring loudly and her seatmate never got back on the plane from their layover in Los Angeles, CA. Upon her arrival in Trenton, Stephanie finds a random photograph in her bag and learns that her seatmate that never returned was murdered. Now, everyone, including the FBI, is trying to retrieve the photo from Stephanie. When I first began reading Explosive Eighteen , I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy the book or not, but the more I read, the more I enjoyed it. So much so, I spent several hours doing nothing but reading, which was a nice change of pace for me. Things I absolutely loved about this installment of the Stephanie Plum series was the story behind why the Hawaii vacation went so wrong and caused Stephanie to go home a day early. I love the comic relief Jane...

When I heard that I would be receiving a VoxBox from Influenster.com, I was excited to be testing another product. I recently received my product . . . Chloé Eau de Toilette Rose Tangerine, which I received for free in exchange for my honest review of the product. I never really know if I'm going to receive a sample size or a full size product, but in this case, I received a sample size. Normally, I wear Giorgio Women by Giorgio Beverly Hills Perfume for Women, so I was excited to try out a new perfume to see if I might have an alternate scent to wear and because I do love the scent of roses and tangerine. In testing Chloé Eau de Toilette Rose Tangerine, there were things that I liked and things I didn't like. Let's begin with the pluses. It's a very light scent that actually complemented me well. Usually when I try out new scents, I never get any complements on it, but with Chloé Eau de Toilette Rose Tangerine, I received positive reactions. My mom liked h...

Smokin' Seventeen (Stephanie Plum, #17) written by Janet Evanovich has the usual cast of characters. With the bail bonds office in the process of being rebuilt, it has become a dumping ground for a murderer who has Stephanie Plum on his list. On top of that, Stephanie's mom is back to fixing her up with different men due to Stephanie not making a commitment with either of the men in her life . . . Joseph Morelli and Ricardo Carlos Manoso, aka Ranger. Enter Dave Brewer, former football star and classmate from Stephanie and Joe's high school. Let me first begin by saying that I really enjoyed this book . . . well enough that I gave it five out five stars because it was a little different from some of the other books in the series, even though it did follow the same exact formula that all the rest of the books did. However, Evanovich did freshen it up a little with a skip that thought he was a vampire, more curses from Grandma Bella (Joe Morelli's grandmother), a...

First published in 1977, Miss Nelson is Missing (Miss Nelson, #1) by Harry Allard is a fun, offbeat story about the students in Room 207 misbehaving once again. It's the worst class in the entire school, and the teacher just never shows up one day and instead get a new teacher named Miss Viola Swamp. While online shopping for books, I came across a book that was a blast from my past . . . Miss Nelson is Missing . I absolutely LOVED this book as a child, and I loved the short movie that was made out of it, which one of my elementary teachers let my class watch one day. I don't know of one kid from my generation that didn't love this book.  When I purchased this book for nostalgic reasons and of course to reread, I found out that there were other books featuring "Miss Nelson" that I never knew about. I definitely will go back and read those books as well. I was super interested to see if Miss Nelson is Missing stood the test of time, and I have to sa...

In the latest installment of the Stephanie Plum book series, Sizzling Sixteen (Stephanie Plum, #16) by Janet Evanovich, Vinnie Plum has run out of luck. His gambling debts caused him to be kidnapped and put his business, Vincent Plum Bonds, in jeopardy. Vinnie's employee and cousin Stephanie ropes coworkers Lula and Connie into helping her find Vinnie. Although, I thoroughly enjoyed Sizzling Sixteen , the one thing that I was confused about throughout the entire book was that Lula kept mentioning her car (a Firebird), and I thought it was destroyed in Finger Lickin' Fifteen (Stephanie Plum, #15) . I kept telling myself that maybe she purchased a new Firebird, but she sure didn't act like it. I go back and forth between liking Lula and disliking her. There are some books where she just gets on my nerves, and this is one of them. With that being said, I did enjoy that Connie was featured more than normal and that we learned a little bit more of her. I hope we get to s...

Finger Lickin' Fifteen (Stephanie Plum, #15) by Janet Evanovich is the fifteenth installment of her Stephanie Plum book series, if you don't count the four in between the numbers books she's written. In this edition, Lula witnesses celebrity chef Stanley Chipotle, who is in town for a barbecue cookoff, being murdered by two men, and now, the murderers are after her. Now, Chipolte's sponsor is offering a reward to anyone who can provide information to his murder, which leads Lula to pull in Stephanie Plum and Grandma Mazur to help her to capture the killer. What can I say? I just become more and more enamored with the Stephanie Plum book series. It's a perfect book to read on vacation or even to just relax, regardless of the serious topics it deals with like murder and burglary. Even though a lot of the books in this series has a subplot, Finger Lickin' Fifteen seemed to have more of a subplot, which had me wanting to stay up into the wee hours of th...

Janet Evanovich writes a few books in the Stephanie Plum book series called "A Stephanie Plum Between-the-Numbers Novel". Typically, they're novellas, and I finish them with the thought that they're cute but not very engaging, and they usually don't move the rest of the series forward. And, I don't particularly like the character named Diesel. On top of that, the third "Between-the-Numbers Novel", Plum Lucky (Stephanie Plum, #13.5) couldn't hold my interest, and I gave up after the first chapter.  I do plan on going back and reading it to see if I just wasn't in the right mindset to read it. With that being said, I was pleasantly surprised with Plum Spooky (Stephanie Plum, #14.5) by Janet Evanovich. This time, it is a full size novel, and I have to say, it's the one I absolutely fell in love with and changed my mind about the "Between-the-Numbers" books in the series. Things I enjoyed about Plum Spooky was that i...