A couple of weeks ago I saw the trailer for One for the Money starring Katherine Heigl and Jason O’Mara and I fell in love. Or maybe I just got really excited and added One for the Money to my must-see list of movies. In addition to the stars (Katherine Heigl I’ve adored since Roswell and Jason O’Mara was super fun in Life On Mars), the story and pacing and the humor hit the spot with me. All-in-all this movie appears as if it was written exactly to my tastes. I’m just hoping the actual movie holds up to my expectations.
Now that I am so excited about the movie, I decided it was finally time to break down and read the books. Customers have been recommending them to me for years and for one reason or another I kept putting off actually reading them. No more delays. I got out my trusty Nook and bought One for the Money and sat down to read it. The next day I bought Two for the Dough and I would have bought Three to Get Deadly (my finger was actually hovering over the “buy” button) but I had to wait for payday.
Payday has come again and I just finished Three to get Deadly and I really want to get the fourth book but alas! I must wait for another payday. (Two daughters heading to Homecoming this week and two boys want Halloween costumes the next sure bites into my book buying budget) While I wait for the money to roll in (as if) I thought I’d share all the things I like about Stephanie Plum, the protagonist of this fun series.
- Her voice. Reading through these stories I hear an accent that is different than my own and distinctly New York-ish. When the voice in my head takes on an accent that only adds to the ‘atmosphere’ of the story, I consider that a success.
- Her stubbornness. A lot of protagonists have this trait—it helps them through all those pesky obstacles writers throw at them—but Stephanie makes it look fun. She keeps going when every part of her body and psyche is bruised, most of the time after a much needed junk food break. Which brings me to. . .
- Her appetite. Stephanie eats like a real person does. She thinks about dieting occasionally but as soon as things go wrong she is back at the donuts and burgers again. I totally relate to her battle with eating healthy, the battle that she (and I) are losing.
- Her relationships. Her relationships and interactions with her mom, her grandma, her co-workers, Ranger—her mentor, Joe Morelli—her ex (sorta) and rival (sorta), and Rex—her pet hamster; all are unique and un-interchangeable. I love the scenes she has with these folks, each one for different reasons. All of these give the books different emotional beats and expectations that make for a robust reading experience.
- Her love of her job. Stephanie is a bounty hunter (a cool job in and of itself) and is barely qualified for the occupation. Does she let that stop her? Heck no. She is out there working hard for the money to keep her car working and her fridge full. She is out there because she loves the challenge of the job and really gets a kick out of bringing in those FTAs (Failure To Appears). And I get a kick out of reading of her adventures with it
There are a ton of other nuances about these books I enjoy (I’ve mentioned before my love of whodunits) and I can’t wait for next payday so I can read the next book.
Have you tried Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum novels? What did you think of them?
