Rating: 
Summary: A perfect 10 for To the Nines!!!!!!!! A must read!!!
Review: This is ellen in Atlanta, and can think of no better read than the world of Plum! This book is a perfect blend of sex, humor, adventure, mystery, etc. Moreso than the other 8 books. The side trip to Vegas was an added treat - This book also blends the perfect combination of sexy hunk Joe Morelli and the steamy Ranger - tag teaming to take care of Stephanie - Although the murderer is suspected early on, what a ride to the last page - Only wish Grandma Mazur was featured more - her visits to Stiva's Funeral Home are legendary and any page with her and you have to dry your eyes from the tears of laughter -
Ms. Evanovich continues to impress with her wit and perfecting Stephanie's life and adventures - Love the Yellow Escape! My brother drives one and it is a fun car and perfect for her adventures, but I have a vision of an explosion coming on - Stephanie isn't too good with cars, although with this book, Ranger's (oooh Ranger) merry men get the brunt of the damage -
If there are some and I cannot see many - who haven't read all of the Stephanie Plum books, go back and enjoy them from One for the Money on to this wonderful book - This is the best! I read this book in one day and swore to myself to stretch it out but from the first page I was laughing so hard I couldn't put it down - will never think of Winnie the Pooh again without thinking of vasoline...
Rating:
Summary: Lula takes the cake (oops!) bacon!
Review: Having read all of the Stephanie Plum novels, I can state that I am a great fan. This book, however, downplays the sexual tension between Steph/Ranger/Morelli (still some hot scenes, though) in favor of great sideshows involving Stephanie's family (sister Saint Valerie is very pregnant and unwed; Grandma Mazer is odd, as always) and Joe's ever-scary Grandmother Bella (visions of Stephanie's demise abound). The highlight of the book is definitely Lula, Stephanie's plus-size sidekick and a former "ho" who decides to go on an all-meat diet to achieve super-model proportions for her new boyfriend (who we never meet). Like many others in this book, the scene in which Lula runs away from a pack of dogs who want her bacon is laugh-out-loud funny! Oh, yes, the mystery is o.k. (I figured it out about a third of the way through), but that's not why you read Evanovich. Her characters are unique, her writing fast-paced. This book was a lot of fun!
Rating:
Summary: A Laugh a Minute
Review: This book is everything you have come to expect from the Stephanie Plum series, all the usual dramas in her life and of Lula is always along for the ride. There is the added extra of a trip to Vegas and of course nothing goes to plan in true Stephanie style. Ranger steps in and adds his usual confusion into to Stephanie's life, and his bodyguards don't seem to enjoy Steph as much as Ranger does. It looks like at long last Steph and Morelli might have finally got their act together and have moved in together much to Grandma Bella's disgust. Valerie has her baby and nothing seems to be straight forward to her either, but will she ever actually marry Kloughn, I suppose we will get the answer to these questions in the next book, I hope Janet Evanovich is writing her heart out to bring the next installment in Steph's tragic life.
Rating:
Summary: To the Nines gets a "10"
Review: Janet Evanovich continues to write stories that make you laugh out loud. And while I kind of missed Stephanie's continuing saga of exploding vehicles, Evanovich more than made up for it with the exploits of Ranger's cohorts -- big, bad guys that end up with some medical emergency because of Stephanie and her bizarre family and friends. A wonderful summer read....and as always, it's tough to put the book down once you start. Stephanie never has a normal day, and in this book, it evens takes more people than usual to keep her out of trouble. Could all of us have a Morelli and Ranger? :)
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't Put it Down
Review: To be honest, I was afraid to read the latest Stephanie Plum novel, 'To the Nines', because I wasn't very impressed with the previous Plum installment 'Visions of Sugar Plums' - plus, when I read 'Hard Eight' last year, I thought I might be growing out of my Stephanie Plum phase. But having been a huge supporter of this series, there was no way I was going to pass up reading this latest one - whether I got disappointed or not. Well, I was not disappointed. In fact, I started reading the book today, and finished it just a couple of minutes ago, and I couldn't have been more pleased. I couldn't put the book down until I finished it. It starts off with its signature humor and slapstick apprehensions, and only gets better from there. This time around, Stephanie's job is to track a missing guy who skipped bail. Nothing new about that. Only this time, it leads her to Las Vegas - momentarily. This is because she soon realizes there's a lot more to this case than she thought, and she finds herself in danger once again. Yeah, nothing new there either. However, I found this installment to be more suspenseful than most of the others, and more enjoyable than 'Seven Up' and 'Hard Eight'. This one has totally renewed my faith in the series. Now, if we can only get Janet Evanovich to write more than just one of these a year. 'To the Nines' was a fast and easy read - the perfect "beach book". It hooks you on the first page and doesn't let you go until page 312. Everyone's favorite characters are still here: Morelli and Ranger are still as hot and sexy as ever; Grandma Mazure is still as crazy as ever; Lula is still as hungry as ever; and Stephanie is still just as terrible at bounty hunting as she was in 'One for the Money'. If you've read all the other books in the series, well then you are most likely going to read 'To the Nines'. If you haven't, it can be read as a stand-alone (Evanovich is good at summarizing everything in the beginning, in case any first-timers are reading), but it is way more fun when you've been following these characters since book one. Either way, it's a great book (the best one I've read in quite a while). Just be prepared to postpone everything in your life until you're done.
Rating:
Summary: An Almost Perfect Plum!
Review: Anyone who has enjoyed any of the eight previous Stephanie Plum novels would be very foolish to skip this one. If you haven't read any of those, you can safely start with this one . . . but don't expect the earlier ones to be nearly this good. Stephanie Plum, the down home city girl from the Burg in Trenton, continues in her bounty hunter job, and she takes on some pretty unusual ones in To the Nines. As Stephanie describes it, her retrievals have more to do with Lucy Ricardo from I Love Lucy than with Wonder Woman. The book opens with Stephanie and Lula, her sometimes heavyweight sidekick, trying to pick up Punky Blalog. The rest of the escapade has to be read to be believed . . . but Vaseline plays a large role. When she returns to the office, she discovers that her cousin Vinnie faces an enormous embarrassment if he cannot find and bring in one Samuel Singh, a temporary worker from India, for whom Vinnie wrote a visa bond. Vinnie sends Stephanie and her mentor (and sometimes squeeze) Ranger out to find Singh. A major plot line of the book revolves around this search which takes her to Las Vegas before the book is done. A secondary and engrossing plot involves the mystery of who is threatening Stephanie and killing people around her after she has lunch at McDonald's. Because of the threats, Ranger or his men play bodyguard for Stephanie whenever her undercover policeman boyfriend, Joe Morelli, isn't around. In many of the novels, Stephanie goes through cars like tissue paper. In this one, the bodyguards take it on the chin . . . and just about everywhere else. A third and happier plot involves Stephanie and Morelli becoming much closer to one another. A fourth plot focuses on Stephanie's unmarried sister, Valerie, who is nine months pregnant and the family's desire to get Valerie married and out of her parents' house. There's also a fine and funny story line about Lula trying different diets so she can become a super model. On top of these interesting plots and subplots, the mystery is quite engrossing. I had no idea what was really going on until about 60 pages from the end. On top of this, the book is filled with hilarious little scenes featuring the manic members of the Burg, including her man-crazy Grandma Mazur, Morelli's Grandmother Bella who has visions of dead women all the time, the generously endowed Connie Rossolli from Vinnie's office, and even Stephanie's mother who's having trouble coping. The pace of this book is amazing. There's something significant happening on almost every page. The scenes intersect with each other in truly inspired ways. For example, while Stephanie is finishing up her first bounty hunting gig, she gets an emergency call from her Grandmother Mazur. And you'll never guess what the problem is. The result of that scene then cuts into a woman making off-color comments about Stephanie because she seems to have an excess of Vaseline about her. And on it goes. The laughs come almost as fast. I was thoroughly delighted with this book . . . except for one little problem. It was totally clear who the evil doer was in the last 60 pages. The attempts at misdirection seemed strangely inept. If Ms. Evanovich had cut down that section, this book would have been the perfect Plum. As it is, I think To the Nines is my favorite Plum to date. After you finish racing break-neck through these pages, think about where your heart's desires may be leading you in contradictory directions. Then, go do something about it!
Rating:
Summary: As Good As It Gets
Review: The last few Stephanie Plum books had me worried and it is my opinion that the author owes me the purchase price for that dismal and awful christmas book last year. Here, She is back in great form, this is a great story that had me riveted and laughing out loud. Thank You Janet.
Rating:
Summary: Wow! Her best since "Hot Six"!
Review: I was a little worried that Evanovich was losing steam in her series, with the acceptable "7 & 8" books, and the mediocre "Visions of Sugar Plums". She restores my faith in the ninth tale of crazy bounty hunter Stephanie Plum. Comedy is mixed with a real plot this time, and there are some "spoiler" decisions that Evanovich makes on Stephanie's love life, car situation, and hairdo that I just can't bring myself to reveal. It's a deft, quick read that takes Plum from Trenton to Las Vegas, and although you may solve the identity of the killer before Plum does, your trepidation will grow with hers through a series of body guards assigned to keep her safe, and the dead bodies that keep piling up. Special comedy awards still go to Grandma Mazur and Morelli's Grandma Bella -- and Lula and Connie shine in this tale, full of the ongoing determination of Lula's to become a supermodel with a quasi-Atkins eating experience. Evanovich has lost none of the comic touch from her previous outings, but stops treating Plum's career as a series of bumbles, and gives rise to a real conflict and case that should send the book's "stock" skyrocketing. Get it, read it, don't delay!!!
Rating:
Summary: Stephanie Kicks High again
Review: Steph is back ... There is nothing missing from this fun filled, adventurous novel by the great Janet Evanovich. For those of us who have been following Stephanie's life, you won't be surprised to see her knee deep in trouble; not to mention her crazy love triangle and the disfunctional Burg family crisises. And for those who are a stranger to this wonderful series, you will find your self addicted to Plum! This is non-stop reading and there is no doubt that To The Nines will please all readers. I highly recommend diving into this book but be warned, once you get through the first chapter you will have a hard time putting it down.
Rating:
Summary: Kinsey Kicks High again
Review: Kinsey is back and kicking butt again. There is nothing missing from this fun filled, adventurous novel by the great Janet Evanovich. For those of us who have been following Kinsey's life, you won't be surprised to see her knee deep in trouble; not to mention her crazy love triangle and the disfunctional Burg family crisises. And for those who are a stranger to this wonderful series, you will find your self addicted to Kinsey! This is non-stop reading and there is no doubt that To The Nines will please all readers. I highly recommend diving into this book but be warned, once you get through the first chapter you will have a hard time putting it down.
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