Rating: 
Summary: I've read better Plum mysteries.
Review: I was disappointed with this story, the first 6 books were amazing and I think it may be time for Steph to retire. Her long awaited encounter with Ranger is all of one paragraph and the plot is weak. I think I'll go back and read the early ones, I miss Stephanie and the gang at their best.
Rating: 
Summary: Stephanie takes no prisoners
Review: This is the funniest book of the series--also possibly the most violent. As usual, the plot twists and the outrageous characters kept me from putting this one down!
Rating:
Summary: Love this series, but this one isn't her best.
Review: First off, I have to say, I've read the whole series, and love these books! Stephanie and her gaggle of friends and relatives are truly original characters. And the world that Janet creates is one that I want to visit time and again. Having said that, I think this book is the weakest of the series. Stephanie never really solves anything. She just sort of runs around where people tell her to go and in the end, someone else deals with everything for her. I also have to agree with the reviewer who found the sex scene with Ranger anti-climatic. It's time for Stephanie to grow a little as a character! Let her polish up her skills a little. Let her marry Morelli! There's lots of drama and comedy to be had, but the character needs to develop. This one felt like a re-tread.
Rating:
Summary: Hard Eight
Review: As much as I looked forward to this most recent Stephanie Plum book, I found myself being disappointed as I read it. With the preceeding seven books, I had a hard time putting each one down to catch a few winks of sleep before the sun came in the windows. With Hard Eight, I didn't have that problem. I kept reading, thinking that something different was going to happen, but, with one exception, nothing did. It was the same old story with the troublesome bond-skipper and the exploding cars. Fortunately, the humor and relationship tensions were still there, but trying to recreate Benito Ramirez in the person on Eddie Abruzzi didn't quite make the grade. The ending was rather disjointed, as if Ms. Evanovich didn't quite know how to end this story to continue on to the next one.
While I didn't dislike this book, I didn't think it was up to the standard of the previous seven. Here's hoping the next one will capture that elusive quality again.
Rating:
Summary: Laughs out weigh the faults
Review: I still catch myself laughing out loud while reading Ms Evanovich's book so 5 stars it is. I like the introduction of new character lawyer Klough and Lulu is still a "lulu". I do agree with negative reviewers in the need to broaden Stephanie's character. She can be intelligent and still be surrounded by craziness. As to romance it needs to move forward either put her with Morelli or let her have a big affair with Ranger. I can see it either way, a Nick and Nora relationship with Morelli or I don't know what with Ranger! Personally I can see Ranger pairing off completely out of type with an older homebody type just to make everyone wonder and be crazy. I will still be preordering my books. So far this one has made the rounds of 2 friends with more waiting for their turn.
Rating:
Summary: The fur and one-liners are still flying in Hard Eight
Review: I have to admit, I was wondering how well Janet Evanovich was going to be able to continue her hysterically funny Stephanie Plum mystery series. (Every time I read a Stephanie Plum novel, I laugh myself silly.) After all, many writers have lost their originality by their eighth book in a series, cranking them out like an assembly line.My fears were completely unfounded. Evanovich is as funny as ever, and bounty hunter Stephanie's just as inept - and as likable - as ever. (Her unfortunate run-in at the park with a flock of geese is one of my new favorite scenes.) In Hard Eight, the tone gets a little darker than her previous books, but the wild action and the humor seem to have been ratcheted up a notch to compensate. My only gripe is with the character of Morelli. He seems to want a typical Jersey housewife, so why is he always making a play for Steph? (As frustrating as this is, though, it's also realistic, from what I've seen.) I fervently hope that Stephanie takes up fellow bounty hunter Ranger on his offer to make her forget Morelli in book nine. All I can say is, I'm avidly looking forward to the next book. A year seems too long to wait...
Rating: 
Summary: Not very good
Review: This was the worst book Janet Evanovich has written. The plot was non-existant and the characters were warmed over versions from her earlier books. The book felt as if it had been written hastily just to get it on the shelf for the summer beach crowd. You really can do better than this, Janet.
Rating: 
Summary: Back on Track
Review: I was a big fan of the Stephanie Plum series up through book 5, then very disappointed in numbers 6 and 7. I had decided to stop reading the series til a friend convinced me to read Hard Eight and I'm glad I did. While not quite as good as the earlier books, this one was a vast improvement over the last two, with better pacing and character development. The dialogue was wittier and relied less on slapstick, although still very funny. That said, I agree with others that I'd like to see Stephanie developing a few more skills at her job--after this length of time you'd think she'd be getting a LITTLE bit better at it! She could still be funny without being so incompetent. And I found the long-awaited love scene with Ranger perfunctory at best. But all in all, the book was a fun read and kept me interested to the very end.
Rating:
Summary: The best since High five
Review: I loved this book. My only critisism is it wasn't long enough. I spend all year waiting and finished it in 6 hours. Last year I was dissapointed with 7 up. Sometimes Janet leaves you with cliff hangers that do not pay off and it makes you feel like a chump. This book was great. The new charactors were fun and the old favorites that returned were great. I loved the geese and the scene when her car was stolen had me laughing so hard that I was holding my sides. It is a like a breath of fresh air to read Janets books. There are many wanna be's out there, but none are her equal. Hurry up with Nine Janet as well as 10, 11, 12.....
Rating:
Summary: A satisfying installment in the Stephanie Plum series...
Review: It's difficult for there to be too many surprises in the 8th book in a series, and I can't say there were many here. But what I was suprised about, frankly, was that I personally didn't find that to be tiresome or dull. Sure, at this point, one pretty much expects that our heroine, Stephanie, will be torn between two men, get some cars blown up, make some incredibly silly decisions, have Lula and her granny tag along, and be subjected to lots of head shakings. I don't quite know how she did it, but I think that Janet Evanovich manages to keep this series fresh because she creates such interesting, dynamic, silly, and fun characters - people that, despite the crazy happenings in the novels, actually seem pretty real. Even those on the periphery of the story have distinct personalities, and it is this, I think, more than the particular mystery in the book that makes it interesting - and the mystery here, while different than some others, is rather tame, despite the appearance of a new uber-villian. If anyone is going into this book expecting revolutionary character growth, that reader will probably be disappointed. Similarly, if this is the first Stephanie Plum novel someone reads, a lot will probably be lost without the history presented in the previous seven. But if you enjoyed the other books - and aren't yet tired of Stephanie's antics, the Morelli-Ranger-Stephanie triangle, and the bizarre and pretty unbelievable events in the Burg, this is the book for you. I'm not sure a writer with less skill and humor could maintain my interest this long, but I think Janet Evanovich is doing fine, and I'll certainly be ready for book nine when it comes along.
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