I'm on the reserve list. I'm third out of forty-nine, and since the library ordered ten copies, I should get it as soon as the library slaps the protective plastic on the cover. It pays to check the library's online catalog of ordered material every few days. In fact, it's a bit of an obsession for me. There's nothing quite like being the very first one to crack open a new library book.

Well, I'm pleased for all you fans, but....

I'd seen a lot of people raving about them here, and then I saw one of my daughters reading one. I mentioned I was interested, and she lent me the first five.

I got through three and a half, and then, midway through a cringemakingly embarrassing sex scene, I gave up on them.

To me, they seemed patronising. Stephanie Plum is actually quite incompetent, and has to be got out of trouble repeatedly by either Ranger or Morelli. I know they are meant to be funny, but I couldn't see it.

Perhaps it's a girl thing. I dunno.

Give me the Kinsey Millhone books any day.

Oh, they're definitely not great fiction, but they make me laugh. Maybe it is a girl thing.

Not a girl thing for me. I don't like them either.

I just think they're great fun and they make me laugh. These are perfect books for summer reading, IMO. Ranger and Morelli are an added attraction, too *w*.

I agree, Sheri, that they're great fun, at least to me. Sometimes I need light-hearted, inane, crazy reading that doesn't pretend to be anything other than what it is. After the meat-and-potatoes reading I do, sometimes I just need a big old bag of cotton candy.

Aren't these classed as chick lit and/or Ophrah fodder? Just wondering, from my recent days at working in the bookshop. (now closed).

They might be included as chick lit (which I normally don't read) although many men read the series, but I definitely don't think they are Oprah fodder.

They should never be read in quick succession, either. The hysterical just doesn't hold up. I see them rather as I do certain family members, great once a year but I couldn't stand to be around them regularly.

Am I the only one who finds the later books less amusing? The first half are really funny, but beginning with that awful Christmas angel one, to me they just went down.

In the past I always laughed out loud before I finished either of the first chapters. In several chapters in "13" and no chuckles yet.... Must be my frame of mind! BUT I always find Stephanie and her side kicks a mindless escape, a good quick and fun read. I must admit the language gets more vulgar so I hesitate to recommend them to my girls- But my mom, dad and grandmom all read them. Certainly not heavy literature but junk food for my brain.

I just got this from the library and I can't wait to read it. With school just out, life has been insanely busy -- all good, just busy -- and I haven't had a chance to even open the cover yet. I may have to just lock myself in the bathroom to get some peace and quiet *vbg*. I hope it's as good as the last one, I did like #12.

Well I'll say without giving it away (those who have read 13 will know what I'm talking about) I laughed out loud over the squirrel!

The squirrel was definitely the funniest part of the entire book.

I will say that I find that the series is beginning to lag a little. Each book seems shorter than the last, and there's not as much substance. I even found myself cringing a couple of times in #13. I still enjoy them, though, and I'm hoping Ranger wins, although I read somewhere recently that Evanovich stated that Stephanie would make a choice between Joe and Ranger, but only at the end of the series, whenever that may be.

I've got two chapters to go and I've already figured out where a certain item necessary to the wrap up of the story is hidden, but I did laugh aloud over the squirrel. I think she has spun Stephanie's story out pretty much as far as it can go, it's not as fresh as it used to be. The set up (the Burg, Grandma Mazur, the viewings, serial car destruction) is now so familiar it's no longer funny in and of itself, as it was to me in earlier books. I do like how much Ranger time there is in this book, though. It's been a fun, fast read.