Waiting On Wednesday (17) All These Things I've Done by Garbielle Zevin

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine, in which we share the books that we are anxiously waiting to be released.

All These Things I've Done by by Gabrielle Zevin

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Date: September 6th 2011

From Goodreads:

In 2083, chocolate and coffee are illegal, paper is hard to find, water is carefully rationed, and New York City is rife with crime and poverty. And yet, for Anya Balanchine, the sixteen-year-old daughter of the city's most notorious (and dead) crime boss, life is fairly routine. It consists of going to school, taking care of her siblings and her dying grandmother, trying to avoid falling in love with the new assistant D.A.'s son, and avoiding her loser ex-boyfriend. That is until her ex is accidentally poisoned by the chocolate her family manufactures and the police think she's to blame. Suddenly, Anya finds herself thrust unwillingly into the spotlight—at school, in the news, and most importantly, within her mafia family.

Dystopian YA. I don't need anymore incentive than that. How about you?

The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa

The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa

Published January 25th 2011 by Harlequin Teen
Goodreads
Website

From Goodreads: My name is Meghan Chase.

I thought it was over. That my time with the fey, the impossible choices I had to make, the sacrifices of those I loved, was behind me. But a storm is approaching, an army of Iron fey that will drag me back, kicking and screaming. Drag me away from the banished prince who's sworn to stand by my side. Drag me into the core of conflict so powerful, I'm not sure anyone can survive it.

This time, there will be no turning back.

**HEY, this is the third book in the series. If you read this review before reading the other books you will quite possibly spoil it, thereby ruining any chance you had to dwell however briefly, on the plane of extreme awesome.**

Get ready for it, because I'm gonna act like a complete dork over this book. Here we go:

So I love this series, right? It's been very good so far. But this book? THIS BOOK?! I have found the font from which all awesome springs forth.

It's so awesome that I need a visual aid to help you really grasp the extent of its awesome. Count the number of times I use awesome in this post, and multiply it by cake and you have the sum total of the awesome that is this book.

Here is the everyday, normal level of awesome that exists in the world:

And here is the awesome that resides in Julie Kagawa's The Iron Queen:

+

The war between the Iron Fey and the Summer and Winter courts has just begun, and already the old fey are falling, helpless against this new breed of faery that has the ability to harness the power of iron. Iron is the one thing the old fey fear most; the one thing they are helpless against. Now the false Iron King and his army are sweeping a path of destruction across the Nevernever, killing the land and all faery life in its path. The powers of both courts, Summer and Winter, even when combined, are no match against this new enemy. Time is quickly running out and in desperation Oberon calls Meghan out of her exile in the human world. As a half faery princess, Meghan possess the glamour of the Summer court. But as the one who slayed the true Iron King, she also holds all the power of the Iron fey. She is the only one who can enter the Iron realm unscathed, and the only one who can save the Nevernever.

A swollen crimson moon hovered over the camp that night, rust-red and ominous, bathing everything in an eerie, bloody tint. Snow flecks drifted from a nearly clear sky, rusty flakes dancing on the wind, like the moon itself was tainted and corroding away.

Meghan is unstoppable in this book! She is so determined and in charge. I loved it. She has never been cowardly- how could she be with all she's been through, but in this book, she really comes into her own. Things learn to both fear, and respect Meghan Chase and it's awesome to watch her work.

Thus far, we've spent very little time in the Iron realm, most of the stories taking place in the human world or in the Summer and Winter courts. This book is so much darker than the previous two because the place our heroes are in borders on nightmarish. As technology and man's dependence on it have increased, the Iron Fey have grown. Their world is one of twisted metal, acid, mutation and the discarded cast-off gadgets of the human world. It's wonderfully creepy, and yet so very sad. This place is awful, but a type of Fey do live there and to them it is home. I absolutely loved Kagawa's worlds. She truly captures everything that is both beautiful and grotesque about the faery world, always reminding us that these beautiful, mythical creatures that we like to pretend lurk just beyond our perception- really just want to eat us.

This book, the third in the series, is by far the best, and by far one of the best adventures I've been on this year. I can't wait to see what the boys get into in The Iron Knight and I would be willing to make a binding bargain with the fey in order to get my hands on it NOW.

I haven't been Team Ash. Far from it. The whole "I will kill you, but wait I love you, but I'll still kill you, but stay away from me, come here, I will kill you but wait I love you" thing really made my ass twitch in the beginning. He had way too many red flags. But.....The Iron Queen, which we have already established, holds the bulk of the world's allotment of awesome, changed me. Ash is such a strong character in this book, so devoted to Meghan and all Daniel Day Lewis "STAY ALIVE! No matter what happens! I will find you!" that it's unbelievably hot (and it's ok for me to lust after the boy since he's countless centuries old). I can now proudly wave my giant foam finger with the rest of you: TEAM ASH.

Supernaturally by Kiersten White and a GIVEAWAY

     Supernaturally by Kiersten White

     July 26th 2011 by HarperTeen

     More at:
     Goodreads
     Website

     From Goodreads: Evie finally has the normal life she’s
     always longed for. But she’s shocked to discover that      being ordinary can be . . . kind of boring. Just when Evie starts to long for her days at the International Paranormal Containment Agency, she’s given a chance to work for them again. Desperate for a break from all the normalcy, she agrees.

But as one disastrous mission leads to another, Evie starts to wonder if she made the right choice. And when Evie’s faerie ex-boyfriend Reth appears with devastating revelations about her past, she discovers that there’s a battle brewing between the faerie courts that could throw the whole supernatural world into chaos. The prize in question? Evie herself.

So much for normal.

If you haven't read Paranormalcy, the first book in the series, stop NOW and go and do so or you will be the most ungrateful wicked person and the angels will weep for you.

You would think that after single-handedly saving the paranormal world from destruction everything else would pretty much be cake. For Evie, life hasn't exactly been normal. Nowhere near normal- not even in the same dimension as normal (the world of the fae can really suck you in). So when she left her job at the International Paranormal Containment Agency to try her hand at "normal" life, high school sounded like a welcome retreat. Who knows, it might have been if it wasn't for the fae suspiciously lurking about and a freaky human boy with the ability to create faery pathways randomly popping up in the girls locker room. The IPCA desperately needs Evie's help and with the increase in local paranormal activity she couldn't help but agree. Now she's juggling fighting evil, her after school waitress job, her full time relationship with Lend oh and constantly trying to suppress the urge to suck out the occasional paranormal soul, and it's still impossible to weasel out of gym class?? Bleep.

First, how awesome is Evie? I mean seriously? How many times have you thrown up your hands and begged the YA gods to give you a strong, competent, kick-ass, "Homey don't play that", can-and-will-take-on-the-whole-bleeping-world, lead female character? So many appear that way at first but then you get to a point in the book or the series where for some stupid reason the author decides that her character needs to be "saved". Not our Evie. She gets helped along the way, sure, but you never once forget just who is in charge. She can kick anything's ass and is still smart enough to know that even she is no match for the power of shoes. That's my girl.

As a sequel, Supernaturally is a very good extension of the story. I liked that she didn't leave the first book behind, and there were no drastic changes in storyline or in Evie's world. It was a nice continuation of the original story, and you weren't beat down with recaps meant to bring you up to speed if you hadn't read or have forgotten what happened in the last book (I hate when sequels do that).

Evie goes back to work for Raquel at the IPCA, thank goodness. I don't know if I would have liked it as much if the story was just about a paranormal girl trying to make it in a normal world (boring). Evie's "bag and tag" assignments with the IPCA are what's fun and what I wanted more of in the sequel. Thankfully, White delivered. It's really interesting how her relationship with Lend is playing out. He's such a nice guy and you know as well as I do that there aren't that many of those, especially in YA.

A large chunk of Evie's time is spent either in the faery realms or in the passages between them. Jack is a human boy, who having been raised by faeries, has learned the secret of opening their doorways. Raquel has sent Jack to drive Evie around so to speak, making it quicker for her to get to her assignments. He also makes it quicker for her to get into trouble- a whole other world of it. You'll like Jack- even when you don't like him.

We get a lot of questions answered in this book, but only enough that I'm already itching for the third book. Exactly who and what is Evie, and what, if any, are the extents of her powers?

Oh....and.....maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm just sick and twisted. Maybe I just have a thing for bad boys. But I'll say this and you can grab your pitchforks and come after me if you must: Team Reth.

     After a frustrating half hour, I finally caught sight of the glamoured corpse head in the middle of a crowd waiting for the Ferris wheel. He had his arm around a pretty young thing in an incredibly weather-inappropriate outfit that showed off her very slender, very blood-filled neck. She stared at him in that vapid, intoxicated way employed only by women under a vamp's control. Or the way I sometimes got when faced with cupcakes.
     Mmm. Cupcakes.

Want my ARC? You can have it!

In the story, Evie jokingly mentions that only a faerie apocalypse could keep her from doing something. Now we all FEAR THE FORTHCOMING ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE (the end is nigh) but just what would the Faerie Apocalypse entail?

Use this handy-dandy form to tell me: FILL OUT THE FORM

Open to peeps 13 or older, living in the US of A or Canada. Ends August 9th at midnight CST. You don't have to be a blogger or a follower but you do have to answer the question. I'll randomly select a winner but you still have to describe the end of the world, faerie style.


*Quote taken from an ARC of Supernaturally and may differ in the finished copy.

In My Mailbox (33)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren in which we share the books we received for the week.

I'm still on a mini-hiatus while I finish up my summer classes, but I wanted to post something so that my blog didn't collect too much dust during my absence. Here are the lovelies that I have neglected to share with you over the past few weeks. Enjoy and let me know what lovelies found their way to your mailbox!

Divergent by Veronica Roth

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

Charmed Thirds by Megan McCafferty

Things are looking up for Jessica Darling. She has finally left her New Jersey hometown/hellhole for Columbia University in New York City; she's more into her boyfriend, Marcus Flutie, than ever (so what if he's at a Buddhist college in California?); and she's making new friends who just might qualify as stand-ins for her beloved best friend, Hope.
But Jessica soon realizes that her bliss might not last. She lands an internship at a snarky Brooklyn-based magazine, but will she fit in with the überhip staff (and will she even want to)?
As she and Marcus hit the rocks, will she end up falling for her GOPunk, neoconservative RA...or the hot (and married!) Spanish grad student she's assisting on a summer project...or the oh-so-sensitive emo boy down the hall? Will she even make it through college now that her parents have cut her off financially? And what do the cryptic one-word postcards from Marcus really mean?
With hilarious insight, the hyperobservant Jessica Darling struggles through her college years - and the summers in between - while maintaining her usual mix of wit, cynicism, and candor.

A Kiss at Midnight by Eloise James

Miss Kate Daltry doesn't believe in fairy tales . . . or happily ever after.

Forced by her stepmother to attend a ball, Kate meets a prince . . . and decides he's anything but charming. A clash of wits and wills ensues, but they both know their irresistible attraction will lead nowhere. For Gabriel is promised to another woman—a princess whose hand in marriage will fulfill his ruthless ambitions.

Gabriel likes his fiancée, which is a welcome turn of events, but he doesn't love her. Obviously, he should be wooing his bride-to-be, not the witty, impoverished beauty who refuses to fawn over him.

Godmothers and glass slippers notwithstanding, this is one fairy tale in which destiny conspires to destroy any chance that Kate and Gabriel might have a happily ever after.

Unless a prince throws away everything that makes him noble . . .

Unless a dowry of an unruly heart trumps a fortune . . .

Unless one kiss at the stroke of midnight changes everything.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. And a strange collection of very curious photographs. It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children who once lived here—one of whom was his own grandfather—were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a desolate island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.

Graveminder by Melissa Marr

Melissa Marr is known to young adult readers as the author of the popular faery series Wicked Lovely. Her debut leap into adult fiction lands her in the small community of Claysville, a town where the dead walk free unless there their graves are not properly tended. Into this eerie maelstrom, Rebekkah Barrow descends as she returns to a place that she once believed she knew. Kelley Armstrong justly described Graveminder as "a deliciously creepy tale that is as skillfully wrought as it is spellbindingly imagined." A new genre author to watch.

This was my most awesome birthday present from my most awesome book friend Sandy @ Pirate Penguin Reads! It's autographed by the lovely Miz Marr! Thank you sweet girl!

Forgotten by Cat Patrick

Each night when 16 year-old London Lane goes to sleep, her whole world disappears. In the morning, all that's left is a note telling her about a day she can't remember. The whole scenario doesn't exactly make high school or dating that hot guy whose name she can't seem to recall any easier. But when London starts experiencing disturbing visions she can't make sense of, she realizes it's time to learn a little more about the past she keeps forgetting-before it destroys her future.

Part psychological drama, part romance, and part mystery, this thought-provoking novel will inspire readers to consider the what-if's in their own lives and recognize the power they have to control their destinies.

I won this lovely from A Tapestry of Words. Thank you so much Danya!

Follow Friday (4)

This is a fun little feature hosted by Miz Parajunkee that promotes bookbloggy togetherness. One of those is probably not a word.

This week's question:

Q. Let's step away from besties...What is the worst book that you've ever read and actually finished?

Like anyone who reads my blog can't see this one coming:

For a long time it was She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb, but then Stephanie Meyer wrote Breaking Dawn and introduced me to a whole new level of suck.

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to follow this week's FF featured blog, Read Breathe Relax!

Stalk me:
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Cut by Patricia McCormick & A Giveaway...

     Cut by Patricia McCormick

     Published May 1st 2011 by Push (first published October 30th 2000)

     More at:
     Goodreads
     Website

     From Goodreads: "A tingle arced across my scalp. The floor tipped up at me and
     my body spiraled away. Then I was on the ceiling looking down, waiting to see
     what would happen next."

Callie cuts herself. Never too deep, never enough to die. But enough to feel the pain. Enough to feel the scream inside.

Now she's at Sea Pines, a "residential treatment facility" filled with girls struggling with problems of their own. Callie doesn't want to have anything to do with them. She doesn't want to have anything to do with anyone. She won't even speak.

But Callie can only stay silent for so long....

I didn't know what to expect going into this book. I had a brief encounter with the phenomenon of cutting in Laurie Halse Anderson's Wintergirls and I was surprised at the lack of compassion I felt then. I thought it was perfectly vile, selfish and fell under the blanket concept of "things that are done to get attention." I think the difference in perspective in the two books made all the difference for me. I did not like Lia in Wintergirls, and I just adored little Callie. Silly though it may seem, I was willing to try to understand Callie, because I felt she deserved it. Callie, however twisted it may seem, had a very sound reason for her self-inflected violence. It made perfect sense in her mind, even if it didn't to others. I cared so deeply for Callie that I was willing to set aside my prejudice and listen to her. Which is the very point of the story. I can admit now that McCormick's smack down smarted and made me feel a little ashamed. Kudos. I deserved it.

Callie's place within her family has taken on an almost wraith-like form. A little brother with chronic asthma, a very, very, very (add a few more verys) weak mother and a cowardly father make up what Callie knows as family. Her parents are so engrossed in their own self pity that they fail to notice that their daughter is fading, blending into the background so that maybe no one will notice that she carries a secret- she feels it is all her fault. Everything. And since she goes unnoticed, no one bothers to ask, so Callie never tells.

We all continually beat ourselves up over a certain amount of self made guilt that we harbor, believing that something is our fault, regardless of the truth. It would shock us to discover that were we to voice our account of our supposed wrongs, we would be the only one pointing the finger at ourselves. So much of what we perceive is imagined. I guess the balance lies in knowing when we've shouldered enough, and simply need to tell someone to relieve the pressure. For Callie, there was no one to listen, and the pressure grew until it was either explode or find an outlet that could release some steam. For her it was a simple cut, nothing major, just enough, to release the tension. My heart ached for her, not for what she was doing, but because she did what she did and no one so much as batted an eye.

This was such a tough story for me because, well, I'm a tough chick with the possibly equally self destructive ability of being able to tell the world to go to hell. I could never hurt me and I have a hard time understanding others who would willingly hurt themselves. I've felt helpless only a handful of times in my life. But I've always known what Callie did not, and that's if you scream loud enough, people are forced to listen. Callie didn't know that it was OK to scream because no one ever taught her to use her voice to defend herself and her own sanity. I blame her selfish, pathetic little snit of a mother who lacked the strength to care for both of her children at once and sacrificed the emotional health of one for the physical well being of another. To me that's almost a form of abuse.

I was grateful for the fairytale tie in that became the ending. Something good that came from outside Callie needed to happen. As great as it was that she made the breakthrough that she did, I would have felt a bit cheated if the story had ended with her still feeling detached from her family.

I'd like to pass my copy on as a sort of penance for being a narrow minded asshole. There are good lessons in this book and maybe I'm not the only one who needs to learn them.

Open to book bloggers, over the age of 13, living in the US. Closes July 27th at midnight.

FILL OUT THIS FORM

Teaser Tuesday (12) Supernaturally by Kiersten White

"Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!"

     A figure, taller than Jack and more beautiful by far than anyone else I knew stepped out of the door.
     "Now really," he said, his voice liquid gold, "that's hardly the welcome I expected, my love."

*Quote taken from an ARC of the book and may differ in the finished copy.

Cleaning house.....

So I've been on vacation for the past week in Orlando, FL.

Now Orlando is home to many many fabulous things...but one thing stands out above all the rest. It is perhaps the most fabulous thing in the whole of central Florida....

The Ikea Store

Dear Lord in heaven. Forget Disney. Who gives a crap about a talking mouse- but a multi-football field sized warehouse of innovative storage solutions and shiny, stream lined odds and ends? I would have waited in an hour long line for THAT.

It's a marvelous fairytale place boys and girls and I can't wait to go back. They sell easy to put together, inexpensive, GIANT WALLS OF BOOKSHELVES. AND I want one SO bad I might JUST DIE. But I have some bookcases and unless I got rid of them (and they're lovely) there isn't another place in the house that it would seem reasonable to put more. So alas, a wall of books isn't in my immediate future but some day...oh yes...it will be mine.



But that's not the point. The point is. I just need to get rid of some books so that the cases I do have look all nice and neat and ikea-ish. Truthfully, I own a lot of books that I'll never read again and the selfless thing to do would be to find those particular books a new home where they can get some long over due attention and book lovin'.

I just this morning separated a large chunk of the book fort into the to-go pile when I ran across THIS POST over at Pop Culture Junkie. The challenge is simple: it's basically to get rid of as much as you can in whatever way you can. And well, I need to.

Here is the list of what needs to go to start:

The Foretelling by Alice Hoffman
The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey
The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
Mistress of the Revolution by Cahterine Delors
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner
I Elizabeth by Rosalind Miles
Eleanor of Aquitaine by Alison Weir
Girl With A Pearl Earring by Tracey Chevalier
The Virgin Blue by Tracey Chevalier
Falling Angels by Tracey Chevalier
Audrey Wait by Robin Benway
Inheritance by Lan Samantha Chang
My Soul to Save by Rachel Vincent ARC
The King's Mistress by Emma Campion ARC
Breaking Dawn by Stephanie T. Meyer (makes a good door stop)
Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer
New Moon by Stephanie Meyer
Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver
Covet by J.R. Ward
As You Wish by Jackson Pearce
Girl in the Arena by Lise Haines
Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev (I have two? How?)
Evermore by Alyson Noel
The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor
The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson
Across the Universe by Beth Revis
Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner
The Guy Not Taken by Jennifer Weiner
Wicked by Gregory Maguire
Confession of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire
Secret History of the Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig (Again, two?)
Nightlight by The Harvard Lampoon
Mercury Falls by Robert Kroese ARC
The Enemy by Charlie Higson ARC
Halo by Alexandria Adornetto ARC
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Girl Stolen by April Henry ARC
Wings by Aprillynne Pike
Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey
Love Signs by Linda Goodman (astrology stuff)
The Saucy Sister's Guide to Wine Nowack & Wichman (I have no idea)

The plan is to give these away as creatively as possible. I'll give what I don't find homes for to a library (my local branch does not add donations to the collection. I have no idea why.) It's a big step for me and will no doubt leave me more vulnerable to an attack when the Zombie Apocalypse begins but I know that my time with these books has come to an end. Goodbye my darlings! I wish you well as you journey forth to new and exciting places!

Smokin' Seventeen by Janet Evanovich

     Smokin' Seventeen by Janet Evanovich

     Published June 21st 2011 by Bantam

     More at:
     Goodreads
     Website

     From Goodreads: Where there's smoke there's fire, and no one knows this better
     than New Jersey bounty hunter, Stephanie Plum. The bail bonds office has burned
     to the ground, and bodies are turning up in the empty construction lot. To make matters worse, Stephanie is working out of a motor home she shares with a dancing bear, and Joe Morelli's old world grandmother has declared a vendetta against her. And just when Stephanie decides it might be time to choose between the two men in her life, Morelli and Ranger, a third man from Stephanie's past moves back to Trenton...

When we left Stephanie in book sixteen, the bonds office had been blown up, and many many senseless acts of vehicular abuse had been committed. Now, they've finally broken ground on a new bonds office but a dead body gets discovered on the empty lot, half buried beneath the backhoe. While a dead body in Trenton isn't usually something to hold up progress, a second body turning up on the bail bonds lot, brings everything to a stand still. Income has dwindled and necessity dictates that Stephanie get back out there and bring it what skips she can. This week brings the FTA of a nude, Viagra dependent burglar, a Lexus driving housewife with a ex-husband speed bump problem and an 82 year old vampire with fanged dentures. Never say life is dull.

Stephanie's mother is on the prowl as well. Having a daughter who's marital status is FTA has become a source of shame and she guilts Stephanie into a fix up with Dave Brewer who at first glance "seems like such a nice young man." Famous last words. Men are something that Stephanie doesn't need more of. Her on again off again relationship with Morelli, and her status, whatever it is, with Ranger is about all that she can handle. Up until now she's done a pretty good job holding them both at bay but then Joe's Grandma Bella, a crazy Italian lady who hates Stephanie puts the "Vordo" on her (a slut curse) and Stephanie has urges that not even granny panties can squelch. The cure all for passion comes in the form of another dead body turning up on the bonds lot this time with a note that reads "For Stephanie." Not that having someone want to kill her is anything new, but they've never come gift wrapped before. And she thought juggling men was trouble...

     "I didn't see any fangs when he answered the door," I told Grandma.
     "Well, it's day time so maybe he was fixing to go to sleep, and he had his dentures in a cup." Grandma said. "I don't wear my dentures when I sleep."
     Lula leaned back in her chair. "Hold the phone. This guy has fake fangs?"
     "They use to be real," Grandma said, "but a couple of years ago Joe's granny Bella, gave Ziggy the eye, and all his teeth fell out. So Ziggy went to Horace Worly- a dentist on Hamilton Avenue just down from the hospital. Anyways, Horace made Ziggy some new choppers that look just like his old ones."

Damnit, Janet. You did it again. You sucked me back in and I'm once more a die-hard Plum fan and I'm itching for a sequel.

I went into this book, the seventeenth in the Stephanie Plum series, with the mindset that I was just about finished with the series. Nothing new ever happens. We never make any progress and the series never evolves. It's like a screenplay for a sitcom that's in its sixth season and it really just keeps getting renewed because there's nothing else good on television.

Did anything new happen in this book? Not really, unless you count lots and lots of sex. And since the two men in this book with which one can have sex are such fine male specimens as Morelli and Ranger, then yes, we do in fact, count the lots and lots of sex. Once again, Evanovich didn't give an inch with her formula, and we're about in the same place we were when all this started but this was, hands down, her funniest one yet.

I forget that this series is a mystery because I always say I don't read mysteries so it always comes as quite a shock to me when I get halfway through a Plum novel and I find myself caught up in the "who done it." This one is steeped in it and it's coming from all sides. She did a really good job dragging this one out because nothing that happened pointed to the killer.

This was Lula's book, word for word and Lula was given all the best lines. I took this book on vacation with me and read it aloud to my mother, so I had the added benefit of reading Lula's lines as Lula would say them. It was all I could do to get through it without peeing on myself. I don't think I've laughed that hard since, well, I hate to admit it, book sixteen. I guess I need to give in and give up. I love this series. I want her to marry Morelli and I want to see it have a happy ending but at the same time, I hope we never get there. It's been a hell of a ride and I'll keep buying tickets and standing in line even when it makes me throw up.

Book eighteen is set to be published in November? What gives? We never get two Plum books in a year?

I bet she's pregnant. Taking bets in comments.