Fearless Fourteen

Fearless Fourteen (A Stephanie Plum Novel)by Janet Evanovich

Personal vendettas, hidden treasure, and a monkey named Carl will send bounty hunter Stephanie Plum on her most explosive adventure yet. (snipped for length from back of book)

I seem to be in a light, fluffy and fun book reading mood. Almost all the books I have are so darned gloomy that I am gobbling up the Evanovich and Robb books this month. When I read the latest Plum novella (Plum Spooky) it dawned on me that I had not yet read this 14th book. Carl the monkey would have made so much more sense had I read this one first.For some reason the fact that Stephanie Plum is still an incompetent bounty hunter and that anything and everything always happens to her doesn't bother me the way that anything and everything always happens to Rachel Morgan in the Kim Harrison series.  I don't know if it's because of the humourous way that Evanovich writes the stories or the outrageousness of the events? It doesn't frustrate me the same way it does in Harrison's novels.Of course fourteen books in, it would be nice if Stephanie Plum has some sort of evolution from complete incompetent to getting-better-but-not-quite. There hasn't been much growth in her character. I will laugh out loud every time, but I do see that these characters just seem to be on a loop. At this particular time though I am not all that bothered by it, because I don't start a Stephanie Plum book with the intention to be blown away by deep thoughts and revelations. I pick up these books for sheer entertainment and amusement factors. The mystery is last on my list of what I am wanting from the books.And this book? It has what I wanted. Ranger. *swoon* Morelli. *swoon* and it even had Mooner and I had forgotten how much I enjoy mooner. It had very little Grandma Mazur and for that I was thankful, because she is really best in small doses.The new characters were about 50/50 with me. I liked Zook, even though I wasn't sure at first that I would. Then he paired up with Mooner and I giggled each time they were around. I did not like the Brenda character, although I think that was the point and I was sort of happy when she shifted to the background of the story about halfway through. Her stalker, Gary, was actually quite sweet in a socially awkward stalker sort of way. I like how he, Zook and Mooner all ended up bonding.Overall I did enjoy the book. I thought it was slightly too action-packed and I had trouble keeping up, but it certainly wasn't boring. And yes, I did laugh - a lot. I needed that this week!Also, huzzah! Another book down in the Stephanie Plum challenge!Stephanie Plum series

1. One for the Money
2. Two for the Dough
3. Three to Get Deadly
4. Four to Score
5. High Five
6. Hot Six
7. Seven Up
8. Hard Eight
9. To the Nines
10. Ten Big Ones
11. Eleven on Top
12. Twelve Sharp
13. Lean Mean Thirteen
14. Fearless Fourteen
15. Finger Lickin’ Fifteen
16. Sizzling Sixteen (JUNE 2010 – hard cover)

Stephanie Plum Between-the-Numbers Novellas

1. Visions of Sugar Plums (between 8 & 9)
2. Plum Lovin’ (between 12 & 13)
3. Plum Lucky (between 13 & 14)
4. Plum Spooky (between 14 & 15)