Hard Eight

I like that the author can make me laugh.

I sit eagerly awaiting the next Stephanie Plum book; so let me begin by saying that Hard Eight is not my favorite of the series. I loved the humor in this volume it had me laughing out loud (as I had hoped for). Stephanie's adventure with her newest addition Kloughn had me ready to scream because he kept tagging along, but actually I came to love the scenes with him. I'm not giving a lot away by saying the dryer scene alone makes Kloughn one of the highlights of this episode in the Stephanie Plum series.I may be one of the few though who found the last 50 or so pages to be a non-stop rush of events that built from her heated flirting with Ranger to a blink of an eye event that made me go back to make sure I hadn't skipped over some pages. The book flashed over a scene between Stephanie and Ranger that made you think "Wait, What happened?" It was like a cliffhanger that wasn't because you knew the answer but none of the facts. Let me just say Stephanie and Ranger have had some of the hottest flirting through several of the previous books and Hard Eight let it hit straight ice water. Nothing to do with the books but fans keep saying "Oh Ranger couldn't be relationship material" and this book gave in to those fans that have been waiting for that. Why? I love books with a mysterious hero who you don't know too much about but ends up being a good guy (which so far Ranger has been, he cares for Stephanie). Consistently through this Volume Ranger is there watching out for her making sure she's got security, has bullets in her gun, he may tease her but doesn't treat her like she's stupid and when she calls he is there without fail what's not to like? If he is a bad why is he the "Primo" Bounty hunter and as mentioned through out the series the guy the cops want to be carrying a gun? Ranger doesn't seem to be a thug and Hard Eight gave him a Hard Ride, now, he's not mysterious, but an "Opportunist" doesn't sound like the Ranger we've come to know and adore. So he's got a never ending supply of expensive cars, he also owns office buildings, so he must have money or be making money if it's dirty show it to me! Abruzzi (the bad guy of the book) was scary and had me jumpy, but in only a few pages it was over. And why aren't the cops doing anything about this guy? Stephanie is the star of the series, but it looks like the bounty hunters (Stephanie/Ranger/Vinnie) take down more criminals than Joe (vice cop/homicide detective). I do love Vinnie and was glad to see him back in this book. This guy cracks me up.The book seemed to heavily edited or something. I love that Janet usually has the book full of Stephanie's thoughts about everything that happens to her and in this book two rather major events went wham bam thank you ma'am fast without satisfying me. I'll read the book over and over because I love the series but it's not my favorite. The humor of the book held me though, so it is worth a try, but if you wonder like I did what happened in the ending you aren't alone...The audio version is decent, but I was thrilled to discover that this time around CJ Critt was back with a version through Recorded Books. After listening to her rendition of the book I was forced to raise my rating of 3 stars to 4 simply because there are things she brought to the story.Unlike some I'll keep reading Janet as long as she keeps me laughing. My complaint quit switching narrators on the audio versions Recorded Books is the company for quality and CJ is the narrator who brings Stephanie's story to audio life!

I sit eagerly awaiting the next Stephanie Plum book, so let me begin by saying that Hard Eight is not my favorite of the series. I loved the humor in this volume it had me laughing out loud (as I had hoped for). Stephanie's adventure with her newest sidekick Kloughn had me ready to scream because he kept tagging along, but actually I came to love the scenes with him. I'm not giving a lot away by saying the dryer scene alone makes Kloughn one of the highlights of this episode in the Stephanie Plum series.I may be one of the few though who found the last 50 or so pages to be a non-stop rush of events that built from her heated flirting with Ranger to a blink of an eye event that made me go back to make sure I hadn't skipped over some pages. The book flashed over a scene between Stephanie and Ranger that made you think "Wait, What happened?" It was like a cliffhanger that wasn't because you knew the answer but none of the facts. Let me just say Stephanie and Ranger have had some of the hottest flirting through several of the previous books and Hard Eight let it hit straight ice water. Nothing to do with the books but fans keep saying "Oh Ranger couldn't be relationship material" and this book made gave in to those fans that have been waiting for that. Why? I love books with a mysterious hero who you don't know too much about but ends up being a good guy (which so far Ranger has been he cares for Stephanie). Consistantly through this Volume 8 especially Ranger is there watching out for her making sure she's got security, has bullets in her gun and when she calls he is there without fail what's not to like? If he is a bad guy how does why is he the "Primo" Bounty hunter and as mentioned through out the series the guy the cops want to be carrying a gun? Ranger doesn't seem to be a thug and Hard Eight gave him a Hard Ride, now, he's not mysterious, but an "Opportunist" doesn't sound like the Ranger we've come to know and adore. Abruzzi (the bad guy of the book) was scary and had me jumpy, but in only a few pages it was over. And why aren't the cops doing anything about this guy? Stephanie is the star of the series, but it looks like the bounty hunters (Stephanie/Ranger/Vinnie) take down more criminals than Joe (vice cop/homicide detective).The book seemed to heavily edited or something. I love that Janet usually has the book full of Stephanies thoughts about everything that happens to her and in this book two rather major events went wham bam thank you ma'am fast without satisfying me. I'll read the book over and over because I love the series but it's not my favorite. The humor of the book held me though, so it is worth a try, but if you wonder like I did what happened in the ending you aren't alone...The audio version is decent, but I was thrilled to discover that this time around CJ Critt was back with a version through Recorded Books. After listening to her rendition of the book I was forced to raise my rating of 3 stars to 4 simply because there are things she brought to the story.Unlike some I'll keep reading Janet as long as she keeps me laughing. My complaint quit switching narrators on the audio versions Recorded Books is the company for quality and CJ is the narrator who brings Stephanie's story to it's full potential.

I just love these book. They make me laugh and cry at the same time. Keep writing please. I want more.

I love Stephanie Plum. I bought this on my kindle because the hard copy I bought is faulty and has the last chapter of book 7 at the end instead of the last chapter of book 8. All these books are laugh out loud hilarious.

This series always delivers fast,crazy fun.The characters are well rounded ,individual and engaging and the writing is excellent.In this one Stephanie is drawn into the usual craziness after agreeing to do a favour for her mother's neighbour by looking for her missing granddaughter .The usual delightful cast of characters all make an appearance and Stephanies life is its normal crazy whirl.Great fun read.

Amazing as always dark hilarious and belly laughing funny book. Great price to keep on iPads kindles or whatever

Am thoroughly hooked on these Stephanie Plum novels. She gets herself into unbelieveable situations and whilst there is some violence it is not salacious and is more in the line of cartoon character stuff and it is really funny. I have driven my husband out of my bed as he says cannot get to sleep with me laughing so much!

It took a while to get used to Stephanie, this is my second book, but now I love her crazy adventures. I’m hooked