Stephanie Plum and her hilarious crew of friends and family continue their adventures in Janet Evanovich’s Sizzling Sixteen. Stephanie is a bounty hunter employed by her slimy cousin Vincent “Vinnie” Plum. When Vinnie is kidnapped and held for ransom, Stephanie with her friends and co-workers Lula and Connie must find a way to bail him out or rescue him. Otherwise they are out of a job! Vinnie has done a good job through the years of not making too many friends and alienating people, which makes the trio on their own in their rescue efforts. Along the way Stephanie also has a few hilarious skips that she tries to track down in order to make some cash.As with all other Stephanie Plum novels, Stephanie still finds herself in the midst of a love triangle. Stephanie and handsome undercover cop Joe Morelli are on the off phase of their on-again off-again relationship. Though they can’t quite remember what they argued about and spend a lot of time flirting throughout the novel. Mysterious man in black Ranger helps Stephanie out on many different occasions. Although the romance was there, Sizzling Sixteen didn’t focus on either relationship as much as it did on the overall plot of rescuing Vinnie.
I loved the trio of Stephanie, Lula, and Connie out and about on missions during this novel. Lula has some of the best lines and always makes me laugh out loud. I love her ever-changing diets and her attitude. I like that Connie is finally getting out of the office with her no-nonsense attitude and legendary stink-bombs. The three ladies together was a fun read. I think they all need to get out together more often.
The romance in this novel was on the down low. Truthfully after sixteen novels, I am starting to think that Stephanie really needs to pick one of the guys and go with it. I would love to see a Ranger or Joe wedding to Stephanie and the hilarity that would ensue. I think it is time for Stephanie to move on in life.
Overall, Sizzling Sixteen is another fun installment in the Stephanie Plum series, but some items, such as the love triangle, are starting to get stale. I read this novel as part of the Stephanie Plum Reading Challenge. I am caught up on the regular series now, but need to finish catching up on the “between the novels” books. I still need to read Plum Lovin' (2007), Plum Lucky (2008), and Plum Spooky (2009).
Book Source: The Kewaunee Public Library
I just read this a couple of days ago. This was an occasional smile read for me, not laugh out loud funny as a lot of the early books in the series were.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you Marge. I should have added that into my review. I still think the first few novels in the serious were hilarous, but it has grown tired now that we are at number 16.
ReplyDeleteI still enjoy the series, but it definately has gotten "stale" as you said in some areas. I enjoyed this one a lot more than some of the others, I think because of the connie/lula/stephanie trio. Plus, sterotypical blowing up of the car, and you are right, they need to get over the love trio, but since they didn't focus on it, it didn't bother me all that much this time. I did laugh out loud in a few parts, especially the hobbits charge in the end. Great review!
ReplyDeleteI think the series got stale a few books ago. For the first time I decided I was done with the series, so this is the first I haven't read.
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