Review: Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich

One of the highlights of the past few summers has been reading a new book in the Stephanie Plum Series by Janet Evanovich. I've read and enjoyed them all including the newest book, Finger Lickin' Fifteen. When I got the email from my library that this book was available I had to go right to the library and pick up my copy. I had to put this book on hold many months in advance as there is always a huge wait list for them. As I posted about the state of Ohio libraries, I am a big supporter of the library along with buying books. I bumped into a friend of mine in the library this week as I was waiting for my son to finish his volunteer work with the summer reading program. I was reading Finger Lickin' Fifteen and my friend knows that I'm an avid reader and asked me to recommend some good books to read this summer that were light and fun. Of course, Stephanie Plum books were at the top of my list to recommend to her and she was so excited to go look through the library shelves for the first one in the series, One for the Money.

I am a huge fan of this series and have read all of the books including this one, Finger Lickin' Fifteen, the 15th in the series. Stephanie Plum is the main character and she lives in Trenton, New Jersey and is single and a "Bond Enforcement Officer" AKA "Bounty Hunter". Lula is an apprentice bounty hunter and former 'ho and the two of them are always getting themselves into "situations" that involve murders, fires, car bombings, being shot at etc. The other main characters are Stephanie's Grandma Mazur who is absolutely hysterical. Two love interests Morelli and Ranger make things spicy and interesting in every book.

In Finger Lickin' Fifteen Lula witnessed a murder and now the killers are after her. She has this great idea to enter this BBQ cook-off to track down the killers but she doesn't know how to cook...can you spell disaster?! Oh...of course, Grandma Mazur is helping Lula destroy...oops, create a BBQ recipe and Stephanie is trying to help her out. There are always similar story lines and hysterical antics in each of these books and they always make you laugh out loud along the way.

For me, these books are fun, escape reading that I always enjoy. I look forward to the quirky cast of characters and situations that they get themselves into. As usual, Stephanie and Lula get themselves into many throughout this book. I enjoyed the ride along with this cast of fun characters as they made me smile and laugh. I don't tire of the experience of reading these books and look forward to next summer when I can escape along with Stephanie and Lula into one of their fun adventures. I encourage you to read this series and oh, how I envy you if you are just starting out reading them. You don't have to wait until next year for the next one in the series...you have fifteen books right at your fingertips.

You can find more information about the Stephanie Plum series including Finger Lickin' Fifteen at the Janet Evanovich website.

You can read an excerpt here.

There's a cool website devoted to this book which includes a map and tour of "The Burg" where fans can see all of the locations highlighted in the books. It was fun to click through and see where everything is, a very nice visual tour of Stephanie's stomping grounds.