Review: Plus Spooky by Janet Evanovich (audio)

Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich
Series: Stephanie Plum #14.5, Between the Number #4
Read by Lorelei King
Macmillan Audio
2009
Length: 6.5 hours
Source: Library

Turn on all the lights and check under your bed. Things are about to get spooky in Trenton, New Jersey.

Wulf Grimoire is a world wanderer and an opportunist who can kill without remorse and disappear like smoke. He's chosen Martin Munch, boy genius, as his new business partner, and he's chosen the Barrens as his new playground.

Munch received his doctorate degree when he was twenty-two. He's now twenty-four, and while his brain is large, his body is not. Anyone who says good things come in small packages hasn't met Munch.

Bounty Hunter Stephanie Plum has Munch on her most-wanted list. Usually, she gets her man. This time she gets a monkey. She also gets a big guy named Diesel.

Diesel pops in and out of Plum's life like birthday cake - delicious to look at and taste, not necessarily healthy as a steady diet. He's an uber bounty hunter with special skills when it comes to tracking men and pleasing women. He's after Grimoire, and now he's also after Munch. And if truth were told, he wouldn't mind setting Stephanie Plum in his crosshairs. 

Diesel and Plum hunt down Munch and Grimoire, following them into the Barrens, surviving cranberry bogs, the Jersey Devil, a hair-raising experience, sand in their underwear, and, of course...monkeys.

My thoughts: I love this series but I have to say I didn't particularly love this particular story. Maybe it's because of the whole supernatural thing or the monkey storyline, but I just had a really hard time finishing it. I did, though, and am kind of glad that this is the last of the "Between the Numbers" books.

Once again, Diesel appears in Stephanie apartment and needs her help. It just so happens she's going after someone that Diesel needs...this time Martin Munch, the little boy genius. On top of that, Stephanie is asked to take care of Carl the monkey, who happens to love playing video games. It's just too much!

Unfortunately with these "Between the Numbers" books, Joe and Ranger end up taking a back seat. While they were both in this book, the usual chemistry between this on-going love triangle is never as high as in the regular books. 

We did get some more of Lula/Tank storyline, which I enjoyed. I'm not sure that wedding is ever going to take place, but it sure is fun seeing all the preparations happening on Lula's end.

I'm looking forward to getting back to the regular Stephanie Plum books - only 5 more to go!!!

Audio Thoughts: Lorelei King is a big part of what got me through this book. I've come to really enjoy her narrating this series, which wasn't always the case. If you remember, I was a big fan of CJ Critt narrating the earlier books in the series and was a little apprehensive about the narrator switch.

Have you ever encountered a series that you were listening to where the narrator switches mid-series? Did you continue or switch to print books?


Books in this series:

     1.  One for the Money                         12.  Twelve Sharp
     2.  Two for the Dough                         12.5  Plum Lovin'
     3.  Three to Get Deadly                      13.  Lean Mean Thirteen
     4.  Four to Score                                   13.5  Plum Lucky
     5.  High Five                                           14.  Fearless Fourteen
     6.  Hot Six                                                14.5  Plum Spooky
     7.  Seven Up                                           15.  Finger Lickin' Fifteen
     8.  Hard Eight                                         16.  Sizzling Sixteen

     8.5  Visions of Sugar Plums              17.  Smokin' Seventeen

     9.  To the Nines                                      18.  Explosive Eighteen

    10.  Ten Big Ones                                    19.  Notorious Nineteen

    11.  Eleven on Top

Audiobook Week 2013: How Do You Choose Your Audiobooks?

 

June is Audiobook Month and Jen at Devourer of Books is hosting a special week dedicated to audiobooks this week.

Today's discussion topic is about how we choose our audiobooks:  

How do you decide what you'll listen to? Do you mostly listen, or split time between listening and reading? Particularly if you split time, how do you decide what you'll consume in audio and what in print?

I split my time between reading print books and listening to audio books. It's definitely not a 50-50 split, more like 65% print - 35% audio.  I always have at least 3 books going - one in print/e-format and two in audio - one in the car and one on the iPod. Depending on what I'm doing in the course of a day, I'm able to get some "reading" in - whether that be from a book or one of the audios. 

As far as what I choose to listen to versus read...I don't necessarily have a clear cut answer. I think it all depends, especially since I primarily get my audios from the library - both in cd format for the car and via Overdrive for the iPod. 

Last year around this time, I made a decision to listen to a series of books that I've been wanting to catch up on - the Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evanovich. These are just great on audio - they are hysterical and the two narrators that I've heard narrate this series are really good. (If you were around last year, you might remember me being very apprehensive about the switch from CJ Critt, who narrates some of the early books to Lorelei King who does the rest of the series - well no need for that apprehension as I've come to really enjoy LK.) So, since then, I've made my way through 17 of the books (including the Between the Numbers books) and I have to say I'm loving this decision to go audio. I think the humor comes across better in audio than it would in print and they are very easy books to listen to - there's not much heavy thinking needed!

My other reasons for choosing audio over print aren't as straight-forward. Sometimes it depends on my mood when I'm at the library looking for a new audio to get; sometimes I'm looking for a particular audio that other bloggers have raved about. I will say that right now, I'm more likely to get to a book faster in audio than print due to the backlog of print books I have - both from my personal collection and from review requests. 

When picking a book for my iPod, I tend to be a little more selective only because those books end up taking me longer to finish - I usually only use the iPod at the gym or while walking outdoors and go in spurts with how many walks I take/how long I walk for. It's not uncommon for it to take a month or sometimes longer for me to finish an audio on the iPod, so I need a book that will hold my attention, but also be something I can easily jump back into after a break. I'm hoping this will change now that I've got my 'Fitbit' friends - I don't want to be at the bottom of that leaderboard!!!

I don't have a specific genre that I listen to - anything that catches my fancy will do. I've listened to historical fiction, women's fiction, chick lit, psychological thrillers - they all work and can make for good audios. Good narrators help, but I haven't really gotten to the point where I select a book because of the narrator.

What about you? How do you decide what to listen to and what you are going to read?

June Monthly Giveaway

In honor of Audiobook Month, the giveaways this month are all audios. I received these either from a publisher or won in a giveaway. They've all been gently used. 

Spring Fever

By: Mary Kaye Andrews
Format: Audiobook
My review

 

A Hundred Flowers

By: Gail Tsukiyama
Format: Audiobook
My review

Fly Away

By: Kristin Hannah

Format: Audiobook

(Almost done listening to this one - then review will go up!)

 

 

How to enter: 

This contest is open to entries from the U.S. only.

The deadline for entry is midnight, June 30th. I will draw the winners on July 1st and post the winners' names as soon as I have heard from all of them.

GOOD LUCK!!! 

Audiobook Week 2013: Your Audiobook Year

 

 

June is Audiobook Month and Jen at Devourer of Books is hosting a special week dedicated to audiobooks this week. This is my third year participating and I can't wait to see what's in store all week!

The first discussion topic for this week is "2012-2013, Your Audiobook Year." And the description for this discussion topic is: 

Are you new to audiobooks in the last year? Have you been listening to them forever but discovered something new this year? Favorite titles? New times/places to listen? This is your chance to introduce yourself and your general listening experience.

I've been listening to audiobooks for about 2 and a half years now and I always have at least 1 going, if not 2 or even 3. I always have one in the car and then I try to have one on my iPod. 

Since last year's Audiobook Week, I've listened to 33 audiobooks, 18 of which I've listened to this year alone. For the third year, I am participating in the Audiobook Challenge over at Teresa's Reading Corner and I also started participating in Sound Bytes, a weekly meme that Jen at Devourer of Books does on Fridays. It's basically a place to link up audio reviews from the week. I can never remember to link my reviews to the challenges, so at least I get some audio books linked for Sound Bytes.

Some of my favorite audiobooks from the past year are:

Still Missing 
Author: Chevy Stevens
Narrator: Angela Dawe







 

The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo 
Author: Stieg Larsson 
Narrator: Simon Vance

 

A Hundred Flowers 
Author: Gail Tsukiyama
Narrator: Simon Vance

Winter Garden 
Author: Kristin Hannah
Narrator: Susan Ericksen
 

Innocent Traitor (review will be up later this week)
Author: Alison Weir 
Narrators: Stina Nielson, Davina Porter, Bianca Amato, Jenny Sterlin, Jill Tanner, Gerard Doyle and Robert Ian Mackenzie








What about you? How was your audiobook year?

It's Monday...What Are You Reading? (6.17.13)

It’s Monday What Are you Reading , hosted by Sheila, is the perfect way for me to begin my week and allows me to focus on what needs to be read and to see what I have or have not accomplished the previous week. I also enjoy discovering new books by visiting other participants blogs.

On Saturday, I met my mom in New York City and we did a walking tour through Greenwich Village and the best part was that it was a book tour! Adriana Trigiani, one of my favorite authors, has a tour company called Adriana Trigiani Tours, and they provide walking book tours in the city that take you through parts of the city through her characters' eyes. I've read just about all her books and my mom has read a few, but even if you hadn't read any of her books, the tour was still really interesting. The tours are kept small, which is nice -there were only four of us on the tour and our tour guide, Nikki, was fantastic!!! I will definitely be doing some of her other walking tours. And will be looking to see if there are any other authors or companies that provide book tours. Do you know of any?



Books Completed last week: 

• The 9th Girl by Tami Hoag (review e-book)

Reading Now:  

• Button Holed by Kylie Logan (mine)
• Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight (mine, book club read-along)
• Fly Away by Kristin Hannah (mine, audio book) - car
• Come Home by Lisa Scottoline (library audio book) - ipod

Next:    

• The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley (e-book)
• The Lavendar Garden by Lucinda Riley (review book)

 Reviews Completed last week:

• Taking Eve by Iris Johansen
• If You Were Mine by Bella Andre

 Other posts related to books:

• Stacking the Shelves: 6.16.13

Books for which I need to finish reviews: 

• The Surfing Lesson by Elin Hilderbrand 
• Body Double by Tess Gerritsen
• Time Flies by Claire Cook 
• Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir
• Looking for Me by Beth Hoffman 
• The 9th Girl by Tami Hoag

Contest information:   

• The Look of Love by Bella Andre...1 copy. Ends 6/18/13
• Big Sky Summer by Linda Lael Miller...1 copy. Ends 6/19/13

What about you?  What does your reading week look like this week?  Whatever it is, happy reading and have a good week!

Stacking the Shelves (48) 6.16.13

Tynga of Tynga's Reviews is starting a new meme to spotlight the books we receive each week.  
    

Here's what I got:

 

Purchased:

All the Summer Girls
by Meg Donohue

This has been all over the blog0sphere and when I saw it at the store, I couldn't resist picking it up.
 

The Wishing Tree (e-book)
by Marybeth Whalen

This is another book that's been around the blogosphere and was on sale this week!
 



 

From a family member:

***Last week I mentioned I got some books from my dad...this week, my mom, also an avid reader, had a book for me.

 

A Week in Winter

by Maeve Binchy

 

I haven't read a Maeve Binchy book in a while and am looking forward to reading this one.








What did you get this week?

Review: If You Were Mine by Bella Andre

If You Were Mine by Bella Andre
Series: The Sullivans #5
Oak Press
May 2012
Format: e-book, 194 pages
Source: Novel Publicity

Can two people who have both sworn off love find forever in each other's arms?

The last thing Zach Sullivan wants is to take care of his brother's new puppy for two weeks. Until he meets the dog trainer, that is. Heather is bright, beautiful, and he can't stop thinking about her. Unfortunately, she just might be the only woman on earth who wants nothing to do with him.

Heather Linsey can't believe she's stuck working with one of the city’s top dogs, auto-shop tycoon Zach Sullivan. Especially when his focus is clear from the start—not only to learn how to deal with his temporary puppy...but also to make Heather his. Having sworn off love at seventeen when she realized it was nothing more than a pack of lies, she has stuck to her vow never to fall for a charming man.

But as Heather's determination to push Zach away only fuels his determination to get closer—and the sensual and emotional connection between them grows more and more undeniable—will the biggest Sullivan bad boy of all tempt her into believing in love again?

My thoughts: This is the 5th in Bella Andre's Sullivan series and I keep falling more in love with this family! I love how while each book focuses primarily on one of the Sullivan siblings, the others that we've already met and fallen in love with show up.

This 5th installment is Zach Sullivan's story. I have to admit that I've loved this one the most, probably because of the dog plot line - having a dog, I could totally relate to how it is when you get a new puppy and I could appreciate the training tips that Heather, Zach's love interest in the book, gives. Heather and Zach meet when Zach reluctantly agrees to take his brother Gabe's dog while he, his new wife and her daughter are on vacation. From the start Heather takes an instant disliking to Zach, but Zach is instantly intrigued and can't stop thinking about her. 

I enjoyed watching Zach and Heather fall in love. It definitely wasn't an easy road, but you could see how they came to lean on each other when one needed a boost. Heather did not have a good role model in her parents when it came to love and so has many reservations about falling in love herself. Zach is used to getting what he wants when he wants, so he definitely has to change tactics if he hopes to win Heather's affections.

I love how Bella Andre usually uses the last chapter to set up who's story is next...this time we get a glimpse into what's going on with Ryan Sullivan...I can't wait to read his story in Let Me Be the One.

Maybe it's because I come from a big family (I'm the oldest of seven) or because I am just a sucker for a good love story, but I absolutely love this series. Do you have a series that you love - whether for the story or because you can relate in some way?

 

Books in this series:

1. The Look of Love                         6.  Let Me Be the One
2. From This Moment On              7.  Come a Little Bit Closer
3. Can't Help Falling in Love        8.  Always On My Mind
4. I Only Have Eyes for You        9.  The Way You Look Tonight
5. If You Were Mine