Top Ten Reasons Why I Love the Stephanie Plum Series

10. It's full of female can-do. While, Stephanie is not always doing the way a professional does, she gets it done and sometimes has better results. I know Morelli likes to think she is lucky, we women know better. She is able to do what she does because she thinks like a woman. You know, Spaghetti instead of Waffles.

9. Evanovich doesn't pull any punches. yes, it's funny when Stephanie leaves her gun in the cookie jar... not so much when she gets a cigarette burn by a overall wearing psycho.

8. It's funny... chases away night time anxieties.

7. Ranger... Morelli.... hot daydreams...

6. Always a great mystery to solve. While the character list may be long and the plot not always totally believable, the mystery always gets you thinking.

5. Lula. She has got moxie in spades and can give lessons. Actually if you pay attention, she does give lessons. My favorite: How not to plan your wedding.

4. It's all about family. It may seem dysfunctional from time to time, but Stephanie's family has got her back, not to mention that her mom feeds her some great food!

3. Dead cars = girls don't care. She makes me feel good about all of the tiny little things I do to my car, because well, it's just a car.

 2. Foreplay is greater than or equal to the sex. Again, a girl thing. But we get it when Stephanie says a look from Ranger went straight to her dodah. The sex scenes are great too, but I like my Plums peppered with the hint of foreplay.

1. I grew up in Jersey. I understand.


Later! Denise

Tricky Twenty-Two Who Is Stephanie With, Ranger or Morelli?

It is the question on every Stephanie Plum fan: Who does she end up with, Ranger or Morelli?  While it has looked like it would Joe Morelli for a very long time, I think Ranger has been picking up the pace. You have to admit, his character is the one that has had the most change in the books since One for the Money. I really think Joseph has some catching up to do. So here are a few reasons why it could be either one, share your thoughts in the comments area.

Mooner - Stephanie Plum Series

 I decided some time ago that Mooner fell into the pet category. He was like a stray cat that showed up on your doorstep and stayed for a few days and then wandered off. He was amusing in small doses, fairly harmless, and for the most part, housebroken.~ Fearless Fourteen

Joyce Barnhardt - Stephanie Plum Series

Stephanie's nemesis since they were children. Joyce has always tried to mess things up for Stephanie, even going so far as sleeping with Stephanie's ex-husband. Hence, the reason she divorced him. We see Joyce trying to get her claws into Morelli from time to time, but she never gets anywhere near Ranger in that respect.

Joyce talks Vinnie into giving her a job as a bounty hunter, where for all her ability to push Stephanie's buttons, she is never able to outshine Ms. Plum for too long.

Connie Rosolli - Stephanie Plum Series

As Vinnie's office manager, Connie gives Stephanie her skips to find. She moves the plot along and is often a wealth of information.

Character  Descriptions

From  Two for the Dough
"Connie looked up from her desk that sat like a guardhouse blocking the way to Vinnie's inner office. Her hair had been teased out a good 6-inches, framing her face in a rat's nest of black curls. She was a couple of years older than me, three inches shorter, thirty pounds heavier, and, like me , she'd gone back to her maiden name after a discouraging divorce. In her case, the name as Rosolli, a name given wide berth in the burg since her Uncle Jimmy had been made."

"Vinnie writes the bonds. Connie shuffles paperwork. My sidekick, Lula, files when the mood strikes her." ~ Eleven on Top

"Connie Rosolli is Vinnie's office manager and junk-yard dog. She's a little older than I am. A little smarter. A little tougher. A little more Italian. She's got a lot more chest, and she dresses like Betty Boop." ~ Twelve Sharp

Connie is Vinnie's first line of defense against the stream of pissed-off bondees, bookies, hookers, various bill collectors, and stiffed smut peddlers hoping to reach Vinnie's inner sanctum. Connie was a couple of years older than me, a couple of pounds heavier, a couple of inches shorter, a couple of cups bigger, and her hair was a couple of inches higher than mine. Connie was pretty in a kick-ass, central Jersey, third generation Italian kind of way. ~ Lean Mean Thirteen

 Notable Quotes

Stephaine: "There was a bunch of garbage bags at the curb and Melon-head rolled me into them. We made sort of a mess. And then wehn I finally got him in cuffs, he spit on me!"

"Sounds like a normal day." Connie said. "Hard to believe you're quitting because of Melon-head."

FanFiction

The Ten Trials of  Connie Rosolli
 Connie has to make a deal with Ranger to get out of trouble for what she did in Green Eggs and Busted. Connie story but Babe as well. Rated M for violence and language.

Lula - Stephanie Plum Series

Lula was introduced in the first novel, One for the Money, as a minor character. She becomes more of a major character in Two for the Dough and from there forward. She is a plus size black woman who works as a prostitute with a regular corner on Stark Street. She quits her job as a ho an takes a job at Vincent Plums Bail Bonds as a filing clerk where she becomes more of a sidekick for Stephanie then office personnel.

Character Descriptions 

 "Vinnie writes the bonds. Connie shuffles paperwork. My sidekick, Lula, files when the mood strikes her." ~ Eleven on Top

It wasn't exactly that Lula was fat. It was more that she was too short for her weight. ~ Explosive Eighteen

Notable Quotes

 “Maybe your pregnant. Oops, hold on, you're not pregnant, on account of you're not gettin' any.” ~ Sizzlin' Sixteen

 "I need mood music. I gotta get myself ready to kick butt." ~ High Five
  
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"Hold on," Lula said, pulling a red flowered scarf from her coat pocket, tying the scarf on Harp's foot like a flag. "Don't want to get a ticket. I hear the police are real picky about having things sticking out of your trunk."

(stepanie): Especially dead guys. ~ Three to Get Deadly

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“You read those adult magazines and they’re always talking about sex fantasies, but I say chip fantasies are where it’s at."

"I wouldn’t mind combining them," Grandma said. "Suppose you had some good-looking naked man feeding you the chips."

"No way," Lula said. "I don’t want to be distracted by no man when I’m eating chips. I’d rather have dip. Just get out of my way when I see the chips and dips."

"It’s good you have priorities," Grandma said. ~ Ten Big Ones

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Character Description 

from Eleven on Top:
   ' a size-sixteen black woman squashed into a size-ten leopard print spandex. And the weird thing is, in her own way, Lula looks pretty good in the animal spandex.'

Ranger - Stephanie Plum Series

Hottie Ranger, one of Stephanie's love interests, her sometimes boss and her all the time mentor.

Notable Quotes by Ranger

Ranger to Stephanie:

 “If I gave you a pity position it wouldn't be in my office.” ~ Eleven on Top

 “Babe, you've destroyed a car, burned down two buildings, stapled a guy's nuts, and you have sixteen stitches in your leg. Take a night off. Have a glass of wine, watch some television, and go to bed early." ~ Lean Mean Thirteen

“Why do you give me cars?"
"It's fun," Ranger said."And it keeps you safe. Do you want to know why keeping you safe is important to me?"
"You love me?"
"Yes."
A sigh inadvertently escaped. "We're really screwed up, aren't we?"
"In a very large way," Ranger said. ~ Sizzlin' Sixteen

 “It was M-m-moe and Shorty,” I said. “Damn, I can’t stop shaking.”
“Adrenaline burn-off,” Ranger said. “It’s normal.”
“Why aren’t you sh-sh-shaking?”
“I’m not normal.”

Character Description 

from Eleven on Top:
'an incredibly sexy, incredibly handsome badass'

 'Ranger is the mystery man. He's half a head taller than me, moves like a cat, kicks ass all day long, only wears black, smells warm and sexy, and is 100% pure perfectly toned muscle. He gets his dark complexion and liquid brown eyes from Cuban ancestors. He was Special Forces and about all anyone knows about Ranger.'

from Two for the Dough

 I knew Ranger was beside me because I could see his earring gleaming in the moonlight. Everything about him - his T-shirt, his flack vest, his slick-back hair, and 9-mm Glock - was as black as night. Even his skin tone seemed to darken in shade. Ricardo Carlos Manoso, The Cuban-American chameleon. 

Ranger only wore two colors: army green and bad-ass black. Tonight he was bad-ass black, the monotony broken only by double-stud earrings.