Hard Eight
Originally seen on my book blog!The characters. The characters. The characters. DEVELOPMENT. CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. Okay, I started this series with book 5, then skipped to 17 and 19 and then went back to the start. When I went back to book number one, I noticed that some characters were so different and some were still their witty hilarious self. Now that I’ve read the last 8 in a row, I can say that I’ve seen these characters come together, grow apart, change, grow, and some always seem to stay the same. Evanovich is a master at writing about a bounty hunter for 20+ books with all the same characters and still making every book different enough to not get boring. I read these books for the mystery, humor, and for the characters.
I love the romance in these books too and I love her relationship with both Ranger and Morelli. If you know anything about me, you know I hate love triangles, so why would I like this one? Well probably because these people are not teenagers and Stephanie isn’t shown as “needing” either guy. I also hate the “”perfect”" guy so why would I like either of these guys? Because they aren’t perfect even if they seem perfect. Ranger is dark and mysterious (and sexy) but he also has trust issues and doesn’t open up to people. Morelli is in love with Stephanie but wants her to quit her job. Both men have flaws but both care about Stephanie enough to let her do what she wants. Every book I end up wanting her to end up with one of the guys and then the next book I end up switching guys. This book was definitely a Ranger book. Their relationship grew a lot more in this book.
As I’ve said, there are some characters that stay the same. Lula and Grandma Mazur are those characters. Lula is still witty and hilarious. I really do think she’s my spirit animal. “I’m late for work on account of I go to night school now.” ”You go once a week.” “Yeah but I gotta study. It’s not like this shit comes easy. It’s not like my former occupation as a ho helps me out, you know. I don’t think my final exam’s gonna be about handjobs.” 20 page in and I’m already cracking up. Claps for you, Lula.
Then there’s Grandma who is described as “mid-seventies but doesn’t look a day over ninety.” She’s awkward and a little sexual but it’s hilarious and I’d love to be related to her.
This book was a tad bit different in the way that she wasn’t just picking up (and losing) FTA’s. [failure to appear] Stephanie was at her parents house when their neighbor stopped by and said she needed to talk to Stephanie about something. The neighbor told Stephanie that her daughter ran away and she wanted Stephanie to try to find her. Stephanie isn’t a private investigator but she took her on anyway. I thought Stephanie was a bad bounty hunter, but she’d be an even worse PI and that’s what made this book hilarious. Not only was she trying to find the woman, a few other people were as well. Stephanie had tough competition and it was awesome and sometimes scary watching her try to beat all of them.
100 pages in to the book, she lost a few different pairs of handcuffs, a stolen car, and had a few threats. How does she get into these situations? I kept track of how many times these things happened and it seems to get higher every book.
Things I took out of this book: I would love to job shadow her for a day and maybe life shadow her as well. Lula truly is my inspiration. Definitely Team Ranger.
