Outside of the fantasy genre, I’m not sure if there are many series of books that have last as long as Stephanie Plum by Janet Evanovich. Currently at 18 books, I assume there is more to come.

I found this series after high school sometime. I don’t remember how I first got into it, but I started at Hot Six.  I loved Stephanie and quickly sought out the beginning of the series, and bought the rest as they became available.

Stephanie Plum was fun and witty. She was trying to find her place in the world amidst her troubles with work, her well-meaning family and trying to decide which man was right for her. She felt like someone I could relate to, because she wasn’t that different to me, except that her car was blown up and her life was a bit more interesting because of that.

The series started in 1995 with One for the Money, so the series has now spanned 17 years. Perhaps Stephanie is in some sort of time warp where she doesn’t age. Perhaps it’s like the Simpsons; when that show first started I was the same age as Bart, and as I’ve grown up, he hasn’t. Maybe that’s what happened with Stephanie. Perhaps she’s still in her early 20s. I’m not sure. I don’t know if there have been any mention of birthdays.

I just finished Smokin’ Seventeen. I no longer feel the need to race out as soon as the book is released and devour it the day I buy it. This one has been sitting in my house for over a year and I just never got around to it. Explosive Eighteen has also been out for a while, but I’m not sure if I’ll ever read it.

Since I started reading the series, I have suffered through a few disappointing jobs before finding my dream job; had my fair share of relationship drama before getting married; had a continually changing relationship with my parents as they begin to respect me more as an adult and not just as their child.  I don’t think my life is any less boring because of that, and I don’t think it would hurt to see something like that happen in this series.

Stephanie is still in the same place. Still in the same love triangle, still in the same job despite all her complaints, still causing her parents stress as she continually has her life threatened.  Maybe she doesn’t like being a bounty hunter, but surely at some point, she could get some firearm training so she isn’t so afraid to take her gun out of the cookie jar.  As interesting a choice Morelli and Ranger make, surely at some point her friends have to let her know to stop playing them. If it takes this long for you to choose who you want, perhaps neither of them are for you.

I defended the series for too long. So many people said that it had become boring, but I stuck at it for a while. Now it feels like I’m saying goodbye to an old friend whose life is just taking a different path to me.  She’s stuck in a place that I’ve long moved on from. It used to be charming, but now it’s tiresome.

I would love to see some growth from Stephanie Plum, and if Janet Evanovich was to write it, I’d probably be drawn back into the series, but for now, I think I’m done.

This is a guest post by Mary; not only is she my wonderful wife, she is also my editor and helps moderate the Literary Exploration group on Goodreads. Big thanks to her for this post and everything she does to help me with this blog.