Guest Post: Venting about Stephanie Plum

Posted October 15, 2012 by jus_de_fruit in Guest Posts / 0 Comments

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.

Guest Review: No Sex in the City

Posted September 27, 2012 by jus_de_fruit in Chick Lit, Guest Posts / 0 Comments

Title: No Sex in the City (Goodreads)
Author: Randa Abdel-Fattah
Published: Pan Macmillan, 2012
Pages: 400
Genres: Chick Lit
My Copy: ARC from Publisher

Buy: Book Depository (or visit your local Indie bookstore)

I read a bit of chick-lit in my early to late twenties. It was fun to read and didn’t require much brainpower. It was easy to relate to, as a young woman experiencing a similar, yet more toned down, sort of life. My tastes may have changed in recent years. Apart from Stephanie Plum, I’m not sure the last time I read a book that fell into the chick-lit genre. Now I seem to go after historical time travelling romances. I think I lost the ability to relate with those young women trying to find Mr Right and it started to get a bit mundane, although I suppose I could still enjoy it. My husband’s taste in books may have also redirected my attentions.

I heard about No Sex in the City when I heard an interview with Randa Abdel-Fattah on the radio. I was fascinated by her stories of parent arranged dating and was intrigued. It’s something completely different to my own life experience. I did once ask my dad who he would pick if arranged marriages were a thing of our culture, and after hearing his choice, I was pretty glad that wasn’t a thing.

Randa Abdel-Fattah is an Australian born Muslim of Palestinian and Egyptian heritage who seems to have achieved quite a bit in her life working as a human rights advocate and has an interest in interfaith dialogue. These interests come through in this book, as the characters are a mix of faiths. The main character Esma is a Muslim and her best friends who form the No Sex in the City club are a Greek Orthodox, a Jew and a Hindu. An interesting combination.

Esma is trying to find the right man to settle down with, but at 28 her family are feeling a bit desperate, but Esma knows what she wants and doesn’t feel the need to settle for anything less. Pressure from work colleagues tell her that perhaps she should just give up, play the field a bit and see what she likes but she’s pretty set on sharing her first kiss with her husband on their wedding day.

As a young Christian woman who was reading chick-lit back in the day, there was quite a bit of falling into bed with strangers that may or may not be Mr Right. I suppose it is a reflection of the society that we live in, and quite a few young women are able to relate, but I found this book so refreshing for not being afraid to illustrate the life of a young woman living a life of chastity. The book isn’t completely prudish, as other characters choose different paths, but this is who Esma is, and she isn’t going to apologise for that. Even though the main character is a Muslim, I’d probably recommend this to Christian women as well, as they probably get disillusioned by the way certain media portrays sex.

The book is quite easy to read and completes the check list usually found in all the others of this genre. There are problems at work and within her family that she needs to overcome, and there is a bit of a love triangle that is developed. We also get to follow the stories of her three friends as they also have their own experience of dating.

It doesn’t finish with a typical happily ever after for all the characters but you can’t help but feel that it’s all for the best. I really enjoyed journeying with this group of young women who all seemed to know what they wanted out of life and never felt the need to settle for less. I’d probably even read more if this book was turned into a series, as I found the characters to be very likeable.

Tag: Stephanie Plum