Review for Two for the Dough

Two for the Dough

Author: Janet Evanovich

Audio Book: 9 hours

Source: Library

Summery from GoodReads...

Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is still learning the ropes at her cousin Vinnie's bail bond office, so when she sets out on the trail of Kenny Mancuso - a suspiciously wealthy, working class Trenton boy who has just shot his best friend - the stakes are higher than ever. That Mancuso is distantly related to vice cop Joe Morelli - who is trying to beat Stephani to the punch - only makes the hunt more thrilling...

Taking pointers from her bounty hunter pal, Ranger, and using her pistol packing Grandma Mazur as a decoy, Stephanie is soon closing in on her mark. But Morelli and his libido are worthy foes. And a more sinister kind of enemy has made his first move... and his next move might be Stephanie's last.

The Good

So, this is the second installment in the Stephanie Plum series and I’m in love. The movie for the first book (One for the Money) just came out and I can’t wait to see it! The characters are just so real and they’ve got amazing chemistry. Morelli makes me smile like nothing else, Ranger is cool, and Stephanie is the smart-ass heroine who has the worst/best luck ever. This is the first time I’ve listened to an audio book (not counting Boxcar Children) so it definitely had an influence how I took in the book (messing with the character voices and my brain wanders and I miss stuff). While I think I would have enjoyed it more reading it I still was laughing out loud at many parts; especially when Stephanie “runs” into Morelli. The Grandma was in this book a lot more too which is pretty cool; she adds a lot of humor. The villain was kreepy and I really wanted Stephanie to zap him.

One thing I noticed about Evanovich is that she’s very detailed and gives a lot of description. It’s not just a car, it’s a “Big Blue” 1953 Buick. She loves her cars and is always describing people’s clothes. For most authors this may not work but Evanovich seems to be able to pull it off very well. She has listings of the food she has in her fridge, the many different outfits her grandma wears, ect. It may not add to the story that much but it’s a style. It almost reminds me of Dickens.

Like I said earlier, my brain tends to wander a bit so I sometimes lost sight of the plot in the beginning, but I liked the gradual led into learning who the fugitive was and the real story behind his crime. Many times I had to reassess my opinion of the villain and what I though was going on and of course the “who-done-it”.

The Bad

While I know Ranger is only a side character I though he was put in and taken out pretty quick. I thought he would have been more involved in with the case because he started out helping Stephanie with it and then just seemed to disappear.

The Krazyness

“What's this outfit? You can't afford clothes? Are you wearing other peoples?"

“My father was in the kitchen putting a new washer in the kitchen faucet. He looked relieved to see Morelli standing in the hallway. He'd probably prefer I bring home someone useful, like a butcher or a car mechanic, but I guess cops are a step up from undertakers.”

“I ran three miles, staggered into the lobby, and took the elevator back to my apartment. No point to overdoing this exercise junk.”

Moral of the Story

Don’t mix business and pleasure. You may end up in an awkward situation ;-)

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