Amazon discontinued the ability to create images using their SiteStripe feature and in their infinite wisdom broke all previously created images on 12/31/23. Many blogs used this feature, including this one. Expect my archives to be a hot mess of broken book cover images until I can slowly comb through 20 years of archives to make corrections.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Making The Rounds

My latest column is up over at Romancing The Blog. Read it, live it, love it!

I added an Amazon widget to the sidebar. No particular reason, just because it amused me.

I'm still continuing to post updates over on my Upcoming Historical Romances wiki. New covers! New titles! Go forth and look at the pretty!

In Wendy Is Trying To Jump Start Her Mojo News, I plowed through Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich on audio book yesterday. First, some back story - I've never "read" Evanovich. She's one of my Audio Only authors. This is why I suspect I'm still happily chugging along with this series. Listening, in my opinion, isn't quite as "taxing" as reading. That being said, even listening to this fluffy bit of brain candy was a bit tiresome.

Basically I listen to Evanovich for two reasons: 1) There's usually at least one laugh out loud moment and 2) Ranger says something that makes me have to change my panties. Fearless Fourteen? Nothing funny. No particularly choice Ranger moments. In fact, the author bypasses genuinely funny for a series of inane zany antics that strained credulity (Stephanie getting attacked by blue dye, everything Grandma Mazur does, everything Lula does (seriously, Lula drives me batshit crazy), a stalker who has psychic revelations about flying pizzas etc. etc. etc.) Granted, nobody reads Evanovich looking for realism - but this was just "wackier" than usual in my opinion.

I don't "do" wacky.

So for those of you who resisted the siren call of buying this in hard cover? Yeah, good for you. Because I can so not see paying $27.95 retail for this. Heck, I'd have a hard time forking over $7.99 for the paperback. Go to the library. The waiting lists should be starting to wind down now. Trust me, you can wait for it. Final word on the matter? Blah. Final Grade = C-

6 comments:

Lori said...

You're stronger than I am. I had to gave up on this series after #10. I couldn't finish 11 and couldn't even bring myself to start 12. Now when I see the new books I just try to pretend that they're from some other series & have nothing to do with the books I once enjoyed.

Amy said...

I was in Widget hell this morning, trying to get a Christmas countdown thingy on my sidebar. I finally got one, but it's only in days, not hours, minutes, seconds.

My brain seriously hurts after that, or maybe that's after entering Angela James' Kindle contests. OMG.

Alie said...

$27 is bad, but try $35 Canadian! I never really got into this series, the whole plot didn't sound interesting to me at all.

Mayberry Mom said...

These are audio only for me too. I remember early in the series laughing so hard I wondered if passing motorists thought I had lost my mind. Not happening lately. They are getting old. I understand that she has said (or implied) they will stay the same and Stephanie won't "grow" and obviously never pick a guy, but wow, that gets old fast.

IMHO, she doesn't deserve EITHER one of the guys.

I stick with audio because I don't feel as pissed off if it's a bust. I'm stuck in the car anyway, so I haven't wasted my time LOL

Wendy said...

DCista: I think if I "read" this series I would have given up long ago. Probably around book 7 - which I remember not liking at all (don't ask me why now - because dang if my faulty memory can remember!).

Amy: My widget wasn't too difficult - although it did require the dreaded copying and pasting of HTML code LOL

Alie: No way in hell would I pay $35 for it. Like I said, I'd be hard pressed to recommend it to folks as a $7.99 paperback. Library all the way on this one.

Mayberry Mom: I will say that Stephanie isn't quite as inept in this installment. She actually uses reasoning and logic to uncover the bad guy. She's still keeping her gun in the cookie jar though - and still is incapable of choosing a guy - but I liked the fact that she used her brains a bit more in this one.

And nobody has asked, so I'll just toss out there that I thought Joe was particularly strong in this book. Ranger - eh, not so much. I could have used more naughty innuendos from him....but that's how I roll.

Sherry Thomas said...

I first got hooked onto the series listening to Book 4. Have been a Ranger slut ever since.

Haven't done 14 though. When 13 came out I reread a previous one, laughed, and got my itch scratched.