Janet Evanovich - One For the Money

MY THOUGHTS: I don't typically read the books that the mainstream public reads. For instance, I refuse to read anything Harry Potter, don't look at best selling lists, and try to stay away from most book series. But on the advice of my future mother and sister in law, I've decided to start reading the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. Since I like to read crime novels (I was a criminal justice major in college) and I like to laugh (who doesn't), I thought I would heed their advice and give the series a try.

I was a little worried about liking this book after the first chapter. There was a bit of sexual inuendo that I was uncomfortable with due to the age of the characters in the story. But once I got past it and got to know the characters better (especially Grandma Mazur), I started to get into it. It was the kind of story that I couldn't put down and I actually finished reading the book shortly after I started.

I'm quite looking forward to reading the second book in the series, as soon as my Barnes and Noble order gets shipped. I'm hopeful that the continuation of the series doesn't disappoint, but with the reviews I've read from others, I'm sure it's going to follow in the same fashion of the first book.

EXCERPT: (page 4)

"I suppose this tells something about my personality. That I'm not especially good at taking advice. Or that I was born with an overload of curiousity. Or maybe it's about rebellion or boredom of fate. At any rate, it was a one-shot deal and darn disappointing, since I'd only gotten to be the tunnel, and I'd really wanted to be the train."

RATINGS:
 - Storyline: 8/10 Markdowns taken for the first two chapters (mostly just because I was made so uncomfortable)
 - Coherence: 9/10 Character integration into the story was nearly perfect. Some books often mention characters once and then you never hear from them again. Janet Evanovich seems to have done a pretty good job here with keeping the characters active throughout the story and the diversity shown between characters was very good.
 - Syntactic Structure: 10/10 Some books I read have such bad grammar that it is hard to get past it. No problems here, however.
 - Character Development: 7/10 I wished at times that some of the characters had a little more story, especially Grandma Mazur. She was so quirky and really, hilarious!

 - Overall Score: 34/40