Smokin' Seventeen Fizzles

Having just finished Janet Evanovich's Smokin' Seventeen I have to say that I was disappointed.  Yes, it's better than the last book in the Stephanie Plum series, but they've just gone downhill for the past seven or eight books.  I hate to say that because I loved the first few, but after a while you just have to make a decision.  The love triangle is getting old, the skips all sound the same, the characters don't evolve.  It's monotonous!

This book finds Stephanie, yet again, attempting to catch skips with her sidekick Lula, going back and forth between cop Morelli and security system designer Ranger, and being hunted down by a couple of people who want her dead.  It's entertaining at times (mainly when Lula is involved) and has some good scenes sprinkled throughout, but overall it's rather hum-drum.  The book does end on a nice cliffhanger that leaves the reader wondering who she is going to take with her on vacation and hints at a final decision made between Morelli and Ranger.  My fingers are crossed that it's Morelli, but that's just because I picture him looking like Christopher Meloni (Elliot from Law&Order: SVU).

One positive to the series...they're making a movie from the first book, One for the Money, starring Katherine Heigl and a couple others.  I'm not convinced of the casting as of yet...