Book Review: One for the Money

Title - One for the Money

Author - Janet Evanovich

Series - Stephanie Plum #1

Genre - Mystery Chic Lit

Published - August 26th 1994

Publisher - St Martin's Griffin

Format - Paperback

(Goodreads)(Amazon)

Synopsis

Pestered by her close New Jersey family, Stephanie Plum offers to catch high-school crush Joe Morelli, cop turned bail jumper, for her cousin Vinnie's company. She questions "working girls" to find the missing girlfriend of vicious prizefighter Benito Ramirez while Joe secretly watches her back. Ranger mentors her and supplies vehicles when hers explode.

Teaser 

he line of his mouth tightened. "Tell me about it. Suppose I lay down on the pavement and you run over me a few times with my own car . . . just for old times. Would you like that? Do you get your money dead or alive?"

"No reason to get testy about it. I have a job to do. It's nothing personal."

Review

One For The Money is the first installment in the Stephanie Plum Series. Six months ago everything changed she lost her job even though it wasn’t that great, she’s out of money and her car has been repossessed. However she refuses to work at the tampon factory or Macy’s makeup counter so when she hears her cousin is in need of someone to file she jumps at the chance. Stephanie learns that the filling job has been filled but with a little blackmail she has a chance to make money as a bounty hunter. Her first case just so happens to be the guy who never called after the nigh in the bakery Joe Morelli a cop who shot an unarmed man.

 Stephanie has no idea what she’s doing but with the help of the sexy super bounty hunter Ranger she may just learn enough to catch him. Stephanie draws the attention of a local celebrity boxer Benito Ramirez who likes to be rough with the ladies, and my just know what happened to the guy who Morelli saw the night he shot Ziggy. Surprisingly Stephanie has several encounters with Morelli but he refuses to let her bring him in he is determined to prove his innocents and might just have to get Stephanie to help him out. Will they be able to prove that Morelli didn’t shoot an unarmed man? What about the flat nose witness? Will Stephanie survive her encounter with Ramirez? What about Ranger?

Stephanie is a great character she’s not your perfect character she has issues just like the rest of us. When things may not go her way she doesn’t give up, just try’s new avenues like when it comes to Morelli. I love that she didn’t want to use her gun at first instead used her pocketbook with the unloaded gun as a weapon. Stephanie makes me laugh, is a perfect example of a first time bounty hunter she has flaws and I love her for it. The guys are a tough one each one has good and bad sides as potential love interests for her but I’m leaning towards Morelli over Ranger at the moment.

This isn’t my first time reading One For The Money or even my third or fourth time reading the series but I’ve decided it’s time to start over so I can catch up on the current books. Steph is one of my favorite series filled with romance, action, suspense and enough humor to keep me laughing throughout the book. I loved the character she just kept getting better as the book progressed and I found it easy to connect with her. I enjoyed the book it captivated me right from the start drawing me into Stephanie’s crazy world and refusing to let go at the last page. Even though this isn’t my first time I was disappointed in the least it’s still just as amazing as I remembered it being. I loved the book it’s a great first installment into an exciting series which I have the rest of sitting on my shelf. Can’t wait to get current and see what happens next for Stephanie.