One for the Money by Janet Evanovich

One for the Money

By Janet Evanovich

Book Blurb:
Welcome to Trenton, New Jersey, home to wiseguys, average Joes, and Stephanie Plum, who sports a big attitude and even bigger money problems (since losing her job as a lingerie buyer for a department store). Stephanie needs cash--fast--but times are tough, and soon she's forced to turn to the last resort of the truly desperate: family.

Stephanie lands a gig at her sleazy cousin Vinnie's bail bonding company. She's got no experience. But that doesn't matter. Neither does the fact that the bail jumper in question is local vice cop Joe Morelli. From the time he first looked up her dress to the time he first got into her pants to the time Steph hit him with her father's Buick, M-o-r-e-l-l-i has spelled t-r-o-u-b-l-e. And now the hot guy is in hot water--wanted for murder.

Abject poverty is a great motivator for learning new skills, but being trained in the school of hard knocks by people like psycho prizefighter Benito Ramirez isn't. Still, if Stephanie can nab Morelli in a week, she'll make a cool ten grand. All she has to do is become an expert bounty hunter overnight--and keep herself from getting killed before she gets her man.




Well seeing as I have read it numerous times I can only say that One for the Money gets better and better every time I read it. I think it gets better and better because I have the entire series under my belt and I am able to go back to the past and revisit the beginnings. Not to add spoilers but the characters do get better and better and really grow. It is almost humorous to go back and read where Ranger and Joe started. Their characters are so essential to the Stephanie character and series.

I have 2 copies of One for the Money. My personal copy and one copy I bought just so I can lend it out to my friends and colleagues so I can get them just as hooked as I am. I can talk forever about the Plum series.

For the first book, I immediately fell in love with Stephanie. She was amazing. I love to read stories about smart girls that get themselves into silly or sticky situations without coming off as a dumb chick. I think Janet Evanovich does a spectacular job of that in all her books. That is why I am so drawn to her writing. She does an amazing job with Stephanie making her smart and yet so loveable and quirky. Seeing as we are reviewing the book I hope that I am not spoiling here but at the end when she locks up Morelli in the truck I literally jump up and yelled “YES!” To me that was a strong smart woman and she one upped Morelli. 

Which brings me to Morelli. I was luke warm with him at the beginning. I think I am still am after reading all the series. (I won’t talk about the other books promise)
I can totally see the potential for his character to grow. Janet does an amazing job of describing him and I have Benjamin Bratt in my mind when I read about him. I liked the sequence in the book where he saves her in the shoot out. Thank God he was there.

Ranger..mmmm Ranger. Now here is a character that has grown. I liked him in this first book because he likes Stephanie right away. Not lusts after Stephanie but likes her. Yes I think it will be very obvious with my future reviews that I am a total “babe” fan. He wasn’t in this book very much as a beginning character and I am so glad that Janet decided to really embellish and grow his character as time goes on. Having read the entire series, I think my least favorite thing is that he is not in this book as much. However having said that, I don’t think he should have been either.

Her parents don’t play a huge part but it is awesome that they are both there. Helen offers a great buffer for the family. When you have Grandma Mazur being the wild one, it is nice that the other end of the pendulum there is Helen.

I really like Connie and Vinnie. The are perfectly created characters for office colleagues.

Benito Ramirez the villian in One for the Money scarred the crap out of me. Even though this book was her first in the series, he remains one of the scariest of villains.

One for the Money is not my favorite in the series but it is a perfect book to get you started and hooked into the series