Born in Fire (Fire and Ice Trilogy, Book 1) by K.F. Breene

Supernatural Bounty Hunter isn’t the sort of thing you see on LinkedIn. But with a rare type of magic like mine, I don’t have many options. 

So dangerous or not, the job is mine. And it was going fine, until an old as sin vampire stole my mark, and with it, my pay day.

Knowing I’m poor and desperate, he has offered me a job. I’ll have to work by his side to help solve a top secret case.

Everyone knows not to trust vampires. Especially a hot elder vampire. But without any other jobs coming up, I’m stuck. As I uncover a web of lies and treachery, revealing an enemy I didn’t know existed, the truth of my identity is threatened. I might make it out alive, only to end up in a gilded cage.

I've been in a reading rut lately - you know the kind - where nothing is appealing and nothing seems worth the time.  Thankfully, I was stuck waiting at the doctor's office with nothing but my phone, so I was desperate and this was free through Kindle Unlimited.  So I started it.  And loved it.  Right from the start. 

Reagan is a supernatural bounty hunter with a BIG secret to her power.  She's smart, snarky, and strong - both mentally and physically.  The author does an excellent job building the mystery of both her mark and her background.  The vampires, mages, demons, etc. are well-built and add dimension to the story which, in this type of novel, often doesn't happen.  And while it seems romance-y, it's not.  There are some steamy scenes, but she reacts to the 'love interest' in the way you want to see a strong female react - no sighing, preening, or submission here, folks.

Overall, I have already started book two and will mostly likely stay with this author for a while.

5/5

437 pages 

Top Secret Twenty-One by Janet Evanovich

Summary: "Trenton, New Jersey's favorite used car dealer, Jimmy Poletti, was caught selling a lot more than used cars out of his dealerships. Now he's out on bail and has missed his date in court--and bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is looking to bring him in. Leads are quickly turning into dead ends, and all too frequently into dead bodies. Even Joe Morelli, the city's hottest cop, is struggling to find a clue to the suspected killer's whereabouts. To top things off, Ranger--resident security expert and Stephanie's greatest temptation--has been the target of an assassination plot. He's dodged the bullet this time, but if Ranger wants to survive the next attempt on his life, he'll have to enlist Stephanie's help. Death threats, highly trained assassins, highly untrained assassins and Stark Street being overrun with a pack of feral Chihuahuas are all in a day's work for Stephanie Plum."

I am heartbroken that I've finished this series....I really hope there will be more! I miss Stephanie, Lula, Morelli and the rest of the gang so much!

341 pages

Takedown Twenty by Janet Evanovich

Summary: "New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum knows better than to mess with family. But when powerful mobster Salvatore "Uncle Sunny" Sunucchi goes on the lam in Trenton, it's up to Stephanie to find him. Uncle Sunny is charged with murder for running over a guy (twice), and nobody wants to turn him in--not his poker buddies, not his bimbo girlfriend, not his two right-hand men, Shorty and Moe. Even Trenton's hottest cop, Joe Morelli, has skin in the game, because "just Stephanie's luck" the godfather is his actual godfather. And while Morelli understands that the law is the law, his old-world grandmother, Bella, is doing everything she can to throw Stephanie off the trail."

I love any book that involves Morelli's crazy Italian family, especially Grandma Bella! Also, Stephanie attempts to play bingo (disaster) and Lula attempts to take care of a giraffe named Kevin! 

307 pages

Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich

Summary: "After a slow summer of chasing low-level skips for her cousin Vinnie's bail bonds agency, Stephanie Plum finally lands an assignment that could put her checkbook back in the black. Geoffrey Cubbin, facing trial for embezzling millions from Trenton's premier assisted-living facility, has mysteriously vanished from the hospital after an emergency appendectomy. Now it's on Stephanie to track down the con man. The problem is, Cubbin has disappeared without a trace, a witness, or his money-hungry wife. Rumors are stirring that he must have had help with the daring escape, or that maybe he never made it out of his room alive. Since the hospital staff's lips seem to be tighter than the security, and it is hard for Stephanie to blend in to assisted living, Stephanie's Grandma Mazur goes in undercover. But when a second felon goes missing from the same hospital, Plum is forced into working side by side with Trenton's hottest cop, Joe Morelli, in order to crack the case. Solving the case is harder than she imagined and to make sure the rent is paid she takes on a second job, protecting her mentor Ranger from a deadly special forces adversary."


Grandma Mazur is on her A-game in this book!

312 pages

Explosive Eighteen by Janet Evanovich

Summary: "Stephanie Plum finds herself in trouble when her seatmate on her Hawaii to Newark flight winds up dead and a motley collection of thugs, as well as the FBI, search for a photo the man was reportedly carrying--a photo that only Stephanie has seen."

Stephanie gets herself into HUGE trouble in this book...both in her professional and her love life. Things between Stephanie, Morelli and Ranger have never been more complicated.

305 pages

Smokin' Seventeen by Janet Evanovich

Summary: "Where there's smoke there's fire, and no one knows this better than New Jersey bounty hunter, Stephanie Plum. The bail bonds office has burned to the ground, and bodies are turning up in the empty construction lot. To make matters worse, Stephanie is working out of a motor home she shares with a dancing bear, and Joe Morelli's old-world grandmother has declared a vendetta against her. And just when Stephanie decides it might be time to choose between the two men in her life, Morelli and Ranger, a third man from Stephanie's past moves back to Trenton..."


308 pages

Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich

Summary (taken from Janet Evanovich's website)

"BAD LUCK:
  Vinnie, of Vincent Plum Bail Bonds, has run up a gambling debt of $786,000 with mobster
Bobby Sunflower and is being held until the cash can be produced.  Nobody else will pay to get Vinnie back, leaving it up to Stephanie, office manager Connie, and file clerk Lula to raise the money if they want to save their jobs.

GOOD LUCK:
  Being in the business of tracking down people, Stephanie, Lula, and Connie have an advantage in finding Vinnie.  If they can rescue him, it will buy them some time to raise the cash.

BAD LUCK:
  Finding a safe place to hide Vinnie turns out to be harder than raising $786,000.  Vinnie’s messing up local stoner Walter “Moon Man” Dunphy’s vibe and making Stephanie question genetics.

GOOD LUCK:
  Between a bonds office yard sale that has the entire Burg turning out, a plan that makes Mooner’s Hobbit-Con look sane, and Uncle Pip’s mysterious bottle, they just might raise enough money to save Vinnie and the business from ruin.

BAD LUCK:
  Saving Vincent Plum Bail Bonds means Stephanie can keep being a bounty hunter.  In Trenton, this involves hunting down a man wanted for polygamy, a Turnpike toilet paper bandit, and a drug dealer with a pet alligator named Mr. Jingles."

309 pages

Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich

Summary: "While recovering from an ill-timed makeup mishap, Lula is a witness to celebrity chef, Stanley Chipotle, losing his head--literally. Now Lula and Stephanie are on the hunt to identify the killers before Lula is next on the chopping block. Meantime, Ranger's recruited Stephanie's help for a top secret mission. Someone on the inside at Rangeman is leaking client information, determined to bring the company down. Can Stephanie hunt down a killer, a traitor, and keep Grandma out of the sauce?"

Grandma Mazur and Lula are truly hilarious. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard!

308 pages

Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich

Summary: "Personal vendettas, hidden treasure, and a monkey named Carl will send bounty hunter Stephanie Plum on her most explosive adventure yet. Dom Rizzi robbed a bank, stashed the money, and did the time. His family couldn't be more proud. He always was the smart one. Joe Morelli, Dom Rizzi, and Dom's sister, Loretta, are cousins. Morelli is a cop, Rizzi robs banks, and Loretta is a single mother waiting tables at the firehouse. The all-American family. Less than a week after Dom's release from prison, Joe Morelli has shadowy figures breaking into his house and dying in his basement. He's getting threatening messages, Loretta is kidnapped, and Dom is missing. Morelli hires Walter "Mooner" Dunphy, stoner and "inventor" turned crime fighter, to protect his house. Morelli can't afford a lot on a cop's salary, and Mooner will work for potatoes. Stephanie and Morelli have a long-standing relationship that involves sex, affection, and driving each other nuts. She's a bond enforcement agent with more luck than talent, and she's involved in this bank-robbery-gone-bad disaster from day one. Security expert Carlos Manoso, street name Ranger, has a job for Stephanie that will involve night work. Morelli has his own ideas regarding Stephanie's evening activities."

One of my absolute favorites!

310 pages

Plum Lucky by Janet Evanovich

Summary: "Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum finds herself in over her head with a caper involving stolen money, a racehorse, a car chase, and a bad case of hives--not to mention her grandmother playing the slots in Atlantic City unknowingly using the stolen money! Meanwhile, the mysterious Diesel returns to once again turn Stephanie's world upside down."

Absolute insanity! The novellas aren't my favorite books in the series, but this is one of the best! 

Favorite part: Lula with a rocket launcher. 

166 pages

Lean Mean Thirteen by Janet Evanovich

Summary: "Mistake #1: Dickie Orr. Stephanie was married to him for about fifteen minutes before she caught him cheating on her with her archnemesis, Joyce Barnhardt. Another fifteen minutes after that, Stephanie filed for divorce, hoping never to see either one of them again." "Mistake #2: Doing favors for super bounty hunter Carols Manoso (aka Ranger). Ranger needs Stephanie to meet with Dickie and find out if he's doing something shady. Turns out, he is. Turns out Dickie's also back to doing Joyce Barnhardt. And it turns out Ranger's favors always come with a price." "Mistake #3: Going completely nutso while doing the favor for Ranger, and trying to apply bodily injury to Dickie in front of the entire office. Now Dickie has disappeared and Stephanie is the natural suspect in his disappearance. Is Dickie dead? Can he be found? And can Stephanie Plum stay one step ahead in this new dangerous game?" "Joe Morelli, the hottest cop in Trenton, New Jersey, is also keeping Stephanie on her toes - and he may know more than he's saying about many things in Stephanie's life. It's a cat and mouse game for Stephanie Plum wherein the ultimate prize might be her life."

310 pages

Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich

Summary: "While chasing down the usual cast of miscreants and weirdos in Trenton, New Jersey, bounty hunter Stephanie Plum discovers that a crazed woman is stalking her. The woman dresses in black, carries a 9mm Glock, and has a bad attitude and a mysterious connection to dark and dangerous Carlos Manoso...street name, Ranger. The action turns deadly serious, and Stephanie goes from hunting skips to hunting a murderer. Ranger needs Stephanie for more reasons than he can say. And now the two are working together to find a killer, rescue a missing child, and stop a lunatic from raising the body count. When Stephanie Plum and Ranger get too close for comfort, vice cop Joe Morelli (her on-again, off-again boyfriend) steps in. Will the ticking clock stop at the stroke of twelve, or will a stranger in the wind find a way to stop Stephanie Plum...forever?"

310 pages

Eleven on Top by Janet Evanovich

Summary: "Hoping to discontinue her career as a bounty hunter for something safer, Stephanie Plum is inadvertently drawn into a case that is complicated by her tangled love life, her chaotic family, and her penchant for wrecking cars."

Stephanie's attempt at finding another job goes as well as you might expect: total and complete disaster.   

310 pages

Ten Big Ones by Janet Evanovich

Summary: "She's accidentally destroyed a dozen cars. She's a target for every psycho and miscreant this side of the Jersey Turnpike. Her mother's convinced she'll end up dead... or worse, without a man. She's Stephanie Plum, and she kicks butt for a living (well, she thinks it sounds good to put it that way). It begins as an innocent trip to the deli-mart, on a quest for nachos. But Stephanie Plum and her partner, Lula, are clearly in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Stephanie's resourcefulness (and stubbornness) rises to a whole new level in this book when she actually sneaks in and lives in Ranger's apartment while he's away! Tsk tsk.


312 Pages

To The Nines by Janet Evanovich

My favorite of the series so far! I just can't imagine a better story than one where Connie, Lula and Stephanie travel to Las Vegas. Morelli's storyline was perfect - I absolutely loved it! 

Best quote: "When you come right down to it, this is really all anyone needs, isn't it? A television and a bag of chips."





312 pages

Visions of Sugar Plums by Janet Evanovich

I read this holiday novella just in time for Christmas! In this short story, Stephanie hunts down a bond-jumping toy maker aptly named "Sandy Claws." She has the help of the mysterious Diesel, who Stephanie is convinced is either an a) alien or b) the Ghost of Christmas Present. Short and sweet!

149 pages

Hard Eight by Janet Evanovich

Summary: "The #1 bestselling phenomenon continues in the eighth Stephanie Plum novel. The stakes get higher, the crimes get nastier, the chases get faster, and the men get hotter. This time Stephanie, Morelli, Ranger. Lula, Valerie, and Grandma Mazur are strapped in for the ride of their lives. Stephanie is hired to find a missing child. But things aren't always as they seem and Stephanie must determine if she's working for the right side of the law. Plus, there's the Morelli question: can a Jersey girl keep her head on straight when more than just bullets are aimed for her heart? And with the Plum and Morelli relationship looking rocky, is it time for Ranger to move in for the kill? Janet Evanovich's latest thriller proves that Hard Eight will never be enough."

Hard Eight is not my favorite book of the series, but I hope that Stephanie can work out her love life soon!

311 pages

Seven Up by Janet Evanovich

Summary: "Semiretired mob guy Eddie DeChooch is caught trafficking contraband cigarettes through Trenton, New Jersey. When DeChooch fails to show for a court appearance, bond enforcement agent Stephanie Plum is assigned the task of finding him and dragging his decrepit ass back to jail. Not such an easy job, it turns out, since DeChooch has learned a lot of tricks over the years and isn't afraid to use his gun. He's already shot Loretta Ricci, an innocent old lady, and left her for worm food in his shed. He wouldn't mind shooting Stephanie next." "Likable losers (and Steph's former high school classmates) Walter "MoonMan" Dunphy and Dougie "The Dealer" Kruper have inadvertently become involved with DeChooch. They've gotten sucked into an operation that is much more than simple cigarette smuggling and holds risks far greater than anyone could have imagined."

Mooner and Dougie have been a great addition to the cast of characters in Stephanie's world. I hope to seen more of Mooner in future books! Eddie DeChooch is a depressed old man, but one of the toughest guys that Stephanie has ever come up against. He even has the guts to kidnap Grandma Mazur; only a maniac would do that! 

309 pages

Hot Six by Janet Evanovich

Summary: "Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum and Trenton vice cop Joe Morelli join forces to find the madman killer who shot and barbecued the youngest son of international black-market arms dealer Alexander Ramos. Carlos Manoso, street name Ranger, is caught on video just minutes before the crime occurs. He's at the scene, he's with the victim, and he's the number-one suspect. Ranger is former special forces turned soldier of fortune. He has a blue-chip stock portfolio and no known address. He moves in mysterious circles. He's Stephanie's mentor -- the man who taught her everything she knows about fugitive apprehension. And he's more than her friend. Now he's the hunted and Stephanie's the hunter, and it's time for her to test her skills against the master. But if she does catch him...what then? Can she bring herself to turn him in? Plus there are other things keeping Stephanie awake at night. Her maternal grandmother has set up housekeeping in Stephanie's apartment, a homicidal maniac has selected Stephanie as his next victim, her love life is in the toilet, she's adopted a dog with an eating disorder, and she can't button the top snap on her Levi's."

Steph's arch-enemy Joyce Barnhart also makes some pretty entertaining appearances, and Grandma Mazur is quite the buzzkill on Stephanie's love-life.

Hilarious and entertaining as always!

294 pages

High Five by Janet Evanovich

Summary: Stephanie Plum helps out her family by searching for her missing Uncle Fred, but of course, gets caught up in a much more dangerous mystery over some sketchy trash bags. Favorite characters Lula, Grandma Mazur, Ranger and Joe Morelli all make memorable appearances. 

This book added some crazy, temporary characters to Stephanie's gang, which was quite entertaining. I really enjoyed it, and I absolutely love that Stephanie Plum is a huge fan of Wonder Woman!

292 pages