Louisa's upstairs neighbor is giving her fits. The worst thing is the day he steals her newspaper. She is up for a confrontation then only to see him and realize he's gorgeous. He likes her, too, but both try to deny their feelings because the other is the opposite of him/her. Pete, the upstairs neighbor, is a screenwriter and working on the mystery of a pig who went missing. He pulls Louisa into his investigation, only to become overprotective and realize he has come to love her. Can he keep her safe? Can he get her to marry him?

I enjoyed this story. It is madcap and crazy and fun. I like Louisa and Pete. I laughed as they got into some predicaments. Louisa's dream of her wedding is a hoot. Her Grandma Brannigan is also. The story is crazy so suspend belief but it is perfect for a summer day on the patio or beach.

One of Janet Evanovich's early romances, it is as funny as her Stephanie Plum series. Ivan has sold his home to Stephanie Lowe who has had nothing but problems with it. When her cousin Lucy decides to get married she talks Stephanie into filling in as the cook on Ivan's sloop. Stephanie is not much of a cook but she decides to help out her cousin. Ivan wonders what else will happen with Stephanie on the sloop as he met her as she rolled down the hill to the sloop then swore. After they get back on land Ivan requests a room for the winter at his old house which Stephanie wants to turn into a bed and breakfast. Then it gets crazy.

I laughed out loud at the predicaments Stephanie got herself into. I had so much fun reading this story. I liked the characters. I loved the motivation behind many of their actions. There were times when Stephanie and Ivan were serious as they came to know one another. Other times they were mentally face-palming themselves over some of the "action." This is worth the read.

Steve needs a temporary traffic reporter and Daisy, his dog lady spot, volunteers. She ends up hitting a drug dealer and her life is threatened. Steve never knew how fantastic Daisy was until she volunteered and now he will protect her no matter what.

I enjoyed this story. I can see elements that later went into her Stephanie Plum series. The characters are quirky but fun. The story was good with humor sprinkled in it. Danger was Daisy's middle name.

This is a summer afternoon's beach read.

'The Bathwater Conspiracy' is a quietly subversive book that imagines a world without men.

I've read some very good pieces of speculative fiction recently that have confronted me with the things men do to women, from 'The Southern Book Club's Guide To Slaying Vampires' with the vampire embodying all that is worst about the patriarchy through 'Girls With Sharp Sticks' and 'The Grace Year' which set women up in life and death struggles against the men controlling them. 'The Bathwater Conspiracy' takes a different, gentler but ultimately much more damning approach. It just makes the men disappear and wonders if we would miss them. The answer that I came away with was, 'not so much.'

Set in a future where men have been extinct for generations and humanity has moved on, 'The Bathwater Conspiracy' follows the investigation of Detective Carson “Mac” MacHenry into the exceptionally violent murder of a young woman and the subsequent attempts of the Federal authorities to cover it up. It set Mac on a path that will reveal a secret that could change the world.

I was initially a little thrown by the gentle, low-key tone of this mystery. Then I came to see that the tone was part of the evocation of an all-woman world where even an experienced detective has difficulty imagining levels of violence and aggression that we would take for granted.

It's actually quite a profound change, like suddenly not having any traffic noise in a city. It affects everything.

I also enjoyed the humour in this book. When Mac is researching ancient history to see what men were like, she finds that many religions imposed restrictions on how women dressed or even prevented them going out lest the men who see them are thrown into a frenzy of lust that they can’t control. Here’s her reaction:

'If men were so unreliable as to go off the deep end whenever they saw a stray tress or two, wouldn’t it make more sense to lock them up and just let the women get on with their lives? Otherwise, it would be like having a dog that bites and insisting that the people on your street stay inside so they won’t get bitten.'

I now want more of Janet Kellough's writing so I'll be taking a look at her Thaddeus Lewis series of historical mysteries set in mid-nineteenth-century Canada.

 
Stephanie Plum, Book 26

I Picked Up This Book Because: Continue the series

The Characters:

Stephanie Plum:
Joe Morelli:
Carlos “Ranger” Manoso:
Grandma Mazur, Lula, Connie,

The Story:

It has finally happened. Instead of having a Plum book waiting for me I now have to wait for them. *sigh* It’s okay I’ve enjoyed this series so much. Each installment brings me joy. Stephanie and crew are very special characters, especially Lula and Grandma. The series just wouldn’t be the same without them.

The Random Thoughts:

#LibraryLoveChallenge


4 Stars