Full Blast (Janet Evanovich's Full Series)

Customer Reviews

Airplane/Beach Read, Not good for much else.

I've never read any of Janet Evanovich or Charlotte Hughes' other novels... so I really didn't know what to expect when I grabbed this book in an airport to read on a 3 hour flight. I read the book in just over an hour and a half, mostly because the book is full of interesting dialogue and it moves quickly. The chracters were, for the most part, wacky and intriguing and kept my interest.

The basic storyline is, Jamie Swift owns and runs a local newspaper in smalltown Beaumont, South Carolina. She had a relationship with uber hot millionaire businessman Max Holt (I assume in a previous novel), but the two have not seen each other in several weeks. When murders start happening in Beaumont and they appear tied to the personals section of Jamie's newspaper, she calls in Max for help and the two start to heat things up all over again as they try and solve the mystery.

While the book was a fast paced read with interesting characters, it was also chock full of cliches and absurdities. First, how many romance novels have average Jane smalltown girl meeting and falling in love with the uber-millionaire who dates famous models and actresses? I know it's a fun read, but after the 10 millionth time reading it, it gets a little silly. Maybe it's just me, but I'm getting sick of the billionaire heros in romance novels. It IS possible to have a great hero who isn't richer than Bill Gates!

The other MAJOR absurdity of the book is Max's computer, "Muffin." Maybe I found it totally stupid and preposterous because I work in the computer game industry around lots of programmers on a daily basis. Max's computer is basically like David Hasselhoff's car in Knight Rider. Except worse. It has a personality and feelings (um, the computer suffers PMS?!). Come on now. The computer also is having a relationship with another computer at MIT? What the? When I first read about "Muffin" it was a total forehead slapper. If I hadn't been on a plane with nothing else to read, I probably would have thrown down the book in disgust right there.

That said, the story did have it's positive points. While I don't believe in psychics and the like, I did really enjoy the Destiny Moultrie character. She was interesting and funny, especially when talking to her dead friend Ronnie. The main characters were pretty interesting, though the secondary characters really made the book good. Vera was another of my favorite characters, a vivacious old lady who wants to feel young again.

Overall, I think there are much better novels out there. This one wasn't horrible as an airplane or beach read, but I would highly recommend MANY other books over it - specifically anything by Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb.

Full Blast: Hot Heat Wave

Steamy! The heat is rising in this fourth book of the Full series, and everybody is cutting loose. I won't give away what happens with Jamie and Max, but in the process of solving a couple of murders, the whole town gets stimulated! Even Vera gets a convertable and lets her hair down. This is the most fun (...) book in the Full Series. Janet Evanovich and Charlotte Hughes have realy hit their stride.

A very funny book

I picked up this book before I had read any other by the author, or in the series, and laughed my way through it. I LOVE the quirks of the charactors and Muffin is great! I went out and bought the other 3 books and devoured them in 2 days and have re-read all 4 books. They are very light reading, but enjoyable. A great summertime/beach book when you want to laugh.