Same Song, Second Verse

I admit, I’ve read/listened to every book Janet Evanovich has written (even the ones from the early nineties). They are like candy after a serious novel or piece of non-fiction, and I can zip through them in a flash. I’m partial to the earlier Stephanie Plum, so I thought I’d give one of her new series a shot. 

Wicked Appetite, featuring the characters of Diesel and Carl the monkey from the “Plum Lovin” series introduces a cupcake maker named Lizzy, who lives in Salem, Massachusetts in her great-aunt Ophelia’s home. The book asks the reader to believe that there is a group of people who have “unmentionable” abilities, including the ability to discover enchanted objects. Diesel is one of those unmentionables, who shows up at Lizzy’s bakery on a random day to tell her that she is also an unmentionable and that they are to find the Saligia stone, a stone that represents gluttony-one of the seven deadly sins.

Diesel and Lizzy are assisted in their quest for the stone with the help of bakery employees Clara and Glo and are thwarted by a man named Wolf and his “minion”. While the quest is somewhat interesting, the characters are nothing new than recycled Evanovich types. Lizzy is Stephanie Plum 2.0, Diesel is a combo of Joe and Ranger, and the shop employees are a combination of Stephanie’s grandma and Lula. I realize that Evanovich has been writing about the same characters for a long time, so it’s easy to fall into the habit, but it’s beginning to be a bit tedious. I will give the Wicked series one more chance, but after that, I think I’m done.