How Stephanie Plum Saved Me

Yesterday I bought Smokin' Seventeen, the latest novel in Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series, which I look forward to every summer. To say that these books are addictive is an understatement. I know there might be some readers who stopped delving into these several numbers ago, but I'm not one of them. I love both the characters and story lines. Besides, I credit Stephanie Plum, actually Janet Evanovich, for saving me once.

The year was 2004, and my husband was leaving for his first deployment to Iraq. During my teens and twenties, I lamented over turning thirty, as if it was a prospective dark day looming ahead of me. Yet never, in my wildest dreams, did I envision packing up my husband's belongings for a twelve month deployment, along with ensuring that our wills and finances were in order in case he didn't return. That was the winter when my three-year-old daughter ran out to her daddy's car, before he left to complete his training, hitting it repeatedly while screaming, "Don't go Daddy. Iraq is far!" I was crying, my husband was crying, she was sobbing, and our eighteen-month-old son was yelling for strawberry milk. Not a good day.

That was also the spring when four U.S. contractors were killed, set on fire, and hung from a bridge by insurgents. As Marines were battling in Fallujah, my husband traveled in a convoy from Kuwait to Balad, passing through Baghdad along the way. They were attacked by direct fire, the vehicle in front of him, hit. Luckily, no one was injured or killed. Not so lucky- daily rocket and mortar strikes pounded my husband's Base. Members of his Brigade didn't make it home. I couldn't sleep, had nightmares of officers knocking on my front door to deliver devastating news, developed canker sores the size of pencil head erasers, and almost smashed our computer monitor to smithereens when it ceased working. Yes, adult temper tantrums are permissible when the only source of communication between home and war is thwarted.

It was also during that spring when my mom suggested that I read One for the Money. I was skeptical at first, wondering how this particular book would keep me from hearing the voices at night that told me I'd soon be a widow. Eventually, I relented, because moms usually happen to know best. Within two months, I'd read the entire series, up to that point.

Stephanie Plum is a former lingerie buyer who, after losing her job, starts working as a bounty hunter for her sleazy, Cousin Vinnie. She's not very good at her job, but despite that, things always work out with the help of her hot, on-and-off again boyfriend, Joe Morelli, and the shady security expert, Ranger. FYI...it's one of the greatest and most addictive love triangles ever. Her best friend and sidekick is the hilarious, Lula, and her Grandma Mazur keeps things interesting as she lives for viewings at the funeral home.

Yes, Stephanie Plum's trials brought me through a really rough time. It introduced me to a world where a taxidermist skips to avoid jail because he doesn't want to miss the cable guy, women outsmart a pet crocodile with fried chicken, and Ranger is capable of making anyone swoon just by muttering, "Babe..." I've read the hilarious- Plum family dinners, the psychotic- Benito Ramirez, and the downright hysterical- Lula carrying bacon in her purse because she's trying out the Atkins Diet.

Thanks, Janet Evanovich, for the laughs, for saving me, and for making your yearly deadline so I have something fun to read. For a complete list of Janet Evanovich's books visit,
http://evanovich.com/

Now I guess only one question remains. Morelli or Ranger?