On the Life of Plum

I finished my second read of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince a few days ago. I have some theories, but I'm just going to keep sitting on them because I know there are people reading this blog that have not yet had the chance to read the book.

Since then, I caught up with Stephanie Plum, in the Janet Evanovich series about the chaotic New Jersey Bounty Hunter. I was going to say inept, but frankly she usually gets her man, even if there's frequently a close call with rubbish in the process. I read Ten Big Ones as a refresher, and followed it up with Eleven On Top. While I loved the sexy, flirty nature of Ten Big Ones, I didn't think it was the better books in the series. Evanovich pretty much ended the story as soon as the bad guy was caught - and yes, I realise that you can't go on and on with the story once you've completed the plot, but I thought it stopped rather suddenly. Eleven On Top, however, was much better. Much more a reminder of her original style of writing. She managed to develop several key characters and give the plotlines a little more substance. I was genuinely freaked out by some of the creepy stuff (I was reading in bed in the middle of the night in a house that creaks and rustles), and I figured out the twist around the same moment as Stephanie. I liked the very ending, too.

And this is funny - for a long time, I, like Stephanie, seemed convinced that she should stick to Morelli because he seemed the most stable of the two men in her life. He's got a decent job, blah blah blah. But now I find that my opinion has swung much more in the direction of Ranger. Sure, he might work outside of the law and have a dark secret, but he loves her. He has more depth. And they seem to be able to communicate better than she does with Morelli. I don't know. It's just a book, some would say. These are made up characters. But I like make believe better than real life a lot of the time. Books make things so easy. Real life is more difficult because when faced with hard choices, we know that there's always a possibility of some one being hurt. So many variables.
And so, books and Buffy.