Review: Liked it but repetitive
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 7, 2014
I liked each of these books individually, but there is too much of a pattern in Bond's books-especially the books in this boxed set. The plot is someone gets killed, the main "heroine" of the story gets framed and some knight in shining armor tries to clear her name and protect her. In the end the girl is cleared and they live happily ever after. (I don't think that is a spoiler-we wouldn't read these books if there wasn't always a happy ending right? :-) So that is my biggest problem with these books.Now to talk about the reason why I did give it 4 stars. Each book has it's own twists and turns and the characters are well developed. There is humor and romance. The sex scenes are the right balance of getting your heart racing a little bit without being more like porn in a book.The first book, Party Crashers, I didn't want to read very bad based on the description. I'm from a small town and the whole idea of these women crashing parties just seemed a little childish. It was a really great story though. I felt so bad for Jolie-it seemed like she got sucked into these situations because she was so innocent and wanted to see the good in everyone. That is a great character trait but in today's society, not necessarily an asset. I did like that the "hero" character was not a cop or private investigator-that seems to be recurring theme too. I thought this book was an easy read and the resolution had an additional surprise that I don't think you will see coming-I sure didn't!In Deep Voodoo was an interesting story. As you can guess by the title it has some supernatural, witchcraft/voodoo undertones. The whole story takes place during a community festival that revolves around voodoo and attracts visitors from all over. I felt like this book kind of went on and on. Just when you thought you could see a resolution in sight-something else came up. It definitely added to the story, but I'm not sure it was all necessary. Of course it definitely kept you guessing what was going to happen next. Penny was interesting and a strong individual. I didn't see her as the damsel in distress as much as Jolie in Party Crashers. Jolie had her own strength but her naivety detracted from that a little bit. Penny was not afraid to stand up for herself and needed BJ to help her investigate what happened and of course she did need some protection but they seemed more like partners and not the damsel in distress and knight in shining armor. I liked all of the characters in the book, they were well developed and quirky. It was definitely a good book in and of itself!Got your Number was my favorite. It was a bit cliche with the cop though. I liked all of the characters, I liked the uncertainty of really knowing Angora. Was she just a spoiled brat or was she really unstable? Roxann was awesome, she was another strong female who got mixed up through no real fault of her own. The other two books involved the heroine getting mixed up because of something stupid they did. Jolie is crashing parties, and Penny is skulking around her old house when she should have just left or at least gone straight to where she knew Deke was. In Got Your Number Roxann just happens to have means, motive, and opportunity. She is a spunky character and the interactions between her and Capistrano are great another story where they are more like equals. The aunt was a total b----, but it was funny how Roxann stood up to her and actually baited her sometimes. The relationship between Roxann and Angora was very realistic of girls who care about each other but jealousy is in the back of their minds. That causes some distrust and conflicts between the two girls. Like I said this one was my favorite. I did not read Bump in the Night yet. I started too, but couldn't go through another story with the same plot line. So I will probably read it at another time.All in all I love Stephanie Bond-once I start reading them it's hard to put them down! The characters all have so many layers and there are always plot twists that you didn't quite see coming. There is secrets, lies, deception, romance, and humor. What more can you ask for? Best of all they are easy reads and not very many typos!! Some of these kindle books that I read are so full of typos that it drives me crazy!!! If you like these Stephanie Bond books, you should also try some of the Janet Evanovich romance books. They are pre-Stephanie Plum and really fun stories to read. Some of them even have a reappearing character-Elsie Hawkins who is an older lady with a lot of spunk-she drives a cadillac (that takes some lickin's but keeps on tickin-they don't make em like they use to :-) and packs a pistol in her purse.