Wicked Appetite by Janet Evanovich - I Read It, and Boy I'm Disappointed

Janet Evanovich is one of my favorite authors, has been for years.  I read about Stephanie Plum with delight, listen to the audiobooks and chuckle, and always await the publication of the next in the Plum series with great anticipation.

Well, maybe that excitement has wained somewhat since nothing seems to evolve with Stephanie and the gang.  Stephanie never chooses between Joe and Ranger.  Lula can be counted on for tight spandex and a new diet or two every book, and there's always the car that's gonna explode.  Then, the Plum Spooky series started appearing in between the number books, and I had hope.

I thought that maybe Janet E. was getting tired of writing the same old storyline, and maybe this paranormal humor test run would do her well.  Kinda like a rock and roll star who gets sick and tired of singing the same old hit song time and again, despite how much the fans demand to hear it.  Surely Rod Stewart has had enough of Maggie Mae?

Diesel would solve everything.  His new series -- debuting as Wicked Appetite this Fall -- would show how Janet Evonovich had jumped into a new pool of characters, new exciting plotlines, fresh jokes.  Oh, I was so ready for this and I thought ... assumed ... she was too.

I was wrong.

Wicked Appetite was a major disappointment for me. It's a poor imitation of the 123 series, and even then not the best of those books (which were the first few, by the way).   Lizzie is too much like Stephanie Plum, the bakery and surrounding neighborhood too much akin to the Trenton neighborhood, and the only thing that I was truly happily surprised to see:  Cluck in a Bucket never appeared. Thank Goodness. 

Same old fart jokes, Carl the Monkey shooting the bird, and the significant amount of white space on the pages had me checking to see if I had a Large Print book by mistake.  (I didn't.)  I didn't estimate a word count, but it's obviously pushing the edge of the envelope here to get the required number of pages of sellable product here. 

Janet, Janet, Janet.  You've got such talent and you've got people out here who love you.  Stop this.  You're disrespecting yourself to the point of being self-destructive here, in an obvious sellout to the Publishing Dollar.  Which, cruelly, will be disappearing soon enough -- I'm not buying anymore of your formula books and I'm reading all over the web where lots of other disappointed readers won't be either.

Maybe falling sales will send the message that all the Amazon one star comments haven't.

Janet Evanovich's Wicked Appetite Is Out: is Diesel the new Stephanie Plum?

Published by St.MartinsPress
read an excerpt here.

I saw the new Janet Evanovich book prominently displayed in my local Barnes and Noble this week: Wicked Appetite appears to be selling well and lotsa folk seem to like it, too (at least one did in Roanoke, Virginia -- Amazon right now is showing as many giving it five stars as are giving it one star).

The star of the book?  Diesel, whom we have met in the Plum series already.  Apparently, Diesel is getting his own series with this debut and we can look forward to another 6 or 7 books here.  The twist?  It's got a paranormal vein -- Diesel is one of the "Unmentionables," a group of humans with special (magic!) abilities.

My take?  I love Janet Evanovich as a writer, she entertains me.  She makes me laugh, guaranteed.  And that's important -- laughter at the ready.  I'll read Wicked Appetite.  However, Mrs. E is also astute in following the marketplace. 

She's tipped her hat to Nascar fever with another series (Alex Barnaby).  She's also taken a stab at graphic novels.  And, we all know she began in romance and has seen her romance work reissued over the past few years. 

So, while I look forward to the Diesel series as a reader, I'm also pondering Diesel as a writer.  Humor and paranormal, meshing?  Where else is this happening, or is it?  Is this Janet E's taking note of the success of the Twilight series?  of Harry Potter?

(Which brings to mind the mash-ups, particularly the Austen ones, but that's a different post for a different day.)

UPDATE:  I read Wicked Appetite, and I was disappointed.  Read my review over at Amazon if you want to know why. 

Janet Evanovich Splitting from St Martin's Press After 15 Years? Is this Smart? The Movie Sounds Like a Nightmare.

You know that Janet Evanovich is BIG with capital letters when Deadline Hollywood's Nikke Finke interrupts her coverage of the film industry to report on Evanovich's negotiations for publishing her next 4 books (presumably in the Stephanie Plum series, numbers 17 - 20). 

According to Deadline, Evanovich's son is acting as her agent, and St. Martin's Press (whom she has been with for the past 15 years) isn't going along with his offer of $50,000,000 for the next four books. 

Yes, folks, that is $12.5 million per book.  Deadline is reporting that St. Martin's Press isn't interested, and Janet's son/agent is approaching other publishing houses.  The comments to the Deadline coverage are interesting, and not too nice. 

What they don't mention is the fact that Janet E. may think those books are more than worthy of that sum, given that the series is about to hit the big screen in a big way.  And fans have been waiting years and years for this -- they've been debating who should play what character at Janet E's website for a long, long time. 

Stephanie Plum Movie Being Cast Now

Of course, the fact that they've finally decided to bring Stephanie Plum to the big screen after all these years should impact the book deal.  Assuming the movie is a hit, readership should expand to those who've never heard of the series before, right?  Check for details at IMDB. 

Katherine Heigl got the plum part (pun intended) of Stephanie, and today it was announced that Sherri Shephard will play Lula.  The announcement also reports that Shephard will play a dual role, two prostitutes with hearts of gold.  I'm assuming one is Lula.  Huh? 

Julie Ann Robertson is directing.  Check out her background -- she's cutting her film teeth on Stephanie Plum's movie debut.  Her background is in TV episodes.  Five of Grey's Anatomy.  Three of Weeds. 

Great. 

They've already cast most everyone else -- except Grandma Mazur.  Moretti will be played by Jason O'Mara; Ranger, by Daniel Sunjata.   Right, big names.... And the way that Janet E. reports on the casting, looks like she has zip to do with this production.  She appears to be learning things from the news media, just like you and me. 

According to her website, Janet Evanovich sold the movie rights to One for the Money back in 1993.  She's got no say-so or legal right to any decision here.  However, you'd think the movie folk would be smart enough to ask .....

What, she's not involved in the screenplay?  Nope. 

Liz Brixius is credited right now for writing it.  Not Janet E.  Who is Lix Brixius?  Ye Gads.  She wrote for Nurse Jackie, which she also executive produced.  That's it, Dear Reader.  Nurse Jackie, the TV show.  Her only other writing cred?  One episode of Insatiable. 

The location?  They're filming the movie in Pittsburgh, folks.  Not Trenton (setting for the books).  Not even in New Jersey, period. 

I'm adding all this to my prayer list.  I am not kidding. 

Betting on this Movie as a reason to leave St. Martin's Press?

I'm not sure about this film, and read that as I'm shocked and saddened by all this, and I'm wondering how many others share my concern.  I'm a big Evanovich fan and I'm beyond nervous.  I'm pretty angry right now. 

I'm wondering about Heigl playing an Italian from Jersey.  I'm wondering about a TV director and a TV writer being let loose on a storyline that I treasure. 

They better not screw this up.  Maybe I'll just never, ever, ever watch this thing.  Heigl?  With black hair?  Reallllly?????

I'd Stay with St. Martin's ....

And a bad movie could be a detriment to this franchise, maybe St. Martin's Press isn't optimistic about this film effort.  Lord knows it's look like they've got good reason to be.

Hope Janet doesn't get hurt in all this.  As well as Stephanie and the gang.

Janet Evanovich is Working Right Now

I discovered a short post over at Janet Evanovich's website, where she describes her average workday. It made me feel better, and I thought I'd post it here (it's the next to last FAQ), for all of us to remember as we're procrastinating or distracting ourselves or eating more chips, making more coffee:

Janet Evanovich is working right now. And she has been since 6 this morning.

Cowboy up, my friends.

This gets to me so much, that I've changed my screensaver: "Janet Evanovich is WORKING right now!" Really helps keep me on track and away from standing, staring into an open fridge.

I may lose weight this way, too, right?

Image: Fearless Fourteen was the Most Borrowed Book of 2008 in Dayton, Ohio, among other places. Check out my post today over at Writer-Lawyer for more on such things....

Great Interview with Janet Evonovich

Click on the title to jump over to a nice, and not too long, interview with Janet Evonovich -- where she discusses writing with humor and promises that "good people do not die in this series!" Whew.