Hello, Fellow Book Worms and Book Dragons!

Christmas is a season of joy and miracles. And if there ever was a woman that needed a miracle, it is Stephanie Plum. And she is about to meet hers. Enter Diesel from the Lizzie and Diesel series. He has arrived to make sure Stephanie has a Merry Holiday. But unless she can catch a fugitive toy maker, she may be singing the holiday blues.

Visions of Sugar Plums is Janet Evanovich's Christmas novel featuring Stephanie Plum. The hardcover edition that I read was published by St. Martin's Press, an imprint of Macmillan Publishers. In this little bundle of joy readers were introduced to Lizzie Tucker's better half, Diesel. A magical individual known as an Unmentionable, Diesel can get into any locked place and appear without warning. And he has the uncanny ability to force his wicked charms onto people. With four days to Christmas Stephanie is looking for a fugitive skip who may or may not be Santa Claus. Diesel is on the scene to help Stephanie, whether she likes it or not.

This short novel lasted under two hundred pages and was a lot of fun. Fan favorite Randy Briggs also returns, as does Stephanie's zany family. Unexpected pregnancies. Lost false teeth. Attack elves. And a whole lot of Christmas magic usher in Christmas in Trenton for the Plums. Even though it did start out a bit slow, it picked up quickly making me feel closer to the season. There were a couple of reveals that moved the book along to a an ending that was filled with Christmas cheer.

Lorelei King returned to read the audio book with a little extra charm and twinkle that lit up the book like a Christmas Tree. Her voice work was often laugh out loud funny. Any book read by her is always a good time. When it comes to narration Lorelei King is Queen.

In the end Visions of Sugar Plums was a rousing three star read that was Christmas fun. I love this series. It always makes me smile. This is a great book for those who want to read a holiday tale, but do not want a long book. Enjoy.

My other reviews of Janet Evanovich's books can be found at: https://xepherusreads.blogspot.com/2018/07/janet-evanovich-book-series-my-reviews.html

Have fun reading this week. Let me know in the comments below what are some of your favorite reads of 2018.

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All written content (c) Copyright 2018 by Thomas Bahr II

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This short, between the numbers book added an element of the supernatural to the normally down to earth Stephanie Plum series. Fun, unchallenging, and sweet, this story was an enjoyable read.

Chapter 1: this book is really cheesy, and not in a good way. I hope I can make it through.

Well, if you thought Stephanie Plum had her hands full with Morelli and Ranger, wait until you meet Diesel, the newest man to "pop" into her life. It's a few days before Christmas and Stephanie hasn't sent cards, done any shopping or bought a tree. Are you surprised? Now she and Diesel need to track down Sandy Claws who skipped his court hearing.

And you can bet that there will be at least one car catching on fire too.

It's a Merry Christmas from The Burg!

I liked this version of Stephanie Plum. She isn't as incompetent as she is in the regular books. She's

The audiobooks of the Stephanie Plum series are much better than reading the books. The narrator is fantastic. I enjoy her work a lot. When I read these later editions of Stephanie Plum I get annoyed a lot more than when listening to the audio book.

Just the type of mindless read I was looking for to take my mind off of real life. As always, Diesel cracked me up and Grandma stole the show.

Awful.

This Between-the-Numbers book is short and kind of boring. It introduces Diesel, but fails to make him interesting. It feels scattered, despite the fact that Stephanie only has one focus for the whole book. There's no Ranger (yay!) but there's also only two pages of Lula (boo!). Stephanie is chasing a magical man who might be Santa Claus. He is guarded by an army of little people who might be elves. The elves often attack Stephanie, pelting her with cookies or jumping onto her car and having to be flung off by windshield wipers.

There really isn't much else to say. This one is completely skippable, although it does include major plot points like Valerie's pregnancy and Stephanie's CR-V blowing up. Stephanie's mindset regarding Valerie fascinates me, though. "I actually thought Valerie could do a lot worse than Albert Kloughn. I liked Kloughn. He wasn't a big, handsome, super-cool guy, but he tried hard at everything, he was nice to Valerie and the girls, and there seemed to be genuine affection between them."

Stephanie herself would /never/ be with a guy who wasn't "big, handsome [and] super-cool" so all this B.S. about Albert "trying hard at everything" has a very not-in-my-backyard (or, in this case, not-in-my-vagina) feel to it. There are so many men Stephanie has turned down who are just like Albert Kloughn, so she shouldn't be giving this advice.

My favorite line in a book without any other real quotable ones: "I was planning on giving Rex a raisin for Christmas."