I’m participating in the third month of Rae’s Reads and Reviews’ #TwoForTuesday blog prompts. Rae’s blog post yesterday, https://educatednegra.blog/2019/04/01/april-two-for-tuesday-prompts/ lists the prompts for every Tuesday in April. If you’d like to participate, visit Rae’s blog post and leave her a message in the comments section.

Each month’s prompts are more challenging than the ones from the previous month. It remains to be seen if I can come up with books to write about this month. Rae is stretching my memory to think back through my many years of reading.

With today’s theme in mind, I selected two book series instead of two individual books. (There I go, bending the rules again!) They are series I enjoyed a few years ago. They are books you might enjoy when you want something light to read, although after a while they become somewhat predictable.

Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum Series

I appreciate how Ms. Evanovich numbers her books in this series in chronological order. It makes it easy to keep up with where you are in the series, especially if you’re late coming to her books and you want to remember which ones you’ve read.

Stephanie Plum is a bounty hunter for her New Jersey cousin of questionable character. Stephanie is white. Her sidekick is a large black woman named Lula. There’s no end to the trouble Stephanie and Lula get into. This usually involves Stephanie’s car getting blown up and one of her two heart throbs, Ranger, coming to her rescue. The earlier books in this series were fresh and laugh-out-loud funny. After 25 books, though, they don’t make me laugh as much.

If you want to give Ms. Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum books a try, start with One for the Money in order to get acquainted with the recurring cast of characters. The books don’t have to be read in order, but occasionally knowing what has transpired in the past will help you appreciate a later book.

Ms. Evanovich writes one book every year now in this series, with Look Alive Twenty-Five being released last fall. The Stephanie Plum books are stereotypically-New Jersey.

Ann B. Ross’ Miss Julia Novels

I read a few of Ann B. Ross’ Miss Julia novels a few years ago before I got hooked on historical fiction. That’s not to say they don’t still make me laugh.

Miss Julia is an elderly widow who lives in a town in western North Carolina. Every time Miss Julia thinks life might settle down, a relative or other ne’er do well shows up on her doorstep to throw a monkey wrench into her life.

Miss Julia rolls with the punches with good humor. Start with Ann B. Ross’ debut novel, Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind. This is great Southern fiction.

Ironically, Ms. Ross’ latest Miss Julia novel is being published today. The title is Miss Julie Takes the Wheel.

Until my next blog post

Thank you, Rae, of “Rae’s Reads and Reviews Blog” for this month’s #TwoForTuesday blog post prompts. Visit her blog, https://educatednegra.blog.

Happy reading!

Let’s continue the conversation

In the comments section below, tell me about one or two books that made you laugh.

Janet