Dr. Barb’s Book Byts

Janet Evanovich – One For The Money

After reading several of James Patterson’s deeper novels with famous co-authors like Dolly Parton and Bill Clinton, our book group decided we needed some light reading. So I asked if they had read any of Janet Evanovich’s books. Since none had, I recommended that we start with her first one – One For the Money. Since one of our members was heading from some hospital stays, the group agreed as it would give us something light and uplifting. In addition, the movie had just come out in streaming. So we agreed to meet to see it after we had read the book.

Our discussions focused around the setting in New Jersey as we had at least one Jersey girl in our group who shared that the setting could be indicative of the area, but she didn’t grow up in that particular neighborhood. We also discussed the possible romances between Stephanie Plum and Ranger (the hot bounty hunter who is trying to train her) and hot Joe Morelli (the ex-flame cop accused of murdering someone whom she has to capture). In addition, we all enjoyed Grandma’s antics in the story.

Seeing the movie on streaming added a little spice to our book club. For once we could see how someone else had interpreted the scenes we read and talked about. It also gave us another way to connect with others as book club members. We felt that the movie did put some different twists on the story. It left out some details (which would have been too gory for the movie audience) in what happened to Lulu, the street walker, turned Stephanie’s assistant. In addition, the capture of Joe Spirelli was a little different in the movie, than in the book.

Overall, both the book and the movie were enjoyable. We liked adding the movie to our repertoire as it gave us another time to get together as a group and go out to lunch to get to know each other better. We agreed to do the same thing again in the future with any books that came out with a movie. It also encouraged us to go watch the Book Club– The Next Chapter movie as a group as well.

Feel free to share your thoughts on the book in the comments below. Our book club would love to hear your feedback!

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