Wicked Appetite by Janet Evanovich

Synopsis: 
Life in Marblehead has had a pleasant predictability, until Diesel arrives. Rumor has it that a collection of priceless ancient relics representing the Seven Deadly Sins have made their way to Boston's North Shore. Partnered with pastry chef Lizzie Tucker, Diesel bullies and charms his way through historic Salem to track them down- and his criminal mastermind cousin Gerewulf Grimorie. The black-haired, black-hearted Wulf is on the hunt for the relic representing gluttony. Caught in a race against time, Diesel and Lizzie soon find out that ore isn't always better, as they battle Wulf and the first of the deadly sins.

Review:
I have heard a lot about Janet Evanovich's books for a long time, I even saw that movie based off one of her books. I got the feeling that from the movie her books had that whole romantic comedy feel to them, and I love a good romantic comedy so I figured it was time to give her a try. I started with Wicked Appetite mainly because it was the first book in a series and it was on sale at Barnes and Noble. So here is my take.

I can see why Evanovich is a popular writer. I think the best part of her book was how much I laughed during it. There is a lot to be said for a book that makes you laugh. I read the book over the course of the morning, and I can say I enjoy starting a morning with a lot of laughing. There were some great lines in the book, more specifically I seriously enjoy the insane lines throughout the book, and the bizarre situations. In fact I do have a favorite like, it goes something like this, "Be a man, eat your potatoes." Now I realize this doesn't sound all that funny, but the line is spoken to a monkey and involves getting flicked off. Needless to say it made me giggle.

Outside of the humor aspect of the book there really isn't a lot to say about it. Which is disappointing. The plot wasn't all the fantastic. I think the premise is fine, but it was just not fleshed out all that well. I got the feeling that this was suppose to be an urban fantasy humor book, but it was all humor no urban fantasy. Okay that's a lie, there were elements that were urban fantasy, but it was so beyond unbelievable that it just didn't work. If you showed up at work and said things like, "Hachett showed up at my house last night with a sword yelling in middle english and cut me from elbow to wrist," the people at your place of work would be like "WTF". Unless of course you are Lizzie, and then in that case your boss basically says "oh that's nice, call first next time." It just didn't work for me at all. And I think Evanovich tries to right off these reactions by continuing to mention that it takes place in Salem, which of course is known for it's weirdness, so no wonder no one is surprised by any of these crazy scenarios.

There really isn't any romance in the book, there is a lot of really funny what I assume to be flirting, but really no romance, so if that is what you are looking for go somewhere else. Almost all of the funny situations come from animals, be it the ninja cat or Carl the monkey, but really those are the best characters in the book. I think if you remove the plot and just had Carl interacting with people I still would have thought the book was funny, which doesn't say much for the book.

Overall, it was a fast and funny read. If you ask me tomorrow what happened in the book I probably won't remember. I'll remember the monkey and how the monkey can destroy a car like no other, but that will be about it. If you are looking to just escape for three hours and have a laugh or two, then this is your book.