Time to wrap things up?

[bettyboop]

I've enjoyed the Stephanie Plum books. I really have. I just finished #13, though, and I have to say I think its time for the series to wrap up. I think it's past time for the love triangle to resolve itself. I was crazy about all of the characters in the first few books. Now Stephanie is coming out looking like a real jerk for continuing to string two men along. She's become dishonest with both of them, and she's a terrible tease with Ranger in a way that just makes her look shallow and immature.

She screams that she wants Morelli to respect her rights to take care of herself, and then she expects him (and Ranger) to keep cleaning up every mess she gets herself into. She doesn't even seem to appreciate that they both keep running after her. She just takes them for granted.

It's no longer cute. She's losing her credibility as a character.

I can see the appeal of both men, but several books back she went beyond the point at which acting like this because she's confused about her feelings was acceptable. She's just using them both now.

At this point, I think the best thing that could happen to her would be if they both cut her off and forced her to grow up a little.

Stephanie has jumped the shark.

[vaderlover]

I'm inclined to agree with you. It's not fair to Ranger or Morelli that she refuses to choose just one of them. It's not fair to Morelli that she's had sex with Ranger (even though she & Morelli were in one of their off stages, it still doesn't seem right to me). I don't know. I love both guys & can see her with either one, but you're right, she needs to grow up.

[pghfoxfan]

I respectfully disagree. Both Morelli and Ranger are free to date and fall in love with someone else. The point is, they both love Stephanie and Stephanie loves both of them(even though it may seem to be in different ways). I know this sounds weird, but I think that Morelli and Ranger have a mutual respect for each other...not to say they want to share a girl. I also don't think that Stephanie expects Ranger or Joe to come to her rescue. I think they both look after her out of love.

[bettyboop]

Stephanie is a chronic damsel in distress. She makes a lot of noise with Morelli about wanting to be a liberated woman, but she isn't. She's the most dependent woman in the series. Her life is one giant mooch.

At times that's charming, and at first the love triangle was intriguing, but enough is enough. Stephanie needs to grow as a character, and she needs to show some integrity.

In LMT, she reached the point of being downright dishonest with both men, but especially with Morelli. Her behavior has become inexcusable. She plays cock tease with Ranger and then backs off at the last minute, blaming him for "poaching" even though she's the one who provoked it. She tells Morelli nothing is going on with Ranger, which is an absolute lie. She even encouraged Ranger to keep coming on to her by questioning whether she was really "a couple" with Joe. Another lie. She knew she had a commitment to Joe and that he would not be okay with her acting like she didn't.

Love triangles are only justifiable when everyone knows what page they are on. They're just trashy when people start lying to keep them going.

Stephanie is selfish and immature. If she can't grow up as a character, the series has gone on too long.

[pghfoxfan]

If Stephanie was committed to Joe, she would give up her apartment.

I hope this "love triangle" goes on a long long time! It's part of what this series is all about. This isn't real life. It's where most of us go to escape "real life" for a while and relax and enjoy the characters.

I hope that Stephanie doesn't pick between Joe and Ranger. I love that she is different with the two of them and that they both make her make her feel special, loved and protected.

I can get monogamy in my own life...it's nice to read a fantasy/romance series that can take me out of reality, if only for a few hours, even if it is only in a book.

[bettyboop]

I sure hope the people I've dated didn't consider moving in together to be the point at which they were obligated to monogamy or at least honesty about whether they were fooling around with anyone else.

She crossed a really bad line when she lied to Joe. I know this is fiction, but I'd like to be able to respect the people I identify with in escapist fantasies. I can't respect Stephanie for the way she's handled the triangle.

Do we really want to glamorize infidelity? Are there that many people out there who really think this is cool?

The love triangle has crossed over to the dark side now. Keeping it up this long has ruined the characters. None of them have the vitality they did in earlier books, and Stephanie is coming out looking so untrustworthy that it's hard to believe she could ever be happy with any man.

[pghfoxfan]

I guess I feel until she is married, she can "play the field" so to speak. I don't think she is playing games. I honestly think she just doesn't know who she wants to be with, if she even wants to be "with" anyone yet. As I said, she hasn't given up her own place yet, so IMO, she hasn't settled with Joe, even though she does stay there sometimes. I doubt many people agree with infidelity in real life. But again, Stephanie has not committed to Joe yet. I think she loves both Ranger and Joe and is trying to figure out if either of them (if either) is the one for her.
Maybe she should just tell Joe that she wants to date others. She could still see Joe if he wants, yet, she is not being dishonest with anyone.

[bettyboop]

She is being dishonest if Joe thinks she isn't playing the field. He's made it clear that he would not be okay with her making out with Ranger, and in LMT, when he asked her about it, she said nothing had happened. That wasn't true. Everything but actual intercourse had happened repeatedly.

If she were above board with Morelli, and he still chose to accept the status quo with their relationship, that would be one thing. He has the right to make that choice based on honest information from her. The fact that she won't tell him what's going on even when he asks makes her pretty skanky.

If he did the same thing, none of Stephanie's fans would forgive him. She shouldn't get a free pass on messing around without admitting it to her boyfriend.

I think the triangle has stretched out so long that it has seriously undermined Stephanie as a character. It gets harder and harder to believe she's sincere about her feelings for either man. If she really loved either one of them, she wouldn't play them off against each other. Keeping up a relationship with both of them is purely selfish, and selfishness is not love.

[pghfoxfan]

Well, I guess time will tell. If the sales drop in the next couple books, you may be right about fans feeling bad for Joe and Stephanie's behavior. But I have a feeling that sale will remain the same. I think the fans love the characters for who they are...with or without flaws. As for me, I LOVE the laugh out loud entertainment!

[bettyboop]

I love Lula and Grandma Mazur. Those characters are still just as priceless as ever. I just think the series has gone on too long for Stephanie not to have matured any more than she has. She's been through a lot of life and death situations that should have given her some perspective, but she's no closer to straightening out her priorities than she ever was. Whereas for a time she came across as flighty and impulsive, now she's looking weak-willed in a way that seems to be a much bigger character flaw.

I think the series will hold more lasting admiration from its fans if Stephanie grows up enough to pony up and take some responsibility for her own actions and her own choices. She needs to have a heart to heart with Morelli and take her chances that she loses him because of it...just because it's the right thing to do, and she cares enough about him to want to do right.

If she doesn't, she'd be due for him to break up with her and find a new girlfriend.

I think Evanovich would be so much better off to resolve Stephanie's relationship issues and move on to something else. She could do a new series, or she could bring in a new female lead into the same basic setting.

In the Full House series, they switched off to new lead characters when the storyline between Jamie and Max had played itself out. It worked there.

[bettyboop]

I guess I'd just like to see the series end at the top of its game instead of dragging out to the point that the characters are weak and the plotlines are old. The ones that go on like this through too many books always end up losing in the end. There's a reason J.K. Rowling set a clear stopping point for Harry Potter from the outset. She knew what she was doing.

[pghfoxfan]

I'm not ready for the series to end. I go through a "depression" every time I finish a book. I swear I go through withdraw. I immediately start missing the characters. Heck, they're like friends.

[bettyboop]

I have faith that the next thing Evanovich started would be just as funny and charming.

[dandybrush]

Im not ready for the series to end either, I love the laugh out loud that the books give, and i love the stephanine plum character, fiercly independent, yet still needing that something from a man. I love both Joe and Ranger and i dont doubt that when the series ends it will be a happy ending for both men. However I'm loving all the interactions currently between the characters and I'm dreading that it will finish at all. I go into withdrawels when the books end every time, evanovich cant write fast enough where im concerned.

[pghfoxfan]

I agree dandybrush! I love all the characters flaws about as much as I like their strengths.