Foul Play

This is my first Janet Evanovich and I think it might be my last. Flat characters, helpless virgin, madly in love and engage within 5 whole days and don't forget the man sweeping in and rescuing her with no thought or discussion to what she wanted. Maybe I'm missing something? Was this tongue in cheek? I'll let you know after I get the bile out of my mouth.

"This is one of Evanovich's fluffy screwball comedy/romances. Do not come looking for substance, but they are truly hilarious comfort reads without a lick of realism. Which was exactly what I needed at the time. This one takes place when the heroine loses her job to a chicken and a nice veterinarian comes to the rescue. Recommended for when you just want to laugh and believe the world is a nice place."

The premise sounded cute. Unfortunately, the execution fell short of what I’ve seen from this author’s other works. I find the idea of falling in love, having a sexual relationship, and deciding to marry in the space of a few days ludicrous, at best. Yet, that is exactly what this book has the two main characters doing — all against the background of an insufficiently handled mystery over a missing performing chicken. The “romantic” scenes read more like soft-core porn.

I’m glad this is not my first Evanovich story or I doubt I would read another.

I really enjoyed reading "Foul Play" by Janet Evanovich. This is one of her very early books written for a serial romance publisher in the late 80s/early 90s, and it's very well done for what it is. Evanovich describes these early books as "red-hot screwball comedies" and while I do agree with the screwball comedy, "Foul Play" was very much G-rated. So if you enjoy a very light romance with side-splitting laughter, this is definitely a book for you.

This is one of Evanovich's fluffy screwball comedy/romances. Do not come looking for substance, but they are truly hilarious comfort reads without a lick of realism. Which was exactly what I needed at the time. This one takes place when the heroine loses her job to a chicken and a nice veterinarian comes to the rescue. Recommended for when you just want to laugh and believe the world is a nice place.

There is a note that this book was originally published as a "Second Chance at Love" paperback in 1989, in a slightly altered form, by the Berkley Publishing Group under the pseudonym Steffie Hall. I did not realize that Janet Evanovich was one of the authors that published her work using a pseudonym. The new title and 'cover art' capture the story with the humor and lightheartedness that one can always expect from one of the author's novels.
Or, as per one of her quotes, "Romance novels are birthday cake and life is often peanut butter and jelly. I think everyone should have lots of delicious romance novels lying around for those times when the peanut butter of life gets stuck to the roof of your mouth."
If you have some peanut butter of show more life stuck to the roof of your mouth and love animals, picking up this novel will definitely give you pause for a few minutes of giggling to hilarious escape. show less

I like Janet Evanovich, but this particular book, one of her early romances, is like eating commercial icing out of the container. It needs some cake! The last chapter, nine, was especially poorly written. The book does show how far Evanovich has developed as a writer.