[.ca] What Looks Like Crazy (ISBN 0515144231)

Déjà vu all over again:
There's something very familiar about the heroine of this beach-lite quick read by Charlotte Hughes. Assuming that imitation is indeed the sincerest form of flattery, fans of the Stephanie Plum series will easily recognize that Janet Evanovich is being adulated to the point of obsequiousness in this novel, and I say that not only to let you know that I have a thesaurus at my disposal, but because it's a fact. 1 (a) Stephanie Plum (hereinafter referred to as SP to save me having to type the whole thing) is an accident prone bounty hunter, whose job brings her into contact with crazy people 1 (b) Kate Holly (KH for the same reason listed above) is an accident prone psychologist, whose job brings her into contact with people she's not allowed to call crazy. 2 (a) SP has two men involved in her messed up romantic life 2 (b) So has KH 3(a) SP's main love interest is a good cop who happens to be hot 3 (b) KH's main love interest is a good firefighter who is hot in more ways than one 4 (a) SP has a weird and funny family 4 (b) ditto KH 5 (a) SP works with an eccentric secretary 5 (b) KH has an eccentric secretary 6 (a) SP gets threatened a lot 6 (b) You guessed it! 7 (a) SP's property often gets blown up 7 (b) Someone tries the same thing with KH 8 (a) SP lives from paycheck to paycheck in a crummy apartment 8 (b) KH barely makes ends meet in a rental house she calls "Mad Ethel" 9 (a) SP exists on junk food and often eats at her mother's house 9 (b) KH exists on junk food, except when her mother cooks or brings over take-out 10 (a) SP shares custody of a dog named Bob 10 (b) KH adopts a stray that she names Mike The story itself is entertaining and funny, as is the case with the Stephanie Plum series, but there's not enough to differentiate the plot of this one or make it stand out. Reading this is like reading Evanovich, so I'd recommend this to people who just can't get enough Plum. Amanda Richards