Good morning/afternoon! Hope you guys are having a good day. Can you believe its Sept 12 already? Wow. Tomorrow is my nieces birthday and I am super excited because we get to see her for her birthday on Sunday. As we live 4-5 hours away, we only get to spend a little precious time together. Today I have Sophia Rose on the blog and she delivers us an audio book review of Janet Evanovich interesting new series. Like Sophia, I’ve been meaning to try her books for a really long time as well. I think I am just good at collecting books over reading them. Regardless, enjoy her lovely review!

Dangerous Minds by Janet Evanovich, Lorelei King
Published by Random House Audio Publishing Group on June 20th 2017
Genres: Mystery
Pages: 6 hours 44 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Publisher
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I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The irrepressibly charming duo of Emerson Knight and Riley Moon returns in another gripping mystery by #1 New York Times bestselling author Janet Evanovich.
Buddhist monk Wayan Bagus lost his island of solitude and wants to get it back. The island was about two hundred miles northeast of Samoa. It had a mountain, beaches, a rain forest, and a volcano. And now it’s gone. Poof! Vanished without a trace.
Brilliant and boyishly charming Emerson Knight likes nothing better than solving an unsolvable, improbable mystery. And finding a missing island is better than Christmas morning in the Knight household. When clues lead to a dark and sinister secret that is being guarded by the National Park Service, Emerson will need to assemble a crack team for help. Since a crack team isn’t available, he enlists Riley Moon and his cousin Vernon. Riley Moon has a Harvard business degree and can shoot the eyes out of a grasshopper at fifty feet, but she can’t figure out how to escape the vortex of Emerson Knight’s odd life. Vernon has been Emerson’s loyal and enthusiastic partner in crime since childhood. He now lives in an RV behind Emerson’s house.
Together, this ragtag, mismatched trio will embark on a worldwide investigation that will expose a conspiracy one hundred years in the making.

For years, I’ve been meaning to try a Janet Evanovich book. I thought it would be her acclaimed Stephanie Plum series, but then this one which was only two books in, caught my eye and, yes, I confess, it was because I adore Lorelei King as a narrator.

I was a little concerned that I was picking up the second book in a series, but shrugged it off. Dangerous Minds ended up doing just fine out of order and would work as a standalone.

The book opens with a startling arrival to wealthy Emerson Knight’s estate. His former mentor, a soft-voiced Buddhist monk states that his island home disappeared. Of course, it was funny, but also set the ball in motion for eccentric Emerson, redoubtable Riley, along with Emerson’s hilarious horn-dog cousin Vernon, and the monk, Wayan, to head out on their latest adventure.

Throughout the book, I found myself bursting out with laughs, mostly at Vernon’s juvenile humor, but nearly as often at Emerson. Evanovich knows how to write brilliant, quirky and engaging characters.

The setting for this latest case is America’s Nat’l Parks that contain volcanic action. I loved this, particularly, since I just spent a bit this past summer camping at a Nat’l Park and exploring its volcanic region and I’ve been to Yellowstone, twice, where lots of the story took place.

This is a lighter suspense story with the bad guys evident from the beginning, but the mystery of what they are hiding in the national parks being the unknown element. There are a few ‘ew’ moments when things get gritty, but for the most part, the intrepid gang of heroes manage to keep life and limb intact while cheesing it up.

There is a very slow-build romance element between Emerson and Riley, but the situation they are in causes this to stop and start its way along. They are a fun pair of opposites.

Lorelei King told a saucy adventure well and I loved that though there are many more male voices than female, she nailed it. Great match for the tone and pace of the book.

So, my first outing with a Janet Evanovich book was a rousing good success and I will definitely want more Knight & Moon adventures. I think the cozy mystery and light romantic suspense lovers would be a good fit for this book/series.