Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I was horribly disappointed in books 13 - 16 and I wasn't going to buy 17 but I saw some decent reviews as well as the mention of Steph/Ranger sex and I caved. Is this book better than 13 -16 - Yes. Is it good? No. This book feels forced and completely disjointed. I don't believe it was written by JE or at least not completely and many of the characters are, once again, out of character. Grandma is tame, Ranger is devoid of personality and Morelli is resigned. I love Ranger, I'm thrilled we got some S/R loving and I would like to see what would happen with a Steph/Ranger pairing. Morelli has always made it clear that he hates Steph bounty hunting and wants her to settle down and be a good Burg wife regardless of what she wants. If Steph ends up with Morelli then JE needs to end the series because no one wants to read about Steph learning to make pot roast. At some point she needs to make a decision. It would have been nice to see Steph actually struggle with choosing one of her men but instead she has sex with both of them and believes she is doing it because of a curse put on her by Bella. Pathetic. Why can't JE have Steph grow up a little, get some skills, look at her life and really consider whether she wants to be Morelli's Burg wife or Ranger's Wonder Woman? Instead JE keeps doing these idiotic and repetitive plots and in this book...the characters don't feel real. There was no connection between Steph and Morelli, little connection between Steph and Ranger and the concept of Steph starting to sleep with Ranger again out of the clear blue after all these years was never addressed. Even the dynamic between Steph and Lula was off. The early Stephanie we all fell in love with is gone and in her place is this poorly written caricature. The whole book just felt wrong. And lazy. What's the point in having a killer when you make his identity obvious almost from the beginning? I don't know what I'll do about 18....other than hope JE fires Alex and her other ghostwriters and writes it herself! Or goes out to Fanfiction and hires a ghost who truly loves the series!