Customer Reviews

Born to Be Wild

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I love Catherine Coulter's FBI series with Savich and Sherlock but this is a whole different type of novel and shows a more playful side to her writing.

The story opens at the Daytime Emmys where Mary Lisa Beverly who is the lead actress on the soap "Born to Be Wild" is waiting to hear who has won Best Actress. She is sure it isn't her as she has won it the two previous years but, of course, she wins. She is so excited and in shock!! She knows her costars, Margie, Jeff and Betsey are sincere in their wishes and that Bernie, the head writer, and the producers are all excited too!!

The next chapter has Mary Lisa in disguise in Malibu where she lives in the Colony - a secure and gated community -- out to shop and stroll. Mary Lisa is also intent on avoiding a paparazzi named Poker Hodges who she had to get a restraining order against. She is almost home and crossing a road when a dark sedan comes right at her and despite her best efforts she is struck on her hip and knocked down. While down a would-be actress's little dog called Honey Boy keeps licking her -- hilarious!!

Mary Lisa's friends are very worried about her. Lou Lou is quick at her side along with an old surfer guy named Carlo. Detective Daniel Vasquez who gets the case gets a long list of associates and friends and coworkers from Mary Lisa to investigate -- although he is somewhat distracted by an attraction to her friend Lou Lou. After finishing her scenes for the week on her soap, Mary Lisa decides to visit home where she hasn't been for 3 years. Her hometown is Goddard Bay, Oregon where she is close to her dad but not close to her mom or sisters. Her one sister Monica she found in bed with her at-the-time fiance, Mark. Monica married Mark and is now running for the State Senate in Oregon. Her younger sister Kelly is jealous of her and her mom, Kathleen, seems to resent her.

Just as Mary Lisa arrives in town a man is killed and his wife, father-in-law and mother-in-law are among the suspects. His mother-in-law is bests friends with Mary Lisa's mother. To top it off the Chief of Police in Goddard, Jack Wolf, put Mary Lisa in jail overnight the last time she was in town!!

The story just goes on from here getting both more dangerous and scary as well as hilarious!!

If you're interested in reading something a bit lighter by Ms. Coulter and enjoy some fun with the serious, you will enjoy this book!

Many, many years ago I read Catherine Coulter, read her avidly, eagerly looking forward to her next book. Well, this is the first one of hers that I have read in about a decade and WHAT HAPPENED? Three times I set this book down in disgust, only to come back to it out of sheer stubbornness.

There is not enough room to write about just how bad this book was. From generally poor writing (Mary Lisa said, Jack said, Lou Lou said... until you want to yell "I KNOW who is involved in this conversation!), silly plot, unneccessary side stepping.

WHO CARES that the hero digs a chunky chip into guacamole? OH WOW, we get to know the different flavors of potato chips being devoured by three woman while they talk about the big case. WHEN have any of us heard of investigating cops asking "why is she wearing those pajamas when you are wearing those"? YEAH sure, an agent involved in a case is going to let endangered person call the shots in even the tiniest part of the investigation. And the names! Mary Lisa? Lou Lou? Puker? Gimme a freaking break! Aaaarrrrggggg!!!

Ms. Coulter, I used to love your books. PLEASE get back to what you used to do so well. If you cannot write the "FBI style" books that are so popular now, then don't. STOP feeding the bestseller beast anything less than your best. Cease. Desist. Please go back to what you are great at.

I usually read through one of Coulter's novel in a few days, exspecially her FBI/intrigue plots. I bought this as soon has it was released in paperback and still haven't finished it. The plot was slow and the main heroine a little too likable. Spoiler: Neighborhood teenagers diving on her body to protect her from bullets?! Talk about a work of fiction. No one expects a romance to be on our plane of reality, but in the same solar system would be nice.

I am a big Catherine Coulter fan, but this book is awful. You can skip all the Soap scenes, a waste of space. Much of the dialouge made no sense and the characters were very flat.

Don't waste the $6, borrow from the library if you want to read.

I picked this book up because I hadn't read one of Catherie Coulter's books in a while & have enjoyed her previous work. I confess that I found it to be simply okay. The characters of Mary Lisa and her two friends were likable, I found the scenes describing shooting the soap opera interesting, and I liked the soap opera trivia sprinkled throughout. That being said, its only a 3 b/c when I really think about the book there are several things I can't get past. This includes a number of unresolved plot lines, almost as if too much was crammed into it. I had some trouble believing a Chief of Police could just up & leave his town to protect someone in another state and be able to easily assist the local police. Several relationships remain unresolved and undeveloped [although perhaps that is more realistic, but still...] and the characters themselves don't really develop but remain flat. At times Mary Lisa's romance also seems be forced along instead of naturally developing during the mystery plotline. So overall, it was a nice read, but not a page turner.

I must admit that I've never read Catherine Coulter before, but I found this book an enjoyable read. This novel is mainly comedic, although there are some rather serious things that happen toward the end.

The heroine of this novel is Mary Lisa Beverly, a young soap-opera star. She lives in Malibu and has some great friends, but a middling love life. Unfortunately, someone is trying to kill her, which leads her to go back to her home town in Goddard Bay, Oregon. There, she reunites with her highly dysfunctional family and meets two men who are potential love interests, DA John Goddard and Chief of Police Jack Wolf.

This book is in no way realistic, but that's okay since it's mainly intended as a light-hearted romp. As another reviewer pointed out, there are a lot of loose ends that aren't tied up in the ending, but I suppose it's possible that Coulter is planning more books featuring these characters.

I don't know how this compares with Coulter's other work, but I found it enjoyable. A good purchase if you're looking for a fun diversion.

I am not a fan of Ms. Coulter's FBI series, but I did enjoy both False Pretenses and Beyond Eden, especially Beyond Eden, so I picked up this book particularly because those who were fans of the FBI series did not like this.

But I was not pleased with the abrupt closure of both mysteries, Ms. Coulter is better than this. The dialogue was interesting, the ideas were good. But no truly professional police officer would discuss an open case with someone outside of a need to know basis. Nor as was pointed out in another review would they leave during the middle of an open investigation.

I was pleased that Ms. Coulter resisted the impulse to make amends between mother and daughter, a mother who would hold ill-will against her daughter for something that happened between her and her husband, and there are women who do, would not suddenly become the loving mother.

There are great moments in the book, but then ending is flat, and I hope Ms. Coulter will re-work about the last third of the book someday.

While I wasn't overly impressed with this book, I would be lying if I said it was a BAD read. I actually enjoyed it - it was a nice, light read. I got this book from a co-worker of mine, so it was a decent hand-me-down. I love getting hand-me-downs, especially books because I have read/found a few great books this way. I kept it at work so I always had something to read during lunches and breaks, and it was a great way to keep myself amused.

The plot is fairly entertaining, with this soap-opera star who has to deal with a stalker/would-be assassin which has a surprise ending, though the more serious plot happens around her family and a family tragedy that has happened to their friends. There's several surprise twists in this book, and while some might have felt it cheesy (I did find the romance part to be cliched), I genuinely enjoyed this book and would recommend it as a light and fun read. Overall 3.5/5 stars.

This book has 3 story lines... first the Malibu soap opera star (Mary Lisa) being salked, second a murder in a small town in Oregon, third the actual soap opera (Born to be Wild) plot. There is also a sub-plot that includes Mary Lisa's mother and sisters, none of whom get along.

I did not like this book. I skimmed over the soap opera plot sections. Booooring. And they had nothing to do with the actual characters.

It is ridiculous to think that a Police Chief (Jack) from a small town in Oregon would go to Malibu California to help the local cops find a man who is stalking a soap opera star. Sure, Jack has met the woman, but he doesn't really know her! On top of that, Jack thinks maybe he needs help from the DA of this small Oregon town (John), so John gets on a plane to help out in Malibu!! They are so far out of their jurisdiction ..... not even in the same state!

THEN... little miss soap star goes to Oregon to see if she and her 2 friends can help Jack and John solve this murder (suicide?) case. WhatEVER.

On top of all of this loony business, Jack and Mary Lisa don't really have a romance. Wait... does rolling around in the sand with their clothes on while Mary Lisa's friends watch count? No. They do finally end up in bed, but the scene is short and unimaginative. A real let-down.

Nobody in this book is actually FBI. The suspense was superficial at best. The plot(s) were very unrealistic. Romance? What romance?

The only reason I gave this book 2 stars and not 1 is because I did actually finish the book. Hard to believe, but I wanted to see how it ended. (Not a good ending, either.)

While I was looking for somemore of Coulter's books to buy on Amazon.com, I was surprised that this book was rated so low! I just finished reading it yesterday and was pleasantly entertained. It's a romantic contemporary suspense with a hunk for a hero and a beautiful heroine that needs protecting. I thought how Coulter wove the plot with scenes from the 'soap' she starred in was well done and flowed nicely. I also enjoyed reading the little trivia about the history of soaps at the beginning of each chapter. I would recommend this book and not let the poor rating detour you.