Customer Reviews

Wild Ride

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

I think this is going to be it for me as far as buying JC's books go, and I hate to say that because I've read and enjoyed her romances for years. I wanted to get into this book, because I like the author and paranormal books, but I automatically approach her works as romances, and this one (like Agnes & The Hitman) doesn't work that way. If you can read Wild Ride as a paranormal work rather than a paranormal romance, you may enjoy it. I had to keep fighting against my romance expectations too much to really enjoy the book, and there were a few other issues.

SPOILERS AHEAD:

Mab felt recycled to me because she felt too much like two different female leads that JC had used in earlier works (Cinderella Deal and Faking It, if memory serves me correctly), and had written best in Faking It. If I had met her fresh, I'm still not sure that I would have liked the Mab version of that character type. I much preferred the male lead, Ethan; I kept thinking how much stronger the book would have been (at least to me) if the main characters had been Ethan and Weaver, instead of dividing the storyline up with Mab's half of the tale.

I didn't like the way that Mab spent most of the book sleeping with a guy that you knew was a red herring, while her real romantic partner had barely there scenes. I didn't like the cliche secret siblings plot twist or the equally cliche got knocked up twist. The knocked up thing felt particularly last minute tossed in. Two cliches in one book seemed a bit much. Cliche twists can work well if the writer does something interesting or takes it somewhere different, but this didn't go anywhere unexpected. It was very Rosemary's Baby meets Star Wars.

Mab, "Joe", and her romantic lead (can't even remember what the guy's name was), felt flat and dull, while the secondary characters like Weaver, Cindy, and the inquisitors felt real. I think I would have gotten in Mab's real romantic lead if I'd gotten to know him better and he had more scene time. I'd love to see more of Ethan and Weaver, Cindy and her dragons, but Mab and the demon spawn...meh. The main demons weren't nearly as interesting as the minion demons. I liked the amusement parking setting; it had a lot of promise.

If you enjoy paranormal works, and couldn't care less about romance, you might this one. If you loved JC's romances and want more of the same, this isn't the book for you. If you love JC's writing and don't care what she writes about, you would probably like this book.

I have often noticed that authors don't - can't, I suppose - have an inexhaustible supply of fresh and engaging books in them. It seems as if every writer I've ever loved has run out of steam at some point - stopped writing or started recycling well-worn formulas. I don't even have one book in me, so I'm not, in a sense, in a position to carp, but it's hard to lose something you care about, and it looks to me as if we're losing Jennifer Crusie.

If you just picked Wild Ride off the shelf - a book by a new author, for whom you have no expectations - it wouldn't be a bad read, maybe 4 stars. It's an unusual plot (although I don't like woo-woo stuff), fast-paced, with a lot of oddball characters. If you paid $5 for it at an airport, you'd be entertained reading it on the plane and happy to toss it afterwards.

If, on the other hand, you were looking for Jennifer Crusie, who wrote character-driven books with funny and intelligent leads and interesting relationships that you cared about, then this book would be 2 stars at best. I don't think we can blame her collaborations any longer, because Wild Ride has a lot in common with The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes and Dogs and Goddesses, and Crusie's the common denominator here. This is a plot-driven, good-humans-with-super-powers-against-evil-supernatural-forces book; clearly this is what interests Crusie now. Most of the characters are paper-thin (except Ethan - liked him a lot, but he's not typical of Crusie; is he Mayer's character?), and their relationships with each other are largely irrelevant. While the book's light-hearted, I wouldn't exactly call it funny, and I can't imagine wanting to read it again (once you know the plot twists, you're pretty much done). Is it worth the $17 you pay to buy an author you love in hardcover? No way.

I am a big Jennifer Crusie fan from way back. I've been reading her since the beginning, before she began this collaboration, and this is the first time I've been disappointed. I've enjoyed her romances and the comedy aspects a great deal, but this was neither. I downloaded this to my kindle and only 31% of the way through it I quit. I had to force myself to keep reading even that much of it. And at 'hardcover' type prices (vs. a 99-cent download), it took alot for me to quit reading. I am an avid reader, and never stop reading a book. I have only ever done that once before in my entire life, shut a book's cover and walked away. This I just wasn't interested in finishing. Too weird for me. If you're looking for a 'typical' Jennifer Crusie/Bob Mayer novel, or for romance or what I think of as her usual light-hearted story-telling, this is not it. I should have read the description and these reviews more closely!

This is not a typical Crusie and some of the readers who reviewed this book seemed very unhappy and or disappointed with the story. I thought the story was hilarious, and anyone who is a fan of the paranormal or "modern" fantasies should find this a very funny read. I've always thought Fun Zones or Carnivals as kind of creepy places and clowns even creepier so I found it brillant in a wacky way to set the story in an amusement park filled with demons, devils and assorted baddies. Perhaps those who disliked the story should give it another try. The Crusie/Mayer team were playing with you folks, poking fun at a genre that has gotten so out of hand that a friend was complaining to me the other day about vampires, werewolves, wizards and demons taking over the bookstores. Now I'm a fan of Butcher, Briggs, Harrison and many others who write about things that go bump in the night but it seems one cannot turn around without another "new" author coming out with another take on the paranormal and I'd guess that Crusie has probably been asked to read, review and critique a bunch of this stuff, which might have given her the idea to do this story. It is a joke, a satire, yes, but a gentle one, she is inviting us all to share a laugh with her.

As always, I love everything that Jenny Crusie writes. Her humor is unique and exquisite. And I love her collaborations with Bob Mayer - the male perspective adds so much depth and texture to these stories - I love it! This latest book was a bit of a departure from their previous books. They obviously tried some new things, and it worked for me -- I couldn't put the book down, and I hated when it was over. Still, I have to admit, there is less "romance" in this book than in their others. Ultimately, though, that didn't bother me; the humor is so fabulous, it more than makes up for the less romance, at least for me.

SPOILERS AHEAD...

This book is a bit different from their (and her) others... There are two protagonists in this book, a woman and a man, and each has their own separate story, although the stories are closely intertwined and interdependent - even more that we realize at first. In the beginning of the book, I thought that the main female character, MAB - Mary Alice Brannigan, and the main male character, Ethan, would end up together. But pretty quickly, I realized this was not going to be the case. So we have two separate protagonists who each have their own romance/HEA. That's the first twist. The second twist (and this is a big spoiler) is that there is a huge red herring in this book; the guy we initially think MAB is going to end up with is a red herring. Her true hero comes late in the book, although he is foreshadowed heavily throughout (he wasn't a surprise to me). Another twist in this book is that it's a paranormal romance, with demons abounding. I loved the ending, in regards to the outcomes for the demons, so it worked for me. But it's certainly not your typical paranormal romance (a la the queen of paranormal romance, Kresley Cole). Instead it was unique, and I appreciated that.

So, in conclusion, I think Jenny and Bob tried some new things in this book, did some experimenting, and took some chances. Some people might not appreciate that, but I find their humor and storytelling so much fun and so fabulous that I loved the book anyway, even though I wished there had been more focus on the romances of the two couples. I absolutely LOVED the ending. The image of MAB taking off in an RV with the moms and Frankie is priceless. I'm so glad Vanth gets to go on a road trip, and I loved how MAB took to her "parents". :)

So, if you're like me, and you LOVE how Jenny writes, you'll love this book. It's a little different than the others, but hey, trying something new is good. Jenny and Bob rock! :)

Disappointing. Don't read it unless you like people with special powers fighting demons in an amusement park. I loved Agnes & the Hitman.

If you are looking for Agnes & the Hitman again, or even something as passable as Don't Look Down, then this is NOT the book for you. The dialogue is not as easy as the other two books, and the characters seem to be forced and inconsistant. They start with a familiar mold, but then go sadly and wildly askew from the Crusie/Mayer likability. The storyline seems "phoned in" with some familiar elements meant to inspire comfort, but just seem to miss the mark and comes off as mocking the other two (GREAT) books. I am a big fan of Crusie, but seriously considered re-selling my collection upon reading this mess.

"Wild Ride" is the most fun I've had reading in a long time. Mary Alice Brannigan (Mab) is restoring an old, atmospheric amusement park - Dreamland. Ethan has come home to help at the park, as well. Together, Mab and Ethan will discover what Dreamland is really all about and more about themselves than they'd ever dreamed. I don't want to give away too much (to avoid spoilers, skip the editorial review), so I'll just say this: the book is the funniest "Good vs. Evil" tale you'll come across. Add in high adventure, hot romance, and off-beat characters and the war is on. I really enjoyed visiting Dreamland and I loved "Wild Ride".

I just finished "Wild Ride" and absolutely LOVED it! Is it a romance? Nah, not really, although the two main characters each find love. It was, however, fast-paced, unpredictable, quirky, and just a downright good read, and I couldn't put it down. I literally laughed out loud at some of the dialogue, a few excerpts of which I've put at the end of this review. The entire time I was reading the book, I could actually envision it as a movie. Maybe with Owen Wilson as Fun? Josh Duhamel (from "Transformers") as Ethan? Cynthia Nixon (from "Sex and the City") as Mab?

I was very surprised to see some of the less-than-stellar reviews here. I think some readers' disappointment came with the fact that people who have read Jennifer Crusie before expected the same old/same old, and this book is nothing of the sort. If you have read JC before and can let go of your preconceived expectations, then I think you will find the book delightful. And if you've never read JC before, you have no expectations about her work and can just sit down and, well...enjoy the ride!

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Cindy: "Okay, let's be calm. You're starting to sound like that nut job who used to picket the park."
Mab: "That was my mother."

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Ethan: [talking about her eyes flashing different colors] "So you slept with the demon and got this flash thing?"
Mab: "It's not an STD, Ethan. I didn't get demon cooties. It's part of *me*."

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Ethan: "When you get really mad, the light in your eyes changes to red. Why do you have two different colors?"
Mab: "I don't know, Ethan. Maybe I'm a human mood ring."

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Glenda: "Tell me. Am I going to die?"
Mab: "Eventually. Stop being such a drama queen. One near-death experience and you're acting like a diva."

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Mab: "There are twelve countries in this thing, and for all we know they're all possessed."
Oliver: "If it's China, they'll take a trade deal."

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Oliver: "Here's the plan. We go to the front and then run like hell."
Mab: "You're not brave. I like that in a man."

I have a real thing about reading books. When I start a book. I finish it. Whether it be the good, the bad, or the ugly. I finish it, because I feel I owe it to myself to at least finish it once I've bought it whether I like it or not.

It pains me to say I couldn't finish this book. Well, I tried. I tried on several occasions. I couldn't get into the plot, I didn't like the characters, and about halfway through, I gave up.

I've been reading Jennifer Crusie books for years, starting back when she wrote Harlequins and up to and including her books with Bob Mayer.

I'm hoping she gets back on track.