Wild Ride: A Novel

Always late to the review party, I still wanted to show up even if the Dream Cream is closed and the beer has been consumed.

I loved this book. Jennifer Cruise creates amazing quirky fleshed-out characters and Bob Mayer gets his licks in with great action scenes.

I loved the opening scene. At no point in this book did I get bogged down or lose interest--a remarkable event.

Plenty of romance past and present and plenty of plot twists.

This book is uncomfortably strange as in not quirky but, disturbing. One of Ms Crusie's strengths is her ability to put her characters in a less than normal mainstream lives, use witty dialog and steamy relationships to make very enjoyable novels. This isn't one. Without spoiling the book there are steamy relationships and just kinky weird ones, this falls to the latter. But, this is my "bad" I saw the authors names and grabbed the book without previewing, I won't be burned twice.
"

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I'm tired of the straight romance genre, and I love paranormal fiction, mystery and thriller, and this story had it all. The witty dialogue flies hard and fast, and the characters have great potential for a lot more interplay. I really hope Crusie and Mayer have plans to move this crowd to other venues and adventures.

I also had expectations that this would be a romance. But not only was that not the case, the main characters were foolish and goofy and kind of unlikable. I won't even go into the paranormal stuff. Let's just say I don't believe it even when it's done seriously -- and as slapstick, it's unbearable. The only thing that kept me reading was the fact that I like the author and was hoping for some redemption in the ending. My mistake.

It's a different direction for Crusie and Mayer, but they've hit it out of the amusement park this time. Wild Ride delivers the bantering dialog - and many memorable one-liners - that Jennifer Crusie is famous for. But it's the Bob Mayer action scenes that really make your pulse race. This book really is a Wild Ride. One of the most fun reads since ... well, since their last collaboration. It's on my keeper shelf.

Love, love, love Jennifer Crusie but actually disliked this book the most. Actually have not used the word dislike with a Crusie book before. I have noticed that I like her collaboration books less.

This book was hard to place. It wasn't funny. It wasn't snappy. I did read to the end but it took me about three tries to get into it. There wasn't really anything likable or plausible about the story. I wasn't very into the characters either.

Hope she'll just write her own books from here on out.

Like a BUNCH of other reviews, I'm disappointed in this one. I read the free downloadable "preface" and was really impatient for the book to drop. But when I finally got it... well...

Lots of trademark Jennifer Crusie humor, extremely funny secondary characters and situations, and a great premise. BUT... the plotting is awfully lazy, there was never that much tension about the demons OR the humans, and SO MANY lost opportunities to be really funny and turn all the OMG Demons!!111!!/Top Secret Gov't Agency conventions inside out.

Borrow this one from the library - it's enjoyable enough, but not a keeper.

The way Bob Mayer and Jennifer Crusie tied the characters and action together in this made the plot move fast. I particulrly enjoyed the "Demons" being given human traits. Being nagged by a goddess inside a fortune telling machine was funny.

Aptly named and overflowing with the unexpected: if you like carousels instead of roller coasters then do not ride this "Wild Ride." If you are looking for something unique and off beat...look no further. While there is certainly plenty of romance, the meat of the book is about family, loyalty, finding your place in the world, and demons(the real kind mixed with a few personal).

Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer are great together -the characters are quirky and interesting, the action is exciting and the storyline is always the unexpected, but Crusie just can't pull off the paranormal storylines. This is just like Dogs and Goddesses and The Unfortuate Miss Fortunes. Stick to real people with extraordinary circumstances (Like Agnes and the Hitman and Bet me -they were fantastic!)

I bought this book expecting another good collaboration like Don't Look Down and Agnes and the Hitman. It wasn't really like that, but if you can get past the first couple of chapters and keep all the characters straight, it is actually a great read. If you approach it from a standpoint of "I'm going to read this book, but it's not going to be very deep or thought-provoking" then it's enjoyable. Think of it as a beach read. Once I got the characters straight, I got into it.

I debated getting this book after reading some of the reviews but I'm so glad I purchased it. Yes it's different from Crusie's or Crusie/Mayer's other books but that's good. I go to my bookshelf if I want to read the same book over and over! The first scene when our hero comes home was absolutely hilarious. I picture the authors laughing like kids as they cooked up this plot. It was a fun read.

I LOVED this book! Is you like paranormal Books you will enjoy this alot,I think it had Plenty of romance,and lots of action,I really did enjoy it and dont understand why others didnt.So far I have enjoyed all jen's books!

I am really enjoying this latest book by Crusie and Mayer. It has a nice fast pace, interesting characters, fun paranormal elements and a bit of romance thrown in without being too explicit. One I can listen to with my teens in the car without cringing. I also enjoyed the other two books the authors have collaborated on.

I enjoy Jennifer Crusie's books and characters, but have had mixed feelings about her collaborations with Bob Mayer (Don't Look Down didn't impress me; Agnes did). With this joint effort, they've both stepped further out of their comfort zone by doing a paranormal book...and it really works! The elements of their individual storytelling styles are thoroughly enmeshed; the world they create is consistent, colorful, and interesting; and their characters are -- as always -- charming, funny, and easy to be with.

It's not quite the expected from either author, but if you aren't stuck on preconceived expectations, this book is a really fun read.

Oh, boy, I slogged through this one, wondering when the sharp dialogue and great characters would appear; it was almost two thirds of the way before Jennifer Crusie's writing broke through the boring. The two other books these authors collaborated on meshed well, this one did not. Don't know what's happened to Crusie lately, nothing new, only recycled stuff from years ago. Well, I can always keep rereading Bet Me for the sheer pleasure of it all. My question would be: At what point does an author stop caring about her craft and her audience? Oh, I know, let's ask MaryJanice Davidson.

Just because I was disappointed with "Wild Ride" doesn't mean that others would not like it. I know there is a market for this kind of story, I just don't happen to like paranormal/romance fiction as a rule.
The story is about demons and the Guardia, a group of powerful types that keep the demons imprisoned.
Aside from my disappointment with this book, I wish Crusie would go back to writing solo. "Don't Look Down" and "Agnes and the Hitman" were pretty good, but not the same caliber as her previous work (sorry, Bob).

These authors have really got something going. I hope to see more collaborations. There are some common elements in their books so they should change that up from time to time. Thoroughly enjoyed the characters and mix of the supernatural, love and adventure.