Jenn's Review: Wild Ride

Summary: Mary Alice Brannigan doesn’t believe in the supernatural. Nor does she expect to find that Dreamland, the decaying amusement park she’s been hired to restore, is a prison for the five Untouchables, the most powerful demons in the history of the world. Plus, there’s a guy she’s falling hard for, and there’s something about him that’s not quite right.

But rocky romances and demented demons aren’t the only problems in Dreamland: Mab’s also coping with a crooked politician, a supernatural raven, a secret government agency, an inexperienced sorceress, an unsettling inheritance, and some mind-boggling revelations from her past. As her personal demons wreck her new found relationship and real demons wreck the park, Mab faces down immortal evil and discovers what everybody who’s ever been to an amusement park knows: The end of the ride is always the wildest.


Review: Whatever I was expecting when I picked up Wild Ride, this wasn't it. I'm notorious for not reading the dust flaps before I start a book, especially if it's an author I like ~ why spoil the plot?!? So sometimes, case in point, I get taken completely surprise. Both of Crusie's & Mayer's previous collaborations are different from each other, so too is Wild Ride. It's Buffy meets Bones... in an odd way.

It has all the classic action and romance of a Crusie Mayer novel, but this time the romance is not between the two main characters. Both Mab and Ethan have other romantic interests and it is refreshing to see the Crusie Mayer team write for two couples.

The plot is topsy turvy and sometimes overly complicated. There is lots of plot exposition that is alluded to but never really supplied. Often times it felt like the reader was set down in the middle of an ongoing saga. There is a twist that I saw coming thirty pages in, but it was still and interesting reveal and well played out.

I'm not sure how to feel about Mab. She's not an easy character with whom to identify. Her responses and behaviors would seem to indicate that she has Asperger's but it may just be a product of her upbringing and not knowing bothered me throughout the book. Actually, I would have liked to get to know all of the characters a little better, demons included (I loved the squabling demons!), as they were all fascinating.

The wit of this writing team makes it an entertaining read. All in all, if you enjoy shenanigans, romance, action, and a few demons, this is a great, light summer book for you.

*Also, If you are new to the Crusie Mayer team, I cannot recommend their second novel, Agnes and the Hitman, highly enough.

Final Take: 3.75/5