Annie's Wild Ride

I really, really liked this book and strongly recommend it to other readers like myself who enjoy reading romances but have been frustrated by the quality of the books being published in the romance market today. This book is interesting in that it features a pair of complex, strong-willed, imperfect characters in the form of the combatant heroine and her ex-husband. Their interactions are always interesting and believable. I love the fact that their whole history, i.e, meeting, marriage, parenting and divorce is presented to the reader. There is also genuine drama presented by the event that eventually bring this couple back together, the plane crash and the heroine's subsequent struggle to save herself and her child. This book is not cloying or "cute" with the same old predictable storyline and flowery language so prevalent in many of the romance books out today. It is good reading because the characters and the storyline are believable, the dialogue realistic and the plotting and pacing impeccable. A highly recommended read.

This book does for romance what Anatomy of a Murder did for mysteries. It takes apart a broken realtionship to see what went wrong, and gives you an intimate look inside why love is sometimes not enough, and why pride can hurt even the strongest relationship. Once the walls are down, though, and honesty comes in to cleanse the wounds, Annie and Paul are able to remember why they loved each other, and to build something even stronger than before.

To use my own mere words to describe this book would be a gross injustice. It was asbsolutely perfect. I must admit picked up this book because it was on the RITA AWARD list but wasn't too thrilled with the premise. Reading about a relationship between a couple that had been divorced for years did not appeal to me. Afterall, how endearing, or romantic can a story be about two pilots whose marriage ended and had been over for several years. I was afraid it would deal with a romance gone sour and rekindled. I had no idea it would deal with a romance that needed no rekindling - it was an inferno that never died. How Adams manages to go back and forth from past to present without allowing the reader to lose the momentum is a sign of her phenomenal writing skills. Every transition is perfectly timed and pulls together the story in a way to keep you up until all hours to finish. Who could ever guess that the most heartfelt emotion would come from the hardest, tough guy - hero you will come across in fiction? This is a book you will not hestitate to pass on to your friends.

In the hands of anyone less skilled than Ms. Adams, all the flashbacks might have been off-putting. But she did as outstanding a job of using this tricky literary technique as any author I've ever seen. It was a great way to reveal the inner workings of both the hero's and heroine's take on their failed marriage. Without giving away the ending, I was very glad this was a romance with a happy ending. Yet, for those who like mainstream type "realism," the book has a very believable resolution of the conflicts between the hero and heroine, which are many and complex. Can't wait to see her next book!

I loved this book, but wouldn't recommend without first giving a strong warning. Not sure what that warning would be though. Not for the faint of heart or those that don't like flawed characters. NOT a light read, but a superbly crafted, well written novel. I both hated and loved Paul with equal fervor throughout and could understand Anne's wild ride. At one point I thought, ok, if this were the typical romance plot, it's time to get rid of Paul and bring in the good guy. But just like Anne, I held out hope. I'm glad I did. It certainly took him long enough and it's a good thing Annie had a strong threshold for pain.I can't wait to see what Alina Adams has in store for the future. It can't come soon enough for me.