Annie's Wild Ride
Grade : B-

Annie's Wild Ride is probably one of the better books I have read in a long time. The ending was a bit of a let down but, overall, I'd have to say the ride (or should I say the read) was worth it.

Anne (gee, I like that name and how it's spelled) and Paul Gaasbeck are two brilliant, competitive, highly driven people who first meet as intellectual sparring partners in a class at the United States Air Force Academy where they are both students. They fall in love, get married, have a child, get divorced and then get back together again. Anne and Paul's story is the story of many people whose marriages fall apart not because of what people tell each other but because of what they don't tell each other.

Anne Gaasbeck and her 11-year-old daughter Amelia are returning from a ski trip when the weather turns ugly. Anne, a seasoned, expert pilot, successfully crash lands their plane in a remote mountainous area of Colorado during a blizzard. There is no rush to conduct a rescue effort for the plane and its passengers as the blizzard rages on and it is assumed that there is no way Anne or Amelia could have survived the crash. They do survive the crash however and, although Anne and Paul have been divorced for several years, there is no doubt in Anne's mind that Paul will come for them. She reassures their distraught daughter that they only need to sit back and wait.

As Anne and Amelia wait it out amid subzero temperatures in the damaged cockpit of the plane and Paul frantically begins his one-man search and rescue mission, Anne and Paul's love story is told through a series of flashbacks that conclude when they divorce. Paul's rescue effort is indeed successful and the story returns to the present when Anne is forced to rely on Paul's assistance as she recuperates from a badly broken arm and frostbitten fingers. Their years apart have given Anne and Paul time to think about things and their time together again makes them realize that they never really fell out of love - life just did a number on it - and they begin to mend the broken fences of their relationship.

This book draws a wonderful analogy between the ability to fly and the ability to love and how loving someone is very much like flying high and free up amongst the clouds. It also tells the flip side of the coin and about how trying to be too much in control and never letting your feelings show can help ground a relationship faster than iced-up wings. It is a very well told and gripping tale, but the ending seemed unrealistic and I found myself frustrated with Paul - being upset with the hero at the end of a romance is not optimal. Until that point, Adams' tale had been intensely and emotionally involving, but she lost me at the last moment.

Planes are definitely where it's at in this story but it just didn't seem quite the right place to end it - I got angry at Paul for making Annie take this particular ride. For the most part, however, Annie's Wild Ride is definitely worth the price of a plane ticket (pun intended)!

Reviewed by Anne Ritter
Grade : B-

Sensuality: Subtle

Review Date : August 12, 1998

Publication Date: 1998

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