TEST
Well, it’s obvious that I’ve been missing out on some good fun by not managing to get around to reading Sandra Hill’s Viking/Time Travel series until now. Simultaneously silly, goofy, sexy, and smart, Wet and Wild is one of the funniest and most charming books I’ve read this year.
Ragnor Magnusson has had enough with all the swiving and pillaging already. Fortunately for the Viking warrior, his ennui is annihilated when mid-battle he suddenly finds himself waking up in a strange new world. He thinks he’s been taken prisoner by very bizarrely dressed enemies who also talk funny, but we know he has somehow changed places with his recently injured brother who was forced to leave his SEAL BUD/S training class due to an injury. To make matters even more confusing, everybody thinks he’s his brother. (Not that Ragnor knows the guy they think he’s become is really his brother since he thinks he’s dead, but we know his family time-traveled, too. Got that?)
Dr. Allison MacLean is the daughter of an Admiral and the sister of a SEAL. She’s also a very driven woman determined to join the SEALs as soon as the Navy gets its act together and allows women into the special forces. Working on the base tending the brawny babes, she’s constantly surrounded by SEALS on the make. Normally, the reserved and directed Allison is anything but interested – that is, until this Ragnor guy (she and everybody else calls him “Max”) comes along.
Things don’t get off to an especially fortuitous start (he thinks she’s a “dock whore”), but soon enough they’re swiving. And almost as quickly as the sparks start flying, the always upright Allison, whose SEAL fiance was killed by terrorists, finds herself coming back to life in the arms of a very sexy Viking.
To be honest, there’s not a lot in the way of plot here. The book primarily consists of the fish-out-of-water-joke in the very skilled and funny hands of the author – and, then, of course, there’s some pretty sexy swiving. (In case you can’t tell, I love that word.) Frankly, this is low brow humor that isn’t dumb and I think it takes a very talented writer to pull off that very neat trick.
Neither Ragnor or Allison are especially deep characters, and, while I would have liked to know a bit more about Allison other than her desire to prove herself and her grief over the loss of her fiance, I think that’s fine for what the author is doing here. There is, however, a stalker subplot that struck me as kind of out of place and off-kilter and I can’t help thinking the book would have been better without it. (Are all editors and publishers demanding a suspense subplot these days?)
Still, this just isn’t a book to quibble about too much, or, frankly, to examine too closely. Whether you’ve read the author’s Viking stories before or if the author is new to you (as she was to me), Wet and Wild is a book I don’t hesitate to recommend. Feeling down? Need a laugh? This one could be just what the “dock whore” ordered.
Grade: B
Book Type: Time Travel Romance
Sensuality: Hot
Review Date: 10/10/04
Publication Date: 2004
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Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.