Running Wild by Linda Howard & Linda Jones

Running Wild 175Narrated by Maggie Wheeler

Trying a new narrator with a favorite author’s book is a chancy proposition for me and one I don’t often pursue without a lot of assurances from my romance audio friends. But when Brenda uncovered the little known fact that Maggie Wheeler is none other than Chandler’s obnoxious girlfriend, Janice, from Friends, I had to give it a try! An acting background says a lot about a narrator’s potential.

Knowing I was unlikely to find pure Linda Howard with Linda Jones co-authoring this tale, I approached Running Wild with an open mind hoping for simply a good book with a decent narration. Much to my delight, both the content and performance exceeded my expectations and I found myself listening at every opportunity and consuming the entire audio in less than three days. That’s a lot of listening for me.

Carlin Reed is in one tough fix. She dated psycho Brad only twice before deciding he wasn’t for her. But psycho that he was, Brad couldn’t accept her rejection and badgered her for more attention – breaking into her place, rearranging her clothes (according to the ones he liked best), and stalking her. When she moves to another city to escape his attention, he follows and kills one of her co-workers believing her to be Carlin. She takes off running, hiding her identity, and performing the most menial of jobs to earn a little money before moving on again.

Zeke Decker is one fine rancher – probably one of the most competent as well as sexy contemporary ranch owners I’ve seen in romance audio. He works as hard as the ranch hands on his big spread in Wyoming and relies heavily on Libby, his cook and housekeeper of many years. When Libby informs Zeke that she’s finally moving on, he’s beside himself. Who is going to cook those much-needed three meals a day for his hard working men? Although I found this first scene a little off putting in audio, it was only because it was all so new to me. I didn’t know what to expect of Maggie Wheeler and detected a whining note to Zeke’s voice. Not to worry – Zeke is not a whiner (nor does he sound like one) and within only minutes, I was sailing along.

Carlin hits the town of Battle Ridge with no intention of staying but before the end of the day, she’s working part time at the local diner. Cat, the owner (and cousin of Zeke), understands something serious is going on in Carlin’s life and agrees to pay her in cash. Ms. Wheeler sets Carlin apart with a Texas accent that effectively differentiates her character without sounding over-the-top Texan (thank you!).

Zeke and Carlin are immediately drawn to each other but neither is about to admit it to the other. He’s determined to not hire an attractive woman of a certain age although he is desperate for a cook. There are just too many potential problems where his men are concerned. And Carlin overhears Zeke talking negatively to Cat about her. The conflict feels somewhat manufactured but it works effectively towards Zeke’s eventual decision to hire Carlin. She must live at the isolated ranch which provides a good temporary hiding place from Brad.

Clear differentiation of characters is a must for me to make an audio recommendation and Maggie Wheeler definitely delivers on that score. Her voice is naturally deep so she doesn’t have to reach for her male characterizations. Rather than a change in pitch, her variations come in the form of accents or cadence and she does it well.  The voices of her characters flow naturally with no guessing games as to who is speaking. Her depiction of Zeke was especially swoon-worthy complete with attitude, authoritativeness, or even gentleness when appropriate. And Ms. Wheeler knows how to inject that hero-required sexiness into Zeke’s words as well as the authors’ descriptions of him entering a room or walking away.

For the first half of Running Wild, Carlin, while being a basically decent character, was a bit too crabby for my tastes and it was here that I particularly missed the pure Linda Howard as she generally writes highly likable heroines. I found the need to repeatedly remind myself that Carlin has a reason for her extreme caution/actions. Still, I wanted to say, “Let up on the guy” or “How can you talk to your boss like that?” Fortunately Ms. Wheeler manages to keep the bitch factor at bay while allowing the listener to occasionally hear a teasing tone in Carlin’s voice that gradually changes to fondness and admiration for Zeke. In the end, it worked…which surprised me. And the credit goes to the narrator’s interpretation of Carlin’s character.

I did spend some time trying to separate the Howard from the Jones and, other than Carlin’s crossness, I can’t say I was all that successful. Zeke is definitely a Howard hero although he’s more considerate than most. Is that the result of the evolution of the romance genre or Jones’ influence? Hard to say.

Maggie Wheeler’s narration is not perfect and it’s obvious she has room to grow but her understanding of romance along with the ease in distinguishing one character from another places her firmly on my “buy again” list.

Lea Hensley


Narration: B+

Book Content: A-

Steam Factor: Glad I had my ear buds in

Violence: Minimal

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Random House

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5 thoughts on “Running Wild by Linda Howard & Linda Jones

  1. Thanks for the review. I’m on hold at the library for this one. Are we sure that this is the actress Maggie Wheeler? They sound so different. I listened to the audible sample and she doesn’t sound like the actress. I’ve seen Maggie Wheeler in movies and other TV shows where she uses her non-Janice voice and these two still don’t sound alike. I guess her voice could have deepened a lot, or just sounds different on a recording than on television. Maybe once I listen to more of the book, I’ll recognize speech patterns or find something familiar.

    1. OMG I have been searching for this for more than an hour, I finally went back through my search engine history and found I had been on Audible.com’s pre order page for Running Wild when I clicked on the
      narrators name – Maggie Wheeler – which took me to here … http://blog.comedycentral.co.uk/2011/09/01/where-are-they-now-janice-from-friends-aka-maggie-wheeler/

      But now that old Pre Order page link in my history takes me directly to the Running Wild audiobook at Audible and if you click the narrators name you get nada!

      I have seen others at Goodreads mention this fact about “Chandler’s Girlfriend” being the narrator so maybe someone will come in and say ‘yep – that’s what I saw from Audible too…’ :)

      I knew after searching and searching on my own for who the narrator was I ended up finding the information in an unexpected way…

      I thought narrating an audiobook was an odd choice for the actress when I saw it and I can’t claim that a random data entry person at Audible didn’t link to the wrong “Maggie Wheeler” just that it was Audible’s link that led me to her. :D

      1. I found a youtube video of an interview with Maggie Wheeler and I’ve been listening to that and the audio sample, and it sounds more and more like it is her. I guess with age her voice has changed a lot. Most of the things I’ve seen her in were from the 90’s and earlier 2000’s. Here’s the youtube video – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6nGGRVepfU

  2. Angie I had to laugh at all of the comments under this video that basically said the same thing with “Where’s Janice?” because she sounded so different. :D

    It will be interesting to see if audiobook narration gets added to her Wiki list of accomplishments??

  3. Hello Gals!
    Maggie Wheeler here – yes – ” Janice” from ” Friends” !
    Looking on line at ” Running Wild ” led me to your site .
    Lea , many thanks for all of your lovely comments . I have been working in voice over since I first began acting in my teens . Dialects of all kinds and character voices ( of all kinds! ) have always been a great love of mine . I have long been interested in doing an audio book and I was so pleased to be asked by Random House Audio to narrate ” Running Wild “.
    It was a great pleasure to take on bringing these characters to life. To those who are looking to match my voice up with those of some of the characters I have played , the lower register you hear in the audio sample is my natural speaking voice . To all who purchase the Audio Book, I hope you enjoy the ride !

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