Average customer rating:
- Please don't kill off main character
- Circles and circles and circles...
- Not deeply emotional or truly romantic as cover states...
- engaging family drama
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Another Man's Son (MIRA)
Katherine Stone
Manufacturer: Mira
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
 General
| Romance
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General
| Contemporary
| Romance
| Subjects
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Stone, Katherine
| ( S )
| Authors, A-Z
| Romance
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ASIN: 0778321029 |
Book Description
If Sam Collier's life has taught him anything, it's that promises can't be trusted. . .
Especially promises from the people who were supposed to love him. People like his father. . .
Ian Collier abandoned him when he was four, and Sam was a drifter for years afterward. He's finally begun to make peace with his past--and that's when he learns the shocking news. Ian Collier is dead.
He returns to Ian's house in Seattle and finds a woman named Kathleen Cahill living there, the woman Ian had planned to marry. Within weeks Sam has fallen in love with her. Deeply in love--for the first time in his life. And then Kathleen tells him she's pregnant. With his baby? Or Ian Collier's?
Now, thanks to Kathleen, he learns a secret about his father. A secret and a truth. And now--for the first time in his life--Sam Collier understands what fatherhood really means.
Customer Reviews:
Please don't kill off main character.......2006-06-04
There were parts of this book like Sam's relationship with his adorable puppy that I absolutely adored but I wanted to witness more of Holly turning from a scared, timid little girl into a bouncing, mischievous puppy. I also admired Kathleen for overcoming severe hardships on her road to becoming a top-notch physician. However, she remained so cold and distant that I couldn't really warm to her. Also, her getting over Ian and her relationship with Sam just went so fast that it was totally unreal. In short, the characters and relationships that I liked were terribly underdeveloped leaving me dissatisfied.
There were also parts of the book that I absolutely detested. I HATE IT when an author kills off a main character in order to make room for another main character. If Stone wanted Sam and Kathleen to end up together, why couldn't she have kept Kathleen's relationship with Ian platonic but allowed him to live? After years of grieving the loss of "his" son, Ian should have been given a joyful reunion with that son.
Also, after the terrible childhood Sam had with his lying witch of a mother and the man who thought he was his stepfather, I really wanted to see him finally reunited with the man who loved him as a father should love a child and I had some major dissatisfaction with the lack of a confrontation between Sam and his mother.
I was also disappointed that Tyler remained just a shadow figure. We are told that he ends up acting as a brother to Sam, though there is no proof of that in the storyline, but how did he react when he learned of his mother duplicity? And how did Mason react when he learned that Sam was his biological son and was not, as his wife had told him, the grandson of a killer. And how realistic is it that even the most wicked stepfather would want his child kept away from another child because child number two was the grandchild of a murderer? If this is getting convoluted, you should understand that this book gets convoluted also.
I was hoping to see both Tyler and Mason confront Vanessa. Perhaps I am blood thirsty, but I really, really, really wanted to see a serious "come-to-Jesus meeting" between Vanessa and all the people she had so terribly damaged by her deceit. It really grated on me that she was apparently able to tear the family apart with her lies and yet end up free of suffering any consequences.
Bottom line, I can tolerate the good guys suffering some severe hardships if they end up winning in the end and I want the bad guy to get his just desserts. Stone did see that Grant got his just desserts but even though he was a serial killer and he murdered the mother of a main character, he was such a non-entity in the story that when he got killed I didn't really care! Perhaps it is childish to want the story to turn out "and they lived happily ever after" but, hello! I read for enjoyment and I don't enjoy seeing the good guys die and the bad guys not suffer as the result of their actions.
I think Stone missed the mark on this one and that is unfortunate because the basic premise was sheer brilliance and the book could have been the same.
Circles and circles and circles..........2005-04-28
This is the story of karma.
As another reviewer wrote, it is also a story that is not so easily followed. Scratch that. It isn't hard to follow, but there are so many "wait, isn't that the same guy who..." moments that the reader finds herself wanting to start again to make sure she's missed nothing.
The only issue I truly have with this book is that it is wrapped up too quickly. Relationships progress too easily in the end, and side plots and motivations are almost viciously cut off.
Still, though, I found the levels of love demonstrated in this book to be amazing. A very interesting concept for a book.
(*)>
Not deeply emotional or truly romantic as cover states..........2005-04-06
The book started out well enough but it quickly lost me about half way through when there were too many storylines going on and not near enough time spent on what the book is supposed to be about according to the back cover. It states that 'within weeks' Sam has fallen in love with Kathleen. They didn't meet until 3/4 of the way through the book, on the night Ian died, and they were in love the next morning, not within weeks. I thought, for someone as frigid as Kathleen was, it was a bit unbelievable that she slept with Sam within an hour or two of meeting him and then I didn't know they had until I began reading the next chapter. I don't think the author spent near enough time on the issues of the two characters (Sam's abandonment of his father and Kathleens' loss of the man she loved) and apparently they were all settled within one conversation that was not near emotional or romantic. They knew each other less than a week at the end of the book (and most of that time was spent dealing with Natalie, James and Grant) and apparently, the author forgot to send the pages to the publisher where they discussed any future they might have together or even if they wanted one together. The subplot of Natalie and James was unnecessary and again, the author spent more time on their relationship, with insecure Natalie unsure of how James felt, than she did on Sam and Kathleen's. Grant's storyline was silly and if it was meant to throw a twist in the whole story, get me on the edge of my seat, it failed because nobody really cared about Grant, Christine, James or Natalie. I would have liked to have read a whole lot more about Sam and Kathleen and maybe their feelings for each other as they grew to know each other but it was never really touched on. The book jumped all over but never seemed to center on Kathleen and Sam. I wouldn't recommend it. It was boring and goofy. The only reason I gave it two stars was for the very beginning.
engaging family drama.......2003-12-31
Years ago Seattle based philanthropist Ian Collier helps Kathleen Cahill by paying for her to attend college and medical school. Now a doctor, Kathleen wants a child and though friends Ian would like to sire her kid because years ago he lost the only child he ever had. Kathleen accepts his kind offer as she has great respect for Ian. He also asks her to marry him so their child can be raised with two parents though he expects their relationship to remain friendly and platonic. She loves his loyalty, but tells him it is unnecessary. He says he cares for her too much so he must help her any way he can, but Ian dies not long afterward.
As he nears forty, wanderer Sam Collier settles down near Medford, Oregon buying Sarah's orchard, a place where apples grow. When he learns that the man who sired him, but deserted him over three decades ago, died, Sam goes to Seattle to settle the estate. Sam hates Ian and wants to detest Kathleen, but instead falls in love with her. As she reciprocates his feelings, she informs him that she is pregnant, but the father could be his father not him.
This is an engaging family drama that borders on the rim of soap opera, but Katherine Stone keeps her cast consistent and loaded with doubts and that make for a deep character study. Ms. Stone furbishes a deep look at fractured relationships in which love is not enough to heal childhood wounds that remain bleeding as adults. Fans of contemporary tales starring protagonists whose respective hearts of stones are chipped away will want to read this compelling novel.
Harriet Klausner
Book Description
"Inside the circle, I will return to you" were the words scrawled amidst dark, penciled swirls in the final hours of the life of a young man, without family, dying from cancer. Among his final requests was that his ashes be spread over a remote lake in the swampy wilderness of eastern North Carolina.
Thus do three people of widely divergent backgrounds and ideas, who knew the young man only in illness and death, come to find themselves marooned on a tiny island during a major hurricane.
Junuh is a young, black oncologist from the Low Country of South Carolina, where his parents were lost in Hurricane Hugo. Ruth is a bisexual, New Age healer. Reese beat alcoholism and drug addiction to become a fundamentalist street preacher.
On the island, this unlikely trio encounters a bearded, autistic hermit who calls himself Son and seeks to lure them to a place he calls Paradise.
In the face of the storm, the three come to terms with themselves, one another, natural forces, life, death, and spirituality.
Product Description
5 massmarket paperback Titles By Katherine Stone - Love Songs - Happy Endings - Illusions - The Other Twin - Another Man's Son
Book Description
Long recovered from the ravages of the Riftwar, the land and people of the kingdom of the Isles thrive. Nicholas, the youngest son of Prince Arutha, is intelligent and gifted but vastly inexperienced. In hopes of hardening him, his father sends him and his irreverent squire, Harry, to live at Rustic Castle Crydee to learn of life beyond the halls of privilege. But within weeks of Nicholas and Harry's arrival, Crydee is viciously attacked by unknown assailants, resulting in murder, massive destruction, and the abduction of two young noblewomen. The raiders have come from a pirate haven and are no ordinary foe ... but an enemy connected to dark magical forces that threaten the lands Nicholas will someday rule -- if he survives.
Customer Reviews:
The making of a royal pirate? :).......2007-09-19
This book revolves around Arutha conDoin's youngest son, Nicholas, who stands third in line for the throne of the Kingdom of the Isles, on Midkemia.
Nicholas has always been sheltered, mostly because of a lame foot that he had been born with. He is sent to Crydee, along with Nakor and Ghuda (if you read the prior book in the series, Prince Of The Blood, you would recognize those two characters) to squire for Duke Martin, in part to get him out of the sheltered court, and to give him space to grow. He is also joined by Harry, his own Squire. While there, the town is viciously attacked, virtually every building is burned down, and only those handful mistaken for dead as surviving. There are reports that the attackers had taken many captives, including Margaret, Duke Martin's daughter, and her companion Abigail. So it is that Nicholas sets off on Amos Trask's ship in hot pursuit with a small group of men to rescue the captives, believing that they have been taken to the Sunset Islands.
Instead, they find themselves travelling across the Endless Sea to Novindus, a continent unknown and unexplored by those of the Kingdom. Stranded in this strange land after their ship sinks, Nicholas and his small band of men set out to free the captives, and discover that they have stumbled on an intricate plot by the Pantathian serpent priests, a death cult, to plunge the Kingdom into chaos, and seize the Lifestone (a relic which we are introduced to in A Darkness At Sethanon, as capable of destroying all life on the planet).
Feist does an excellent job of expanding his world once more, bringing us a colorful description of the exotic Novindus, a continent with a broad mix of cultures, with each area controlled by local militias.
The heart of the novel is the growth of Nicholas. With magic, his foot is healed physically, yet whenever he is faced with a challenge, his foot hurts - excrutiatingly at first, then less with each instance, till the pain is gone. This is all a psychological metaphor, for Nicholas - facing all his fears, and throwing away the psychological crutch he had been leaning on all his life, using his lame foot as an excuse for failure or to grant him excuse for exception.
As usual, it is the characters that are Feist's strong suit. Each character comes to life, and you feel saddened at the end of the book when you have to leave them behind.
I highly recommend this book.
one of the best books I've read!.......2006-06-30
I was hesitant to start reading Feist because I didn't want to get involved in such a long series, but I am so glad I did. This book in particular is my favorite from the Riftwar Saga. The changes you see in young Prince Nicholas from beginning to end are a joy to read. He matures from a young rogue of a boy to a battle hardened man, seeing things in his young life that most men never see. With his companion Harry by his side he learns what it means to be a leader and also about the perils of war and death and most of all the perils of young love. The most poingnent moment to me is his return home, the changes in him and the reaction of his father Prince Arutha. A definite must read!!!!!!
A good story with major flaws........2006-04-24
The underlying plot is good. Mr Feist brings likeable characters that develop over time in credible ways. If this were a stand-alone book in another setting it would be better.
This story fails when it starts foreshadowing the upcoming serpentwar. The biggest flaws are Pug and Tomas, the major characters from the prior series. Both are incredibly powerful. Both have very strong ties to characters in this story. Both inexplicably do not involve themselves in the events of this story. Of course we know why. They are far too powerful and would trivialize the entire "adventure". But it is ludicrous that either Pug or Tomas would allow events to unfold without interfering directly. Pug's adopted family is involved. Tomas's parents are involved. Their birthplace is involved. The excuses that are given are paper-thin. The idea that neither of them keeps an eye on the town in question stretches credulity past breaking.
If this story were consistent with the prior series, it would be 3 pages long. There would be the attack by the bad guys foiled by Pug and Tomas, followed by a thorough retaliation by Pug and Tomas on dragonback. The end. Obviously not a good story, but when you have god-like characters, you have to explain their absence, especially if you start blowing up their home town and killing their family.
Feist changes pace.......2006-01-03
When you look forward to action as in the previous novels and I actually read the Serpentwar before this one so I got to see what happened to him later on, I was a little disappointed in this one. Not enough to drop below a 4 star though, it still had enough to keep me going. I just wish he'd've stayed with the old formula, i much more enjoyed that.
If you enjoyed Feist, you may like The Unsuspecting Mage by Brian S. Pratt, a new but good up and coming author.
Good continuation to the story.......2005-11-18
The King's Buccaneer by Raymond Feist is the sixth book set in the world of Midkemia. This book follows one of the kids of the characters in the Rift-War saga. Nicky, son of Arutha.
The story itself is rather daring. It would have been very easy for Feist to get lost in the details of pieces of the story, but he tells just enough to keep the reader informed without dragging the progress of the book down. There are several sub-plots within this book, as usual Feist pulls the strings of all the plots to keep the reader guessing what is going to come next. He does a masterful job of juggling all the plot lines before bringing them all together at the end. The pacing of this book is a little different than the Rift-war books in that it is more intrigue than action. Yet, that is not a bad thing. Not all books need battle scenes of thousands of people. In this one Feist does a good job of allowing the reader to feel what is going on. A couple time I found myself rooting for a character, which is rare for me to do.
The character development in this book is again right on par with what you would expect with Feist. He makes you believe that even the minor characters are meaningful and worth notice. The development of Nicky is by far the most substantial and worth the read itself. I read one review asking where the `interesting' characters were, ala Pug, Thomas etc. I found the characters in this book just as interesting, if not more, than the previously established characters. I enjoy that Feist allows his characters to be abused and to face situations where they get hurt and have doubts. They are not all powerful like some characters in fantasy novels now days. Feist also has the vision to understand that his characters need to die and should not dominate a story simply because fans like them. He introduces new characters for a reason and should be applauded for that.
This story certainly sets up the next saga called the Serpent war saga. Some things are resolved in this book, but many things are left wide open for the reader to consider until the next book is read.
With all that said, this is not the best Feist book I have read, but I think this is still an enjoyable read. If you are a fan of Feist and have read te other books before this, most notably the Rift-War saga, then you will like this book and I recommend others to read the Rift-war saga and jump head first into the land of Feist. You will not be disappointed.
Book Description
This is the swashbuckling biography of the naval officer known as the Sword of England, the Welshman Henry Morgan. Over the years, Morgan came to be portrayed as a black-hearted, fierce pirate. This error in terms and in the assessment of Morgan's character led to the filing of the first libel lawsuit, brought in protest to a book published in 1684 claiming he had been an indentured servant, was a pirate, and was responsible for atrocities. In fact, Morgan was commissioned to aid the British navy in fighting enemies of the crown and was a superb military tactician who led a dozen victorious campaigns against massive odds. In 1655, Spain was the greatest naval and military power on earth, and controlled the sea lanes of Central America and the Caribbean. Henry Morgan's career as a buccaneer officially began when, at age twenty, he landed in Barbados as part of a force deployed to capture Cuba or Hispaniola (Puerto Rico) for the British. The deployment failed, but the forces did capture Jamaica, which would become Morgan's adopted home base for the rest of his life. From there, Morgan planned the attacks that would enrich the British throne and usher in the era of British supremacy on the high seas. For his leadership in battle and as lieutenant governor of Jamaica, Admiral Sir Henry Morgan deserves to take his place alongside Sir Francis Drake and the Duke of Wellington in the panoply of history's greatest heroes.
Customer Reviews:
A full account of Morgan's myths and realities .......2005-05-09
Welshman Henry Morgan began as a naval officer, but made his reputation as a fierce pirate - a reputation challenged in the first libel lawsuit brought into protect a book about him published in 1684 claiming he was a terror of the high seas. In fact, he'd been commissioned to help the British navy fighting enemies of the crown and proved his worth as a military strategist on the high seas, and Welsh history expert Terry Breverton provides this full account of Morgan's myths and realities in his lively biography ADMIRAL SIR HENRY MORGAN: KING OF THE BUCCANEERS. Chapters review his leadership, his heroic struggles, and his ability to plan attacks which would ensure British supremacy abroad. An unusual, lively read.
Customer Reviews:
Morgan - much more than Yo ho ho and a Bottle of Rum.......2006-09-22
Sir Henry Morgan left behind a huge legend, but not much else - no artifacts of his life remain, no heir carried on his name - even his grave was lost when Port Royal was obliterated by earthquake and swallowed by the sea shortly after his death. Today, most know him better as myth than history, or worse, as nothing more than a cartoon caricature used to sell rum. In `The Buccaneer King', (also published as `Harry Morgan's Way'), navel historian and novelist Dudley Pope cuts through the myths and reconstructs for us the history of this bold and fascinating man.
It would be impossible to understand Morgan without some basic knowledge of the history of European conquest and conflict in the West Indies, the pivotal part that Jamaica played in that conflict, or the history and significance of the buccaneers to that conflict. Pope realized this; `The Buccaneer King' is as much an early history of Jamaica and the West Indies buccaneers as it is a biography of Morgan. Henry Morgan doesn't even enter the action of the book until chapter seven. Pope used his initial chapters to explain how Spain came to be in conflict with the English, Dutch, and French in the West Indies, and to tell the fascinating story of how the unique buccaneer culture developed. We learn that buccaneer has a very specific meaning, and is not an interchangeable synonym for pirate, and discover the fine legal and ethical points that separated privateers from pirates as well. All of this is absolutely necessary background to understanding a man who was not only the undisputed leader of the buccaneers of the West Indies, but was knighted by his king and made lieutenant governor of Jamaica.
Morgan was a bold man of action, equal to the great Sir Francis Drake in stature, and a history of his exploits makes for fascinating reading. Pope is at his best when describing Morgan's major raids (for he was more soldier than sailor, ships being little more than the transport that moved his troops for land battles) against Granada, Portobelo, Maracaibo, and Panama. Much of his life was spent in the intrigue and battles of Jamaican politics as well, and though these can be interesting, Pope does not show the same deft touch when writing of them, and sometimes my interest waned under the brunt of their detail. Still, all told `The Buccaneer King' is a riveting read - exciting, informative, well written, and recommended.
Theo Logos
Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica, Scourge of Panama.......2004-06-14
Captain Henry Morgan is famous amongst Spanish historians as being a "pirate" whose band of theives traipsed across the Panamanian Isthmus and sacked old Panama City. He is famous among English naval circles as a supposedly "legitimate" English colonist whose acts were immortalized in Captain Charles Johnson's General History of the Pyrates. He is even more famous among Americans for his heavily stylized image on labels of Captain Morgan's Rum.
In fact, Morgan deserves to be treated - as here in Pope's magnificently reserached biography - as a hero of early Jamaican development; a man who devoted himself to the defense of the island and its satellites against the encroachments of Spain, and who tirelessly strove to take the war to the Spanish themselves. Hence the dazzling attacks not only on Panama City but also such ports as Colon and Cartagena. His supposedly "piratical" acts were almost always sanctioned by the Crown or ratified after-the-fact (he was lieutenant-governor of Jamaica); indeed his main goal at all times was to secure enough local currency to finance Jamaica's defenses, a pressing necessity given the lack of ready cash at the court of Charles II. Pope also paints a vivid picture of colonial Port Royal, which was destroyed in an earthquake soon after Morgan's death.
Captmorgan1670.......2001-11-27
Outstanding account of this period in history. Mr. Morgan's reputation of a conniving thug are dispelled. This is a fun and informative book.
Average customer rating:
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King's Buccaneer
Raymond E. Feist
Manufacturer: Harpercollins Publis
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books | Adventure | Alternate History | Anthologies | General | Graphic Novels | High Tech | History & Criticism | Series | Short Stories | Space Opera
ASIN: 0246133295 |
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful tale of a French Pirate in the 17th century (true or not).......2006-07-31
This is very posibly a fake memour, but true enough to the facts of the time. It follows the adventures of a Frenchman, Le Golif (the author), from his problems starting in France (basicly results of his womanizing), to his times with a Buccan trader, to being a pirate crewman, and then captian. There are amorous adventures, pirate raids, and prison escapes. It is well written and exciting, and a must for fans of historical adventure.
Product Description
multiple books ship as one item. save on shipping/handling charges.
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- BLUE LIGHT AFRICAN DREAM
- Blue Nude: A Novel
- Busting Vegas: A True Story of Monumental Excess, Sex, Love, Violence, and Beating the Odds
- Butterfly Revolution
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