Another Man's Son

by Katherine Stone

Book Overview

Seattle. The Emerald City. The place where Sam Collier lived for the first four years of his life-forgotten years-and where he's vowed never to return. Ian Collier, the father who abandoned him, lives... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0778321029
• ISBN13: 9780778321026
• Release Date: November 2004
• Publisher: Mira Books
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 4.2" x 6.6"

Customer Reviews

Emotional Story

Summary of Characters: Ian is separated from his baby boy (Sam) when Sam is a very young age. He throws himself into professional skiing and when he is injured he starts up a skiing gear company and makes a ton of money. He starts giving scholarships to high schoolers for full rides to college. One of the high schoolers he sponsors is Kathleen. Ian and Kathleen have a very long platonic relationship which ends in them attempting marriage. Meanwhile, Ian has been investigating Kathleen's mother's murder on the side for her and has made friends with the prosecutor James. James is engaged to Christine, and they ask Natalie (a realtor) to find them a house. James is best friends with a man named Grant. (I can't mention anything else for fear of ruining the book!) Praise: I really enjoyed this book. It was an emotional journey throughout the book and it spanned several pairs of characters, making it very interesting and engaging. I enjoyed all the pairs of characters. I also enjoyed that the romance was not smutty, and instead the author focused on the feelings of the characters. Criticisms: I didn't enjoy how the summary on the back of the book gave away nearly all the secrets, and made it seem as if the meat of the story would be one thing, and yet in truth the meat of the story involved actions long before that moment, and only briefly related to the moment described on the book cover. I also didn't enjoy the mystery aspect of the book as much as I would like, and the romance was awful quick. All in all, it was pleasant and enjoyable and I would recommend picking it up at a garage sale. Scale: 5 - Buy this, and buy it now. - I love this book. 4 - Find this at a garage sale or half-price bookstore. - I really like this book. 3 - Coerce a friend into buying it for you. - I like this book. 2 - Ennnh, maybe. - Okay. 1 - Don't bother reading this. - I didn't like it.

Please don't kill off main character

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

engaging family drama

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