Another man's son Book

As a romance, this might be more like a 2.5, and as a "general read" it might go as high as 4, given the fact that it certainly did hold my interest... But I admit I'm having difficulty placing it, rating-wise. I've decided to average them out, and go for three stars. I did enjoy it for itself, and it kept my attention.

But, there were a number of issues I had with the book.

The "romance" described on the back of the book is basically non-existent; this book is about 75% back story, which in itself is not bad, but the romance covers about a dozen pages, and never feels like it takes full flight. The two meet, fall into bed for some reason (mutual grief and a need to reaffirm life, I guess, and/or a shared love of puppies, or something?), and then, somehow, reckon they are the loves of each other's lives... Not exactly sure how any of that occurs, but it gives us the expected HEA, so I suppose it was mandatory.

However, while I am not a prude, I honestly couldn't get over the hero and heroine falling into bed the day the heroine's fiance, and the hero's father, was taken to the morgue. I understand the heroine and the father were in a platonic love (at least on her side), but it still feels very awkward to me - and troublesome, given the emotional trauma the characters were facing. Also problematic was their apparent lack of guilt/struggle over all of this.

I kept thinking, "How considerate Ian was to croak when he did so these two could get it on!" Not a comfortable feeling after you've spent 200 or pages getting to know Ian and Kathleen as a pair. Slightly depressing, actually.

It's also problematic that the asexuality the heroine seems to express throughout the entire book was "cured" seemingly over night by the hero. This didn't ring true to me, and could have been a whole book unto itself. (However, given the extent to which asexuality is presented in media as being abnormal and pathological, and how often delegitimatizing tropes of "you just haven't had the right person rev your engines" are reiterated, I would suggest people lay off the topic altogether. However, if the author feels the need, it should be more complex than one night with the Magic Hero Bullet.) I suspect the heroine was presented without sex drive to make sure the reader understood she and Ian never had sex, which should comfort some of the people disturbed by her romance with his son the same week of his death.

And a side note: The back cover description makes this book sound like a part of the "pregnant heroine" subgenre, but it is not. I generally enjoy those, which was a draw for me, but this is not one of those.

There is a second couple, unmentioned on the back cover, who actually do have a romance throughout the book, so there is some romance covered. That couple were more present in the book, and their relationship was explored with more depth.

Similarly, the "mystery" element was as cursory as it was unexpected, since there was no mention of a murder mystery subplot on the back cover copy. I'm okay with a bit of suspense; I just find it odd that the book focused only on one of the romance plots, and ignored the mystery element. Perhaps because the mystery element was tacked on and there was no mystery to solve. (It's also pretty incredible how many coincidences happen for these people!)

The book, while generally well written, does suffer from some over-writing, in my opinion. The novel's a bit on the long side, and some snips here and there might have made it feel faster in pacing. An example (from memory):

"Ian really liked him."
"Who? James."
"Yes, James."
"The feeling was mutual."

It seems to me that "Ian really liked James" and "The feeling was mutual" would have sufficed, and saved a couple lines. There are numerous such points in the book, along with over-ample descriptions, unnecessary exposition, and explanations of irrelevant things, which is a weakness when we don't get to the "main plot" until page 200-some.

Other than that, the writing is proficient. There just seems to be too much of it at times.

Yet, the book did offer an interesting and somewhat absorbing "slice of life" read. If you are the impatient sort, you might be frustrated by the feeling of being half way through the book and still getting back story, but I found that refreshing. I enjoyed getting to know the characters, even though none of them left very strong impressions on me, and I liked the overlapping structure. The main characters were all generally nice, pleasant people, and I felt sad for them when I was supposed to, and felt happy for them when they got things back on track (with the exception of Sam and Kathleen getting the hots over Ian's fresh grave).

In terms of a character study, however, it made for a nice, clean, relaxing read.