Finding Ian

Rating:
Summary: This is one of the worst books I have ever read!
Review: Bryon is a complete jerk, whose actions are irrational and inconsistent. The dialogue belongs in the first book ever attempted by an aspiring author. The plot is also illogical. Did the author start the book and forget where she wanted to go plot wise? I urge everyone to buy some other book--any book!

Rating:
Summary: Finding Ian
Review: Byron Frazer made the difficult decision to give his infant son up for adoption after the death of his young wife. Thirteen years later, he finds out through the detective he hired to keep tabs on his son that his sons' adoptive parents have died and is living with relatives. Byron decides to go to Cornwall, England and see if his son is ok and rents a cottage for the summer. While there he meets Jade a woman with a step- daughter she obviously adores and her lovable dog Dog and begins to find love again. I really liked this book alot, you will laugh, cry and feel better after reading Finding Ian. If you havent read Finding Ian yet, get to the bookstore or library and do yourself a favor and read it, you will be glad you did.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful family drama with love, grief, pain......
Review: Courtesy of A Romance Review

Finding Ian is realistic, touching and warm. The love between father and son is the main theme of the story and the romance between Jade and Byron is just an interlude. Not a standard romance but still a page-turner for a mainstream fiction.

Rating:
Summary: Sleazy Sex
Review: Does a man fall into deep, passionate, soul-scorching love with a woman after one night of sex? Lust, maybe, but never love, yet this is one of the premises of this inane book. Out of desperation for something to read, I attempted another Stella Cameron book--same scenario. This kind of sleazy sex is so boring. The author's fantasy that sleazy sex results in love and marriage is not only not realistic, its laughable. I hope no teenage girls get a hold of these books. They might then conclude that having sex after knowing a man only a few hours is the way to find a husband. And what about AIDS? This book is just really disgusting and really stupid.

Rating:
Summary: Spirit Wrenching -- Heart Warming -- Great Read
Review: FINDING IAN is different from the contemporary mysteries, the romantic suspense novels and the historicals that Stella Cameron has written in the past years. And different is NOT bad! In fact, it is very very good!

FINDING IAN is a book of the heart. At 21 years of age Byron had it all - an adoring wife, a newborn son - until one was taken by death and the other rejected as Byron launched himself into a downward spiral of grief and pain. Byron believed he made the right decision; in the arms of another couple, his son would find contentment that Byron felt he could not provide. However, fate had a different idea. Thirteen years later, Byron learns his son's adoptive parents have died and the boy has been sent to Cornwall, England to live with unknown relatives. Impulsively, Byron decides to go find his son, Ian, to make certain all is well. It is in this strange land -- at least to Byron and Ian, across an ocean from all that is familiar -- his home, his career, his life -- that Byron finally confronts the decision he made years before, the love he has denied and the pain he suffered.

In Cornwall, Byron finds not only Ian, but a true love with Jade. Spirited and part of a different culture, Jade fights her own past to protect Ian, yet build a new relationship that embraces both her family and her newfound love with Byron. It is the ultimate love story, one that many of us hope to have.

I think that people who are fans of Stella's work will be gifted with a real treat with FINDING IAN, and people who have never read Stella will put 'Stella Cameron' on their auto buy list. Of course, that is just my opinion. But I base it on decades of reading hundreds of books each year.

Rating:
Summary: Engrossing
Review: I have to admit I'm surprised this book is getting so many rave reviews. Fortunately, everyone is entitled to their own opinion.:) So, here is mine:

Byron Frazier is a world renowned family psychologist. Extremely successful, and revered, he draws much of his empathy from his own personal traumas and tragedies. Apparently, he never takes his own advice, since he manages to handle trying to establish a relationship with his long lost son in the worst possible manner.

If my thirteen year old son came home and told me he met a really neat male stranger in a cemetary who wants to give him free guitar lessons at his place, I would be dialing 911! There is a whole Big Misunderstanding that goes on way too long about whether Byron is a pedophile. I guess it was supposed to be humorous. I found it all too understandable, and a little creepy.

Most of Byron's dialog sounds like he's leading a group session, or has read one too many romance novels. He is also manipulative, and a liar. But, it's o.k., because he had a terrible childhood, suffered a tradgedy, but now "wants to do the right thing." I might have accepted this had he not been a professional who is supposed to know better! He makes an extremely good living from dealing with family traumas and disfunctional people.

Byron's soooooo good dead wife, Lori, is a sort of smiley, pure at heart flower child. Everytime this character pops up,you can practically hear the angelic childrens' choir behind her.

His assistant/agent,Celeste, is a way over the top character. Byron can't stand this pushy, nasty woman who does exactly what he tells her not to do and is rude and conniving. But he doesn't fire her until the end of the book,when it's a convenient plot devise.

Ms. Cameron is at her best describing the small Cornish village and it's colorful inhabitants. She is right on the money describing these good hearted people, most of whom mean well, but are often thirty years behind the times. They are far more realistic and likable than Byron.

Jade, while loving her family and home town, is doing her best to become a modern woman, and find her place in life. She knows an affair with the egnigmatic Byron is the last thing she needs, but of course there would be no story if it bothered her too much. Doesn't bother Byron much at all. He lies, he psyco-babbles, but it's all because he's suffered, and/or, he cares.

Jade's father, who loves her, but doesn't understand her, all but pushes her into the arms of an abusive, neanderthal ex-husband who cheated on her. This guy is a piece of work! He has an adorable five year old daughter to raise, having had an affair with the girl's mother, who then skipped.Everyone including Jade,loves this child and tries to help with her. It's the ultimate "it takes a village"....scenario. Even after the ex slaps Jade around,and tries to rape her, she raves about what a great father he is, and how this little girl "will be the making of him. " Please! A pretty heavy load for a five year old to handle. Not to mention what kind of values and ideals this child will learn from daddy. You know, a really nice guy who just happens to think women should know their place, and it's acceptable to knock them around if they don't.

Ian is a boy who commands our sympathy at once. He is understandably having a difficult time,dealing not only with grief, but a completely different lifestyle and culture. Conveniently, at just the moment Byron makes his appearance, Ian is finally settling in, deciding life in Cornwall isn't so bad, and his eccentric, but well meaning Auntie is o.k. after all. Oh yes, and he's also a guitar virtuoso.

In the beginning, Ian sounds and behaves very much like a real adolescent in this situation.By the end of the book, that choir is back. Too bad.

For me, this is a book which had a lot of promise, but did not live up to the expectations I had for it. It's just not the book it could and should have been. Support your local library if you want to give it a try.

Rating:
Summary: Worst book I've ever read!
Review: Readers have come to expect a certain well developed voice from Stella Cameron, whether she is writing her best selling romantic suspense thrillers or her well loved historicals. Yet, with FINDING IAN she provides readers with a truly unique new voice which will have readers clamoring for more. From the misty bay of San Francisco to the wind swept moors of Cornwall, a father searches for the son he gave up at a time of great personal loss. This search will take him to a sleepy village where, before he can be reunited with his son, he must come to terms with ghosts of his past. To accomplish this he must open his heart to a young woman who has as much to lose as she has to gain. With FINDING IAN Ms Cameron has created a fascinating new voice so very different from her current romantic suspense bestseller. This one is rich in emotional depth as the reader is taken on an emotional journey towards love's discovery: father to child, child to family and espically man to woman. Readers may find themselves not liking Byron or Jade's actions at times throughout the story but will have to admit Ms Cameron has captured every nuisance realistically and within the context of the story. FINDING IAN is a wonderful example of an author not caught in a rut, one who is willing to step outside of her norm and offer readers a breath of fresh air. With this talent it is no wonder Stella Cameron is one of Romances reigning icons, who readers have come to associate with the very best the genre has to offer.

Rating:
Summary: Her Very Best
Review: Stella does it again, with her no nonsense and deeply poignant story line. I fell in love with Ian and his father. Finding Ian is Stella Cameron at her very best!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent drama. This author is a great storyteller
Review: Thirteen years ago, when he was twenty-one, Byron Frazier watched his beloved wife Lori die while giving birth to their child. Unable to cope with a newborn, Byron gives his son up for adoption. However, feeling guilty, he hires a private detective to keep tabs on the lad.

The adopted parents of Byron's son recently die. The lad, Ian Spring, has left America to live with his spinster Aunt Muriel in a remote Cornish village. Byron, now a famous family psychiatrist, worries about his son's happiness and decides to see him.. He travels to Fowry and meets his son. He also meets Ian's older cousin Jade Perron, who returns the life that Byron lost when Lori died. As Byron and Jade fall in love, he does not know what to do to help Ian in spite of the media dubbing him as the world's greatest authority on family and children.

Stella Cameron is renowned for her taut romantic suspense novels (see GLASS HOUSE). However, the best-selling author has successfully switched gears, providing her audience with a family relationship drama that will shake the core of the audience. The story line works because the reader will feel Byron's pain and grief as well as his resurrection through Ian and Jade. FINDING IAN proves that Ms. Cameron is a multi-talented author as fans of contemporary relationship drama will testify after reading this powerful book.

Harriet Klausner