Customer Reviews

Finding Ian

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

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.

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

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.

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.

I personally read books to get away from my real life and live in a "fantasy" world even if just for a few days...
I couldn't stop reading this book from the moment I picked it up. I fell in love with Byron, Jade and Ian. It's heartwarming, funny, sad and sexy.

I would definitely recommend it to anyone!

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.

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!

Stella's new story really hits home. How many of us know, really, really know what it's like to be a lonely and hurting child?

I found myself relating to Ian in so many ways. He feels neglected and hurt and wants nothing more than to have someone around who loves him and who he can actually consider a parent. He's in a rough spot because he has no real family, and the desertion he feels is evident.

Byron, the father who made the decision to give Ian up was one of my favorite characters (and the dog). To be put in that kind of position was incredibly hard on him and it's all he can do to not allow that part of his life to resurface. At first, it seems like he doesn't "care" that much about his son. After all, he did give him up instead of taking care of him, right? However, with all the demons chasing him around, it becomes apparent why he made the choices he made. It becomes obvious, too, that he regrets his previous decisions and wants nothing more than to see his son safe and loved...

Psychologist Byron Frazer is a success. A youthful 34 years old, his self-help books have become bestsellers and he has a popular television program. Despite his celebrity status, Byron harbors a secret. Thirteen years previously, after the deaf of his wife, he gave his newborn son up for adoption. The son, now named Ian, has never been far from Byron's thoughts. A private investigator has kept track of Ian over the years but now has some troubling news.

At age 13, Ian has become an orphan and has been shipped from his lifelong home in Minnesota to the elderly, maiden aunt he has never met in England. Byron, feeling the well being of young Ian is at stake, travels to the small Cornwall village to see for himself. Not content to simply observe, Byron covertly befriends the boy he last knew as Baby Boy Frazer. What he finds troubles him. Ian's Aunt Muriel seems ill equipped financially and emotionally to care for the active teenager. Ian appears sullen and homesick with an air of sadness a boy of his age should never have.

Since Byron has decided to spend the summer in Cornwall, he rents a cottage from an agent who conveniently neglects to tell him the cottage is to be renovated during his stay. The location itself acted as a character and it made me long to visit the Cornwall region. Vivid secondary characters add depth to the story and it was particularly grand to see how Byron's conniving agent finally gets her comeuppance.

I adored this story and its characters, especially Byron and Ian. I enjoyed reading how, in finding Ian, Byron finds himself as well. I've long been a fan of Stella Cameron's - through her category romances, historical romances, and romantic suspense novels - and can truthfully say FINDING IAN is my favorite. She's a welcome addition to the ever-growing world of contemporary women's fiction and I certainly look forward to more stories of this type from her.

The location itself acted as a character and it made me long to visit the Cornwall region. Vivid secondary characters add depth to the story and it was particularly grand to see how Byron's conniving agent finally gets her comeuppance.

I adored this story and its characters, especially Byron and Ian. I enjoyed reading how, in finding Ian, Byron finds himself as well. I've long been a fan of Stella Cameron's - through her category romances, historical romances, and romantic suspense novels - and can truthfully say FINDING IAN is my favorite. She's a welcome addition to the ever-growing world of contemporary women's fiction and I certainly look forward to more stories of this type from her.

The story seems interesting in the first chapter but quickly turns to painfully contrived nonsense to fill up the pages between frightfully awkward sex. Why can't romance writers turn out a real plot with believable characters and situations?