Customer Reviews

A Man Like Mac (Harlequin Superromance No. 911)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Fay Robinson's debut novel A MAN LIKE MAC is a true example of an author who knows how to involve her readers. The character that she creates leaves you feeling as if you are experiencing the tragedy life has dealt each of them. For anyone lucky enough to read this book it will leave you with a sense of satisfaction to know you have experienced something special.

Keely Wilson, a successful Olympic runner, is involved in accident which doctors predict will end her Olympic career. Refusing to accept the doctor's grim diagnose she turns to her former coach, John "Mac" McCandless. She believes Mac will provide her the rehabilitation she needs to get her back on track for the Olympic gold. In finding Mac she is devastated to learn he also has been involved in an accident and is confined to a wheelchair.

Mac McCandless has always held a secret infatuation with his once young track star Keely Wilson. Delighted to be given the opportunity to help Keely recover from her injuries he is unprepared for the reaction she has when she learns of his disability. Reviewing the medical records, he finds there is no hope for her to have a complete recovery. Now the challenge he is faced with is (1) to get Keely to accept her limitations, and (2) to get Keely to accept him as a man.

This book illustrates the true meaning of love and romance as well as to the phrase "Love Conquers All." Be warned, the tears and laughter are sure to flow once you open the first page of this book. Not only is the romance wonderful, it also provides insight about the challenges the disabled face on a daily basis.

A Man Like Mac is a romance that tackles tough issues without losing sight of its most important element. A strong love story between two special people I know I will remember for a long time.

It seems like romance publishers are so scared of heroes who aren't physically perfect in every way. Mac was in a wheelchair. I never thought Harlequin would have the guts to publish a book like this. I'm so glad they did. Who cares about the body when the hero is emotionally and mentally perfect? Then the writer goes and makes Mac sexy as heck too! Great, great, great!

Mac and Keely both have humbling and emotionally devastating changes they're still trying to come to terms with. They don't do it with so much moping and self-pity. They show the kind of humor and grace that shows real character and strength. Ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances with like that -- to me that makes a true hero and heroine.

I agree with what an earlier reviewer said. The point where this book drove me to tears wasn't one of the sadder moments. It was a sort of funny one where Keely does something to make Mac feel better after an embarrassing moment in bed. I started crying. What a great heroine!

The ending was perfect. Mac and Keely get their triumphant moment and the writer doesn't stoop to quick fixes or miracles. The book is a real keeper, and the writer is one to watch for!

A MAN LIKE MAC is a breathtakingly wonderful story. It's filled with beautiful people, and shows the true meaning of love. We learn again that love is a meeting of two souls, and does not depend on the outer "packaging."

I wish there were more books like this. It was fascinating and humbling to learn of the challenges the disabled meet and overcome everyday. It was also fascinating to see up close and personal a very interesting sport: wheelchair racing. It's easy to be condescending and think that wheelchair sports are not "real" sports, but this book will forever shatter that myth. Wheelchair athletes are proven to be as worthy of respect and awe as their ablebodied counterparts.

As I said, there should be more books like this. Then we could see as well an exploration of the moral issues Ms. Robinson shows that the disabled face: such as in their intimate relations, and in the procreation of children.

Beyond all this, A MAN LIKE MAC is simply a great story. Keely overcomes her self-image of being "only a runner" and learns to be a woman. And Mac learns to trust that a woman can love him even through the difficulties his condition presents. (I don't think I've ever laughed and nearly cried through a more unlikely scene before, but I did when Keely voided on Mac.)

Read and savor A MAN LIKE MAC. Then encourage the publishers of popular fiction to publish more books like it. Brava, Ms. Robinson!

A car running a red light hits Olympic medalist Keely Wilson as she runs the streets of Midtown Atlanta. Rushed to a hospital, the medical team worries whether Keely will survive and if she does, whether she will ever walk again. The doctors believe her running career is over, but they do not know the obstinate Keely.

By telephone, Keely persuades her former college coach John McCandless to oversee her training. When Keely meets Mac at Courtland College where he is the athletic director, she is stunned to see he is wheelchair bound. Because of her lung injury, Mac knows she will never be a world class runner again, but he will do anything for the woman he has loved since he first met her as a teenager. As Keely begins her soft training, her attraction for Mac grows, but she still has not reconciled the fact that her hero is a paraplegic. If she ever does, these two physically injured people will find a lifetime of happiness.

A MAN LIKE MAC is an extremely sensitive look at the relationships between individuals with physical handicaps and those who are able-bodied. The lead protagonists are a warm duo and the support cast provides additional understanding to the audience. However, what makes Fay Robinson's novel a must read is the author's ability to escort her readers inside the heart and soul of her characters without turning them into weepy wrecks. Fans who enjoy a delicate, but potent contemporary romance starring enchanting individuals who will steal your heart will relish A MAN LIKE MAC.

Harriet Klausner

I can add very little to what others have said except to join the list of those praising this very well thought out and excellently executed book. Books dealing with relationships where one partner is disabled often are puerile and totally unrealistic. From personal experience, I can say that this is a terrible shame. Disabilities are infinitely varied but, in the end, mutual acceptance, courage, patience and love are what make such relationships work and these are the themes which make wonderful romantic books. Readers who are interested in this particular theme may like to seek out a copy of Lyn Dycoty's Pocketful of Dreams - an old Harelquin Temptation title from 1984 which is one of the few books I've read that comes up to Ms Robinson's standards. I hope other authors are encouraged to tell such stories with such honesty and integrity. Well done and thank you!

Beautiful. there's no other way to describe this extraordinary book. I've been searching for romance books with people having disablities, and found a gem in a million. About loving inspite of disabilities, this book touches the chord of the true meaning of love and romance. Keely, an olympic runner involved in an accident, is determined to continue her career inspite of the odds, and she doesn't intend to stop until she has a gold medal. So she goes to her old coach, Mac, to help with her rehab, and meets him after many years. But she's shocked to discover that he's crippled for life in a wheelchair. Their old attraction flames to life, but with a small obstacle....the disabilities of Mac. While's she unsure how to treat him and ends up fumbling and hurting his feelings, he thinks the relationship is doomed since he cannot lead a normal life doing basic things, like controlling his bladder or making love, and is embarassed a lot. But in the end love triumphs, and after a lot of trials and tribulations, they do indeed live happily ever after. The characters are truly lovable, especially Mac, and like the cover blurb says, you are really lucky is you read this book. The tears and laughter are sure to flow with this book. And not only is the roamnce wonderful, it also provides insight about how the disabled really live.

A Man Like Mac was a surprising book for me mainly because of the fact that Mac is not the typical hero with a disability that is usually pictured in romance novels.He does not waste his days with feeling sorry for himself.His strength, talent, and joy of life has made me adore him.He is unbelievably gentle, caring, considerate, and talented.His abilities truely outweigh his disabilities.Of course,his attractiveness adds to his wonderful qualities. Keely on the other hand,does not seem like a very lovely character at first.For instance,when she first sees Mac in a wheelchair she feels like throwing up,and that may easily make you hate her, but you discover that Mac has always been her hero, and it is not easy to accept that he is not perfect anymore. It takes a man like Mac to make realise Keely what the true values in life are and that she is more than a pair of legs.I began to like her from the moment she decided to surrender her feelings for Mac and persuaded him that love can defeat all the obstacles.Ms.Robinson has done a wonderful job of revealing the true personalities of the hero and the heroine step by step.By the time your read a few chapters, you realise that you are absorbed into Mac's world.He will make you smile and he tear your heart at the same.This is not a bubble romance novel where you will have perfect heroes gathered in a Cindrella tail.A Man Like Mac is amazingly romantic,but very very real.

You know the book is a keeper when, long after you close the cover, it stays with you. In "A Man Like Mac," Fay Robinson not only pens a keeper, but one that easily deserves the title, "Best First Book."

Olympic runner, Keely Wilson, finds her dreams crushed after injuries suffered in a car accident leave her body and spirit crippled. Determined to achieve her goal of winning Olympic gold in Sydney, Keely returns to the man who was so instrumental in building her young running career, Mac McCandless, in the hopes that he can, once again, work magic. Unbeknownst to her, however, Mac has been dealt his own rotten hand of Life's cards. Keely must find it within herself to not only accept and deal with Mac's condition, but her growing attraction to him. She must also deal with memories of the past--her parents' divorce, her father's death, and her mother's plans to marry again.

As Mac works with Keely, he's not only afraid she will never run again, but that she will rebuff the personal feelings he has for her.

In the hands of a lesser writer, Keely could have come off as a whiny,spoiled brat with whom the reader would feel no compassion, no sympathy; the portrayal of paraplegics and quadraplegics could have come off as maudlin. But Ms. Robinson outfits her complex characters with acceptable and believable conflict and gives them intelligent, compelling dialogue. Some scenes leave you laughing and some will make you cry. But in the end, the reader is filled with a sense of awe and the knowledge that love *can* conquer all.

This is Ms. Robinson's first book. Thankfully, it's not her last(her next is scheduled for Jan. 2001) This is an author to watch, and if her first book is any indication, her career is destined to be a golden one. I can't recommend this book highly enough. It's one of the best love stories of the year.

Keely Wilson discovers that life can change in the blink of an eye, but she'd determined to fight her way past a potentially career-ending injury and get her life back. But she needs help. She goes to her old coach, Mac McCandless, for help, and finds a man who's had to deal with his own life changing injury. Rather than fighting against, Mac has accepted his limitations and built a new life. Together Mac and Keely learn that there are things you can't control...sometimes it's physical limitations, and sometimes it's a love that won't be denied, whatever the obstacles.

Fay Robinson story of Mac and Keely is a warm, touching story that's guaranteed to touch the readers heart.

I didn't know what to expect when I started reading A Man Like Mac. What I found was a well-drawn pair of leads, writing that never jarred me out of the storyline and research that was obviously extensive, but not annoyingly in your face.

John McCandless was Keely Wilson's track coach in school and although the attractions was there, they never acted on it, until Keely suffers a devastating injury, potentially career-threatening.

Her reaction to Mac's condition is brutal, her awkwardness around him believable, but she does her best to reconcile the fact that she has to work with him, with the attraction she feels now.

I highly recommend this book and Ms. Robinson is definitely on my authors to watch list.