on Her Sons Hero
Collect Her Sons Hero Expressed By Vicki Essex Issued As Textbook
Hometown U. S. A. A good HSR, with realistic and realistically flawed characters and a balanced look at smalltown life, I especially appreciated the heroine's sensibleness and complexity, and I was impressed by the portrayal of her gradual and very believable changes as a mother, The issue of domestic violence is addressed throughout the book with careful sensitivity, though not particularly subtly, I did want a little more nuanced emotional depth rather than the strainedangst sort of emotional depth from the hero's side of the plot, but I did enjoy the story and the characters, and I'll keep an eye out for the author's next book.
Great read. Vicki Essex's story is as real as life can get with genuinely interesting and complex characters, Your heart breaks for the kids in the book and you're moved by both Dom and Fiona's strength and vulnerability, As it goes in MMA kick ass, Unacceptable. Fiona MacAvery works very hard to help her son find nonviolent ways to protect himself from the bullying he can't seem to avoid, She's never believed in violence, Then along comes mixed martial arts champ Dominic Payette, and that's who her son turns to for guidance
The reason why my boyfriend knew about a
romance book at all is that he follows all MMArelated news closely, and one of them mentioned Her Son's Hero's author in it.
Vicki Essex is a mixed martial arts fan in real life, and naturally she chose to have a pro MMA fighter as a hero for her debut romance novel.
Even if my boyfriend hadn't expressed curiosity about the book, I would have been intrigued, Though I might not go so far as to call myself a MMA "fan", I definitely enjoy our nights out when we go watch UFC or Strikeforce or whatever's on in some sports bar, make bets on who's gonna win, root for one fighter or the other, cheer and cry out.
I couldn't agree more with Ms, Essex about the fact that MMA fighters do make great romance heroes, They have the body, the willpower, the fame, . . Maybe I'm shallow, but my only reservation against dating a pro fighter would be their looks you've got to like scars, cauliflower ears and broken noses, . . and that's probably the least of it, The sport's violence Nah. Really Yet, probably based on MMA's rep amongst the population at large, hence most romance readers, that's what Essex picked as the story's main conflict, But let me quickly introduce the plot before I go any further:
After divorcing her abusing husband, Fiona MacAvery has settled in quiet, small town Salmon River with her tenyearold son, Sean.
Being accepted in the town's tight community is hard, and on top of Fiona's worries is seeing her son being bullied, Enters Dominic Payette, a famous UFF fighter on a break before his welterweight title fight, come to visit his old Sensei Miwa, who had to move his dojo from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
While Sean takes an immediate liking to their new neighbour and eventually becomes a dedicated karate student, Fiona is much more hesitant, About the influence such a fighter may have on her kid, but also on her own heart, . .
Despite being a rather short novel, Her Son's Hero is rich, It deals with a lot of issues, from domestic violence to adjusting to a new environment, not to mention single parenting, resilience, or Dom's terrible guilt for having sent an opponent into a coma.
There's also much revolving around Sean: his mother's relationship with him, his growing up, his budding interest in martial arts, I really enjoyed that the child was a fullfledged, important secondary character in this story, and not some kind of twodimensional pretext to bring the adults together.
At last, very far from the fallingforthenanny cliche, for once we have a single mother finding love, and since the man in question is only, he might even be younger.
. .
As a person interested in martial arts, I must say I was on the lookout for any mistake or unrealistic detail the author might have made in that area.
Not that I could really have spotted anything less than genuine when it came to Dom's career, All I will say is that I was only halfimpressed with the fact that Dom's base and what Sean is made to learn turned out to be karate.
. . I mean, there're tons of styles of karate, and I've nothing personal against them, but that's exactly my point: what is karate It could be a hundred different things, yet it's a word whose meaning people think they know.
Hell, that's probably the one martial art I can picture the least in my head,
And then I got a little tired of Fiona's fear of MMA, It was very good for it to be her starting point, just so she would have all this prejudice against Dom and reasons to fight with him.
It was also interesting that she came from an abusive relationship and had a systematical gut reaction against physical violence, I guess what annoyed me in the longer term is the mishmash of MMA, karate, selfdefence, and criminal physical attacks, All these contexts are very different, and you can't put them in the same category, Fighting in a ring against a prepared opponent who decided to fight you has nothing to do with fighting back a random guy who attacks you on the street.
The latter could have a knife or a gun for all you know, So there's this scene at some point in the book, . . spoilers ahead
Fiona's reaction made me go in full WTF mode, I mean, the only point there is to argue in such a case is: was this a selfdefence situation, or wasn't it The fact that the other guy put his hands on Fiona first suggests it was in the eyes of the law, anyway, but: could they have managed to get away without responding to the guy's taunts If so, then yes, it would certainly have been the wisest course of action.
But only because getting in a fight always presents a risk of getting hurt, even if you're a MMA champ, If I'd been in Fiona's shoes, I would have been mad too, but only because "They could have hurt you! They could have killed you!" I couldn't believe that she cared about the welfare of those jerks over Dom's.
. .
The conversation they're having postincident completely reverses the whole concept of selfdefence: you want to avoid coming to blows because you don't want to get harmed.
But if you do come to blows, then you must want to harm them, and for good as in, you want to neutralize them, not get them even angrier at you with a few badly planned strikes.
If you're not mentally ready to hurt an assailant, then you better be a very fast runner, 'cause you'll never be able to defend yourself, Moreover, this scene conveys the completely false notion that if you're a professional fighter, you can afford to beat up anyone who picks a quarrel with you.
Whereas you can't. Like I said, a knife or a gun, A deadly uppercut or the best jiu jitsu in the world won't save you against a wellaimed gunshot,
I don't know if a random reader might have taken issue with this, After all, it is only a detail, and it didn't manage to spoil my reading pleasure, Overall, Her Son's Hero remains a wellwritten, wellplotted novel with a clever insight into motherson relationships and a reflection on what we want out of life, and why we all need a purpose.
.
Great read. Vicki Essex's story is as real as life can get with genuinely interesting and complex characters, Your heart breaks for the kids in the book and you're moved by both Dom and Fiona's strength and vulnerability, As it goes in MMA kick ass, Unacceptable. Fiona MacAvery works very hard to help her son find nonviolent ways to protect himself from the bullying he can't seem to avoid, She's never believed in violence, Then along comes mixed martial arts champ Dominic Payette, and that's who her son turns to for guidance
Dom clearly has a heart under all those
gorgeous
muscles, but there are shadows, too.
He's fighting his way back toward a champion belt after putting an opponent in a coma, Fiona admires his dedication. She even admits that he's shown her son how to be more confident, But act on this attraction between them There's no way she's letting her guard down!
The reason why my boyfriend knew about a
romance book at all is that he follows all MMArelated news closely, and one of them mentioned Her Son's Hero's author in it.
Vicki Essex is a mixed martial arts fan in real life, and naturally she chose to have a pro MMA fighter as a hero for her debut romance novel.
Even if my boyfriend hadn't expressed curiosity about the book, I would have been intrigued, Though I might not go so far as to call myself a MMA "fan", I definitely enjoy our nights out when we go watch UFC or Strikeforce or whatever's on in some sports bar, make bets on who's gonna win, root for one fighter or the other, cheer and cry out.
I couldn't agree more with Ms, Essex about the fact that MMA fighters do make great romance heroes, They have the body, the willpower, the fame, . . Maybe I'm shallow, but my only reservation against dating a pro fighter would be their looks you've got to like scars, cauliflower ears and broken noses, . . and that's probably the least of it, The sport's violence Nah. Really Yet, probably based on MMA's rep amongst the population at large, hence most romance readers, that's what Essex picked as the story's main conflict, But let me quickly introduce the plot before I go any further:
After divorcing her abusing husband, Fiona MacAvery has settled in quiet, small town Salmon River with her tenyearold son, Sean.
Being accepted in the town's tight community is hard, and on top of Fiona's worries is seeing her son being bullied, Enters Dominic Payette, a famous UFF fighter on a break before his welterweight title fight, come to visit his old Sensei Miwa, who had to move his dojo from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
While Sean takes an immediate liking to their new neighbour and eventually becomes a dedicated karate student, Fiona is much more hesitant, About the influence such a fighter may have on her kid, but also on her own heart, . .
Despite being a rather short novel, Her Son's Hero is rich, It deals with a lot of issues, from domestic violence to adjusting to a new environment, not to mention single parenting, resilience, or Dom's terrible guilt for having sent an opponent into a coma.
There's also much revolving around Sean: his mother's relationship with him, his growing up, his budding interest in martial arts, I really enjoyed that the child was a fullfledged, important secondary character in this story, and not some kind of twodimensional pretext to bring the adults together.
At last, very far from the fallingforthenanny cliche, for once we have a single mother finding love, and since the man in question is only, he might even be younger.
. .
As a person interested in martial arts, I must say I was on the lookout for any mistake or unrealistic detail the author might have made in that area.
Not that I could really have spotted anything less than genuine when it came to Dom's career, All I will say is that I was only halfimpressed with the fact that Dom's base and what Sean is made to learn turned out to be karate.
. . I mean, there're tons of styles of karate, and I've nothing personal against them, but that's exactly my point: what is karate It could be a hundred different things, yet it's a word whose meaning people think they know.
Hell, that's probably the one martial art I can picture the least in my head,
And then I got a little tired of Fiona's fear of MMA, It was very good for it to be her starting point, just so she would have all this prejudice against Dom and reasons to fight with him.
It was also interesting that she came from an abusive relationship and had a systematical gut reaction against physical violence, I guess what annoyed me in the longer term is the mishmash of MMA, karate, selfdefence, and criminal physical attacks, All these contexts are very different, and you can't put them in the same category, Fighting in a ring against a prepared opponent who decided to fight you has nothing to do with fighting back a random guy who attacks you on the street.
The latter could have a knife or a gun for all you know, So there's this scene at some point in the book, . . spoilers ahead
"I'm sorry," he began gently, "for what you saw back there, I didn't mean to scare you, but he put his hands on you and I, . . I just freaked out. "
"You could have hurt them, You could have killed them, "
Fiona's reaction made me go in full WTF mode, I mean, the only point there is to argue in such a case is: was this a selfdefence situation, or wasn't it The fact that the other guy put his hands on Fiona first suggests it was in the eyes of the law, anyway, but: could they have managed to get away without responding to the guy's taunts If so, then yes, it would certainly have been the wisest course of action.
But only because getting in a fight always presents a risk of getting hurt, even if you're a MMA champ, If I'd been in Fiona's shoes, I would have been mad too, but only because "They could have hurt you! They could have killed you!" I couldn't believe that she cared about the welfare of those jerks over Dom's.
. .
The conversation they're having postincident completely reverses the whole concept of selfdefence: you want to avoid coming to blows because you don't want to get harmed.
But if you do come to blows, then you must want to harm them, and for good as in, you want to neutralize them, not get them even angrier at you with a few badly planned strikes.
If you're not mentally ready to hurt an assailant, then you better be a very fast runner, 'cause you'll never be able to defend yourself, Moreover, this scene conveys the completely false notion that if you're a professional fighter, you can afford to beat up anyone who picks a quarrel with you.
Whereas you can't. Like I said, a knife or a gun, A deadly uppercut or the best jiu jitsu in the world won't save you against a wellaimed gunshot,
I don't know if a random reader might have taken issue with this, After all, it is only a detail, and it didn't manage to spoil my reading pleasure, Overall, Her Son's Hero remains a wellwritten, wellplotted novel with a clever insight into motherson relationships and a reflection on what we want out of life, and why we all need a purpose.
.