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Our Two Sons
IT ALL STARTED WITH AN AUTOGRAPH...
Only her son, Kyle, can get Professor Jacelyn Ross anywhere near a sports arena. Especially when the celebrity in question is a boorish football jock. But Kyle means everything to Jacelyn -- and he wants the signature.
Besides, she'll have to meet "The King" -- famous Mike Kingston -- eventually. It's his team that's tarnishing her beloved school's pristine academic reputation -- all in the name of PROGRESS. She and the rest of the teaching staff don't approve of the plan at all.
But Mike has more in common with Jacelyn than she would care to admit. Their commitment to their troubled sons, for starters. AND the attraction that has Jacelyn seeing Mike in a whole new light.
Only her son, Kyle, can get Professor Jacelyn Ross anywhere near a sports arena. Especially when the celebrity in question is a boorish football jock. But Kyle means everything to Jacelyn -- and he wants the signature.
Besides, she'll have to meet "The King" -- famous Mike Kingston -- eventually. It's his team that's tarnishing her beloved school's pristine academic reputation -- all in the name of PROGRESS. She and the rest of the teaching staff don't approve of the plan at all.
But Mike has more in common with Jacelyn than she would care to admit. Their commitment to their troubled sons, for starters. AND the attraction that has Jacelyn seeing Mike in a whole new light.
296 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
About the author
Kathryn Shay
170 books499 followersKathryn Shay is a lifelong writer. At fifteen, she penned her first 'romance,' a short story about a female newspaper reporter in New York City and her fight to make a name for herself in a world of male journalists - and with one hardheaded editor in particular. Looking back, Kathryn says she should have known then that writing was in her future. But as so often happens, fate sent her detouring down another path.
Fully intending to pursue her dream of big city lights and success in the literary world, Kathryn took every creative writing class available at the small private women's college she attended in upstate New York. Instead, other dreams took precedence. She met and subsequently married a wonderful guy who'd attended a neighboring school, then completed her practice teaching, a requirement for the education degree she never intended to use. But says Kathryn, "I fell in love with teaching the first day I was up in front of a class, and knew I was meant to do that."
Kathryn went on to build a successful career in the New York state school system, thoroughly enjoying her work with adolescents. But by the early 1990s, she'd again made room in her life for writing. It was then that she submitted her first manuscript to publishers and agents. Despite enduring two years of rejections, she persevered. And on a snowy December afternoon in 1994, Kathryn Shay sold her first book to Harlequin Superromance.
Since that first sale, Kathryn has written twenty-one books for Harlequin, nine mainstream contemporary romances for the Berkley Publishing Group, and two online novellas, which Berkley then published in traditional print format.
Kathryn has become known for her powerful characterizations - readers say they feel they know the people in her books - and her heart-wrenching, emotional writing (her favorite comments are that fans cried while reading her books or stayed up late to finish them). In testament to her skill, the author has won five RT BookClub Magazine Reviewers Choice Awards, three Holt Medallions, two Desert Quill Awards, the Golden Leaf Award, and several online accolades.
Even in light of her writing success, that initial love of teaching never wavered for Kathryn. She finished out her teaching career in 2004, retiring from the same school where her career began. These days, she lives in upstate New York with her husband and two children. "My life is very full," she reports, "but very happy. I consider myself fortunate to have been able to pursue and achieve my dreams."
Fully intending to pursue her dream of big city lights and success in the literary world, Kathryn took every creative writing class available at the small private women's college she attended in upstate New York. Instead, other dreams took precedence. She met and subsequently married a wonderful guy who'd attended a neighboring school, then completed her practice teaching, a requirement for the education degree she never intended to use. But says Kathryn, "I fell in love with teaching the first day I was up in front of a class, and knew I was meant to do that."
Kathryn went on to build a successful career in the New York state school system, thoroughly enjoying her work with adolescents. But by the early 1990s, she'd again made room in her life for writing. It was then that she submitted her first manuscript to publishers and agents. Despite enduring two years of rejections, she persevered. And on a snowy December afternoon in 1994, Kathryn Shay sold her first book to Harlequin Superromance.
Since that first sale, Kathryn has written twenty-one books for Harlequin, nine mainstream contemporary romances for the Berkley Publishing Group, and two online novellas, which Berkley then published in traditional print format.
Kathryn has become known for her powerful characterizations - readers say they feel they know the people in her books - and her heart-wrenching, emotional writing (her favorite comments are that fans cried while reading her books or stayed up late to finish them). In testament to her skill, the author has won five RT BookClub Magazine Reviewers Choice Awards, three Holt Medallions, two Desert Quill Awards, the Golden Leaf Award, and several online accolades.
Even in light of her writing success, that initial love of teaching never wavered for Kathryn. She finished out her teaching career in 2004, retiring from the same school where her career began. These days, she lives in upstate New York with her husband and two children. "My life is very full," she reports, "but very happy. I consider myself fortunate to have been able to pursue and achieve my dreams."
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 18, 2024
Professor Jacelyn Ross is upset that the college she teaches at is adding a Sports Studies Program to their curriculum. Jacelyn does not follow sports. She sees no reason why anyone would want to sit down and watch a jock throw or kick a football. But her son Kyle is a big sports fan. He has asked his mother to get the autograph of former Wide Receiver and current coach for the Buckland Bulls, Mike Kingston. The Bulls are holding their summer training camp at the college this year to help them kick off their new Sports Studies Program. Mike grudgingly gives Jacelyn the autograph, but they clash over the fact that she thinks adding the new program to the curriculum will tarnish the school's academic reputation.
Both Jacelyn and Mike are committed to their sons. Kyle needs a father figure in his life since his actual father has no time for him. Mike's young son is still mourning the death of his mother and Mike is having a hard time helping him move on. This common ground lets them build a friendship that eventually turns into something more.
I thought the story was well written, but I had a hard time with Jacelyn's attitude. She acted like being seen with Mike was beneath her and worried about what others would say. This situation just went on too long for me. My rating: 3.5 Stars.
Both Jacelyn and Mike are committed to their sons. Kyle needs a father figure in his life since his actual father has no time for him. Mike's young son is still mourning the death of his mother and Mike is having a hard time helping him move on. This common ground lets them build a friendship that eventually turns into something more.
I thought the story was well written, but I had a hard time with Jacelyn's attitude. She acted like being seen with Mike was beneath her and worried about what others would say. This situation just went on too long for me. My rating: 3.5 Stars.
April 13, 2026
The premise of academics and athletes at odds over who and what is prioritized at a college, held plenty of possibility. But when all the male academics are portrayed as one-dimensional prigs, it quickly becomes a less interesting conflict than it could have been. Also, it would have been good to get some actual details of what the athletics program entailed, what was Mike going to teach and how does being a coach/former player make him qualified to teach it, what were these droves of kids enrolling or switching majors signing up for, what types of jobs would these degrees lead to? This didn’t dig into anything so all you’re left with is men on both sides coming off as insecure and juvenile while the heroine, Jacelyn, gets all their blame and is often shown in too flummoxed of a state to know her own mind, let alone speak it.
Jacelyn’s son occasionally has his own POV here, his part of the story had potential too, only it wasn’t really there in the execution. He came off as a little too perfect, too earnest, too willing for sleepovers with a seven year old, too prone to hero worship, to be an entirely believable nineteen year old, I’m not saying he needed to be running wild but some flaws would have helped. He makes a big life changing choice here, but like the athletics program there weren’t enough details, it’s left entirely vague as to what this new life direction translates into as a future career, that to me seemed like the most basic of questions that none of the adults even bothered to ask here, and as a reader, when you aren’t armed with the most basic information, you can’t even really muster your own opinion of what’s going on.
As for the romance, this did the sort of things that almost always feel forced to me, like they fall and land on top of each other or get ridiculously turned on watching each other eat, etc., though Mike himself was really the biggest hindrance to my feeling any chemistry between him and Jacelyn.
Something in Mike’s southern-tinged dialogue didn’t sound authentic, and the more he said darlin,’ the more it grated, but it’s his behavior that truly bothered me. The moment he meets Jacelyn, he’s rude, which is excused because he thought she was a groupie and my thought was well, do groupies deserve to be spoken to that way, either? To me, a decent man at least tries at first to treat others with respect before deeming them unworthy. Then there was his terrible, teenage boy-like reaction to the moment Jacelyn changed her mind mid-kiss and rescinded an invite into her home.
Almost all his reactions to her were like that, hot-headed, hyper-sensitive, concluding everything’s an insult and unwilling to stay for an explanation. He was exasperating, especially since there’s little backstory to help you understand why someone this successful is also this fragile, even his biggest go-to hang up about being seen as a dumb jock, it wasn’t based on enough to warrant him carrying that around as a giant chip on his shoulder.
It was hard to sympathize with Mike to any degree, let alone find the guy attractive. He’s perpetually huffy, ices Jacelyn out anytime she doesn’t do exactly as he pleases, and he showed no regard for the position he’s put her in with her career or compassion when it came to her trying to deal with her extremely difficult ex. Yet Jacelyn is the only one expected to apologize. It was maddening. Like she was in a relationship with a pouty child. Life with a man like that is not my idea of happily ever after.
Jacelyn’s son occasionally has his own POV here, his part of the story had potential too, only it wasn’t really there in the execution. He came off as a little too perfect, too earnest, too willing for sleepovers with a seven year old, too prone to hero worship, to be an entirely believable nineteen year old, I’m not saying he needed to be running wild but some flaws would have helped. He makes a big life changing choice here, but like the athletics program there weren’t enough details, it’s left entirely vague as to what this new life direction translates into as a future career, that to me seemed like the most basic of questions that none of the adults even bothered to ask here, and as a reader, when you aren’t armed with the most basic information, you can’t even really muster your own opinion of what’s going on.
As for the romance, this did the sort of things that almost always feel forced to me, like they fall and land on top of each other or get ridiculously turned on watching each other eat, etc., though Mike himself was really the biggest hindrance to my feeling any chemistry between him and Jacelyn.
Something in Mike’s southern-tinged dialogue didn’t sound authentic, and the more he said darlin,’ the more it grated, but it’s his behavior that truly bothered me. The moment he meets Jacelyn, he’s rude, which is excused because he thought she was a groupie and my thought was well, do groupies deserve to be spoken to that way, either? To me, a decent man at least tries at first to treat others with respect before deeming them unworthy. Then there was his terrible, teenage boy-like reaction to the moment Jacelyn changed her mind mid-kiss and rescinded an invite into her home.
Almost all his reactions to her were like that, hot-headed, hyper-sensitive, concluding everything’s an insult and unwilling to stay for an explanation. He was exasperating, especially since there’s little backstory to help you understand why someone this successful is also this fragile, even his biggest go-to hang up about being seen as a dumb jock, it wasn’t based on enough to warrant him carrying that around as a giant chip on his shoulder.
It was hard to sympathize with Mike to any degree, let alone find the guy attractive. He’s perpetually huffy, ices Jacelyn out anytime she doesn’t do exactly as he pleases, and he showed no regard for the position he’s put her in with her career or compassion when it came to her trying to deal with her extremely difficult ex. Yet Jacelyn is the only one expected to apologize. It was maddening. Like she was in a relationship with a pouty child. Life with a man like that is not my idea of happily ever after.
January 30, 2026
Fun light romantic story.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews