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Forever, Dad
Forever, Dad by Maggie Shayne released on Dec 25, 1995 is available now for purchase.
248 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 25, 1995
96 people want to read
About the author
Maggie Shayne
258 books2,575 followersI live in the teeny, tiny town of Taylor, NY, (Alliteration Alert!) though my mailing address is Cincinnatus, my telephone exchange is Truxton and I pay taxes and vote in Cuyler. All of these are at least in the same rural county in the southern hills of New York State; Cortland County. There are more cattle than people here. The nearest “big” cities are Syracuse and Binghamton and they are an hour away, in different directions, and not really all that big by most standards, though they both seem humongous to me. I look out my window to see rolling, green, thickly forested hills, wildflower laden meadows and wide open blue, blue skies. My road is barely paved. The nearest neighboring place is a 700 acre dairy farm.
My house is a big, century old farmhouse. I moved in here after my divorce in 2006. Just a little over a year later, the house, which I had named, SERENITY, burned. It was 99% gutted, and I lost my two dogs, Sally, an 11-year-old great Dane, and Wrinkles, my 14-year-old, blind bulldog. This was the culmination of my Dark Night of the soul, which had seemed to hit me all at once in 2006-2007. My mother died that year, after a 14 month battle with pancreatic cancer. She was only 60. The youngest of my five daughters had left home that same year, and while that’s not a tragedy at all, it felt like one to me. Then came the divorce. And finally there was the fire--it seemed my darkest night wasn’t quite finished with me after all. I had lost almost everything before that point, and as I poked through the wet ashes and soot the next day, I realized that I had now been stripped all the way to the bone.
No better time to start over. (And no, I didn’t come to that realization that day--there were a few days of wallowing in pity first, particularly the day after the fire, when I hit a deer and smashed up my car, which I was practically living in!)
That’s when I started to laugh. Just sat on the side of the road as the deer bounded, uninjured and carefree, out of sight, and laughed. It was just too ridiculous at that point, to do anything else!
And from there, I picked myself up, and brushed myself off, and said, okay, there’s only one way to go from here. Forward. And that’s what I did. There I was at the age of harrurmphemmph, living in my one, mostly undamaged remaining room, with a dorm-sized mini-fridge, a futon, a TV, my cat (nine lives!) and a laptop. And not much else. (Though thank goodness the room that survived the fire, was a room that had its own attached bathroom!)
Since then I have rebuilt my beloved home, which really has become my haven, my “Serenity.” I share it now with my fiancé, Lance, and we have accumulated quite the little family together. “Little” being a relative term. We have a pair of English Mastiffs, Dozer and Daisy, who weigh 203 pounds and 208 pounds respectively, and a little pudgy English Bulldog named Niblet, who is bigger than both of them, inside her mind. We also have the aforementioned cat, Glorificus (“Glory” for short,) who adores her canine pups and keeps them firmly in line. And we've acquired a pair of stray cats as well, a mother and son, Luna (Lulu for short) and Butters aka Buddy. Lulu showed up pregnant during a lunar eclipse, had a litter, and vanished again. We found homes for all the kittens except one. Butters. We got him fixed and kept him. A few months later, Lulu returned, again expecting. This litter was born on the "Monster Moon." Again, all the kittens were spayed and neutered and placed in homes, and this time we got Lulu to the vet in time to spay her before the cycle could repeat.
Glory is not amused.
She has a story of her own, my old Glory cat, having been with me before the Dark Times descended, she went through it all with me, moved with me, survived the fire, and remains with me still. She's tolerating the newcomers. Barely.
My partner is an artist, a mechanic, a welder and an inventor, and the rumors are true, he is much younger than I
My house is a big, century old farmhouse. I moved in here after my divorce in 2006. Just a little over a year later, the house, which I had named, SERENITY, burned. It was 99% gutted, and I lost my two dogs, Sally, an 11-year-old great Dane, and Wrinkles, my 14-year-old, blind bulldog. This was the culmination of my Dark Night of the soul, which had seemed to hit me all at once in 2006-2007. My mother died that year, after a 14 month battle with pancreatic cancer. She was only 60. The youngest of my five daughters had left home that same year, and while that’s not a tragedy at all, it felt like one to me. Then came the divorce. And finally there was the fire--it seemed my darkest night wasn’t quite finished with me after all. I had lost almost everything before that point, and as I poked through the wet ashes and soot the next day, I realized that I had now been stripped all the way to the bone.
No better time to start over. (And no, I didn’t come to that realization that day--there were a few days of wallowing in pity first, particularly the day after the fire, when I hit a deer and smashed up my car, which I was practically living in!)
That’s when I started to laugh. Just sat on the side of the road as the deer bounded, uninjured and carefree, out of sight, and laughed. It was just too ridiculous at that point, to do anything else!
And from there, I picked myself up, and brushed myself off, and said, okay, there’s only one way to go from here. Forward. And that’s what I did. There I was at the age of harrurmphemmph, living in my one, mostly undamaged remaining room, with a dorm-sized mini-fridge, a futon, a TV, my cat (nine lives!) and a laptop. And not much else. (Though thank goodness the room that survived the fire, was a room that had its own attached bathroom!)
Since then I have rebuilt my beloved home, which really has become my haven, my “Serenity.” I share it now with my fiancé, Lance, and we have accumulated quite the little family together. “Little” being a relative term. We have a pair of English Mastiffs, Dozer and Daisy, who weigh 203 pounds and 208 pounds respectively, and a little pudgy English Bulldog named Niblet, who is bigger than both of them, inside her mind. We also have the aforementioned cat, Glorificus (“Glory” for short,) who adores her canine pups and keeps them firmly in line. And we've acquired a pair of stray cats as well, a mother and son, Luna (Lulu for short) and Butters aka Buddy. Lulu showed up pregnant during a lunar eclipse, had a litter, and vanished again. We found homes for all the kittens except one. Butters. We got him fixed and kept him. A few months later, Lulu returned, again expecting. This litter was born on the "Monster Moon." Again, all the kittens were spayed and neutered and placed in homes, and this time we got Lulu to the vet in time to spay her before the cycle could repeat.
Glory is not amused.
She has a story of her own, my old Glory cat, having been with me before the Dark Times descended, she went through it all with me, moved with me, survived the fire, and remains with me still. She's tolerating the newcomers. Barely.
My partner is an artist, a mechanic, a welder and an inventor, and the rumors are true, he is much younger than I
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 31, 2011
Rating 3.5
I enjoyed Forever Dad with the less than stellar start. The heroine grew on me as she grew a back-bone and found reserves of strength she didn't know she had.
Mason "Torch" Palamaro came to the attention of a terrorist named Scorpion when he bested him, in retaliation a bomb killed Torch's wife and two kids, he's been sleep-walking ever since and feeling guilty. He quit his job with I-CAT since he felt people blamed him, he didn't love his wife but cared for her since she was his best-friend. So, when his friend calls him saying that he has an assignment he isn't interested, but then Scorpion's name comes up. Torch has to find a scientist named Holt who went on the run with a killer formula and his doctor daughter Alexandra.
Alexandra tried for years to please her father but felt she never lived up to his expectation, her father was a cold, unfeeling man who belittled her and her asthma and everything else but she doesn't see that and now he is dead and Alex is staying alone when Torch tracks her down telling her something about her father she refuses to believe, she tries to trick him and then Scorpion's men show up and they escape due to Alex. Alex had a lot of issues related to her father and self-esteem but over the course of the book she came past them and realized her value in some part due to Torch when he lauds her ingenuity and in part on finally seeing the truth about her father.
Torch was really tortured due to his family and didn't want to fall for Alex. I loved it when Alex told him that she deserved better and that she was done asking for crumbs from people.
I enjoyed Forever Dad with the less than stellar start. The heroine grew on me as she grew a back-bone and found reserves of strength she didn't know she had.
Mason "Torch" Palamaro came to the attention of a terrorist named Scorpion when he bested him, in retaliation a bomb killed Torch's wife and two kids, he's been sleep-walking ever since and feeling guilty. He quit his job with I-CAT since he felt people blamed him, he didn't love his wife but cared for her since she was his best-friend. So, when his friend calls him saying that he has an assignment he isn't interested, but then Scorpion's name comes up. Torch has to find a scientist named Holt who went on the run with a killer formula and his doctor daughter Alexandra.
Alexandra tried for years to please her father but felt she never lived up to his expectation, her father was a cold, unfeeling man who belittled her and her asthma and everything else but she doesn't see that and now he is dead and Alex is staying alone when Torch tracks her down telling her something about her father she refuses to believe, she tries to trick him and then Scorpion's men show up and they escape due to Alex. Alex had a lot of issues related to her father and self-esteem but over the course of the book she came past them and realized her value in some part due to Torch when he lauds her ingenuity and in part on finally seeing the truth about her father.
Torch was really tortured due to his family and didn't want to fall for Alex. I loved it when Alex told him that she deserved better and that she was done asking for crumbs from people.
October 4, 2019
Dr. Alexandra Holt has gone into hiding with her famous scientist father. He suddenly dies. Six months later Torch Palmaro is brought onto the case to find him. The scientist developed a deadly drug before he dies and everyone wants it. Torch works with Alexandra to find it. He's haunted by the explosion death of his wife and twin sons a year earlier. They are attracted, but divided until faced with death. The return of his twins who've been in protective custody help cure all.
July 8, 2008
FOREVER, DAD - Okay
Shayne, Maggie - SIM-694
Secret agent Torch Palamaro had finally found her—the mysterious Alexandra Holt who'd disappeared six months ago with something he desperately wanted. The woman was his only chance for revenge against the man who'd taken his family away from him. But Alexandra swore she didn't know what Torch was talking about. For her sake, she'd better be lying.
Alexandra knew she was only the key to what Torch wanted. So why did the darkly
handsome loner have to open up to her, show her his only photo-graph of his young sons with tears in his stony blue eyes? Now he had something she wanted—his love. But Torch was still hell-bent on revenge, until the shocking truth about his sons came out....
Retired agent, daughter of scientist who is a doctor, asthema, explosives. It was okay.
Shayne, Maggie - SIM-694
Secret agent Torch Palamaro had finally found her—the mysterious Alexandra Holt who'd disappeared six months ago with something he desperately wanted. The woman was his only chance for revenge against the man who'd taken his family away from him. But Alexandra swore she didn't know what Torch was talking about. For her sake, she'd better be lying.
Alexandra knew she was only the key to what Torch wanted. So why did the darkly
handsome loner have to open up to her, show her his only photo-graph of his young sons with tears in his stony blue eyes? Now he had something she wanted—his love. But Torch was still hell-bent on revenge, until the shocking truth about his sons came out....
Retired agent, daughter of scientist who is a doctor, asthema, explosives. It was okay.
November 10, 2008
This was a pretty good book all and all. I know that doesn’t sound very encouraging. However, for me, personally, it was hard to get passed the rather annoyingly stupid hero. Stupid in regards to emotions- specifically his own. I know I should cut him some slack since his wife and twin sons were murdered. But, he is just REALLY stupid up until the last quarter of the book. That is when this book really got good. Two stars for the first ¾ of the book and 5 stars for the last ¼ of the book.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews