Sean Foster has lived with cystic fibrosis his entire life. He falls in love with Jen, a girl with a dark, emotionally painful past. Living with chronic illness, Sean knows a little something about overcoming pain. But when he meets her family, his courage will be put to the test. Jen’s father, Diego, is a disabled military veteran. He is being mentally and physically abused by his wife, due to … to his role in the death of Jen’s brother. Sean must find a way to save Diego, to help him see that there are people who truly care. From Sean’s sister Sara, who views Diego as a heroic father figure. To Remy, Sean’s holistic nurse with a talent for healing wounded souls. Accompanied by a mysterious, supernatural, presence, it will fall to Sean to play the hero. All while navigating a life with chronic illness, and chasing his dreams in California.
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Ramsey’s first novel is a coming-of-age tale chronicling the joys, sorrows, and adventures of Sean Foster, a young man with cystic fibrosis.
Surrounding Foster’s story are the varied narratives of his friends and extended family; all physically or psychologically flawed through no fault of their own. His sister Sara has control issues; his girlfriend Jenessa “Jen” Quinto is a rape survivor; Jen’s father Diego is a disabled veteran abused by his wife Suzanna. Ramsey has a real talent for capturing her characters through small, subtle details such as the way teenagers eat. “I arrived first and ordered a hot chocolate and a cookie for lunch.” Foster lives with his adoptive mother, Claire, and Sara, her biological daughter. His relationship with Jen begins when she visits him during one of his many stays in the hospital; this time for a lung infection brought on by his chronic illness. The two grow to know each other trading horror stories about being bullied. Upon his release, their love affair blossoms; but then seems to end when Jen mysteriously disappears under circumstances everyone but Foster seems to know. In anger, Foster takes a wild ride in Sara’s pickup and crashes into a semi. Once again hospitalized, Foster teeters in a limbo state between life and death; his incorporeal self wandering the wards and encountering various spirits, including Jen’s dead brother Cam. Eventually, Foster recovers, Jen returns with a big surprise; and joined now by the ghosts and Sara’s new Christ-like boyfriend Johnny Phoenix and his entourage, they set out to establish their lives and save Diego from his wife and himself. Ramsey takes great pains developing her characters and dropping subtle hints for the first third of the book, rendering the introduction of the supernatural plausible. This is especially true for Foster, a young man so laid back, it is no wonder he takes interacting with spirits in stride.
A seamless combination of religion, new age, LGBTQ rights, and the supernatural with a solid tale about living a full life in the face of challenge.
Dakota Son by Mary Ramsey covers a lot of ground and a lot of different topics. Chronic disease, LGBTQ issues, ghosts, and a host of other issues and difficult familial situations. All of these things are rolled into an interesting tale that follows Sean Foster who has cystic fibrosis. Living with a chronic illness all his life, you may think that Sean doesn’t have an exciting life, but that certainly changes in this book when he meets and falls in love with Jen. Jen has a complicated family history, one which Sean can’t help but get involved in. From there the story expands to include overcoming all kinds of adversity, not only from a horrible disease, but in Sean helping out a desperate situation in Jen’s family. This is a well written, emotionally thoughtful book that will appeal to YA audiences, along with science fiction fans, paranormal fans, and LGBTQ. The author has done a great job of creating memorable and realistic characters, along with a plot that moves solidly along. Highly recommend.
California author Mary Ramsey served in the United States Air Force and has a BA degree in Cinema and now is a blogger, artist, and writer. Her characters are grounded in her fondness for unique superheroes—underrepresented minorities, LGBTQ, abuse victims, and so on. Mary lives in San Francisco.
Mary is one sensitive author – and person – and she shares that treasured trait with her readers in this deeply touching novel. She understands the implications of serious chronic illness and how life under constant stress affects not only the victim but also those surrounding the victim. She also champions the endurance and strength of the human spirit and how that factor can draw out the best in others as well as provide faith in the victim.
The primary character, Dakota son, is Sean Foster, a North Dakota teenager who lives with cystic fibrosis, a disease that permanently damages the lungs. He copes with his illness and constant hospital visits with the help of his sister, Sara, and his girlfriend, Jen. While Sean battles with cystic fibrosis and is a heroic figure, he is also very flawed and fights against the self-pity that consumes him as he copes with his illness and the aftermath of being bullied at school. Sean is devastated when his true love, Jen, and her disabled military veteran father, Diego, who is abused by his wife, move to California. Sean decides to defy his mother and follow Jen to California, which changes Sean’s life in ways he couldn’t imagine. Add the character of Remy, Sean’s holistic nurse with a talent for healing wounded souls, and the story takes on a spiritual, near supernatural twist.
An example of Mary’s writing follows – ‘It was a beautiful day in North Dakota. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and I had just puked all over myself. Again. You’d think that after fifteen years of living with chronic illness, I’d be used to my body. But no, cystic fibrosis has a mind of its own. The worst thing? As I lay in bed, my stupid bag IV bag was blocking the view of my gymnastics medals and trophies. Not that I stood any shot of making the team this year. Freshman year I was considered a protégée; this year I’m the freak who fell asleep in the locker room. That’s CF—one minute I feel superhuman (or at least human), but the next minute I feel so tired I can barely run through my routines. Then we have today. I’m fairly certain I’m not going to survive long enough to compete for a spot on the competition roster. My head pounded as the sunlight hit my eyes. “Sara, I need you!” Like magic, Sara was already pulling the blankets off my body.
Written in eloquent prose, DAKOTA SON is a superb novel by a fresh and very gifted writer. Highly Recommended.
I found this book very interesting considering that my daughter and son in law both carry the cystic fibrosis gene and my grandchildren could have very well had the disease. The story is interesting and provides the reader with look at how Sean suffering from chronic illness, self-pity at times, learns to deal with his illness, and his struggles of living with cystic fibrosis and eventual death. The story highlights the character journey and how he live his life. The reader learns that as bad as his life is other may have it worse. The story provides the reader with a look at how the Sean his sister, and Jenn try to discover a way to make sure his short life is filled with everything that can enhance his life and we see the people that helped along the way. The story reveals Sean’s struggles with his mother over going to California and how he deals with life, bullying and love. I found the structure of the story solid and smooth. The story was well paced which make the Dakota son a page turner in spite of lengthy chapters.