Born in Shame by Nora Roberts

The third and final book in the Born in trilogy after Born in Fire and Born in Ice, Born in Shame is the story of Shannon Bodine who is the half sister of Maggie and Brianna Concannon, and Murphy Muldoon, Brianna's neighbour.

The book opens with Shannon by her sick mother's bedside. Her mother is telling her that she is not who she thinks she is. She has been bought up to believe that she is Colin Bodine's natural daughter, when in fact she is the product of a short liaison between her mother, and Tom Concannon.

On the day of her mother's funeral, the private investigator that the Concannon sisters had hired to track down Shannon's mother finds Shannon. She shuts him off completely, making it very clear that she is not interested in any way in meeting her newly discovered sisters. However, after receiving a letter from Brianna, Shannon and changes her mind, not because she consciously wants to meet the family that she didn't know that she had, but just because she had always wanted to go to Ireland, and she needs a break from her high flying job as a commercial artist in an advertising firm.

When Shannon arrives at Blackthorne Cottage, she and Maggie are instantly resentful and wary of each other, whilst Brianna does her best to meet Shannon's every need and to smooth the path between the two sisters. Not long after she arrives Shannon meets Murphy Muldoon, long time family friend to the Concannons. Later in the book, Murphy's mother tells us that at various times she thought her son was going to end up with either Maggie or Brianna, although both make it clear that nothing ever happens, so it seems somehow fated that he would end up with another of the Concannon sisters. As soon as Murphy sees her, he knows that she is the one, as he has been seeing her in his dreams. As soon as she had arrived in Ireland, Shannon too had started to have dreams about a horseman who appears to be giving a woman a brooch and riding off. Shannon is attracted to Murphy but wary of him as well, especially seeing as she has to return to New York eventually. Murphy is so convinced that Shannon is the one for him that invites his whole family down to meet Shannon before she even starts to admit his feelings for her.

Shannon shares an artists temperament with Maggie, and whilst the two of them initially bang heads, in due course they start to have a really strong bond, especially once Rogan becomes interested Shannon's paintings. The other turning point for Maggie and Shannon, was when Shannon stood up to Maggie's mother when she tried to make Brianna feel guilty for having the nerve to have the product of her husband's adultery staying with her.

The funny thing is, as I write this review several days after finishing the book, it is really the storyline that has stayed with me for this book as opposed to the characters. I really did like Murphy, even though the fact that he was constantly lighting up a cigarette jarred me out of the story on several occasions. I am not really sure why it did, maybe because it was a little surprising that a book set in the late 1990's would still feature a cigarette smoking hero. I am sure it wouldn't bother me if a character in a historical lit a pipe or whatever! I also really liked Shannon, but it is the story which has stayed more in my mind. There was just a touch of the supernatural in this book. Not having read many other Nora Roberts, I know that that is not anything unusual for her, but it is the first time I have come across it, and I quite liked it. A couple of the things that happened were downright spooky, like in relation to the brooch.

I still think I liked the Chesapeake series a bit more than this one, but the Born In trilogy was definitely entertaining and well worth reading.

The question is though...which of Nora's books should I read next?

Rating 4/5

Born in Ice by Nora Roberts

The second book in the Born In trilogy by Nora Roberts, Born in Ice is Brianna's story.

When her father died, Brianna ended up with the family home which she has turned into a successful inn, although it sounds more like a Bed and Breakfast. As you go through the books you find out that Brianna is just about the ultimate domestic goddess - she bakes, she cleans, she wears an apron. Whilst I respect people who are like that, I am not, so it was actually a little put offish to me!!

Grayson Thane is a very successful American author who has travelled to Ireland to write his next book. His specialty is gruesome murder mysteries, and Ireland seems to have the perfect sites to base his murders, from the castle ruins to the stone circle that is in the fields near Brianna's house.

Like Maggie from Born in Fire, Brianna too has issues to do with her parents, but the two sisters deal with them in completely different ways. Brianna is her mother's crutch, and heel. Whilst Brianna does everything and more for her mother, Maeve is sure to let her know that it is never enough. She also very kindly shares the information that whilst Maggie had been born of a short lived passion that ruined her life, Brianna had been born of the coldness of a duty that must not be shirked, and it was a duty to the church, more than to her husband. Fortunately Maggie does everything she can to protect Brianna. In the previous book she had bought a house for Maeve, and hired a companion to stop Brianna from needing to look after her 24/7. She also has to deal with her feelings regarding her father after she finds three letters, wrapped in ribbon, in a box in the attic, which attest to the fact that her father had an affair with a woman named Amanda, and that Amanda had broke off contact when she found out she was pregnant. The other thing that happened in relation to her father was that she found a stock certificate, which brings a few events into her life that were a bit out of the ordinary. Actually I found some of these events, which carry forward into the next book, a bit out of place to be honest.

When Grayson first arrives at the inn, he is immediately attracted to Brianna, especially when she is wearing her apron or hanging out the washing (huh???), but Brianna is determined not to let him know that he is affecting her at first, and then how deeply at the end. Grayson is a man who has created himself, from his name up, despite his early life with a terrible mother and in foster care. He has no ties, doesn't even own a car so that he doesn't have to be tied to any one place and he believes that he is quiet happy there! I really liked Grayson. He sounds like a loner but he really wasn't. When he was being sociable he was a really nice guy. It was also interesting to read some of the writing process that he went through - the sleepless nights when he was feeling inspired, the temper that came with the words not flowing.

Brianna didn't quite do enough for me to be a heroine. She wasn't prepared to fight for anything. When Grayson was about to leave she even offered to make sandwiches for him for goodness sake, and was not prepared to let him know even once how much he really meant to her!! Sure, she told him that she loved him, but she remained cool and calm, acting resigned to his departure. Part of that relates to something her mother had done to her only previous serious boyfriend, but still, I wanted to yell at her to at least act like she at least cared!

I really liked the story, but because I felt little connection to Brianna I rated this a 3.5/5.

Born in Fire by Nora Roberts

When Maggie Concannon, a young lady who is a glass sculptor, sells her first piece of glass, she meets her beloved father, Tom Concannon, for a drink and then they head out to the cliffs looking across the ocean towards America. When Tom suddenly dies there with only Maggie by his side, his last word was Amanda, which meant absolutely nothing to Maggie.

Fast forward a couple of years and Maggie is a moderately successful artist, but she has just caught the attention of Rogan Sweeney who is a big time art dealer, manager, connoisseur.

Maggie has a very temperamental and volatile personality that is usually ascribed to artists. She might have caught the attention of Rogan Sweeney, but it doesn't mean to say that she wants to keep it. She doesn't answer her telephone, won't respond to messages, so the suave and sophisticated Rogan decides to head to County Clare and speak with her face to face. Sparks fly almost immediately, and they are both interested, but business comes first, until finally Maggie is the one who takes the bull by the horns and starts things. Maggie is a great heroine - earthy, passionate, fiery, artistic...real. Rogan is a great catch - rich, good looking, determined, and he knows when to take what Maggie dishes out to him, and when to fight her for her own good.

Rogan realises pretty quickly that he wants more, but Maggie has never wanted the normal things in life - marriage, kids, domesticity. She leaves the domesticity to her sister Brianna, and attributes her fears about marriage to her own parents marriage. Her father loved her, but her mother Maeve, is a complete bitch who has made both of her children's lives a misery in different ways. For Maggie, she was conceived outside the bounds of marriage, of a long dead passion, and Maeve never lets her forget it! It doesn't matter that the sin was Maeve's, Maggie is the one who is blamed for Maeve's loss of her life as she wanted it.

Once Rogan has managed to get her to sign on the dotted line as far as her art goes, he starts down the path on trying to keep her interest in him, realising that he needs to play it cool before she will come to him. I really loved that there was no huge misunderstanding in this book. Yes, our hero and heroine spent time apart, but it was time apart for Maggie to realise how much she loved Rogan, time apart for her to become as comfortable as she was ever going to be with the idea of commitment to Rogan, and he was willing to wait as long as it took, but as soon as she took the first step towards him, he was there to show just how much he wanted her!

The only other Nora Roberts books I have read are the Chesapeake Bay books featuring the Quinn brothers, which I absolutely loved. The first book of the Born In series is right up there with them. I think I feel another glom coming on!!

Rating 4.5/5