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Title: Born in Fire (Born In Trilogy) (Born In Trilogy)
ISBN: 1423331885
Author:
Nora Roberts
Publicate Date: 2007-05-28
Publish: 2007-05-28
List Price: $24.95
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Audio CD
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $15.07
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $15.00
Amazon Merchant Price: $18.21
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| Customer Review: |
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1: first of the series
I'd always thought this was my favorite of the trilogy, but it's been years since I'd read it.
Maggie Concannon is an Irish glass artist--reclusive, a bit temperamental, independent. Rogan Sweeney is a businessman, art connoisseur, and owner of a gallery. He's been trying to sign Maggie for his gallery, but she ignores his letters and won't answer her phone, so he decides to visit her personally.
Sparks fly, of course, between Maggie's artistic passion and Rogan's implacable determination.
That's the romance part of the story. Then there's the family story. In the prologue, Maggie's with her father as he dies. Her mother is a bitter, nasty woman, and Maggie butts heads with her constantly. Maggie's sister Brianna, on the other hand, bends over backwards to accommodate the unsatisfiable Maeve.
Which is the source of my dissatisfaction with this story. In the same way that Maeve spoiled every family gathering in the book, she also spoiled the story. I absolutely could not sympathize with her at all, and it seemed that part of the message of Born in Fire was that Maggie should try to be more understanding toward Maeve, which left me feeling vaguely as if I'd been chastised for not being sympathetic toward her myself.
Heh. Sometimes I take these things a bit too seriously.
I also, when I'd put the book down for a while, questioned Rogan's persistence. The business persistence was fine, but the romantic persistence felt just a little squicky. That was only when I was thinking about the book, though, not while I was reading it.
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2: Maggie...
After finishing the last book in the "Born In.." series I felt like I was saying goodbye to long lost friends. This rarely happens for me because I read so much, but Nora introduced me to the best of people and the best of traditions. I may not read for a couple of days and those who know me will be shocked because I am rarely seen without a book in my hand or a book on the fireplace calling my name. I feel I should mourn the loss of never again getting to read for the first time this "Born In..." series. If you have never read any of Nora's books please just pick one up. Yes as we all know there are a number of wonderful authors out in the big ole' world of books, but there are only a few who can ever dream of being as good as Nora! Bravo for this series!
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3: A captive book, made into irritating audio
Nora Roberts produced one of the finest coming-of-adult-age stories I've ever read. Faced with the untimely death of her father and the incessant criticism of her mother, the heroine of this novel goes on to win both the respect of others and the love of a worthy man.
I truly enjoyed hearing the content MP3 CD version of this novel, but unfortunately, the audio itself was very poor. While the reader is an authentic Irish man, the recording was also artificially sped up in places, to the point where the combination of his Irish accent and the tempo of the audio made the book distressing to listen to.
And sometimes, the words fly so fast you don't know what he said.
Recommendation to fellow readers:
Enjoy the story. If you get the MP3 CD version, it will help to do the following:
- Load the MP3 audio into an audio editor.
- Slow down the speed by 20%.
- If slowing down also lowered the pitch, increase the pitch by 20-25% so it sounds normal again.
I did this with Audacity (a free open source program -- find it by doing a web search).
Recommendation to Brilliance Audio:
I really love MP3 CDs. But please, have someone else listen to the results of your audio books before releasing them!
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4: Born In Fire
This book is fabulous. One of my favorites written by Nora Roberts!! This is one of those books you don't want to put down!
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5: I loved reading about Maggie and her entertaining characteristics and temperament.
Maggie is an artist who creates glass sculptures. She lives in a small village in western Ireland. Rogan is a wealthy Gallery owner in Dublin. He wants to represent her work. He calls her repeatedly but she never answers her phone. He has to travel there just to be able to talk to her. After he signs her, he has to send telegraphs to her because she still doesn't answer her phone. He views her as irresponsible, scatterbrained, canny, obstinate, brilliant, bad-tempered and beautiful. He's her opposite, a business mind and manner with schedules and timetables. Maggie is constantly throwing insults at Rogan and others, but I find her insults funny. An example of her insulting style is below in Caution Spoiler. In the sequel "Born in Shame," Shannon describes Maggie as suspicious by nature, hot-headed, frank to the point of rudeness, overly protective and fiercely loyal. Shannon describes Rogan as "cultured, smooth, organized, shrewd, sophisticated and sharp enough to run an organization that was respected around the world. And, she thought grimly, he had to have a sense of humor, and the patience of Job, to live with Maggie."
I also enjoyed the subplots concerning Rogan's friend Patricia and his grandmother Christine.
I'm not usually moved by descriptions of place, but in this book, I was, especially on page 116. Maggie has just finished an intense creative session for several days and is riding her bike to town for some food and a break. As the author describes the sights and scents around Maggie's bike ride, I felt like I was experiencing a piece of art. She describes the sun, the hedges, the breeze, the scents of honeysuckle, hay and sweet mown grass, etc. Maybe, because I was so into Maggie's artistic activities, I continued to feel the art surrounding her bike ride. Who knows what it was, but I felt a lovely, emotional fulfillment, with that bike ride.
"Born in Fire" is the first book in a 3 book series. It can be read alone. Books 2 and 3 are about Maggie's sister Brianna and half-sister Shannon. Maggie has small parts in the subsequent books, but it's not necessary to read them, although it was nice to see Maggie having a child in a later book. I gave 2 stars to "Born in Ice" and 3.5 stars to "Born in Shame."
CAUTION SPOILER:
I'm quoting a section of the book, to give readers a sense of Maggie's insulting style. If readers enjoy it, then I think they will enjoy the book. On page 49: Rogan offers to manage and sell Maggie's glass sculptures. He tells her he will take a percentage from all sales. She asks
"What percentage do you take?"
Hoping for a reaction, he kept his eyes level with hers. "Thirty-five percent."
She made a strangled sound in her throat. "Thirty-five? Thirty-five? You thief. You robber." She shoved back from the table and stood. "You're a vulture, Rogan Sweeney. Thirty-five percent be damned and you with it."
"I take all the risks, I have all the expenses." He spread his hands, steepled them again. "You have merely to create."
"Oh, as if all it takes is sitting on my a** and waiting for the inspiration to come fluttering down like raindrops. You know nothing, nothing about it." She began to pace again, swirling the air with temper and energy. "I'll remind you, you'd have nothing to sell without me. And it's my work, my sweat and blood they'll spend good money for. You'll get fifteen percent."
"I'll get thirty."
"Plague take you, Rogan, for a horse thief. Twenty."
Sexual language: mild. Number of sex scenes: four. Setting: current day village of Kilmihil, County Clare, west coast of Ireland, Dublin, Paris and the south of France. Copyright: 1994. Genre: contemporary romance.
For a listing of my reviews of other Nora Roberts and J.D. Robb books, see my 4 star review of "Angels Fall" posted on 6/30/08.
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