The Readventurer
  • Home
  • YA Reviews
  • Adult Reviews
  • Contests and Giveaways
  • Policies
  • About Us
    • Flannery's Challenges
    • Catie's Challenges
  • Contact Us

Born in Fire by Nora Roberts

8/1/2011

3 Comments

 
The cover to Born in Fire is basic color blocks of gray and pinkish with a pastoral Ireland picture in between.
Born in Fire (Born In Trilogy, #1)
Author: Nora Roberts
Publication Date: 10/1/94
Publisher: Jove

Blurb (Amazon):

Artist Maggie Concannon creates beautiful glass images through a blowpipe and with a fiery furnace, much as she herself was born and survived her mother's angry frustrations and resentment. Then Maggie falls in love with Rogan, her new agent, who brings her passion, fame, and riches. Roberts's unique characters come to life through their wordplay and tempers. A light, fast-paced novel set in the Irish countryside.

Review:
When I was little, I used to have this ridiculous dress purse that I'd carry around with me. Most little girls would probably fill their purses with makeup or toys, but what did I fill mine with? Tiny glass figurines. Our family would go to Vancouver and I would salivate over tiny blown glass unicorns. They were like crack to tiny Flann. I hoarded them and carried them around but I did not exercise due care with them--I'd wrap them in toilet paper to attempt to keep them whole but, in the end, I had more of a collection of maimed glass animals. The point of this story is for you all to know that I am predisposed to think anything that has to do with blown glass is awesome. Even though I no longer have an affinity for unicorns or glass tchotchkes, I still get a major boner for blown glass art that is well-done. Aaaaaand, that is one of the reasons I love this book so much. Mary Margaret Concannon (Maggie), the heroine of Born in Fire, makes fabulous glass art. (well, it is described fabulously and in my imagination it is pretty much my sweetest dream)

Maggie lives in the west of Ireland (another major love of mine) in a cottage near her childhood home. Her sister, Brianna, runs a small bed and breakfast out of Blackthorn Cottage and cares for their heinous mother, who has nothing but awful things to say about Maggie and spends her days complaining about her lot in life. While Maggie has had relative success with her artistic endeavors, she’s always hoped that she could make enough money to move their mother to her own home so Brianna could actually live her own life. Enter Rogan Sweeney, a Dublin businessman who runs an international corporation and owns several large galleries. He approaches Maggie to manage her work and make her the money she’s dreamed about.

Besides the glass art and County Clare in Ireland, I love this book because of the romantic relationship. Maggie is hard-headed, disorganized, passionate and temperamental—she knows exactly what she does and doesn’t want. Rogan seems like her complete opposite but, in reality, he’s very similar to her…only much more organized. The two fight quite a lot during the book but it never gets to the point of legitimate meanness, which is something I hate in some romance novels. The romance IS the story in this book, as opposed to many Nora Roberts books that center on some mystery or other storyline. If you don’t want to read about making art, describing art, and selling art, than this book will bore you. Because I eat that stuff up, I am happy that this book still performed for me, even after 3 or 4 reads.

This book is a comparative 5 stars. Is it as fabulous as lit fic books I’ve given 5 stars to? No. But in terms of romance books, I just love it.

Readventurer F Signature
3 Comments

    Archives

    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    November 2011
    August 2011
    June 2011

    Categories

    All
    Adult
    Booker
    Contemporary Romance
    Crime
    Dark
    Disturbing
    Drugs
    Erotica
    Faeries
    Fantasy
    Favorites
    Funny
    Futuristic
    Historical
    Horror
    Hot Guys
    Lesbian
    Medical
    Memoir
    Murder
    Mystery
    Nonfiction
    Paranormal
    Paranormal Romance
    Politics
    Post-Apoc/Dystopia
    Pregnancy
    Published: 1920
    Published: 1954
    Published: 1956
    Published: 1977
    Published: 1984
    Published: 1986
    Published: 1989
    Published: 1990
    Published: 1992
    Published: 1994
    Published: 1999
    Published: 2000
    Published: 2001
    Published: 2002
    Published: 2006
    Published: 2008
    Published: 2009
    Published: 2010
    Published: 2011
    Publisher: Bantam
    Publisher: Berkeley
    Publisher: Circlet Press
    Publisher: Crown Archetype
    Publisher: Delacorte
    Publisher: Del Rey
    Publisher: Dorchester
    Publisher: Golden Apple
    Publisher: HarperCollins
    Publisher: Jove
    Publisher: Leisure Books
    Publisher: NAL Trade
    Publisher: Night Shade Books
    Publisher: Orbit
    Publisher: Pocket
    Publisher: Random House
    Publisher: Riverhead Books
    Publisher: Roc
    Publisher: Shaye Areheart
    Publisher: Signet
    Publisher: Silhouette
    Publisher: Viking
    Publisher: Viking Adult
    Publisher: Vintage
    Publisher: William Morrow
    Relationships
    Reviewed: 2010
    Reviewed: 2011
    Reviewed: 2012
    Romance
    Science Fiction
    Setting: Canada
    Setting: Chicago
    Setting: Hawaii
    Setting: Ireland
    Setting: Maryland
    Setting: New York
    Setting: South Africa
    Setting: Sweden
    Setting: Texas
    Setting: Virginia
    Short Stories
    Space
    Synesthesia
    The Year Of The Classics
    Thriller
    Time Travel
    True Crime
    Urban Fantasy
    Vampires
    Witches
    World Building
    Zombies

    RSS Feed


Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.