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Born In Shame (1996)

Born in Shame (1996)

Book Info

Author
Series
Rating
4.05 of 5 Votes: 1
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ISBN
051511779X (ISBN13: 9780515117790)
Language
English
Publisher
jove

About book Born In Shame (1996)

SYNOPSIS: A talented graphic artist, Shannon Bodine's life revolved around her job at a prestigious New York advertising agency. But her world was turned upside down whe she learned the identity of her real father: Thomas Concannon. Respecting her late mother's last wish, Shannon reluctantly traveled to County Clare. There, her loneliness and shame melted away in the embrace of the family she never knew existed. And amid the lush Irish landscape steeped in mysticism and legend, she discovered the possibility of a love that was meant to be...What a wonderful conclusion to Nora Roberts Born In trilogy of the three Irish sisters.Shannon Bodine’s is told by her mother, just before she dies that she is actually the daughter of an affair she had in Ireland with Thomas Concannon, a married man and before her birth had married the man who Shannon has always believed to be her father.After being contacted by Brianna and Maggie decides, reluctantly and after much heart-searching, to travel to Ireland to meet them. Brianna is naturally warm and welcoming whilst Maggie a bit more hostile and certainly does not bend down to her sister’s horrible and so bitter and cruel mother. But she cannot help but the feelings she begins to have for her sisters and even more for their neighbor.Murphy Muldoon, the Concannon sisters much loved friend and neighbor that I have come to love since meeting him in the previous books, http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11... and http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11.... He’s the perfect Irish hero, a new age farmer, a poet, musician – in fact he’s just a magical, that man in shining armor we all dream of meeting one day!!! He’s such a compelling character and one of my favorite romantic heroes. Murphy knows from the first moment he sets eye on Shannon that she is the woman he has been waiting for and dreaming about all his life. He has dreamt about her since he was a child and he goes all out to get her to believe that they are and always have meant to be together. Love, mystical and magical. So realistic and believable. Shannon is a city girl, independent, an advertising wiz and cannot see herself ever living in the country. But she cannot ignore the deep and at times disturbing feelings she has for Murphy…. She can feel the magic that surrounds her in this new and strange and beautiful place that if she tears down all those barriers holding her back, can become a home with family and friends who have grown to love her.This is a beautiful love story and will always have a place in my heart.I am just so sad that I am not able to go back and share a bit more of these three unforgettable sisters.This is a series I will read again and again and love it as much as I did the first time.

I really loved this at times (grief and unexpected sisterhood and falling into family was ALL GOOD, and the final reconciliation between Shannon and Murphy was SO GOOD), but there's a weird passage about the American civil war and slavery that was unnecessary and souring. Set after the characters sing a song about James Connolly, American Shannon comments: "It's an odd culture that writes lovely songs about an execution.""We don't forget our heroes," Maggie said with a snap in her voice. "Isn't it true that in your country they have tourist attractions on fields of battle? Your Gettysburg and such?"Shannon eyed Maggie coolly, nodded. "Touché.""And most of us like to pretend we'd have fought for the South," Gray put in."For slavery." Maggie sneered. "We know more about slavery than you could begin to imagine.""Not for slavery." Pleased a debate was in the offing, Gray shifted toward her. "For a way of life."So all these characters are white, Maggie is Irish, Shannon and Gray are both Americans, and they're all in Ireland in the mid '90s. The action and dialogue move away at this point, and there's no narrative approval of Gray's opinions, but their inclusion made my jaw drop and threw me out of the story. I was irritated both by Gray's racist envisioning of the Civil War and by how a white Irishwoman making a living as an artist is presuming to have personal knowledge about slavery (though, yes, I'm glad she pushed back against Gray). Yes, I know that plenty of Americans do spend a lot of time frolicking in revisionistland about the civil war, but it's racist and unnecessary. (And, c'mon, wouldn't bringing up "John Brown's Body"/"Battle Hymn of the Republic" be a more appropriate comparison? It's about a decaying body after a martyr's been executed, I think it sounds lovely, and it's anti-racist, pro-freedom!) The inclusion of these comments is just the gazillionth-and-one reminder of just how white (and/or racist) the romance audience is assumed to be, where one of the protagonists--he's the hero of the previous book--can say that most Americans like fantasizing about fighting in favor of slavery and justify it as "a way of life." FUCKITY FUCK FUCK FUCK THAT.

Do You like book Born In Shame (1996)?

I was convinced that I had read the first two books in this trilogy when I picked up this one. But now it seems I only read the first one, Born in Fire, and I have yet Brianna's story to tackle. Born in Shame brings us back to Ireland, one of Roberts favourite settings, and to the Concannon family. Shannon Bodine is Tom Concannon's illegitimate daughter, she is the fruit of a brief affair Tom had with an American woman and she has always believed the man her mother was married to was her real father. She is understandably upset when her mother, on her death bed, tells her the truth. Maggie and Brianna, the heroines of book 1 and 2, already knew they had a sister and had hired a detective to find her. Although Shannon is not exactly in a sisterly mood towards people she doesn't recognise as her family she eventually decides to fly to Ireland and meet them. That is where she meets Murphy, the sister's neighbour who instantly falls in love with her. Although this is supposedly a book about Shannon as the third sister I think Murphy really steals all the attention. He is a farmer, a poet, a musician, a romantic to the point that listing all his abilities and qualities might make a bit unreal and even boring. But in fact he is anything but. He is kind, loving, determined and while I understood Shannon's misgivings in giving it all up for love I couldn't help feeling she was a bit silly in almost letting him getting away. You just don't let it go when you feel that you've struck gold. I did like Maggie a lot more as a secondary character even if she is still a bit of a tough cookie. Her mother is still the same disagreeable self and I'm not sure I believed her mellowing with Shannon's words, to tell the truth I don't even understood why they felt they had to tell her that Shannon was their sister, what she didn't know would not harm at this point and it definitely would have saved them a lot of unpleasantness. So I think this made for a very agreeable story, not much conflict and I would definitely have preferred for them to get to know each other and only after fall in love instead of having Murphy being struck dumb just by looking at Shannon, but overall his personality more than made up for it. Grade: 4/5
—Ana T.

I haven't read the first book in this series. I picked up the second book, Born in Ice at the thrift store and read the entire book one night during a blizzard. When I saw Born in Shame at the same thrift store a few days later I couldn't believe my good fortune. I LOVED Brianna and Gray and I so very much wanted to know what happened to them. I didn't like Shannon at first and it took me a while to warm to her character, though I'm wondering if that is exactly what Nora Roberts wanted. I was happy to know that Murphy was going to be the love interest as I just adored him in Born in Ice. I loved that he didn't know what to say or do around Shannon at first. How many of us have become tongue tied in the presence of someone we find so attractive?I was unfortunately disappointed by the sense of magic in this book. While I love that sort of stuff (loved it in the Gallaghers of Ardmore trilogy) it felt very out of place here. There was so much heavy stuff in this book between the sisters meeting and Shannon trying to discover where she belonged that it was very distracting. I kept trying to ignore it. I felt a bit bad for Murphy. Shannon seemed to have no clue what she wanted and she was leading the poor man around by his heart which I thought was cruel. She knew he loved her, slept with him, but then still was going to leave him. He definitely kept me interested in the book. Why can't a man like that exist where I live. *grin*Still a great book. I enjoyed it more the second time I read it.
—Corrie

CAUTION! IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THIS BOOK YET. CONTINUE AT YOUR OWN RISK! THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!!I read this one just as fast as the other Born in Trilogy books. The reason for that is because they are soo good that you don't ever want to put them down for a second in case you forget with where you were reading at. Trust me that has happened before and I was like -.- NOOOO THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!!! Let's just say that I wasn't a very happy person at all. So I recommened with this trilogy to only put it down for a couple of seconds before going back to reading it or you won't be a happy person like I was at certain points.But other than that this book was such a good read. This time we start out with the youngest Concannon sister who isn't really a Concannon since she was a child born out of wedlock. Or at least almost born out of wedlock. Anyways this girl is like a mixture of Maggie and of her own self. This one to most seemed like a rush job but I love it nonetheless. Nora was doing a different thing for it. Shannon, unlike her other sisters, didn't want to stay in County Clare, Ireland she loved it back home even though while she is in Ireland she has been painting much more than what she did back home in New York. Shannon is such a good mix for the Concannon family and it's also just a really good book. Much like the other two. I once again give a Nora Roberts book five stars for an excellent writing and character development and just being awesome with this book.If you want to take a look at this review or my other reviews along with commenting on them please go to my book blog: http://baronessbooktrove.blogspot.com/
—Karen (BaronessBookTrove)

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