SUMMARY (from Amazon.com)
Brianna Concannon is a woman with a rare gift for creating a home, and she makes use of this talent by running a bed-and-breakfast in a picturesque corner of Ireland. Mystery writer Grayson Thane is an American who grew up in an orphanage and has spent his life alone.

A restless wanderer with a painful past, Grayson arrives at Blackthorn Cottage intent only on soaking up the Irish atmosphere and writing his next novel, but he finds far more than he bargained for. The beautiful, calm Brianna soothes his disquiet soul, and in her Grayson finds the home he hadn't realized he needed.

Brianna knows that by falling for him, she risks her heart, already bruised and scarred by a young love who left her at the altar. But the yearning to let the American melt the ice around her cold exterior is irresistible. Unless Grayson can let go of his past to forge a future with her, Brianna may have gambled her heart in vain.

SERIES: Born In Trilogy

1. BORN IN FIRE (October 1, 1994)
2. BORN IN ICE (November 1, 1995)
3. BORN IN SHAME (January 1, 1996)

The trilogy follows the Concannon sisters. The first book features Maggie, a glass-blowing artist of fiery temper, and Rogan Sweeney, a very successful and driven international gallery owner; opposites attract in this book. Then comes Brianna, Maggie's quietly reserved sister who finds contentment in running her inn and making strangers feel comfortable when they are far from home; her hero is Grayson Thane, a well-known mystery writer who has been a lone wanderer for most of his life and treasures the fact that he isn't tied down.

The trilogy ends with Shannon, their American half-sister, whose existence they have only learned of during the second book. She is the result of a brief affair between her mother and their father and has grown up in America, never having met the other side of her family. Shannon's hero is the wonderful and sexy Murphy Muldoon, who was featured in both of the trilogy's other books.

MY OPINION
BORN IN ICE has good reviews on Amazon.com (average customer rating of 4 stars), but it is the least preferred one of the trilogy. I myself liked it better than BORN IN FIRE and give it a solid four stars. I love the quiet heroines and Brianna is definitely that; she's so reserved and cool at times that I would have liked to see her lose her temper in one big fiery blowout at least once in the book. Regardless of this, Brianna was an interesting heroine and despite my apprehensions from the first book, she was much more accessible than I thought she would be.

Gray was a wonderful hero and he and Brianna are perfect for each other. Their trip to New York was one of the highlights of the book;he's so sweet to her and her bafflement when he gives her gifts is very amusing. The love scene while they're in NYC was the hottest one in the book and one of the best. Gray is always so tender and loving when they make love (Brianna is a virgin, so at first she's somewhat frightened/confused by her feelings for and attraction to him) and this one rougher and hotter moment had me fanning myself a little, lol. Though of course nothing beats the scene in RISING TIDES between Ethan and Grace against the tree - whew!! ;-)

The relationship between Brianna and Gray was always honest, forthright, and open, which was something I really appreciated. They are reserved with one another about their pasts, but when it comes to their relationship with each other, there were no misunderstandings, no lies, no secrets, etc. As always, Roberts has one of the characters realizing and admitting their love, while the other one refuses to admit the truth until the end - still, the end is wonderful, sweet, and just perfect for those two characters.

BOTTOM LINE
A great read that I would definitely recommend. The first book in the trilogy, BORN IN FIRE, can be passed over, but it's worth checking out from the library if you want to read all three books of the trilogy. Now it's on to BORN IN SHAME for me! I'll let you know what the verdict is :-) ( )

This one surprised me. The heroine I liked least was featured in the book I liked most in the trilogy.

Brianna is the "good" sister. In fact, her sister Maggie calls her a saint, and I agree. She runs a B&B in the house where she grew up, and she's very, very into things like cleaning and cooking and housework in general. I can understand, maybe, enjoying running a B&B--not relate to it--having people around all the time that you have to converse with.... *shudder* But I could understand that. Enjoying cleaning, though, makes me think she has a couple of screws loose. Which is fair warning, by the way, if you drop by my house unexpected.

Grayson Thane is a mystery writer who comes to stay at Brianna's B&B while he finishes his latest book. Yes, I know--conventional wisdom says it's a Bad Idea to write a book about a writer writing a book, but Gray is deep. He's got layers. He's got a wonderful emotional journey, which I'm not going to deprive you of by explaining it all here. Suffice it to say that he thinks he's perfectly fine all by himself, and that he learns the error of that notion.

Nora is really a master of the romance trilogy--the books aren't just connected, there's an ongoing story. The ongoing story concerns Brianna and sister Maggie discovering the truth about their parents' pasts. And yet the books do stand alone. Maggie and Rogan are integral parts of Born in Ice, just as Brianna is an integral part of Born in Fire. There's no sense of

**fanfare** Maggie! and Rogan! from Born in Fire! **applause** When last we saw Maggie and Rogan, they were newlyweds. Now look at them! Expecting their first child! **bows** Let's hear it for Maggie and Rogan! **applause** and off they go, never to be heard from again.

that's all too common in connected romances. Oh, you could surmise that Maggie & Rogan had a story of their own, but it doesn't feel like you've missed something, or like you're at a party where you're the only one who doesn't know everybody.

As for the Maeve story, even though I wanted to smack Brianna upside the head for catering to the bitter, nasty old woman, Brianna learned to say no, and to stand up for herself. So despite the fact that she still ended up more conciliatory than her sister, I liked the "lesson" in Born in Ice better. It probably says something negative about me that I bristle whenever I detect a "be nicer" message, but I really don't want to examine that too closely. Not right now, anyway. ( )

Not as good as the first one, Born in Fire, but necessary for the trilogy. ( )

My favorite book in the series. I think I can connect with Bre most so I love her story. ( )

This and some similar romances have sparked the start of a rant about Ireland and writing romances, this one is pretty okay, fairly predictable, but readable ( )