Born in Shame

This is the finale of the Born In/Concannon Sisters trilogy. Shannon Bodine learns at her mother's deathbed that her father was Tommy Concannon not Colin Bodine as she had always believed. She also learns shortly after her mother's death that her half-sisters and their husbands have been searching for her and her mother.

Even though she has a successful career as a graphic artist in advertising, the facts of her birth are haunting her. Obeying her mother's dying request, she travels to County Clare to meet her half-sisters. While Brianna is welcoming, Maggie is not. And Shannon doesn't have any good thoughts about Tommy Concannon either.

However, things really begin to change when she meets Murphy Muldoon who is a great friend of the show more Concannon girls and their husbands. Murphy takes one look at Shannon and is gob smacked. She is the woman he's been dreaming of since he was young. He's all-in with his desire to court her and make her his wife. She thinks he's crazy - stunningly handsome and very talented, but crazy.

It is in Ireland that Shannon rekindles her artistic side and begins to paint. Maggie's husband Rogan is gently steamrolling her to take up a career as an artist with him representing her. But Shannon is holding on to her career and career goals and both Rogan and Murphy have a hard road convincing her to change her plans and build a new life in Ireland.

I loved the strong connections that exist or grow between the sisters. And I love how their circle has grown with the addition of husbands and children. I also loved the sense of community and the way they were quick to welcome Shannon.

This was another excellent romance from one of my favorite authors. show less

Born in Shame
4 Stars

Shannon Bodine is devastated to learn from her dying mother that she is the daughter of Tom Concannon, a married man with whom she had a short-lived affair. It soon emerges that Shannon's half-sisters have been searching for her, and she travels to Ireland in the hopes of learning more about who she is. However, Shannon is wary of opening her mind and her heart to complete strangers, especially Murphy Muldoon, her sisters' rugged yet charming neighbor - a man who might just be her soulmate.

This was my first Nora book, which I read as a teen many moons ago. Although it has mainly withstood the test of time, it is somewhat more angsty than I remembered, and the inclusion of minor elements of magical realism is show more somewhat out of place as the first two books did not contain these motifs.

Shannon is very similar to Maggie in personality albeit not nearly as prickly and definitely more willing to admit her mistakes. They are both strong, stubborn and snarky, and their interactions are one of the highlights of the story along with Maggie's darling toddler, Liam, who is the cutest little devil!

The updates on the lives of the first two Concannon sisters and their husbands are delightful, and the friendship and camaraderie between the three men lead to some very entertaining scenes.

The romance between Shannon and Murphy has tremendous potential as they have excellent chemistry and their emotional connection is palpable. However, this is where the aforementioned angst is overdone mainly due to Shannon's reluctance to commit because she has a life in New York. This is very difficult to understand given that she has no family, few friends, and a tedious job in an advertising agency. Even she realizes that her life in New York is not all that, so why drag the issue out at all?

Overall, re-reading this series has been fun, and this book, in particular, will always hold a special place in my heart. show less

3.5 stars

The third in this trilogy. I really wasn't sure whether to give it 3.5 or 4 stars.

Shannon Bodine is the 3rd daughter of Thomas Concannon, born "in shame" as the title says--the result of an affair while Maeve was pregnant with Brianna. Brianna finds Shannon's mother's letters to her father, that tell of her pregnancy, and she feels compelled to find the woman her father loved and their unknown sibling.

Meanwhile, when Shannon's mother is dying, she tells her about Thomas Concannon. So when Brianna contacts her, it's not a complete shock. She's not eager to become part of a family she never knew she had, but Brianna's open, friendly lack of pressure and the need to get away convince her to travel to Ireland for a visit.

There she show more meets Murphy Muldoon, farmer and lifelong friend of Maggie & Brianna. And they're apparently reincarnated lovers or something.

I have to tell you, I don't think there was any need for that. Shannon and Murphy could have fallen in love just fine without being compelled to by some long-dead lovers who'd screwed up and want another chance, thanks. I'm just really not a fan of that sort of plot, usually, because it makes me feel like they don't really fall in love--they're just following a preordained script.

I'm also unconvinced by the idea that blood relationships are all-important. To my mind, that's meaningless--what matters is the people you love, whether they're related to you or not. What saved this story is that both Shannon and Maggie agree with me.

Then there was Murphy. I'm not sure if Shannon should marry him or get a restraining order. He was definitely one of those heroes who will not take no for an answer. What kept him from being too alarming was that the other characters all trusted him and that Shannon herself seemed just exasperated with him, with its connotation of a hint of amusement, rather than angry or frightened.

And yet I got frustrated with Shannon's insistence on returning to a life that had nothing left in it that she wanted.

What saved the story was the growing family relationship and how the presence of Shannon interrupted the pattern formed by Maeve, Maggie, and Brianna. Instead of splitting them further apart, Shannon, in her unique position as an involved outsider, found the happy medium between conciliation and anger and facilitated the development of a healthier relationship for all of them.

It's worth reading for that, I think, after becoming invested in the other two books in the trilogy, but I wouldn't pick it up on its own--mostly because it hit 3 of my pet peeves. Definitely a case of YMMV. show less

This book was ok. I liked Murphy, although he was a bit too perfect. I didn't really care about the romance between him and Shannon. I mostly finished this book to find out what happened with the backstory started in the previous two. I thought the magic was completely unnecessary to the story. And there were times the writing really struck me as off in this book. Sentences I had to reread and still couldn't make sense of. Maybe I was just tired, but I don't think so. Nora Roberts can and has done so much better than this book.

It feels as if you're visiting Ireland in this trilogy and I reread it every 2 years or so.
Unfortunately this is the weakest book of the three, even though it's still a nice book to read. It's just that the first two have such strong and distinct characters and Shannon and Murphy seem very nice, and very ordinary. The mystery element is there, but not strongly present.
Still... a very nice book. Personally I think that's the problem with Nora Roberts: she has written so many books that you start comparing her with herself instead of other people...
Grade: B

Nora Roberts books are obviously fairly formulaic but I still find them to be a good Sunday afternoon in the winter or sunny summer day beach read. I think her books are at their best when they are part of a series so she has a chance to develop the characters and story a bit more. This series is one of hers that I think works the best.

The best thing about this book was that it satisfied my curiosity about what would happen when the third sister was found. However Shannon's story wasn't as good as Brianna''s. Again, the main setting is County Clare with Shannon staying at Brianna's B&B and many of the characters we met in the previous books of the trilogy appear. If one is a fan of Ms. Roberts and doesn't mind a bit of "we've lived and loved before" then Born in Shame might be worth a read.