Born in Fire by Nora Roberts

Ok, another one bites the dust - I mean, I can check another one off the AAR Top 100 list. I feel so lucky to have gotten a hardcover 3-in-1 of all three Born In books (2 of them are Top 100s) at PBS for 1 credit! Whoo hoo!

But - uh - and I'm a NR fan, here - it wasn't that great. Yeah, go figure. It was ok - I liked the characters, I liked the story, but...

Maggie's a tempermental Irish glass artist. She has a sister Brianna. Her parents conceived Maggie before they wed, and her mother went pretty much off her rocker because I guess she just had that one passionate moment (I'm pretty sure he didn't rape her...) and that was the end of their love and passion. Forever. So Mom's bitter and unhappy and obnoxious, and Dad's a great guy who dies at the beginning of the book (the girls are in their 20s at this point). And by the way, get the title: Born in Fire (Maggie was conceived in their passion) and Born in Ice, the sister's story, and guess what it implies... Duh.

Ok, sorry to be cynical. Back to the plot.

Rogan (heh heh, get it? Rogue, Rogan - maybe it's just me) is a fabulously wealthy Irish guy who owns art galleries and some other industries. Fabulously wealthy, both by upbringing and in his own right. He discovers Maggie's art and decides he wants to represent her works, and won't take no for an answer - and when he meets her, he wants her, too. But he's not really a rogue, and he lets her take her time and come to him. But again he won't really take no for an answer.

Somehow the jacket blurb implies there are secrets - see, I'm part way through the next book (Born in Ice) where there are secrets but in Born in Fire there were really none. Maggie's stubborn and tempermental and loud and argumentative and fights against her feelings for Rogan; Rogan is nothing but patient and insistent and always there. Waiting. Flying her around, selling her artwork and working on her inner needy beast to just let him manage her art and her heart.

So it was a pleasant story but I wanted some more conflict (other than Maggie's temper tantrums and Mom's, well, personality) or something. I'm glad I read it but it left me thinking it was about a 3 star read. Likeable. Pleasant. But Top 100? Ah, I am a cynic.