Born in Ice
4 Stars

The product of a loveless marriage and a broken engagement, Brianna Concannon conceals her yearning for love and family beneath a cool, calm, and detached facade. Brie channels all of her energy into making her cozy B&B a warm and welcoming haven for travelers. But all of Brie's hidden desires are awakened when sexy American author Grayson Thane comes to stay. With secrets of his own and a strong aversion to forming attachments, Gray is, nevertheless, irrevocably drawn to Brie. Can this unlikely couple overcome their differences and have a future together?

This is classic Nora Roberts. While some of the tropes, the heroine as a domestic goddess and the hero as an overbearing surly commitment-phobe, are outdated, Brianna and Gray are sweet together and their opposites-attract romance is entertaining overall.

As the peacemaker in her family, Brianna keeps her stronger emotions to herself. While she does thaw somewhat for Gray, her "icy" demeanor and almost nonchalant reactions are a little off-putting at times. Moreover, the fact that she forgives her mother's lies so easily is annoying.

The revelations concerning Gray's past go a long way toward explaining his relationship issues. While it is clear that he honestly loves Brie, his 180 change in attitude with regarding to settling down is never fully explained.

In sum, it is always a concern that favorite reads from years past will not hold-up well to the ravages of time and the changes in themes and tropes. Brie and Gray's story is mostly successful in this regard and I can only hope that Murphy and Shannon's will too. ( )

Gracias a su propio esfuerzo, y también al éxito de su hermana, Brie ha logrado convertir su sueño en realidad: ha transformado Blackthorn Cottage, la casa familiar de los Concannon, en un acogedor hotel rural. Unas horas después de que Brie haga un sorprendente descubrimiento sobre su padre que tendrá insospechadas y peligrosas consecuencias, llega a él Grayson Thane, un joven escritor norteamericano en busca de inspiración. Entre los dos surge poco a poco una gran atracción que les abrirá a ambos mundos nuevos (el de la literatura y los estrenos cinematográficos, el de la cocina y el calor del hogar), pero tanto Grayson como Brie han sufrido mucho en el pasado y antes que admitir que necesitan a alguien prefieren fingir que son fríos como el hielo. ¿Habrá alguna fuerza, la del amor, tal vez, capaz de fundir sus corazones?

A nice continuation of the series. Like the character development. ( )

I loved both the hero and the heroine in this book from the start. The heroine, Brianna, is the peacemaker in the family. She has always tried to smooth over difficulties, but this book shows how she has been affected by the discord between her parents and the resulting familial difficulties. Despite, or perhaps because of this, Brianna has sought to make a peaceful domestic atmosphere that she has translated into her small business of her inn. We learn the secrets in her past which result her re-evaluating her life. Into that disruption comes Gray who pushes Brianna from her safe space. Gray is a man who is so scarred by his past, yet he has built a great life, but with few personal connections. He sees this as a kind of freedom, but he is challenged by Brianna and the town where she lives. A man who insists that he will not stay. When he starts an affair, he might seem callous, but Gray is so open and honest and caring that you understand him as a troubled individual rather than the jerk he sometimes come across as. Nora Roberts descriptions of the people and the small Irish village is like taking a trip to the Emerald Isle. ( )

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. ( )