Customer Reviews

First Born

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I had eagerly awaited the arrival of First Born. It started out very well. It answered some of the questions I had about the treatment of Jason when he was kidnapped by the drug lords. After that the book goes down hill. He turns into Mr. Nice guy by just being around the heroine Annie. Then he gets wounded. He loses his memory. It seems to be a rewrite of Morgan's story of amnesia. Ms. McKenna makes a gigantic error in time and personel when puts Jason's great grandparents in World War II. In Dawn of Valor, Chase and Rachel Trayhern are in Korea as a pilot and a MASH nurse. Since they are Jason's grandparents, there is no way that this is possible. That is an error that ruined my appreciation of the book. I am a faithful reader. I hope that her next book is better, or that she gets an editor that is more familiar with previous works.

As a loyal fan of MS Mckenna's early works I was very disappointed with this book. Ms Mckenna has many military books to her credit so... why in book #23 would she get something as simple as military ranks wrong. She has her hero going the wrong directions from a CWO3 to a CWO2 as a promotion. OPPS! This has been a growing problem with her more current books as well; a case in point she refers to women in the Navy as Waves. There haven't been WAVES in the Navy since the 70's. So a book in 1990's present shouldn't use that word, it isn't accurate and takes the knowledgable reader out of the story. If she can't get it right then get a copy editor who can. Military romance readers expect books to get military issues right, or why bother using the military theme.

Add to this the plethra of backstory filler about Morgan's story, which her loyal readers know, slowed the pace down considerably and didn't add to the story at all. Even if the reader didn't know Morgan's story so much backstory took away from the H/H own story and it ended abruptly. Had that filler not been there would have been more pages for a more intense story line for this H/H who deserved better care from such a seasoned author. The Native American mysticism was over done and a bit too preachy which short changed this reader's appreciation of the heroine.

She never created a believable enough dark moment from which the h/h can come to terms with their future. The hero has a big change in attitude but the transistion was not believable as it was not done through growth but NA mysticism. There was a lot unsaid here between Morgan and Jason and this reader felt cheated. We see no change in the heroine at all, she comes off as too perfect and not real. The story ended all too quickly leaving a bland taste in my mouth. It would be nice if Ms Mckenna can find her voice again like her books RED TAIL and BEGINNINGS.

If you have to read it find in a used bookstore.

Truthfully, I couldn't get past the first third of the book. The mistakes McKenna makes with regards to the military are horrible. One reviewer already mentioned that she got the ranks wrong, but it goes way beyond there. There's a ton of mistakes with regards to uniforms, and decorum, even things as basic as the main character not having her hair up off her collar. I kept trying to get past it, and just when I thought I could get back into the swing of the story, up would pop another mistake. Maybe some someone who only read military themed books because they're exciting could get past it. But I'm ex-Army myself and every five pages I wanted to knock my head against the wall. I would have actually given it One Star, but I gave Ms. McKenna the benefit of the doubt and decided on two, since I couldn't get past the glaring errors into the actual plot of the book. For all I know, that might be okay. I just didn't make it there.