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Book Review of Banner O'Brien (Corbin, Bk 1)

Banner O'Brien (Corbin, Bk 1)
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This book opens a new series by Linda Lael Miller: CORBIN (titles below). The first book introduces the members of the Washington Territory Corbin family and the time in which they live (1886).

Banner OBrien is a woman doctor from Oregon who has been hired to replace a severely injured physician, Dr. Henderson. Very soon, she finds out who injured the doctor Dr. Adam Corbin!

Being one of the few women physicians in America at the time, you can imagine that she is no shrinking violet. She has escaped a violent marriage and has earned her certificate on her own.

Banner needs to be a strong person because Adam Corbin is a tyrannical, blustery, paragon of a doctor. I thought both of these characters were a bit over the top. Adam and Banner marry early in the book and spend most of the rest of the book fighting and having sex, etc. (not necessarily in that order).

Banner continually accuses Adam of infidelity because of his frequent trips away. This got to be wearying after awhile. Adam takes his sweet time showing her why and where he was going -- why didnt he think she would understand? She was a doctor, as we were constantly reminded.

Adams rages, arrogance and black moodiness were tiring. Hes supposed to be a gentleman, but it was hard to deduce that from his behavior. Adams proposal seemed to come out of left field and I was surprised that a woman who had escaped one violent marriage would quickly agree to another marriage. Everything about Adam seemed turbulent; how could Banner be sure Adam was not violent?

What I kept waiting for was the loose thread of the villain (Temple Royce) to come together. It didnt; obviously it is going to return during the series. The ending seemed to be a fizzle; this is hardly a typical LLM ending.

Corbin
1. Banner O'Brien (1984)
2. Corbin's Fancy (1985)
3. Memory's Embrace (1986)
4. My Darling Melissa (1990)