First Come Twins

An Island to Remember #1

by Helen Brenna

Photojournalist Noah Bennett has been running from himself forever. Covering war zones around the world has kept him away from his mistakes and, more important, from Sophie Rousseau, his high school sweetheart. But he's never forgotten her.

He's returned to idyllic Mirabelle Island to heal, to finish his latest book…and to face Sophie again.

Months after Noah escaped the island for college, Sophie married his older brother. Now a widow with teenage twins, Sophie will do whatever it takes to speed Noah's recovery and get him off her island.

Before the only man she ever loved breaks her heart again.

Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Harlequin, Fiction, Contemporary

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 1, 2009

About the author

Helen Brenna grew up in a small town in central Minnesota, the seventh of eight children. Although she never dreamed of writing books, she's always been a voracious reader of romances. After taking a break from her accounting career, she tried her hand at writing the romances she loves to read.

Since her first book was published in 2007, Helen has not only won Romance Writers of America's most prestigious award, the RITA, but also numerous other awards, including Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice and the HOLT Medallion.

Helen lives happily ever after in Minnesota with family, and she'd love hearing from you. Email her at helenbrenna@comcast.net or send mail to PO Box 24107, Minneapolis, MN 55424.

Visit her website at www.helenbrenna.com, chat with Helen and other authors at http://ridingwiththetopdown.blogspot.com, or friend her on Facebook!

Reviews

[Buggy]

Opening Line:"What a quaint little island."

This was a complete surprise as I’m not usually one for the Harlequin's but FIRST COMES TWINS piqued my interest for several reasons. To start with it contains two of my favourite romance tropes; that of the tortured hero and reacquainted lovers. It also takes place on a small island which is where I live. The island here is Mirabelle and it has been so well explored that it almost becomes a character within its own right, filled with lighthouses, beaches and a fascinating group of islanders each with their small town idiosyncrasies and problems.

Helen Brenna has written a sweet love story here, full of longing, heart tugging regrets, reacquainted families and healing. She’s also done a wonderful job covering PTSD and the loss of a limb without making her hero a cripple. Speaking of Noah, what a great character; just tormented and damaged enough that you can’t help but fall a bit in love as we watch him face his first love again and begin to heal.

Photojournalist Noah Bennett has come back to Mirabelle Island to recover after losing his leg covering yet another war zone. Ironically it’s the island and its inhabitants that has kept him running all these years but he‘s never been able to forget it. Now under deadline to finish his latest book and suffering from post traumatic stress as well as phantom leg pains, he’s shutting down and grabbing the bottle.

Sophie can’t believe Noah is back on ‘her’ island. How dare he return after leaving her heartbroken all those years ago? Sure she married his older brother soon after but he’s gone now too, leaving her a widow with teenaged twins and a hotel to run. It’s hard to stay mad at the shell of a man that’s come back though and Sophie reasons that the sooner she helps him recover the sooner he’ll leave Mirabelle. She just hopes its before he breaks both of their hearts. Cheers!

[Gail]

Super-angsty reunion story. The setting, on an isolated, no-cars-allowed island in northern Wisconsin, is almost as important as the characters. It drives the motivation for the story. The hero grew up restless, needing to get away from the island where they've lived all their. lives and explore the world. The heroine has no desire to leave because her dad dies just as she's graduating high school and is needed to take over running the family inn. They are sweethearts, desperately in love, but the hero leaves anyway. The heroine mourns-- and then marries the hero's brother. Now, after 15 years without communication either way, the hero is back on the island after a career taking pictures in all the war zones around the world, because he needs to recover from losing a leg in Iraq. And all the old wounds are stirred up again. The heroine is angry. The hero is angry. His dad is pissed. And Brenna, after stirring everything to a fever pitch of anger and angst, brings it all beautifully home. The story is exceptionally well done. I liked it a lot.

[Fedora]

First Comes Twins is the first in Helen Brenna's An Island to Remember series, set on charming Mirabelle Island. Noah Bennett been on the move a long time, following the action overseas as a photojournalist. When a truck bomb makes him an amputee, he finally returns to his grandmother's house on the island to heal. He realized exactly how difficult it would be to face Sophie Rousseau, his high school sweetheart, and is being back is both horrible and wonderful.

Helen Brenna's story isn't all hearts and flowers, and her characters face and wrestle with a painful gamut of life's finest. Noah and Sophie and their families and friends have made some loving and hurtful decisions, and Ms Brenna doesn't shy away from letting us see those consequences and outcomes.

First Comes Twins is well written and lovely, and it's a pleasure to see Sophie and Noah find and grab onto all the promise their future holds.

[Ellen Lindseth]

A friend recommended this book to me and I'm glad she did. Complex and interesting characters anchor the book. Noah, the hero, is a photojournalist returning home to recover from physical and emotional wounds inflicted by the war zones he has covered. The one person who can help heal him is Sophie, the same woman who rejected him fifteen years before. As the story unfolds, it becomes less clear who betrayed whom, with a whole cast of supporting characters each with their own role to play in the star-crossed love story. An engaging, satisfying summer read, I would definitely recommend this book.

[Laura Breck]

Helen Brenna has written a wonderful story, created an irresistable island, and fascinating characters. Her books are always in my shopping cart, but this one is my favorite so far.

Merged review:

Helen Brenna has written a wonderful story, created an irresistable island, and fascinating characters. Her books are always in my shopping cart, but this one is my favorite so far.

[Janga]

This book is a reminder of how much can be accomplished in a category. Brenna gives her readers complex characters in a credible situation. The island setting is an interesting touch. I look forward to the rest of the series.

[Brenda Whiteside]

Good standard romance.

[Tracy]

I've never read a Harlequin romance book, but my mom gave this to me because my cousin's wife wrote it. It was really fun and engaging. Great read! :)