What do you think?
Rate this book
Yesterday's Flame
When firefighter Annabel Lowell's duties catapult her from San Francisco 2000 back to 1906, she faces one of the worst earthquakes in history. But she also finds the passion of a lifetime in fellow fireman Cole Brady. Now she must choose between a future of certain danger -- and a present of certain love -- no matter how short lived it may be...
304 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 1, 2000
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 3, 2020
Trying to warn her fellow firefighters about the movement of an out-of-control fire, Smoke Jumper Annabel Lowell finds herself trapped behind a wall of flames. Discovering a deep cave in the side of a hill, Annabel crawls in. The next morning, she comes out and finds no signs of fire. Confused, she starts walking until she finds a man with a wagon full of timber. Hitching a ride into the city, Annabel is shocked to find herself in 1906 San Francisco.
When Cole Brady offers her his help, she quickly agrees. Cole doesn't believe her strange story about being a firefighter. Everyone knows a woman would never be allowed to do something so dangerous. But Cole is drawn to the beautiful woman who has no one else to turn to.
This was an enjoyable time-travel story. The romance between Annabel and Cole was fun, but I was disappointed that Annabel never tried to convince Cole that she had traveled through time. The inclusion of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake in this story was a plus. My rating: 3.5 Stars.
When Cole Brady offers her his help, she quickly agrees. Cole doesn't believe her strange story about being a firefighter. Everyone knows a woman would never be allowed to do something so dangerous. But Cole is drawn to the beautiful woman who has no one else to turn to.
This was an enjoyable time-travel story. The romance between Annabel and Cole was fun, but I was disappointed that Annabel never tried to convince Cole that she had traveled through time. The inclusion of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake in this story was a plus. My rating: 3.5 Stars.
May 27, 2022
A modern-day female smoke jumper finds herself thrown back in time more than 90 years into the past and is stranded in 1906 San Francisco, mere days before the "big one."
The story didn't hold my interest. Initially, I thought it had a lot of promise, but it just didn't work for me. I wasn't able to suspend disbelief for the storyline and I couldn't connect with the characters.
The story didn't hold my interest. Initially, I thought it had a lot of promise, but it just didn't work for me. I wasn't able to suspend disbelief for the storyline and I couldn't connect with the characters.
February 17, 2023
While battling a forest fire in the mountains of san Francisco, the heroine because lost. Separated from her crew and wondering between the blazes, she finds shelter in a deep cave to wait out the fire. She falls asleep and when she wakes up she walks out into a forest that shows zero signs of a fire ever passing through. Everything is lust and green and new. She makes the climb out of the gully and finds a man driving a buggy-a buggy for god’s sake- with a donkey. He takes her back to town, or to the town that exists in this time because the heroine has suddenly found herself in 1906. She faints dead away when she realizes this and once again wakes up to a pretty site.
The hero has always been a fireman. He may run the family business but at heart he is dedicated to the protection of his city. He finds an absolutely stunning woman in the middle of the street wearing the ugliest yellow suit. But when she looks at him with those beautiful eyes, he can look at nothing else, think of nothing else. It's clear she's lost and on her own and being the man, he is, he offers to help her. First task at hand is getting her decent clothing. He takes the woman to a dressmaker and gets her fitted while he drinks at his club and tries to understand his overwhelming desire for a woman who could possibly be mentally ill. But when he returns, if he wasn't in love with her on sight on behalf of those eyes, he falls in love with the stunning creature that stands before him.
It may not be prudent to take an unmarried woman home to live with him but where else will she go? The heroine knows she must rely on this man at least until she can find a job and get a life settled for herself now that she's in the past. She's not the type to like to be indebted to anyone and at first chance she takes a job at the boarding house and moves out. It's not that she doesn't desire him as much as he does her, it's just that she's not used to be thought of as anything but beautiful. She wants to show him that she's not a wasteful creature, that she has purpose. And she doesn't want people to think she's his mistress either, as if the case when a woman is cared for by a man not her husband.
As they part ways, it's with extreme reluctance. Neither admit to these feelings growing inside and instead question that the other person could feel the same. But when the yearly fireman competition comes along, the heroine gets her chance to prove to the hero she is in fact a fireman too. He doesn't believe it and is clear in his dislike of her putting herself in danger but she is stubborn and refuses to back down. She enters under the disguise of a man and actually does quite well though the hero claims the highest scores. But she realizes that her success doesn't mean anything if the hero can't accept she's a capable fireman. After it's revealed she was competing alongside him he is at first angry and then that anger turns to passion and they succumb to their desires but what's more, they succumb to their love for one another.
And that's basically the plot though there is some stupid subplot about a Chinese arsonist and blackmailer as well as the looming threat of the 1906 earthquake but all of that was blocked from my mind. The whole premise of the story was sort of.... stupid? let's say. This whole fireman gig made it feel like a contemporary romance only set it in 1906. Despite the knowledge that I really shouldn't have liked this book...I did. I thought the characters were charming and both blind in the face of their love and almost naïve in the doubt that they could be desirable to the other person. I enjoyed the heroine who pressed her fireman status but didn't excel beyond reality. I enjoyed the fact that she wanted to be a fireman in this time yes, but she wanted the hero's approval above all else. The hero was a kind man and gentleman who saved a lot of people in his time and loved the heroine enough to ask his captain about the heroine's employment at the station even it was against what he believed. The sex scenes were hot and the heroine was defiantly the aggressor. And best of all, she didn't go back to the future, she stayed in the past with her family. I liked this book.
The hero has always been a fireman. He may run the family business but at heart he is dedicated to the protection of his city. He finds an absolutely stunning woman in the middle of the street wearing the ugliest yellow suit. But when she looks at him with those beautiful eyes, he can look at nothing else, think of nothing else. It's clear she's lost and on her own and being the man, he is, he offers to help her. First task at hand is getting her decent clothing. He takes the woman to a dressmaker and gets her fitted while he drinks at his club and tries to understand his overwhelming desire for a woman who could possibly be mentally ill. But when he returns, if he wasn't in love with her on sight on behalf of those eyes, he falls in love with the stunning creature that stands before him.
It may not be prudent to take an unmarried woman home to live with him but where else will she go? The heroine knows she must rely on this man at least until she can find a job and get a life settled for herself now that she's in the past. She's not the type to like to be indebted to anyone and at first chance she takes a job at the boarding house and moves out. It's not that she doesn't desire him as much as he does her, it's just that she's not used to be thought of as anything but beautiful. She wants to show him that she's not a wasteful creature, that she has purpose. And she doesn't want people to think she's his mistress either, as if the case when a woman is cared for by a man not her husband.
As they part ways, it's with extreme reluctance. Neither admit to these feelings growing inside and instead question that the other person could feel the same. But when the yearly fireman competition comes along, the heroine gets her chance to prove to the hero she is in fact a fireman too. He doesn't believe it and is clear in his dislike of her putting herself in danger but she is stubborn and refuses to back down. She enters under the disguise of a man and actually does quite well though the hero claims the highest scores. But she realizes that her success doesn't mean anything if the hero can't accept she's a capable fireman. After it's revealed she was competing alongside him he is at first angry and then that anger turns to passion and they succumb to their desires but what's more, they succumb to their love for one another.
And that's basically the plot though there is some stupid subplot about a Chinese arsonist and blackmailer as well as the looming threat of the 1906 earthquake but all of that was blocked from my mind. The whole premise of the story was sort of.... stupid? let's say. This whole fireman gig made it feel like a contemporary romance only set it in 1906. Despite the knowledge that I really shouldn't have liked this book...I did. I thought the characters were charming and both blind in the face of their love and almost naïve in the doubt that they could be desirable to the other person. I enjoyed the heroine who pressed her fireman status but didn't excel beyond reality. I enjoyed the fact that she wanted to be a fireman in this time yes, but she wanted the hero's approval above all else. The hero was a kind man and gentleman who saved a lot of people in his time and loved the heroine enough to ask his captain about the heroine's employment at the station even it was against what he believed. The sex scenes were hot and the heroine was defiantly the aggressor. And best of all, she didn't go back to the future, she stayed in the past with her family. I liked this book.
July 29, 2011
I have been on a kick reading time-travel romances lately. I have wanted to clean up my to-be-read stash and I have a number of books with this genre. YESTERDAY'S FLAME is a little different in that the heroine is a modern-day smoke jumper. Previously Annabel Lowell worked as a fire fighter with the San Francisco Fire Department.
She is encounters a wildfire and takes shelter in a cave. Annabel finally comes to only to find out that she now lives in 1906. Soon she meets Cole Brady, well-known San Francisco businessman whose alter ego's job is SFFD fireman. Caught up with the refreshing difference in the way she acts and attracted to her looks, Cole assists Annabel in buying her some clothes and finding her a place to stay.
Remembering that 1906 is the year and San Francisco is the place of the Great Earthquake, Annabel assumes that is the reason she is brought back to this time. In the meantime both she and Cole become aware that they love each other. Annabel wants to continue being a firefighter but has discovered how differently men treat women in this era. In some ways she enjoys it and other ways she finds it stifling. Cole realizes that Annabel is unconventional. Attracted and yet confused he gets in trouble on several occasions when he says something that Annabel takes out of context. They find out that there is a great amount of give and take if they are going to make this relationship a go.
I found the story original with Cole's pursuit of Annabel. Annabel's actions were somewhat flighty and I found it a little hard-pressed to believe some of what went on. Still, I am aware that it is fiction and YESTERDAY'S FLAME was better than some TT romances that I've read recently.
She is encounters a wildfire and takes shelter in a cave. Annabel finally comes to only to find out that she now lives in 1906. Soon she meets Cole Brady, well-known San Francisco businessman whose alter ego's job is SFFD fireman. Caught up with the refreshing difference in the way she acts and attracted to her looks, Cole assists Annabel in buying her some clothes and finding her a place to stay.
Remembering that 1906 is the year and San Francisco is the place of the Great Earthquake, Annabel assumes that is the reason she is brought back to this time. In the meantime both she and Cole become aware that they love each other. Annabel wants to continue being a firefighter but has discovered how differently men treat women in this era. In some ways she enjoys it and other ways she finds it stifling. Cole realizes that Annabel is unconventional. Attracted and yet confused he gets in trouble on several occasions when he says something that Annabel takes out of context. They find out that there is a great amount of give and take if they are going to make this relationship a go.
I found the story original with Cole's pursuit of Annabel. Annabel's actions were somewhat flighty and I found it a little hard-pressed to believe some of what went on. Still, I am aware that it is fiction and YESTERDAY'S FLAME was better than some TT romances that I've read recently.
August 12, 2016
This was the very first novel that I ever read independently of required reading in school. I believe it was in seventh grade, a result of my mother's insistance that I would love it, and I did. A time-travel romance of a modern day firewoman being transported back in time to San Fancisco of the early 1900s. While details have long escaped me, I will never forget this novel nor my love for it as being the very first book I read because I WANTED to.
Having read it a second time, being the experienced and critical reader that I am now, I found the plot to be rather lacking over all. The characters, while potentially loveable, are not well expressed and the reader does not necessary "know" them well. While I do find the book to be mediocre at best, I still hold Yesterday's Flame to be valueable for sentimental reasons.
Having read it a second time, being the experienced and critical reader that I am now, I found the plot to be rather lacking over all. The characters, while potentially loveable, are not well expressed and the reader does not necessary "know" them well. While I do find the book to be mediocre at best, I still hold Yesterday's Flame to be valueable for sentimental reasons.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews