What do you think?
Rate this book
Banished Saga #0.5
Love's First Flames
Devastated…
When a fire irrevocably changes the lives of the three McLeod brothers, Gabriel, Richard and Jeremy learn to depend on each other in their harsh new reality.
Determined…
To thrive in prosperous, dynamic Boston of the late 1800’s, the McLeod brothers forge a bond created from loss, loyalty and shared hardship. Led by elder brother Gabriel, the three brothers battle wits against class conscious, exploitive relatives, working together to maintain a sense of family.
Committed…
To their dream of a better future, Gabriel worries that Richard’s interest in fellow orphan Florence Butler will only lead to heartache. Will Richard be able to secure Florence’s love? Will the brothers maintain their loyalty to each other? Or will they be torn apart?
Love’s First Flames is a novella prequel to the Banished Saga.
When a fire irrevocably changes the lives of the three McLeod brothers, Gabriel, Richard and Jeremy learn to depend on each other in their harsh new reality.
Determined…
To thrive in prosperous, dynamic Boston of the late 1800’s, the McLeod brothers forge a bond created from loss, loyalty and shared hardship. Led by elder brother Gabriel, the three brothers battle wits against class conscious, exploitive relatives, working together to maintain a sense of family.
Committed…
To their dream of a better future, Gabriel worries that Richard’s interest in fellow orphan Florence Butler will only lead to heartache. Will Richard be able to secure Florence’s love? Will the brothers maintain their loyalty to each other? Or will they be torn apart?
Love’s First Flames is a novella prequel to the Banished Saga.
- GenresHistorical Romance
129 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 19, 2014
30 people are currently reading
106 people want to read
About the author
Ramona Flightner
100 books99 followersRamona is a historical romance author who loves to immerse herself in research as much as she loves writing. A native of Montana, every day she marvels that she gets to live in such a beautiful place. When she’s not writing, her favorite pastimes are fly fishing the cool clear streams of a Montana river, hiking in the mountains, and spending time with family and friends.
Ramona’s heroines are strong, resilient women, the type of women you’d love to have as your best friend. Her heroes are loyal and honorable, the type of men you’d love to meet or bring home to introduce to your family for Sunday dinner. She hopes her stories bring the past alive and allow you to forget the outside world for a while.
Connect with Ramona: her webpage: www.ramonaflightner.com; Facebook: www.facebook.com/authorramonaflightner; on pinterest: www.pinterest.com/Ramonaauthor or on twitter: @ramonaflightner. She loves to hear from fans!
Ramona’s heroines are strong, resilient women, the type of women you’d love to have as your best friend. Her heroes are loyal and honorable, the type of men you’d love to meet or bring home to introduce to your family for Sunday dinner. She hopes her stories bring the past alive and allow you to forget the outside world for a while.
Connect with Ramona: her webpage: www.ramonaflightner.com; Facebook: www.facebook.com/authorramonaflightner; on pinterest: www.pinterest.com/Ramonaauthor or on twitter: @ramonaflightner. She loves to hear from fans!
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 10, 2018
The storyline for the first half of this book was just depressing; the second half was repetitive. This is a prequel to the Banished Saga series, featuring the childhoods and early adulthoods of the three McLeod brothers (heroes in the series). I have book one on my TBR pile, but I'm in no hurry to read it since the writing changes from third person past tense in the prequel to first person tense in book one (at least from the excerpt of book one I read at the end of the prequel). Also, nothing is really engaging me in terms of characters or plot; just a lot of depressing back stories so far.
July 7, 2015
This is a prequel to the Banished Saga. I liked this short prequel, and I also didn’t like it.
What I liked:
The McLeod brothers all together again (at a younger age)
A couple of loving influences for the McLeod brothers during their dark days with the Mastersons
Richard meets the sweet Florence Butler and kind of courts her
Florence has a motherly-type figure in her boss
Gabriel and Richard stand up for what their parents have taught them
Gabriel stays strong and provides for his brothers like a good man
I didn’t like, as we’re not supposed to, Aunt Masterson.
At first, she’s just a woman. A very nice-looking woman.
But Aunt Masterson is evil. She collects the McLeods and takes them into her house, but it is surely not for want. It is simply to keep up appearances. What would it look like to the genteel society if she didn’t take in her sister’s own children?
The longer the boys stay, the more abuse they must take at the hands of their family. The cousins are snooty brats. The boys are seen as burdens and even lesser than the servants.
She is evil in its purest form. It is so hard to think that people actually applauded and supported Aunt Masterson in her words, actions, deeds and schemes.
One of my favorite parts of Love’s First Flames was actually Richard, the middle brother, when he stood up to Aunt Masterson with the very fiber of who he was.
I also loved how smoothly Richard’s courtship of Florence began, but sometime between the end of the prequel and Banished Love, something goes terribly, terribly wrong. I thought that might be covered in the prequel so as not to leave any gaps in the storyline, but I suppose that’s something that is going to be left alone.
What I liked:
The McLeod brothers all together again (at a younger age)
A couple of loving influences for the McLeod brothers during their dark days with the Mastersons
Richard meets the sweet Florence Butler and kind of courts her
Florence has a motherly-type figure in her boss
Gabriel and Richard stand up for what their parents have taught them
Gabriel stays strong and provides for his brothers like a good man
I didn’t like, as we’re not supposed to, Aunt Masterson.
At first, she’s just a woman. A very nice-looking woman.
But Aunt Masterson is evil. She collects the McLeods and takes them into her house, but it is surely not for want. It is simply to keep up appearances. What would it look like to the genteel society if she didn’t take in her sister’s own children?
The longer the boys stay, the more abuse they must take at the hands of their family. The cousins are snooty brats. The boys are seen as burdens and even lesser than the servants.
She is evil in its purest form. It is so hard to think that people actually applauded and supported Aunt Masterson in her words, actions, deeds and schemes.
One of my favorite parts of Love’s First Flames was actually Richard, the middle brother, when he stood up to Aunt Masterson with the very fiber of who he was.
I also loved how smoothly Richard’s courtship of Florence began, but sometime between the end of the prequel and Banished Love, something goes terribly, terribly wrong. I thought that might be covered in the prequel so as not to leave any gaps in the storyline, but I suppose that’s something that is going to be left alone.
![Profile Image for ᑭᑌᑎƳᗩ [Punya Reviews...].](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.gr-assets.com%2Fimages%2FS%2Fcompressed.photo.goodreads.com%2Fusers%2F1572968006i%2F3840999._UX200_CR0%2C33%2C200%2C200_.jpg&w=128&q=75)
December 21, 2014
My review contains spoilers and they're mostly my thoughts as I went with the book... for more, visit Punya Reviews...
Love's First Flames by Ramona Flightner is a prequel novella to her historical romance series, Banished Saga. I’m very fond of this series, so it was a great pleasure to read Gabriel, Richard and Jeremy’s past lives; the stuff we were hinted at in the 2 earlier installments.
You can read this novella before starting the series or you can read it later, up to you but book 1, Banished Love and book 2, Reclaimed Love should be read in order because one is the continuation of the other. This series is about Gabriel, a superbly handsome carpenter who used to live in Boston at one time. Gabriel and his brothers, Richard and Jeremy are orphans. Their parents perished in a long ago fire. After that incident, they were forced to live with their aunt since they had no one else to turn to.
Now, Gabriel’s mother came from the high society but married a ‘low-born’ man, Gabriel’s gentle father. This made her a pariah even in her own family. Masterson, the aunt in question, could never stand Gabriel’s father, hence she treated the 3 orphan boys lower than her own servants while they were living with her. It wasn’t until Gabriel started apprenticing under this elderly carpenter that his life began to change for the better. They grew up in a house where they found no love or affection, except from a kind housekeeper; a far cry from what they had when their parents were alive. No wonder they wanted to move away from that house, their mean aunt and her two sons who bullied them in every step of the way, as soon as they could. The carpenter, under whom Gabriel apprenticed and became a master, had been more like a father figure to him. Until his death, Gabriel was working for him. At one point, Richard found job as a blacksmith. When they had enough money to live on their own, they moved. They weren’t rich or well-off by any means, yet it was a heaven compared to the Masterson house.
In Love's First Flames, we get to see the tragedy of Gabriel’s parents perishing, as well as exactly how badly they were treated the years they lived with the Mastersons. It broke my heart for the boys, and made me equally mad. I never liked this Masterson b!tch, so it was no surprise that I just wanted to beat her to bloody pulp. She was so vile, a veritable hypocrite too, that the only conclusion must be she was insane! We also find Gabriel struggling to keep his brothers alive through all the trouble that Masterson and her sons put them through. The treatment was so unfair and these people were so abusive that it was unbelievable!
Richard, the handsomest of the three brothers, met this girl named Florence, whom we were introduced to in other installments. We get the flashback of their budding romance, though we don’t see exactly what happened that tore them apart, until they saw each-other again years later in Banished Love. This novella ends on a happy note, with Gabriel, Richard and Jeremy leaving the Masterson house to live on their own, hoping for a better future ahead.
You can read more about the McLeod brothers in Banished Love and Reclaimed Love. Note that both books basically feature Gabriel and Clarissa’s love-story and their struggle to be together against the evil of greed and judgmental society. Clarissa came from a prosperous family, hence Gabriel was never deemed as a suitable prospect for her hand. This creates a lot of problem and Gabriel was forced to leave Boston, thanks to Materson’s evil plans with the help of Mrs. Smythe, her blind follower, also the meddling step-mother of Clarissa. They’re reunited later and were able to get married, though danger is still dogging their steps. Richard and Florence’s romance occupy a smaller part, though, IMO, not enough to call it a secondary romance. Jeremy, freshly returned from the war and torn by its adversity, still has no idea what he’s going to do with his life.
Both Gabriel and Richard were gentlemen through and through, though Gabriel is the most serious of them all. I remember how Clarissa would get shivers from his intense blue eyes, as if he’s always trying to read her. Always seemed to be focused on her. Richard was more joie de vivre, though he hasn’t forgotten their struggle... and apparently, Florence too. Jeremy is the youngest. He was mostly absent, until his return in book 2. I’m still not sure what to think of him. But I can hardly wait for the third installment and know more about all the brothers and their ladies, especially Jeremy!
Have to say that I appreciated this little novella. In general I loved the whole setting, the plot, as well as the characters (with the exception of Masterson and Smythe) of this series. I’d recommend it in a heartbeat if you’re looking for a great read for the coming holidays! 4 stars.
“Love’s First Flames” is a free installment, which can be downloaded from most major retailers.
Love's First Flames by Ramona Flightner is a prequel novella to her historical romance series, Banished Saga. I’m very fond of this series, so it was a great pleasure to read Gabriel, Richard and Jeremy’s past lives; the stuff we were hinted at in the 2 earlier installments.
You can read this novella before starting the series or you can read it later, up to you but book 1, Banished Love and book 2, Reclaimed Love should be read in order because one is the continuation of the other. This series is about Gabriel, a superbly handsome carpenter who used to live in Boston at one time. Gabriel and his brothers, Richard and Jeremy are orphans. Their parents perished in a long ago fire. After that incident, they were forced to live with their aunt since they had no one else to turn to.
Now, Gabriel’s mother came from the high society but married a ‘low-born’ man, Gabriel’s gentle father. This made her a pariah even in her own family. Masterson, the aunt in question, could never stand Gabriel’s father, hence she treated the 3 orphan boys lower than her own servants while they were living with her. It wasn’t until Gabriel started apprenticing under this elderly carpenter that his life began to change for the better. They grew up in a house where they found no love or affection, except from a kind housekeeper; a far cry from what they had when their parents were alive. No wonder they wanted to move away from that house, their mean aunt and her two sons who bullied them in every step of the way, as soon as they could. The carpenter, under whom Gabriel apprenticed and became a master, had been more like a father figure to him. Until his death, Gabriel was working for him. At one point, Richard found job as a blacksmith. When they had enough money to live on their own, they moved. They weren’t rich or well-off by any means, yet it was a heaven compared to the Masterson house.
In Love's First Flames, we get to see the tragedy of Gabriel’s parents perishing, as well as exactly how badly they were treated the years they lived with the Mastersons. It broke my heart for the boys, and made me equally mad. I never liked this Masterson b!tch, so it was no surprise that I just wanted to beat her to bloody pulp. She was so vile, a veritable hypocrite too, that the only conclusion must be she was insane! We also find Gabriel struggling to keep his brothers alive through all the trouble that Masterson and her sons put them through. The treatment was so unfair and these people were so abusive that it was unbelievable!
Richard, the handsomest of the three brothers, met this girl named Florence, whom we were introduced to in other installments. We get the flashback of their budding romance, though we don’t see exactly what happened that tore them apart, until they saw each-other again years later in Banished Love. This novella ends on a happy note, with Gabriel, Richard and Jeremy leaving the Masterson house to live on their own, hoping for a better future ahead.
You can read more about the McLeod brothers in Banished Love and Reclaimed Love. Note that both books basically feature Gabriel and Clarissa’s love-story and their struggle to be together against the evil of greed and judgmental society. Clarissa came from a prosperous family, hence Gabriel was never deemed as a suitable prospect for her hand. This creates a lot of problem and Gabriel was forced to leave Boston, thanks to Materson’s evil plans with the help of Mrs. Smythe, her blind follower, also the meddling step-mother of Clarissa. They’re reunited later and were able to get married, though danger is still dogging their steps. Richard and Florence’s romance occupy a smaller part, though, IMO, not enough to call it a secondary romance. Jeremy, freshly returned from the war and torn by its adversity, still has no idea what he’s going to do with his life.
Both Gabriel and Richard were gentlemen through and through, though Gabriel is the most serious of them all. I remember how Clarissa would get shivers from his intense blue eyes, as if he’s always trying to read her. Always seemed to be focused on her. Richard was more joie de vivre, though he hasn’t forgotten their struggle... and apparently, Florence too. Jeremy is the youngest. He was mostly absent, until his return in book 2. I’m still not sure what to think of him. But I can hardly wait for the third installment and know more about all the brothers and their ladies, especially Jeremy!
Have to say that I appreciated this little novella. In general I loved the whole setting, the plot, as well as the characters (with the exception of Masterson and Smythe) of this series. I’d recommend it in a heartbeat if you’re looking for a great read for the coming holidays! 4 stars.
“Love’s First Flames” is a free installment, which can be downloaded from most major retailers.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 4, 2019
When the McLeod brothers lose something very valuable in a fire that destroys their home, they have no choice but to move into their aunt’s house. After 9 years of unbearable circumstances, they are able to make a life for themselves. They depend on each other and they take care of each other. Nothing will deter them from making a better life.
January 25, 2017
This is the introduction to the series titled "Banished Saga"
I enjoyed the context of the story and would love to read the next books in the series.
It is a story of three boys whose parents die and the boys are sent to a very unloving aunt .
I enjoyed the context of the story and would love to read the next books in the series.
It is a story of three boys whose parents die and the boys are sent to a very unloving aunt .
May 5, 2017
This was a sad start for the McLeod brothers. The loss of their beloved parents, then the evil aunt and just as evil cousins. Gabriel was the oldest and so became the parent and protector of the others. What those poor boys had to suffer, and yet they stayed strong. A very moving story.
December 31, 2017
Ramona Flightner has written a touching novel about live: brotherly, parental, and romantic. She has created delightful, human characters. Her plot follows the McLeods from childhood to young adulthood. This is a good beginning for the saga.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews