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Flowers of Fire
From the Irish revolution to the American Civil War, from the slave plantations of the South Seas to the Wild West, this sweeping love story follows the tumultuous life of a strong-willed woman and the two men who engulfed her in their passion and fought for her love.
RAVENA -- the stunningly beautiful woman who is torn between twin brothers, one whom she hates and detests but is forced to marry, the other whom she loves deeply but cannot have.
ROGER -- the treacherous, twisted brother who, through lies and deception, takes lovely Ravena for his own.
BRIAN -- the rogue who said, "Hate me or love me, but never forget me," and captured Ravena's heart for all time.
RAVENA -- the stunningly beautiful woman who is torn between twin brothers, one whom she hates and detests but is forced to marry, the other whom she loves deeply but cannot have.
ROGER -- the treacherous, twisted brother who, through lies and deception, takes lovely Ravena for his own.
BRIAN -- the rogue who said, "Hate me or love me, but never forget me," and captured Ravena's heart for all time.
445 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1977
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About the author
Stephanie Blake
15 books6 followersPen name used by authors Jack Pearl and Donald Bain
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 30, 2015
2.5 stars. If the book had ended on Hawaii, I'd have rounded up for a goofy entertainment factor -- but that last third really lost my interest.
Flowers of Fire is a slap-dash mess of a book that occasionally veers into bodice ripper territory. Sometimes an absurd clash of WTFery works (see: Pleasure's Daughter), but other times it completely wrecks any connection with the story. Unfortunately, this book falls into the latter category. While it has the bare bones of a sweeping epic, the characters are flat as hell. The main trio -- Ravena, Brian, & Roger -- interact with each other & a variety of historical personages, but they remain distant from the reader & have precious little consistency. This is partly due to the style; time passes rapidly in huge chunks from one chapter to another (the plot covers 1847-1880 in a mere 440 pages) while everyone bumbles around in a series of herky-jerky melodramatic vignettes. Things are even more awkward when "Stephanie Blake" resorts to detailed summaries of long-term historical battle scenes (the Civil War, Custer's adventures in the Dakotas, the Irish battle for independence), during which the characters either disappear entirely or engage in dialogue-laden infodumps. I'd guess a full 100 pages are eaten up by long-winded battle!porn, which is a huge waste of space that could have been better employed.
Alas, excruciating military details were catnip to male authors who didn't know how to write a real bodice ripper when requested by their publishing house. I'm guessing they glanced through Rosemary Rogers & Margaret Mitchell, then decided to cut out the character development & skip directly to the good stuff: heaving boobs, mounds of love, & whatever battles they read about as boys. Presto! Instant ripper material, right?
Not exactly.
It did have potential in the plot, & some of the chapters were solid 3-star material. I liked the schtick of Ravena adding little prologues to each section of her "memoirs." But overall it didn't hang together. The characters were sloppily written, the romance was flat, the abrupt time passages ruined continuity, & the entire Western section was unnecessary.
So. As a whole, pretty lame. It's a curiosity piece from the long-forgotten Playboy Press...but not much else.
Flowers of Fire is a slap-dash mess of a book that occasionally veers into bodice ripper territory. Sometimes an absurd clash of WTFery works (see: Pleasure's Daughter), but other times it completely wrecks any connection with the story. Unfortunately, this book falls into the latter category. While it has the bare bones of a sweeping epic, the characters are flat as hell. The main trio -- Ravena, Brian, & Roger -- interact with each other & a variety of historical personages, but they remain distant from the reader & have precious little consistency. This is partly due to the style; time passes rapidly in huge chunks from one chapter to another (the plot covers 1847-1880 in a mere 440 pages) while everyone bumbles around in a series of herky-jerky melodramatic vignettes. Things are even more awkward when "Stephanie Blake" resorts to detailed summaries of long-term historical battle scenes (the Civil War, Custer's adventures in the Dakotas, the Irish battle for independence), during which the characters either disappear entirely or engage in dialogue-laden infodumps. I'd guess a full 100 pages are eaten up by long-winded battle!porn, which is a huge waste of space that could have been better employed.
Alas, excruciating military details were catnip to male authors who didn't know how to write a real bodice ripper when requested by their publishing house. I'm guessing they glanced through Rosemary Rogers & Margaret Mitchell, then decided to cut out the character development & skip directly to the good stuff: heaving boobs, mounds of love, & whatever battles they read about as boys. Presto! Instant ripper material, right?
Not exactly.
It did have potential in the plot, & some of the chapters were solid 3-star material. I liked the schtick of Ravena adding little prologues to each section of her "memoirs." But overall it didn't hang together. The characters were sloppily written, the romance was flat, the abrupt time passages ruined continuity, & the entire Western section was unnecessary.
So. As a whole, pretty lame. It's a curiosity piece from the long-forgotten Playboy Press...but not much else.
April 30, 2010
The back cover of this book would lead you to believe this is a love triangle romance about twin brothers one good and one a bit more sinister both competing for the love of one woman. Well let me tell ya, that is not what this book was about! As a matter of fact I almost wonder if the character of Ravina was an after thought for the author. Felt like she was always in the way of what was really going on. This book is historical fiction about the struggles that tore families apart during the Irish Revolution and the American Civil War, putting brother against brother, tale as old as time, Cain and Abel style. Good stuff, lot's of drama, not a romance!
This novel is separated into 3 parts with a prologue for each written in the first person from Ravina's point of view, and yet much of what happens in the book is more about Roger and Brian with Ravina playing a smaller roll. She really seems to be just stuck in there with a few sex scenes with some random men and not much involvement in the larger picture. The prologue's really thew me off and are not in line with the voice of the rest of the book at all!
All three characters were flat, flat, flat. I did not understand any of their motivations for anything they did. They were not sympathetic, and I had a hard time relating to any of them. No mixed emotions, no turmoil, nothing! I think this is really where the author fell flat. This is a "romance" and yet the focus is not on the relationships. It is hard to say why these people are drawn together and why they care for each other. You do not see a love relationship develop it just kinda happens. And the worst part.... this does not have an emotionally satisfying ending (otherwise known as the HEA). It just kinda ends. Yes, you are left with the small satisfaction of knowing that Ravina and Brian are together but not how they handle their issues. No indication of how things work out for Roger or how Ravina chooses to deal with her complicated relationship with him. We are dealing with some pretty complicated family dynamics with Roger, Brian and Ravina but not really given any indication about how that all works out. Clearly the authors main priority was to give the reader closure regarding the Irish Revolution of the background, but not regarding the relationships of the characters. The author just doesn't get it! Very frustrating.
I really can't say this was bad, it just was not a romance. I think if I had a better understanding of what I was getting into I would have enjoyed it more. A word of advise: I would recommend to just skip the prologues, pointless, no important information and they just confuse the voice of the book! -eck-
This book review has been provided by the No Book Left Behind Campaign! A Bodice Ripper Readers Anonymous group initiative to review the un-reviewed!
This novel is separated into 3 parts with a prologue for each written in the first person from Ravina's point of view, and yet much of what happens in the book is more about Roger and Brian with Ravina playing a smaller roll. She really seems to be just stuck in there with a few sex scenes with some random men and not much involvement in the larger picture. The prologue's really thew me off and are not in line with the voice of the rest of the book at all!
All three characters were flat, flat, flat. I did not understand any of their motivations for anything they did. They were not sympathetic, and I had a hard time relating to any of them. No mixed emotions, no turmoil, nothing! I think this is really where the author fell flat. This is a "romance" and yet the focus is not on the relationships. It is hard to say why these people are drawn together and why they care for each other. You do not see a love relationship develop it just kinda happens. And the worst part.... this does not have an emotionally satisfying ending (otherwise known as the HEA). It just kinda ends. Yes, you are left with the small satisfaction of knowing that Ravina and Brian are together but not how they handle their issues. No indication of how things work out for Roger or how Ravina chooses to deal with her complicated relationship with him. We are dealing with some pretty complicated family dynamics with Roger, Brian and Ravina but not really given any indication about how that all works out. Clearly the authors main priority was to give the reader closure regarding the Irish Revolution of the background, but not regarding the relationships of the characters. The author just doesn't get it! Very frustrating.
I really can't say this was bad, it just was not a romance. I think if I had a better understanding of what I was getting into I would have enjoyed it more. A word of advise: I would recommend to just skip the prologues, pointless, no important information and they just confuse the voice of the book! -eck-
This book review has been provided by the No Book Left Behind Campaign! A Bodice Ripper Readers Anonymous group initiative to review the un-reviewed!
January 24, 2015
it took me over a year to finish this book. (I normally read a book in a few days) That in itself should tell you something.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews