The Elusive Flame

Birmingham #3

by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss

A woman in desperate straits ... A fearless man ... A marriage of convenience on turbulent waters ...Cerynise Kendall has been left destitute and in dire need following the death of her doting patron and protectress. A brilliant young artist tossed from her home with only the clothes on her back, Cerynise must now turn to a childhood companion for assistance --- the dashing sea captain Beauregard Birmingham --- and beg him to provide her with passage to the Carolinas. She seeks a new home and a new life across the waters, but all depends upon the kindness of a charming adventurer who was once the object of her youthful infatuation.Beneath Birmingham's rugged exterior beats a heart as large and wild as the Atlantic, and Beau readily agrees to aid Cerynise --- even offering her his name in marriage, albeit temporarily, to protect his longtime friend from scandal. But perilous secrets, determined enemies and tempests of the sea and soul threaten their future and safe passage even as bonds of camaraderie are miraculously reforged as bonds of desire ... and affection becomes passion and love. 

Genres: Romance, Historical Romance, Historical, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Regency, Marriage Of Convenience

496 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 1998

About the author

Kathleen Erin Hogg was born on June 3, 1939, in Alexandria, Louisiana, she was the youngest of eight siblings by Gladys (Coker) and Charles Wingrove Hogg, a disabled World War I veteran. She long relished creating original narratives, and by age 6 was telling herself stories at night to help herself fall asleep. At age 16, she met U.S. Air Force Second Lieutenant Ross Eugene Woodiwiss at a dance, and they married the following year. She wrote her first book in longhand while living at a military outpost in Japan.

She is credited with the invention of the modern historical romance novel: In 1972 she released The Flame and the Flower, an instant New York Times bestseller that created a literary precedent. The novel revolutionized mainstream publishing, featuring an epic historical romance with a strong heroine and impassioned sex scenes. The Flame and the Flower was rejected by agents and hardcover publishers, who deemed it as "too long" at 600 pages. Rather than follow the advice of the rejection letters and rewrite the novel, she instead submitted it to paperback publishers. The first publisher on her list, Avon, quickly purchased the novel and arranged an initial 500,000 print run. The novel sold over 2.3 million copies in its first four years of publication.

The success of The Flame and the Flower prompted a new style of writing romance, concentrating primarily on historical fiction tracking the monogamous relationship between a helpless heroines and the hero who rescued her, even if he had been the one to place her in danger. The romance novels which followed in her example featured longer plots, more controversial situations and characters, and more intimate and steamy sex scenes.

She was an avid horse rider who at one time lived in a large home on 55 acres (220,000 m2) in Minnesota. After her husband's death in 1996, she moved back to Louisiana. She died in a hospital on July 6, 2007 in Princeton, Minnesota, aged 68, from cancer. She was survived by two sons, Sean and Heath, their wives, and numerous grandchildren. Her third son, Dorren, predeceased her.

Reviews

[Kat Kennedy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I suppose this review isn't necessarily for this book - but there were some things in this book that made me wonder and now I'm kind of curious.

I admit to not having read many traditional romances at all. Paranormal romances, yes, I think I can speak with some kind of authority on those but the regency, chic lit and...well, what other type of romances there are? Well, I don't really have a clue. Sorry!

But there are some devices used in Romances that kind of make me wonder what those particular authors were thinking at the time - and I kind of noticed that this book does a lot of them.

The one that really bugs me, of course, is running away.

It's a dark and stormy night - clearly reflecting the emotions and minds of our busty and brazen female protagonist, and our manly, big-breacher's-fabric-stretched-taunt-over-bulging-super-massive-manhood male protagonist. They fight. Emotions are overwrought. Eventually, the female protagonist, in a desperate bid to seek haven from the emotional turmoil/frightened of the male protagonist/trying to keep her deep dark secret and unable to take his scrutiny any more suddenly dashes out of the house (the night is still dark and stormy/freezing cold with a blizzard/beset by raping murderers). The hero calls out to her desperately, realizes his remorse for whatever he did/should have done/would have done if he were a mindreader and follows her to rescue her from the elements which will magically manage to claim her so quickly that within twenty minutes she will be a blubbering mess on the forest floor/desert sand/mountain top. The hero will find her and spend many days nursing her back to health before trying to win her love.

I just don't get it. Never once have I had an argument with my husband and decided that subjecting myself to a crazy storm was preferable to sticking around and torturing him with mean glares and silent treatment. Clearly none of these women have any imagination! Why dash out and nearly kill yourself when you can use up all the hotwater, turn off his side of the electric blanket and wet down all the towels - only to have your efforts pay off twenty minutes later on a freezing winter night.

Think I'm a cold-hearted bitch now, dearest husband? I'll show you cold! Mwhwahahahaha! (Disclaimer: I have only done this once but his agonized groans of frustration and pain fill me with delight to this very day when I think about it. Mr. Kat would also like to add a disclaimer that he has never ONCE called me a cold-hearted bitch or intimated anything of the sort. He's right. He doesn't need to say it, I already know the truth.)

And I honestly don't see how they succumb to the elements so very quickly! I kind of lose respect for them when they're out and about for only a couple of hours before they collapse and die. Um...survival 101 people! If you can't build a fire then stuff your clothes with leaves/bury yourself in the sand/find a cave.

Let me give you a real life situation to compare it to:

Juliane Koepcke who was the sole survivor of a plain crash awoke from the crash with a broken clavicle and was blind in one eye and had various other injuries. She used her wonderful sense of logic (Water travels down, dudes! Where there's water, there's bound to be people) and trekked for nine days until she finally found a cabin where she rested, cleaned her wounds and waited for the occupants to come home.

Yeah, I know. It makes these romance chics sound even sadder that they couldn't even last a few hours on a night that they voluntarily ran off into.

It's like Bella when Edward left - she wandered around in the forest for a few hours before collapsing. Really? I've been emotionally distraught a few times and never ONCE have I been lucky enough to collapse under the turmoil. Sorry folks, usually life sucks a little harder than getting to have your dramatic fainting fit when you feel like it.

So I don't get this seemingly innocuous mainstay of the romantic genre. I feel like telling those pussies to get on their feet and get home. Or better yet, don't leave in the first place. And I don't see why they ever thought this was such a good idea. I have never wanted to put my husband in the position of having to call his friends out on a freezing cold evening to track my pansy-ass through a forest because I felt like being dramatic and making a statement. I could just see the result of that telephone call:

Friend: Hey Jason, what's up?
Jason: Hey friend! I need you to come out and look for my wife with me.
Friend: *Looks out at the blizzard doubtfully* Damn, Jason, what happened? What's she doing out on a night like this?
Jason: She was overwrought with emotions and ran out into the storm which is a metaphorical symbol for her life and feelings in general. She can't bring herself to trust me but she can't stay away from my manly ways and passionate embrace so she felt that her only recourse left was to leave the house. Now I'm afraid that because she's a woman and inherently pathetic, she will have only made it a couple of miles away from home before tragically collapsing and waiting for me to come retrieve her and nurse her back to health while being understanding and accepting of her actions. Clearly I should take all the blame and responsibility for this so we need to find her as soon as possible so that I can grovel at her feet and beg her forgiveness.
Friend: Dude...No, I'll see you for that game's night on saturday. Tell Kat to stop being such a little bitch and give you your balls back.

This also goes for a lot of the other crazy shit that women in romance novels do in the name of not trusting the hero.

Like blow up their hospital, have them taken captive by pirates, have them forced into bondage as a slave...

There never seems to be any accountability. The men in romance novels are either the most forgiving sonuvabitches who've ever existed, or you kind of have to think they deserve what they get for being so easily led astray by a pair of tits. Tits which they could quite easily get elsewhere and for a helluva lot less trouble.

Mostly, the worst thing about this plot device is when you think about how it REALLY turns out.

You're hysterically emotional, angry and wanting to get back at a man - though your situation probably isn't his fault he's probably not helping by being all sexy and domineering - so you run out the door into the stormy night and for whatever reason, he can't catch you in time.

Romance version: you collapse fitfully after a couple of hours where the beautiful male protagonist agonizes over your health, self-flagellates himself for goading you into this position and cares for you himself for the many days it takes you to recover.

Real life: You run off into the storm. The cold, frigid air and wet rain/snow/whatever quickly reigns in your temper as you realize that running off will not help in anyway shape or form. You trudge through the woods for a while because you really don't know what else to do. You've already made your point that you are unhappy but your threat and actions are pretty pointless because you have no where to go, no method to get there and it would only embarrass both yourself and your partner if you turned up at a random person's house seeking shelter and help.

Eventually, because it's highly unlikely that anyone has yet tracked down your exact location, you turn around and head home. Embarrassed and ashamed for acting like a two-year old, things only get worse when everyone realizes you've returned. Nobody lets you arrive gracefully. You've worried them unnecessarily and caused them to heave their butts out on a dark, cold, stormy night when they'd rather be in bed. Your name is mud and you've lost any credibility and respect you had.

See? It sucks. It's a terrible plot device! What makes it worse is what it says about women and how it reflects society's view of women.

There's a perception that women are overly emotional and lack rationality and the ability to behave logically. In fact, the word "hysterical" derives from the greek word for women's genitalia (think: hysterectomy. Hysteria was a medical diagnosis made and was related only for women. Men don't get hysterical, you see. Only us flighty women. And we become hysterical because there's something wrong with our women parts. There can't be something wrong with our brains because they're too small and pathetically unused. In fact, we have hysteria to thank for the invention of the dildo. Doctors decided that the cure for hysteria was the didle or a special kind of "pelvic message" that would bring about "hysterical paroxysms" (read: orgasms).

Ever heard a man talk about an uptight or emotional woman and remark that she just needed to get laid? Or seen something similar in a movie? Yeah, that concept has been around for a while (by a while - I mean like the 5th century BCE). Takes the modern minds of the Victorian men, however, to figure that instead of telling her husband to give her some TLC - they'd just grab a rubber cock instead - because that's totally going to fix all her problems.

Well, I have a problem, and it's that the behaviour of these female protagonists almost back these Victorian Douchebags up by behaving like irresponsible lunatics while the male protagonist, remaining clear-headed and logical, has to get her out of her "hysteria" and then patch her up when her flight-of-fancy has left her bedridden for three days.

The most absolutely disgusting part? He doesn't even respect her enough to hold her accountable for her actions or ask her to apologize for hurting him and causing him to worry. Ya know why? She's just a woman. He expects her to act like a complete lunatic or a child. She doesn't know better. She doesn't have a ginormous man-brain like his.

And now, since I have nothing more to say, I'll leave you with this image:

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Clearly from a Victorian Era manual. This is the exact process a Victorian man needs to go through after providing his hysterical wife with a vibrator and telling her what to do with it.

See, why don't they make men like these anymore! My husband insists on fixing all my hysterical episodes himself with his own equipment!

[Rebecca Behrman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kathleen E. Woodiwiss is my first romance author, and you really never forget your first. Typically I like her--she writes lovely bodice-rippers with elements of chivalry and family and sinister villains. Her settings are quite opulent, usually taking place largely in mansion homes set in the wealthy parts of London or the English or American countryside. The Elusive Flame is the sequel to The Flame and the Flower, about Brandon and Heather's son Beau and his friend Cerynise Kendall.

I did enjoy this in the historical background and connection to characters I know from Flame and the Flower. I also liked how we see Beau and Cerynise's story beyond the wedding. It's interesting how some authors choose to go beyond the husband-and-wife kiss and explore their life together, because that significantly changes the dynamic between people. And Beau and Cerynise get along grandly as a married couple. We also get to see the whole Birmingham family, three generations. Lovely story depth.

What I don't like about this story, and about Woodiwiss' writing in general, is the tendency to be a little sexist. The women in her novels are always so helpless and fainting and "Oh dear me!" and it bothers me! They have so much difficulty fending for themselves, but of course once a man appears in their lives, they are miraculously pulled from danger and have nothing to worry about anymore. Cerynise hides behind Beau throughout the book, and he treats her like a pet most of the time. I would have liked to see her try to fend for herself for a while, while he offered marriage as a solution a couple times over. Also, their first time together was silly, how he thought he imagined the whole thing, and then her reluctance to say she was pregnant...not a big fan. Despite the opulence, it feels very shallow to me.

[J · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you have seen a crappy horror film, you have read this book.

E.g. "Oh, no. A serial killer is stalking us? Let's all split up and wander alone through the dark forest waving flashlights so he can more easily pick us off one by one."

The most interesting thing about the hero is his dad is B. Birmingham senior, the rapist lover man from Flame & Flower*. The most interesting thing about the heroine is that her husband's dad is B. Birmingham Sr., the rapist lover man from Flame & Flower.

What I remember about the hero besides how boring he is: his eyes are green.

What I remember about the heroine besides how boring she is: her hair is tawny, and she's an orphan.

That's it.

Literally.

The villain is like a pre-Maleficent movie Disney villain: pure evil, totally unrelatable, zero depth, etc.

* The Flame and the Flower is another Woodiwiss romance. Somehow, it's better than this book, despite the fact that hero Brandon is a rapist lover man. This is very confusing.

[Joshua · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like Woodiwiss because unlike a lot of other popular romance authors, she can actually write. I really loved The Flame and the Flower. I thought I was in for a poorly written and trashy bodice ripper, but it far surpassed my expectations, So this lackluster sequel was even more disappointing.
The first half was okay, but I really didn't care to hear about their perfect and violently happy married life throughout the second. The last 80 or so pages were pretty exciting, but it certainly didn't redeem the book for me.

[Romanticamente Fantasy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vanilla_91 - per RFS
.
Cuori in tempesta è il secondo libro della serie Birmingham.

Se il primo romanzo non mi aveva per nulla convinta, questo volume ha reso indubbiamente più visibili tutti quei tratti distintivi che hanno fatto della Woodwiss una delle maestre del genere.

La storia ha come protagonisti Beauregard Birmingham (primogenito di Heather e Brandon) e Cerynise.

Alla morte della sua tutrice la ragazza viene sbattuta fuori casa dal crudele nipote della defunta, Alistar Winthrop. Senza soldi e senza amici su cui poter contare, Cerynise si dirige al porto alla ricerca di un passaggio in nave per Charleston, dove ad attenderla c’è uno zio. Durante la sua ricerca si imbatte in Beau, suo amico d’infanzia e capitano di un mercantile, che le offre il proprio aiuto. Per proteggere l’amica da Winthrop, che improvvisamente ne reclama la tutela, il comandante propone alla donna un’alternativa ingegnosa: un matrimonio temporaneo, un voto che potranno sciogliere una volta giunti in America.

Tracciare un confine netto tra ciò che è o non è consentito in un legame che dovrebbe essere solo di facciata non è semplice, vista la forte attrazione. Uniti da un desiderio intenso, i due saranno davvero capaci di dirsi addio?

Come dicevo all’inizio, Cuori in tempesta è stata una lettura piacevole.

Una delle cose che maggiormente ho apprezzato è il fatto che in questo romanzo i personaggi della Woodwiss brillino per il loro essere “innovativi”, considerata l’epoca di ambientazione del libro.

Ad esempio Cerynise è una donna forte e indipendente; è rimasta sola, ma è intenzionata a farsi strada nel mondo grazie alla sua abilità di pittrice, ha un carattere deciso e sa far valere le sue ragioni.

Mi è piaciuto il fatto che nel testo non siano presenti eccessivi patemi d’amore. Beau e Cerynise sono consapevoli di ciò che vogliono e, anche se impiegano un po’ di tempo per ammetterlo, non lo negano e non scappano dai sentimenti.

A convincermi meno è stato il fatto che, per dinamiche e avvenimenti, il libro somigli davvero molto al volume precedente e, anche in questo caso, la trama è stata volutamente prolungata aggiungendo avvenimenti che poco si legano con il filone narrativo principale e che non aggiungono nulla d’importante o eccezionale al romanzo.

Nonostante qualche pagina superflua, Cuori in tempesta rappresenta per me uno di quei libri da leggere almeno una volta, se si ama il genere storico.

È stata una lettura che mi ha condotta in un mondo romantico al cento per cento, ma non sdolcinato. Un romanzo degno di nota, ricco di passione e brio.

[Bailey · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have to say it... I loved The Flame and the Flower!! I know this it was an Old School romance, but I also liked his flawed character. It also wasn't muddled up with insta love. This continuation was quite sappy. I feel like Ms. Woodiwiss felt the pressure of New School romance critics and in an effort to win back fans with the ever changing genre, she over-corrected Beau. Where Brandon was a brutal sea fairer with a golden heart deep down, Beau is a love sick horn dog with no character development and no grit. Cerynise, while I definitely applaud her artistic achievement and spirit, she is a bit out of place in the time period. She is also a contradiction to her previous artistic dedication, when she states to Heather, "I won't be able to paint once the baby's born". If she's as talented as the book is CONSTANTLY saying, with little to no responsibilities (given she's a well off lady of leisure by marriage and later by her own luck) then it should be no issue. Also the never ending "who's offing Cerynise?" got more than a bit tedious. The novel's end had the feeling of a direct to video family action film, complete with bumbling villains and cheap tricks. All in all, I felt that this was a rewrite of The Flame and the Flower, a call and response to appease the critics.

[Nicol · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love books from Mrs. Woodiwiss, but that was one of the most boring books I've read.
I mean, the first half was okay, you know, pent up sexual energy and stuff but when all was well, I was exposed to the boring description of a perfect marriage. I don't wanna hear about how often she have to feed the child or how the tea party went. I don't care. Give me a plot twist or something to get excited about. Most of the time I wished that a bomb would drop nearby and create a havoc so it would become a little bit more interesting.

Also, I was kind of annoyed that all that guy wanted to do was have sex with her.
She didn't want it? GET ANGRY.
She wants her own space to have some privacy? PUNISH HER.
Make up an arrangement? GET ANGRY because she holds her end of the deal up.

I mean, this guy was either super sweet or a total dick and seriously deserved some good kick in the balls.

And most of all: rape jokes.
NO. NO. Just no. Never, ever joke about rape. Ever.

[Amanda Westmont · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm obviously on a Woodiwiss kick and I'm happy to confess the reason: I spent $200 at Amazon's kindle store last month and I'm trying to cut back. With a Woodiwiss title - usually at 600 pages or LONGER - you get a lot for your $6 investment.

In the case of THIS particular book, however, I really wished it ended at page 300, where it needed to DIE. And be BURIED. Once the hero/heroine are TOGETHER, this books needed to END. It was the PERFECT SPOT for a nice happy ending!

But then, in her usual fashion, Woodiwiss had to drag the couple through another 250 pages of drama and torture. And by torture, I mean torture for the READER. The last third of this book was utterly RIDICULOUS and I couldn't read it without pausing every page or two to roll my eyes.

But it had good sex scenes, so whatever.

[Tetty Marlinda · Rating 2 out of 5]

#203 for 2018
Genre: Historical Romance

[Paola Garcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Final de la serie Birmingham.

Está centrado en el hijo de Brandon y Heather: Beauregard (Beau) y Cerynise una vieja conocida de Beau.

Beau es capitán de su propio barco y al inicio de la historia se encuentra en Inglaterra donde también se encuentra Cerynise quien al morir sus padres se marchó de las Carolinas rumbo a Inglaterra por diferentes situaciones (y casualidades del destino) ellos se reencuentran en el puerto de Londres y para ayudarla a llegar a Charleston deciden casarse rápidamente, con la promesa de solicitar la anulación al terminar el viaje ya que él no desea el matrimonio, al terminar la travesía él se dará cuenta de sus verdaderos sentimientos y buscara hacer realidad su matrimonio, sin embargo el peligro del que ella huyo no la dejara atrás.

La historia y el romance fueron de mi agrado, aun y con algún malentendido ocasionados por problemas de comunicación (situación recurrente en muchos libros). Como sus predecesores es un libro un tanto largo y un poco repetitivo, pero nada muy pesado. Podría considerarse una historia de amor bastante clásica.

No podría considerarse un libro “fuerte” como el de sus padres. Ella tiene más carácter que Heather, y Beau es un buen protagonista.

[Kimberlee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five Fabulous Stars

I have loved this book since I first read in 1998. It is the followup of my all time favorite. The Flame and the Flower. In this book we read the story of the grown up Beau Birmingham. His foot steps follow that of his sea captain father as he to rescues his damsel in distress. This is a awesome historical romance that makes you fall in love every time.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the reviewers enjoyed the first half of the book more than the second half, but my impression was the opposite. The first half took place mostly on Beau Birmingham's ship and I found it a bit tedious, although necessary. For me, the novel really took off around the half-way mark when Beau and Cerynise arrived in Charleston.

[Cyn Mistress Kitty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good sequel to The Flame and the Flower.
Loved Beau although it took him some time to realize what he wanted.
It bugged me that in this story Beau's eye color kept changing. First it was blue then green then blue.
The ending reminded me of the movie Home Alone and was kinda silly.

[january · Rating 1 out of 5]

0.1 🪨

Wo ist das Bleichmittel

[Kara Williams-Ackerman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Almost embarrassed to put this on my "read" list for the year, but as I _did_ manage to slog through it without _quite_ rolling my eyes out of my head, I guess it counts.

I have to admit I was in love with Woodiwiss as a teen and read just about everything she had published at the time; my best girlfriend and I were smitten with her manly heroes and longed to be one of her plucky heroines. We were - ahem- 16.

Found this and another Woodiwiss on the shelves at Goodwill, and, being between good books at the time, thought I'd revisit my childhood fantasies.

Ugh. I honestly can't remember without looking them up, but were all of them seriously so dreadfully overwrought, overwritten, pretentious, boring, cliche, predictable, wordy and horrible? I have to give her some props for advancing the (at the time) relatively new field of romances in the 70's, but cringe at the idea that people kept eating this drivel up past the age of about 18 or so. Back you go to Goodwill, Ms. Woodiwiss for someone whose execrable taste this may appeal to. Blech.

[Teryna90 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cuori in tempesta è il sesto libro che leggo di Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, e mi duole dirlo, ma anche l'ultimo. La Woodiwiss, in quanto prima scrittrice, se non precorritrice del genere "romanzo storico" , ha sicuramente scritto delle storie romantiche molto intriganti e avvolgenti, ma dopo averne letto già due si ha subito una chiara idea di come si andranno a intricare e sviluppare le trame dei singoli libri.

Se siete indecisi se leggere o meno un suo libro, vi consiglio ardentemente di iniziare con un romanzo che mi ha tolto il fiato, appassionato e tenuta incollata ad ogni singola pagina:
Come cenere al vento
. Si tratta di una lettura davvero spensierata, che non solo vi porta in un contesto storico, lontano e scontroso, ma vi avvolge con l'amore di una giovane donna e di un giovane yankee.

Ritornando a questo libro, abbiamo una storia che segue le avventure di: Cerynise, una giovane fanciulla, di appena 17 anni, bellissima, da mozzare il fiato; tanto bella da provocare ed essere desiderata da ogni singolo uomo - cliché che ritroverete in ogni libro della Woodiwiss; e il coraggioso capitano Beau, che non solo si scopre (subito) essere amico d'infanzia e prima cotta di lei, ma anche straordinario uomo di rara bellezza, desiderato da tutte le prostitute e donne altolocate; il suo è un fisico perfetto, scolpito dallo stesso Michelangelo - altro cliché.

Abbiamo un racconto quasi onnisciente, quindi passiamo da un pensiero all'altro, da un personaggio ad un altro; a volte seguiamo anche terzi con l'intento di intricare il racconto... rendendolo a mio avviso solo più noioso.

Dopo alcune pagine avevo già capito come sarebbe terminato il libro e non perché io sia una veggente o altro. Questo, inevitabilmente mi aveva annoiato oltre ogni misura. Non vedevo l'ora di finirlo e direi che le due stelle sono un regalo generoso al ricordo che ho dei libri della Woodiwiss. Ho saltato alcune pagine e non me ne pento, affatto. Mi dispiace aver chiuso con una delusione questo capitolo, ma porterò comunque nel ricordo molti libri della Woodiwiss. Ma non questo.

[Myself · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5
Aunque Beau me gusta mucho, el libro es el que menos de los Birmingham. Empieza bastante bien pero poco después de su llegada a Charleston se convierte en un relato muy empalagoso.

[Ximena Dreamy Girl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to say that I love the stories of this writer, I can't say that I didn't like the book, because I really liked it; It kept me entertained and I had a light read. However, I feel that the author recycled much of the Brandon and Heather story; as much as Beau is also a captain, he and Cerynise get married and live a history of normal marriage, in addition I have noticed that the author always has a very fixed formula in her stories "first the romance and in the end something has to happen to give her an interesting ending. "I think the author could give a different direction to the story of these 2, something that did not feel so much like the story of Brandon and Heather, but well I liked the book and I highly recommend it to those who they like love stories like me.

🔹3.8/5

[sopharesogood · Rating 1 out of 5]

0.1 ✨ - Ich habs geschafft .. Ich wünschte nur ich könnte vergessen dieses Buch jemals gelesen zu haben.

[Gail · Rating 3 out of 5]

I stopped reading these kind of books many years ago. Now I remember why.

[BRNTerri · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most of this was just awful. I liked the beginning and the last 50 pages or so. And it was 100 pages too long. This takes place in 1825 and spans about fourteen months. Cerynise is almost eighteen years old. She's American but has been living in England since both parents died five years earlier. Her guardian, Lydia, died and her nephew, Alistair, kicked Cerynise out of the house. He's a terrible person who's out to get money that doesn't belong to him and will travel to the ends of the earth to get it. He's a true villain and I like him.

Cerynise finds her way to where ships are docked and Beau takes her in. He's twenty-six and has known her all her life. This is where the story gets extremely boring. They travel back to South Carolina on his ship, 'Audacious.' They marry to keep Alistair from being her guardian, since she's underage, and for no reason really they don't get along during most of the three month voyage home. Nothing at all goes on except her sketching the crew members since she's a great artist. There's a bit of chemistry between Beau and Cerynise at this point and it does intensify as the story progresses.

Once they're home, they go their separate ways for a short time then come together when Beau learns about something important involving Cerynise that happened on the ship while he was delirious from a fever. There's a section of about thirty-one pages where she meets Beau's entire family- mom, dad, brother, sisters, ect. and it just dragged on and on. The author clearly wanted to include characters from the two previous books in this series and I didn't appreciate it. It was pure filler material. During this time and toward the end of the story, bad things start happening to Cerynise and they have to find who's doing it. That part was very interesting but got to be too much at the very end, with too much happening all at once. There's a character named Germaine Hollingsworth, a woman who went to school with Cerynise who wants to marry Beau, and she's not happy to learn he married while in England. I like her character.

One thing that bothered me is that this book is too similar to the first in its series, The Flame and the Flower. Both heroines are the same age, down on their luck, end up at a dock, travel to America via ship, and once they're in America, someone's out to get the heroine, but this story was much more boring that the previous one.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was hoping to read another exciting adventure in the Birmingham series, but this one just seemed to fall short of my expectations. A lot of parts in the book (specifically since half of the story takes place on a ship voyage) seemed to just drag along and was just utterly boring. The romantic relationship between Cerynise and Beau seems almost forced and unrealistic in some points, and some of the so called "intense" scenes just seemed so comically... blegh. The only part that really pulled me in was much later in the book when a love triangle was brought to light, but that didn't last very long. The overall feel of this novel just felt "weak".

Long story short: The first book was better. Hoping the third will be better than this one.

[Lynn Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I discovered Kathleen E. Woodiwiss in the early 1980s with Ashes in the Wind and The Flame and the Flower. She writes lovely bodice-rippers with elements of chivalry and family values and sinister villains. Her settings are quite opulent, usually taking place largely in mansion homes set in the wealthy parts of London or the English or American countryside.

I do prefer her earlier novels I admit to her later ones which I feel do not have the same structure, emotion or the prose of the earlier novels. They lack the strength somehow.

The Elusive Flame is the sequel to The Flame and the Flower, about Brandon and Heather's son Beau and his friend Cerynise Kendall. It is not as well written as The Flame and the Flower but it is enjoyable.

[Kimberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really love this author. But for me, this book feel short of her standard. Much too descriptive of clothing. Too sappy, too predictable. And I don't know if it's just me, but did the author know what color eyes Beau had? Were they emerald? Were the sapphire? I just..... this is one by this author that I won't read twice.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars

[Tamie Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book

Excellent book. Kathleen Woodiwiss has a wonderful flare with words that brings her characters to life. I enjoyed reading it and will definitely read it again.

[Martin Rinehart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another Great Woodiwiss! Love, Sex and a heroic heroine.

To understand the importance of Woodiwiss's novels, we have to understand romance novels, from the beginning.

English romantic novels started with Richardson's Pamela (1740). Jane Austen's earliest novels experimented with epistolary romance. (Pamela is entirely told in letters from and to the heroine.) Austen's romances were written during the heart of the Regency (1811-1820). (Austen mostly abandoned the epistolary form and her Pride and Prejudice (1813) has now sold over 200 million copies.) And next, in this elite continuum, we have Kathleen Woodiwiss. Her The Flame and the Flower (1972) launched historical Regency romances, set in Austen's day.

The U.S. Supreme Court had ruled, in 1969, that adults were entitled to possess explicitly sexual literature in their own homes. Woodiwiss's Flame and Flower was the first mega-hit novel where the characters actually had sex. On camera, graphic sex. It also broke the mold with its 600-page length, which Woodiwiss courageously fought to get published as she had written it. That allowed her to start her novel in England and migrate home to finish in the Carolinas.

At the other end of her too-brief career, Woodiwiss gives us The Elusive Flame. It also starts in England. It also includes explicit sex. It includes well-researched ocean travel by sail, eventually arriving in Charleston, SC. Like Flame and Flower the main romance is resolved about two-thirds of the way through the novel, leaving the latter third to resolve open issues (including villains who stop at nothing, not even murder).

Unlike Flame and Flower, our heroine will make her mark as a successful painter (an all-male profession, previously). Unlike any romance I've read, our heroine will make a feminist-pleasing mark in a spectacular fashion which I'll not reveal here. 'Heroine' is the name for the female lead in a romance. It is also the gender-specific version of 'hero.' (Like Austen, Woodiwiss creates memorable villains, a necessity for memorable heroics.)

Woodiwiss was credited as the first to write a "bodice-ripper" with Flame and Flower. (Very early in that novel, the heroine's breasts are revealed as her garments are torn open. I leave it to you to decide if "bodice-ripper" is praise or otherwise.) I also leave it to you to decide if the resemblance between Beau Birmingham and Fitzwilliam D'Arcy is merely coincidental, or Woodiwiss's praise to her predecessor.

[Sabrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oggi sono qui per parlarvi di una nuova opera firmata Marsilio.
Come sapete, ieri vi avevo detto che il primo volume di questa serie non mi aveva convinto molto, cosa che però non è capitato con questo attuale che per fortuna ha rincuorato le mie aspettative.
Ma di cosa parla questo volume? Andiamo a scoprirlo in breve e senza eccessivi Spoiler.
Il nostro protagonista è Beau, il figlio di Brandon e Heather, protagonisti de Il Fiore e La Fiamma.
Sono passati vent'anni dagli avvenimenti dell'ultimo libro e i nostri nuovi innamorati della storia, Beau e Cerynise, sono meno stereotipati e più caratterialmente spinti verso una specie di modernità. Lo dimostra lei che ha un caratterino niente male e a differenza di Heather non è quasi per niente sottomessa agli avvenimenti di quell'epoca.
Ma parliamo un po' meglio, di questi personaggi.
Cerynise dopo la morte dei genitori (sì, ok, questo è un po' ripetitivo e cliché) si trasferisce a Londra dove inizia ad affinare le sue doti di pittrice.
Quando la sua tutrice muore, però, Alistair Winthrop, unico erede dei suoi beni, la sbatte fuori di casa.
La nostra protagonista si dirige quindi al porto in cerca di un passaggio su una nave diretta alla sua città natale e lì incontra Beauregard Birmingham, un uomo che lei già conosce poiché suo padre era suo insegnante.
Cerynise è da sempre infatuata di Beau ma mai si sarebbe aspettata che un problema riapparso all'improvviso li portasse nientedimeno che a sposarsi. In attesa però di annullamento una volta arrivati a Charleston.
　
Beh, lo so che ora leggerete la recensione e direte: ma non è Il Fiore e La Fiamma 2.0? Nnniii. Insomma, sì, le vicende sono un po' identiche al primo volume ma come dicevo, i protagonisti stavolta vivono vicende e compiono azioni del tutto diverse da quelle dei genitori di Beau e proprio per questo anziché irritarmi come nel primo e non sapere come prenderla per sentimenti contrastanti, questo romanzo sono riuscita ad apprezzarlo pienamente per quello che è: un romance storico un po' smielato ma che non ti fa male al cuore.
Di conseguenza ora, e solo ora, posso dire seriamente che consiglio questa serie, la quale se nel primo si perde, nel secondo/terzo (perché preceduto dall'1.2: Un Bacio Inatteso) inizia a riprendersi. Spero che l'ultimo volume possa sorprendermi di nuovo piacevolmente e non peggio.
Sicuramente alle romanticone e ragazze più giovani, come ho già detto ieri, piacerà anche di più.

[Chrisangel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good story, very entertaining (and that includes the two villains who, despite being horrible men, can also be amusing), and it doesn't go overboard. The leading lady, Cerynise, has her share of troubles, but it doesn't it doesn't go all melodrama, and her relationship with her true love, Beau, has its difficulties and misunderstandings, but it doesn't go overboard and become ridiculous. what I liked most is the way they both care so much for and respect each other, alongside their desire and passion. the other's happiness means more to them then their own, something real life couples today should try to emulate.

I also appreciated Cerynise being an artist, who'd rather spend her free time painting than socializing, a nonconformist as most leading ladies are supposed to be, with the refreshing change that she prefers canvas to horses. While I realize that riding horses is supposed to symbolize the young woman's free spiritness, and I have nothing against them (I'm fond of horses, myself) but it does get to be a bit tiresome, hearing of her riding prowess, the same as those southern belles who are constantly going on about those "damn Yankees", enough is too much is ad nauseum. Thank you, Cerynise, for preferring paintbrush to saddle.

The few faults I found have to do with a bit of exaggeration that came at the end, when Cerynise is left home alone, and a scene follows that rivals the movie of that name, which is hilarious but just a bit too far fetched, especially when she and one of the villains have a standoff, and he goes on to explain why he's been so rotten, which seems to take forever, highly unlikely when the time called for action.

Also, there's also a female villain, whose evil deeds are motivated by the fury of a woman scorned, which was stretching it, since Beau never had a relationship with her that would merit her being a scorned woman.

But other than that, this was an entertaining novel, one that I recommend.

[Braveheart · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the sequel to The Flame and The Flower , it should be read directly following although it was written 26 years later . It is the story of Beau Birmingham and his childhood friend , Cerynise Kendall . Beau is the son and Brandon and Heather Birmingham from The Flame and The Flower . Cerynise has been living in London the last 5 years with her Grandmothers best friend , Lydia Winthrop . Cerynise is an artist and her relationship with her doting patron Lydia is one of the closest of friends . Her patron dies quickly and unexpectedly at age 70 and Lydia's evil nephew , Allistar Winthrop and his dishonest lawyer Howard Rudd arrives in hope of inheriting , and tosses Cerynise out into the street with no money and no clothes. In the heavy rain , Cerynise heads for the docks and her childhood friend Beau Birmingham who is Captain of a ship , looking for a return to her home in Charleston. Wonderful , exciting story until 60% through when I suddenly tired of all doors being called portals and notes being missles and breasts round orbs and a few other oddities that truly did date this book also the last third of the book took on a slap stick quality that lowered the rating to 3.5 ..