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Flame #1
Love's Elusive Flame
SHE WAS HER OWN WOMAN
With her golden-red hair and sparkling green eyes, there was no doubt that Flame was her own woman. She would find the man of her dreams if it took forever - but she didn't have to wait long once she came up against the roguishly handsome Joaquin. She could still feel the strength of his muscular body and the hardness of his bronze flesh. He had taught her how to return his ardent kisses and respond to his tantalizing caress. But if he wanted her completely she would have to be his only woman - she wouldn't settle for anything less.
HE WAS HIS OWN MAN
Joaquin considered himself far too clever to ever fall under any wench's spell. He had always been free to take women as he wanted, whenever he wanted, and not one had ever refused him or pretended to try. But none of them was Flame. Her figure was perfection, her creamy skin like silk. Her kiss was a long lingering gateway into the depths of passion. He needed her, he wanted her, and he was determined to have her. Only one night of wanton ecstasy just wasn't enough - once he was touched by LOVE'S ELUSIVE FLAME
With her golden-red hair and sparkling green eyes, there was no doubt that Flame was her own woman. She would find the man of her dreams if it took forever - but she didn't have to wait long once she came up against the roguishly handsome Joaquin. She could still feel the strength of his muscular body and the hardness of his bronze flesh. He had taught her how to return his ardent kisses and respond to his tantalizing caress. But if he wanted her completely she would have to be his only woman - she wouldn't settle for anything less.
HE WAS HIS OWN MAN
Joaquin considered himself far too clever to ever fall under any wench's spell. He had always been free to take women as he wanted, whenever he wanted, and not one had ever refused him or pretended to try. But none of them was Flame. Her figure was perfection, her creamy skin like silk. Her kiss was a long lingering gateway into the depths of passion. He needed her, he wanted her, and he was determined to have her. Only one night of wanton ecstasy just wasn't enough - once he was touched by LOVE'S ELUSIVE FLAME
556 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
About the author
Phoebe Conn
55 books58 followersPhoebe Conn is the maiden name and pseudonym of Phoebe Jane Conn a best-selling American author of thirty-seven romance novels. She has also published three futuristic romances under the pseudonym Cinnamon Burke.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 21, 2018
This review is of “Love’s Elusive Flame” by Phoebe Conn.
The story centers around Linda Lannier, hereafter known as “Flame”, a nickname given her by her father, Andre, due to her hair color. At the beginning of the book Flame lives in Philadelphia with her grandmother, Fanny Bellefontaine, who is pressuring her to marry Alex Richmond, a rich, but uncouth male, because Richmond’s family is, well, rich.. Flame is not interested in Richmond and she and Fanny have many arguments, one of which ends with Flame telling Fanny “You’ll never live to see me marry Alex Richmond!”.
Sadly, that statement turns out to be prophetic, as the next day, Flame discovers that Fanny died during the overnight. Heartbroken and fearing she will be forced to marry Richmond, Flame flees for California to see Andre. Things go from bad to worse for Flame when she arrives in California to discover that Andre is also dead. Flame the becomes the ward of Joaquin Villarreal, the hero of the book. Joaquin and Flame are immediately attracted to each other-they nearly make love when they reunite (Flame had been to California years earlier). To prevent Joaquin from sending her away, Flame lies about her age (She tells him she’s 18; she is actually 16; this lie will come back to haunt Flame later).
Flame moves in with Joaquin, and is courted by several men, most notably Rafael Ramirez, Joaquin’s best friend and attorney. (Rafael quickly gives up his suit when he realizes that Flame doesn’t reciprocate his feelings). Richmond shows up in California and reveals Flame’s true age and twists a series of actions into sounding more sinister than they were. Joaquin believes Richmond and forces Flame to marry him; on their wedding night, he discovers Richmond’s lies.
Flame, realizing that Joaquin doesn’t trust her, leaves afterward and takes a job as a governess for San Francisco businessman-and widower-Seth Randall. Flame also discovers she’s pregnant from her one night with Joaquin and later gives birth to a son, whom she names after his father.
Joaquin comes to get Flame and take her back to his home, but their relationship doesn’t improve. In fact, it gets worse, resulting in Flame leaving Joaquin for Rafael.
Joaquin finally realizes the error of his ways-somewhat-by going to his mother, Marissa, who divorced his father, Miguel, under similar circumstances. After speaking with Marissa, and understanding the cruelty Miguel passed down to him, Joaquin goes to Flame to try to reconcile their differences. They start to which leads to their Happily Ever After.
Upside: “Love’s Elusive Flame” is a very emotional book.
Downside: That emotion is mostly negative, especially Joaquin towards Flame. While this is explained, somewhat, at the end of the book, the cruelty Joaquin shows to Flame throughout the book is very depressing to me. Yes, Flame lied to him about her age, telling Joaquin she was 18 when she was 16, but that lie doesn’t justify the levels of cruelty Joaquin shows to Flame. Both Joaquin and Flame, for much of the book, act like bratty children. Joaquin, in particular, acts like a hypocritical bastard. Of the three primary characters, only Rafael is particularly likeable.
Sex: The love scenes in “Love’s Elusive Flame” are seriously mild and not at all exciting nor erotic.
Violence: Flame is nearly raped twice by Joaquin’s vaqueros. In the first instance, she is beaten as well. Later, Joaquin’s men kidnap and beat Flame to take her aboard one of his ships. Then there is Joaquin’s emotional cruelty to Flame, which includes threatening to take her children from her if she doesn’t come back to him.
Bottom Line: I haven’t read many books published in the 1980’s-”Love’s Elusive Flame” was published in 1983-where the hero and heroine were equals. The cruelty and lack of warmth really bring “Love’s Elusive Flame” down several notches in my eyes.
The story centers around Linda Lannier, hereafter known as “Flame”, a nickname given her by her father, Andre, due to her hair color. At the beginning of the book Flame lives in Philadelphia with her grandmother, Fanny Bellefontaine, who is pressuring her to marry Alex Richmond, a rich, but uncouth male, because Richmond’s family is, well, rich.. Flame is not interested in Richmond and she and Fanny have many arguments, one of which ends with Flame telling Fanny “You’ll never live to see me marry Alex Richmond!”.
Sadly, that statement turns out to be prophetic, as the next day, Flame discovers that Fanny died during the overnight. Heartbroken and fearing she will be forced to marry Richmond, Flame flees for California to see Andre. Things go from bad to worse for Flame when she arrives in California to discover that Andre is also dead. Flame the becomes the ward of Joaquin Villarreal, the hero of the book. Joaquin and Flame are immediately attracted to each other-they nearly make love when they reunite (Flame had been to California years earlier). To prevent Joaquin from sending her away, Flame lies about her age (She tells him she’s 18; she is actually 16; this lie will come back to haunt Flame later).
Flame moves in with Joaquin, and is courted by several men, most notably Rafael Ramirez, Joaquin’s best friend and attorney. (Rafael quickly gives up his suit when he realizes that Flame doesn’t reciprocate his feelings). Richmond shows up in California and reveals Flame’s true age and twists a series of actions into sounding more sinister than they were. Joaquin believes Richmond and forces Flame to marry him; on their wedding night, he discovers Richmond’s lies.
Flame, realizing that Joaquin doesn’t trust her, leaves afterward and takes a job as a governess for San Francisco businessman-and widower-Seth Randall. Flame also discovers she’s pregnant from her one night with Joaquin and later gives birth to a son, whom she names after his father.
Joaquin comes to get Flame and take her back to his home, but their relationship doesn’t improve. In fact, it gets worse, resulting in Flame leaving Joaquin for Rafael.
Joaquin finally realizes the error of his ways-somewhat-by going to his mother, Marissa, who divorced his father, Miguel, under similar circumstances. After speaking with Marissa, and understanding the cruelty Miguel passed down to him, Joaquin goes to Flame to try to reconcile their differences. They start to which leads to their Happily Ever After.
Upside: “Love’s Elusive Flame” is a very emotional book.
Downside: That emotion is mostly negative, especially Joaquin towards Flame. While this is explained, somewhat, at the end of the book, the cruelty Joaquin shows to Flame throughout the book is very depressing to me. Yes, Flame lied to him about her age, telling Joaquin she was 18 when she was 16, but that lie doesn’t justify the levels of cruelty Joaquin shows to Flame. Both Joaquin and Flame, for much of the book, act like bratty children. Joaquin, in particular, acts like a hypocritical bastard. Of the three primary characters, only Rafael is particularly likeable.
Sex: The love scenes in “Love’s Elusive Flame” are seriously mild and not at all exciting nor erotic.
Violence: Flame is nearly raped twice by Joaquin’s vaqueros. In the first instance, she is beaten as well. Later, Joaquin’s men kidnap and beat Flame to take her aboard one of his ships. Then there is Joaquin’s emotional cruelty to Flame, which includes threatening to take her children from her if she doesn’t come back to him.
Bottom Line: I haven’t read many books published in the 1980’s-”Love’s Elusive Flame” was published in 1983-where the hero and heroine were equals. The cruelty and lack of warmth really bring “Love’s Elusive Flame” down several notches in my eyes.
February 4, 2025
This was just too ridiculous! The h was way too young for the H (only 16 when they get married, and he's in his early 30's), and he was acting as her guardian/big brother, too! She was young so it's understandable that she'd fall for him (stemming from a childhood crush) but he should have known better. Then again, considering that he fell for a bunch of lies told by a disgruntled ex-suitor of hers, and believed the h had the morals of a street walker (the H got quite a surprise on their wedding night), makes him TSTL! When he discovered she lied about her age by two years (said she was 18) he figured if she lied about that, she'd do the same about everything else. He never took her young age into account for anything, the DUNCE!
In fact, despite being taught while growing up how to flirt at social gatherings and being brought to a house of it repute (long story), she knew very little about men. The best scenes in this mess of a book were the times when she asked the most inappropriate people how she could please the H in bed! (It never occurred to her to go right to the source!)
The book just gets silly. His attitude and accusations make her run away; posing as a widow, she gets a job as a governess to a widower with young children who (naturally) falls for her and wants to marry her and be a father to her unborn child. The H shows up and has other ideas, but not until a year later, since it took that long to find her, and this time he does the posing, as an old family friend, yet the OM notices a remarkable resemblance between him and the h's baby son!
Yes, stupidity galore! They get back together, but there's still bad feelings and mistrust on her part (despite the H crying because he regrets hurting her), and she has a terrible habit of either fainting, or going into hysterics (or both) whenever she's emotionally distraught! (AD NAUSEUM!!!)
Then, there's the other OM, the H's BFF who falls for the h, keeps threatening to take her away from the H if he doesn't treat her better. They fight over her more than once, she gets hysterical and faints, the H leaves for several months on business, the h discovers she's pregnant (yet again) and is also unwell, so the OM looks after her, despite the doctor's gloom-and-doom prognosis.
(Every time the h falls ill (which is about once a week, at least), Doctor Doom declares she's a hopeless case, won't live much longer, best get that coffin ready, on and on and on! Where the F did this guy get his medical degree, at the local mortuary???? He seemed to get a kick out of declaring a person's soon to die! I was hoping he'd get bit by a rattlesnake, and someone would say "Won't be long now!")
Feeling neglected by the H (with good reason), the h starts falling for the OM, but nothing happens until the H returns, sees she's pregnant, thinks it's the OM's baby, and everything gets real bat crap after that, not that it wasn't already!
I love the way the H did such a giant grovel before, apologizing, crying all over the place, swearing he'll never mistrust her again, and then the first thing he does when he sees her is go berserk again, calling her all kinds of names, saying he should have known she'd betray him, etc., not stopping to think that if she really were pregnant with the OM's baby, would she have come running outside when he first came home, ready to throw herself into his arms???? I doubt it, she'd more likely have hid somewhere until she got the courage to face him!
How many times did the H feel remorse for making the h m miserable, saying she didn't smile so much anymore, was no longer carefree but always troubled, insecure and nervous, how it was all his fault, and he'd never hurt her again, and then first chance he gets, he yells, accuses, insults, etc., rinse and repeat! Can you say, "Big Jerk"?????
The H and OM start fighting, ready to kill each other this time, and the h can't take anymore; she and the OM leave together, and she sleeps with him (just sleeps, as she was in need of comforting, though she does tease a bit by toying with his chest hairs), and with the OM being a lawyer (how convenient), he gets divorce proceedings started, not easy in the 19thc. She worries that the H will take their son away (he won't want the other baby, since he thinks it's not his) and
That's where I stopped reading this stupid mess, because Who the "Rhymes with Duck" Cares!!!
In fact, despite being taught while growing up how to flirt at social gatherings and being brought to a house of it repute (long story), she knew very little about men. The best scenes in this mess of a book were the times when she asked the most inappropriate people how she could please the H in bed! (It never occurred to her to go right to the source!)
The book just gets silly. His attitude and accusations make her run away; posing as a widow, she gets a job as a governess to a widower with young children who (naturally) falls for her and wants to marry her and be a father to her unborn child. The H shows up and has other ideas, but not until a year later, since it took that long to find her, and this time he does the posing, as an old family friend, yet the OM notices a remarkable resemblance between him and the h's baby son!
Yes, stupidity galore! They get back together, but there's still bad feelings and mistrust on her part (despite the H crying because he regrets hurting her), and she has a terrible habit of either fainting, or going into hysterics (or both) whenever she's emotionally distraught! (AD NAUSEUM!!!)
Then, there's the other OM, the H's BFF who falls for the h, keeps threatening to take her away from the H if he doesn't treat her better. They fight over her more than once, she gets hysterical and faints, the H leaves for several months on business, the h discovers she's pregnant (yet again) and is also unwell, so the OM looks after her, despite the doctor's gloom-and-doom prognosis.
(Every time the h falls ill (which is about once a week, at least), Doctor Doom declares she's a hopeless case, won't live much longer, best get that coffin ready, on and on and on! Where the F did this guy get his medical degree, at the local mortuary???? He seemed to get a kick out of declaring a person's soon to die! I was hoping he'd get bit by a rattlesnake, and someone would say "Won't be long now!")
Feeling neglected by the H (with good reason), the h starts falling for the OM, but nothing happens until the H returns, sees she's pregnant, thinks it's the OM's baby, and everything gets real bat crap after that, not that it wasn't already!
I love the way the H did such a giant grovel before, apologizing, crying all over the place, swearing he'll never mistrust her again, and then the first thing he does when he sees her is go berserk again, calling her all kinds of names, saying he should have known she'd betray him, etc., not stopping to think that if she really were pregnant with the OM's baby, would she have come running outside when he first came home, ready to throw herself into his arms???? I doubt it, she'd more likely have hid somewhere until she got the courage to face him!
How many times did the H feel remorse for making the h m miserable, saying she didn't smile so much anymore, was no longer carefree but always troubled, insecure and nervous, how it was all his fault, and he'd never hurt her again, and then first chance he gets, he yells, accuses, insults, etc., rinse and repeat! Can you say, "Big Jerk"?????
The H and OM start fighting, ready to kill each other this time, and the h can't take anymore; she and the OM leave together, and she sleeps with him (just sleeps, as she was in need of comforting, though she does tease a bit by toying with his chest hairs), and with the OM being a lawyer (how convenient), he gets divorce proceedings started, not easy in the 19thc. She worries that the H will take their son away (he won't want the other baby, since he thinks it's not his) and
That's where I stopped reading this stupid mess, because Who the "Rhymes with Duck" Cares!!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews