"Kathleen Woodiwiss 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."

*spoilers ahead*

I have extremely mixed feelings about this book. While I can respect (if you can even say that) that this plot and normalization of rape and villanizing of certain characters (among so many other things) was kind of the norm for original romance books, I was still taken by suprise how much Heather just went along with the events in her life. The only act she really did that made her 3-dimensional was attacking her potential rapist in the very beginning.

The book was very formulaic, and by the end Heather and her rapist/husband/baby daddy do fall in love and I felt genuinely cared about each other. Heather has been sexually awakened and Brandon partially realizes that Heather is only 18 and needs to be treated with respect. I was slightly surprised that once he found out that she was pregnant with his child that he didn't rape or try to have sex with her for close to a year.

I think it's also important to note that for those who are giving this book 4 or 5 stars--to everyone who is appalled by that honestly shouldn't be. This book "should" classify as a fantasy. Some people enjoy these books (which 9/10 of them include rape) because they want to feel not being in control and want to feel the sense of dominance characters like Brandon can provide them. Brandon is rich! He buys her all of the dresses she wants! He agreed to marry her! He will fight to protect her!

It's not hard to list all of the reasons this book does NOT age well for a variety of reasons. But it's also important not to descredit the reasoning why others may enjoy this book. Whether that be for the romance, Heather's character, the drama, anything.

Being labeled "the first romance book" I thought it was a good book to read, if anything, to explore for the history of the genre overall.

This is still one of my favorite books, in spite of the events at the beginning. Heather is young and innocent and quite the Cinderella figure. Her parents are dead and she is forced to live with her aunt and uncle. The uncle is henpecked and the aunt is abusive and obviously jealous of Heather's youth and beauty. Heather is turned over to her aunt's brother, who offers to take her to London and get her a job at a school. However, he's lying through his teeth, because he plans to use her himself then sell her to a brothel owner. In a rare show of spirit, Heather manages to escape him but ends up lost on the London docks. There she is grabbed by a couple of American sailors and given to their captain.

Brandon's ship has just arrived in London from South Carolina and he's feeling frisky. He's had a bit to drink and doesn't believe Heather's claims of not being a prostitute until after he has forced her. While he feels a slight pinch in his conscience, he's determined to set her up as his mistress for future visits. He's arrogant and overbearing and fully expects her to obey him when he tells her to stay put.

I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Heather show a bit of backbone when it came to her escape. Previously she had been quite timid and gave in quickly when berated by anyone. It was great fun to see her overcome Brandon's servant George with an empty pistol, then make her way back to her aunt's home. I ached for her and the abuse she continued to experience at her aunt's hands. Though Fanny's motives were selfish, I was happy to see her go to Lord Hampton for help in finding Brandon. I loved Lord Hampton's kindness and how he wanted what was best for Heather. In that time period, that meant forcing the man in question to "do the right thing." Though Brandon is angry at being threatened, there were hints that he isn't quite as bad as first impressions indicated. I loved the scene where he covered Heather in his cloak after Fanny ripped Heather's dress.

It was terrific to see the changes that both Brandon and Heather undergo over the course of the book. Brandon is initially arrogant, angry, and sometimes cruel. But when it comes down to it, actions can speak louder than words. His anger is expressed in the things he says, accusing Heather of setting out to trap him. He makes threats about keeping her prisoner, making sure she gets no benefits from the marriage, and stating that he will never sleep with her again. Yeah, that one comes back to haunt him. But in spite of his words, he takes her to get a whole new wardrobe (including something special for the cold weather sea voyage) and makes sure she is protected while they wait to sail. Heather is quiet and fearful and provoking Brandon's temper, but inside there is a spark of spirit that continues to grow. I loved her obvious relief that she is going to avoid her "wifely duties" and the dent that made in Brandon's ego.

I enjoyed the development of their relationship. Brandon becomes more intrigued by Heather with each day. She isn't what he expected and he isn't quite sure how to deal with that. I enjoyed seeing the kinder side of him emerge and loved his shopping trip with her. There were times during that period that Heather was able to forget her fear. I loved her sense of wonder and fun during those lighter moments and ached for her when something would set Brandon off. It made me laugh to see the way his physical frustration grew because it was his own fault. During the sea voyage, the confrontation between Brandon and Heather that ended up causing her illness was a turning point in their relationship. Brandon's attitude softened somewhat and Heather was able to relax a little bit of her hyperawareness.

Things got really interesting once they reached Charleston. The extreme difference between Heather and Brandon's ex-fiancée, Louisa, was obvious. In spite of Brandon's claims otherwise, he treated Heather with great care and respect around other people. I loved the effect it had on Louisa, who was a real piece of work. Brandon still had moments of being a jerk, but it became more and more obvious that those were in reaction to the battles he was fighting with himself. There were more and more scenes where he stood up for her, especially against Louisa. Heather also began to bloom in her new circumstances. She gained more confidence in herself, though encounters with Louisa still tended to dent that confidence. I loved the part where they were all cleaning the mill house and everyone kept trying to keep Heather from working and she would resist their efforts. I also loved the scene with the former mill owner and how Heather stood up to him. I loved seeing her and Brandon grow closer and lose most of their antagonism. Their individual decisions to find a way to fix their marriage were pretty funny since they both wanted the same thing. If they had just let go of the pride that was holding them back and actually talk to each other about their feelings things might have gone more smoothly. I ached for Heather when it seemed that her past was about to ruin her hope for a happy future with Brandon. The confrontation with that past was intense and I loved how Brandon was there for her. I loved how they were finally able to admit their feelings for each other and admit their mistakes.

The secondary characters were very well done. Louisa was an excellent foil for Heather. Her selfishness and arrogance made her so very easy to dislike. It was quite satisfying to see the way that she was consistently shown up by the differences between her and Heather. Her frustration at not being able to drive a wedge between Heather and Brandon was acute. I must admit to enjoying the scenes where she was thwarted in her attempts to do so. I feel badly about what happened to her at the end, but it did serve to wrap things up well. I also enjoyed Hattie and her fussing over all the Birminghams. It was fun to see her get in a few digs against Brandon and his idiocy. My favorite secondary character was Jeff. I loved how close he was to Brandon and the respect and love they had for each other. I adored his immediate support of Heather and the friendship that grew so quickly between them. I loved the scenes where he showed Brandon what an idiot he was. I especially loved the scene while he and Brandon were waiting for Heather to give birth and the calculations he did. He had such an air of innocence while he was jerking Brandon's chain. I know I have read his story, but I would like to go back and read it again.

The bit of mystery at the end, dealing with Heather's past and the murders that took place, was also interesting. The fear that Heather felt was real and kept me hooked to see how it would turn out. The final confrontation was intense and I could feel Heather's terror as she tried to escape.

This was a reread from when I read it for the romance novel course I took in college. Wanted to see if any thoughts changed.

I wish I hadn't

I'm sure the romance was just wonderful in its hayday. Today, the characters are unbelievable for most of the novel and unlikeable where they are believable.

thank god it’s over (another read for my independent study for grad school on the evolution of the historical romance genre)

this book should be retitled “the bosom and the boobies.” also we devoted like 200 pages to the pregnancy and as soon as the kid was born he completely disappeared from the narrative and was mentioned two (2) times in the next 300 pages

Okay, so I read this book as like a fun little challenge. I'd always wanted to read a vintage bodice-ripper for the culture, you know? And I'll admit, I was expecting it to be bit silly and unabashedly smutty, but like...why was this so bad? How does this book have over 4 stars 0_0

Let's start with the good, because there's not a whole lot of it. I have to give this book some credit for basically inventing the genre. When I picked it up at the thrift store, I didn't even realize that this was basically the holy grail of Bodice Rippers; I just thought the blurb on the back sounded juicy, and it made me laugh. But I can definitely see how this book influenced not only the historical romance genre but romance as a whole. There are tropes and themes that I've seen a million times in more contemporary stories, but honestly, because most modern romance has disregarded a few of the more outdated sentiments, it read so much like a modern fanfiction :'/ Still, I have to give it credit for the cultural impact it had. The only other thing preventing me from giving this book one star is that it did meet my expectation of being dramatic and goofy as hell, and for at least the first half of the book, that kept me entertained.

That being said, I have literally never in my life had such a hard time getting through the last few pages of a book. Usually, the ending is the part where I start speeding through the chapters, because I'm dying to know how the story is resolved. With this book, I genuinely considered DNFing with like a hundred pages left, but I'd already read over three hundred, and I knew I would disappoint myself if I didn't just power through. I was doing it for the culture. I had to commit. But I literally could not care less about how this story ended, because I could not care less about the characters. The love interest was a piece of shit, the protagonist was boring as hell, and all the other characters were about as one-dimensional as you can get. I was so disappointed, because the story literally had the perfect set up for a good character arc with Heather. In the beginning, she hated how passive and weak she was when she was being treated unfairly by her aunt, and I thought, "oh, okay so she's going to become more strong willed as the story goes on." Nope. If anything, she became even more passive. There was literally zero character arc. She just accepts all the terrible shit that happens to her and does absolutely nothing about it, even begins to consider it a blessing. And honestly, the exact same thing happened with the love interest. I mean, he was pretty much irredeemable from the start, considering how the two of them met 0_0 but I was willing to give him a chance, willing to see the guilt of it all lead him to becoming a better, less violent, less possessive, less sexually driven person. Also no. That did not happen. Also, every time I was reminded of this man's beard and thick chest hair it was a jump scare. Like, I know this was written in the 70s and maybe body hair was considered hot back then, but God, if I ever have to read about someone's matted chest hair again, it will be the last book I ever read. Also, I was expecting this book to be sexually explicit, and like, it was, but not in the way I would have thought. The story starts off horny, but then there are really not any sex scenes until much later on in the book, which kind of shocked me. And also, considering that these stories have been credited with creating a more female-oriented sexual attitude in fiction, all of the sex scenes in this book felt strangely male-gazey. Like, sure the book claimed Heather was enjoying it (at least at the end of the book), but it never really gave us any evidence of that. Basically every smutty scene was initiated by the male love interest. Also, why was his name Brandon? I know I already complained about him but... Like come up with a less sexy name. I challenge you. And if I may add, Brandon and Heather are two of the least 18th century sounding names she could have chosen. Speaking of which, I was willing to let this slide as the story is obviously more about the romance, but the historical accuracy in this was mid as hell. Like, not horrible, and considering google didn't exist in 1972, I have to give Ms. Woodiwiss some credit for trying, but everything felt so anachronistic, there was some questionable content about slavery (still unsure if the love interest's black servants were slaves or not, Kathleen sort of brushed past that), and I feel like the time period and setting just wasn't utilized as well as it could have been. Like, this is kind of a dumb example, but where were Heather's stays? You're telling me I'm reading a smutty historical romance and the author decided not to have a scene where her stays are magically ripped off? Kathleen, please explain to me how Heather's awe-inspiring bosom wasn't falling out of all her low-cut gowns without any kind of support garment??? Anyway, trying not to let this book completely sway my overall outlook on the historical romance genre. Maybe I should try and read one written in the last 20 years next lol.

Edit: I realized that even with a ridiculously long paragraph of complaints, I forgot some major issues I had with this story, and for no one else's sake but mine, I wanted to note a few more of those. Idk how I forgot this because it was such a major reason I got so fed up reading the last few pages of this book: there is randomly a murder plot? Why? And also, the villain that appears in the last one hundred pages of the book had the dumbest motive ever and it was so obvious that he was the culprit. Also, I know I already mentioned this, but the way in which EVERY SINGLE CHARCATER was sooooo one-dimensional was truly brain numbing. And also, almost every single character in this book was deplorable except for a few comic relief/ boring side characters. Literally the only people in this book who I genuinely liked were the family friends that helped Heather get married. They were the only people who seemed even halfway decent and the only ones with common sense, but they were also only in the story for like a scene and then were never mentioned again. So that's cool. And that's another thing, the plot of this book was so disjointed. Like, it felt like characters and scenes were introduced for no other reason than to serve as a tool in the relationship drama. And, I also realized that I never commented on the writing itself, which is another element that left me so disappointed. I remember, when I first started reading, I thought the writing was fairly well done and I was enjoying the imagery and flowery language, but it quickly lost it's charm on me as it became so repetitive and unimaginative. Idk why this book is still occupying my mind, I need it to not take up anymore of my time. So this is it. This is all I will ever say of this book. I'm done lmao