Flaming Tree

Kelsey Stewart is having enough trouble dealing with the tragedy in her own life when her aunt manipulates her into helping another family with a tragedy: the aftermath of an accident that's described in the first chapter.

An evil woman was definitely murdered and her murder hasn't been solved. Does it have anything to do with what makes La Case de la Sombra [the House of Shadow] live down to its name?

Kelsey's specialty is helping brain-damaged children. Young Jody Hammond needs her, but she has to fight his fatalistic father, Tyler Hammond, to get the chance. Quite a bit of the book is taken up with the boy's treatment. The reason for that is explained in an author's note at the end. Through it all we get to learn more about Jody's show more family, especially Ruth Langford Hammond's family. Ruth appears to have given up. Her mother, widowed Dora Langford, is fiercely protective of Ruth. Denis, Ruth's elder brother, is a kind and gentle man who loves his sister and nephew -- and is none too fond of Tyler. Dora, Ruth, and Denis suffered from the late, overbearing General Langford. If nothing can be done to heal the emotional scars the General left on his wife and children, he may also poison the life of the grandson he didn't live to see.

Kelsey's allies are Ginnie Soong, an old college friend of Ruth who is Jody's day nurse, Hana, the Hammond's maid, and Tyler's adoptive mother, the vibrant (and reluctantly psychic) Marisa Marsh.

The book passed so quickly that I was surprised to realize how little was left when the BIG, DARK SECRETS were about to come out. One was easy to guess. I missed the other one.

The descriptions of Carmel-By-The-Sea, California were lovely and added to my enjoyment of this book. show less

Flaming Tree by Phyllis Whitney is a 1985 publication.

Well, my goodness-

This was not Whitney’s best book by a long shot! I’m not even sure where to start here. In the beginning there is a slow burn drama surrounding a tragic accident that left a mother unable to walk and her young son comatose. Kelsey, a woman who is recovering from her own tragic loss, is commissioned to work with the boy, which puts her into the middle of a strange family dynamic where secrets and deceptions keep her emotions on edge as she searches for answers that could aide in her treatment of the child…

While the thread involving the child making progress under Kelsey’s tutelage is compelling- Kelsey didn’t spend that much time with the boy. Instead, show more she’s more interested in an old murder mystery, in unearthing family secrets and trying to deny her attraction to the boy’s father- all of which was fairly boring and very slow moving.

‘Gothic’ novels by the mid-eighties had fallen out of favor- but Whitney continued to write beyond that trend- sticking to a romantic suspense formula. When this book was published, PW was in her early eighties- (she lived to be 104!). Though the paranormal elements associated with the Gothic novels of the sixties and seventies had waned significantly, Whitney forced some ‘perceptions’ and ‘fortune telling’ into the book, perhaps thinking her readers expected though elements, at least to some extent- but it added nothing to the story whatsoever and was mostly a distraction.

Not until the last few chapters did things get interesting and then it turned into an illicit, forbidden drama that I suppose might have shocked some audiences back in the mid-eighties. (Probably not those Gothic readers weaned on the more lurid Gothic offerings in the late seventies- but for those who read blander RS- it was taboo!) Mostly, I was just ticked off that I’d patiently put up with a subpar story only to have it end on that note.

Overall, I have a nice little collection of PW’s novels and will certainly feel the urge to read one of them again sometime in the future, so this experience won’t deter me. That said, this is the most disappointing effort I’ve encountered from this author.

*Note: There is an emotional author’s note at the end of the book. The author expresses the need to consider alternative therapies for traumatic events and to never give up hope. This storyline and the therapies used in the treatment of comatose patients was sadly a very personal one for Whitney. Her remarks and the content in this book did prompt me to do a little research on the topic of nutritional therapies, which I found very interesting- even if they aren’t as effective as Whitney believed them to be.

1.5 stars show less

tragedy 2 crippled figures + Kelsey P.T. to help them in Carmel CA. - good

A compassionate woman haunted by her past. A mysterious man who leads her to love. And the dangerous secret that is stronger than both of them.
Kelsey Stewart is not thinking of love or adventure when she visits her aunt at her peaceful seaside inn nestled in beautiful Carmel, California. But when she is urged to help in the recuperation of Jody Hammond, a young boy who fell from a sea cliff, she finds her troubled heart coming back to life. And soon she finds herself falling in love with Jody's father, the mysterious, handsome Tyler.

not her best

Una joven y atractiva terapeuta, experimenta una terrible tragedia de la que intenta recuperarse en los bellos paisajes de la costa californiana. Pero no imagina que se vera mezclada en un siniestro y tenebroso drama familiar... ni que su corazón se encenderá con los ardores de la pasión.