Customer Reviews

Emily (Sunfire)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Emily was my favorite book as a child. It taught me a lot about the history of women in medicine and since it describes the dawn of the 20th century, it is especially relevant now, as we face the dawn of the 21st century.

Emily is a love story. A young debutante falls in love with a poor medical student and, at the same time, with the world of medicine. Much to her family's shock and horror, she begins to work at a hospital as a nurses assistant.

The story is delightfully readably, and yet it discusses complex themes such as romance between people of different class backgrounds, the role of women in medicine, coming of age, confilcts with one's parents and with one's social background, discovering one's professional calling in life and following it in spite of obstacles and falling in love for the first time.

The Sunfire series was a wonderfull series. It gave me an overview of history that helped me later in school. Even as an adult, I still think back on the Sunfire series as a valuable influence. They give an honest, subtly feminist perspective. Educational without being dull -- historical but still modern and easy to relate to. Someone should bring them back!

I have read many of the Sunfire Romances, and Emily is one of the best. As well as providing a detailed insight into the lives of the Fifth Avenue millionaires at the turn of the twentieth century, this book explores deeper themes within this context, such as the upper class reliance on tradition, and how one girl breaks away from accepted standards to follow her heart. Emily falls in love with Stephen, a medical student from the Lower East Side, and decides to work in a hospital to be near him, but she soon discovers that there is meaning in life when one is helping others. All the while, she is battling her conservative parents and being compared to her beautiful, radiant cousin Annabelle, a "credit to the Blackburn family." This book is truly enjoyable...a delightful read and an enthralling history lesson!

Emily is a millionaire who falls in love with a medical student. He inspires her to become a nurse but her hopes are dashed when her parents return from Europe and threaten to send her to Boarding School. Emily tries to go to the hospital but is caught every time. Can Emily seek the career of her choice and can the man she loves love her? Bring back the Sunfire Romances!!!

The Sunfire Romance series which included this book was truly some of the best young adult romance writing I've ever read. Emily was a wonderful story which chronicled the determination of a young women of wealth aspiring to use her talents in the medical field when such a thing wasn't deemed "proper" in her society. Despite the disapproval from her family, Emily follows her heart to the man she loves and the occupation she has chosen for herself. A wonderful story!!! I highly recommend! Bring back the Sunfire Romances!!

This Sunfire is quite different from many in the series, in that the romance, while present, takes a firm backseat. Instead, we get a great character study of a turn of the century New York society girl who years to find purpose in her life beyond parties and the latest fashions.

Emily Blackburn is 16 years old, and while her mother is more intent on turning her into yet another well-dressed and behaved debutante, Emily has other ideas. A chance meeting with medical student Stephen Reed first fires her interest in him, and then the selfless realm of nursing at large. Stephen's poor and proud, driven to be a doctor, and he thinks Emily is just a bored pest, but she's intent to prove he and her family wrong for thwarting her ambitions.

Emily was the first Sunfire heroine to really affect me, and the longer format was a good fit for Ransom. Her "Nicole" suffered from being too short, and her long Sunfire "Amanda" suffered from a truly obnoxious and unsympathetic heroine. Despite "Emily"'s strengths, the ending seemed to be resolved a bit quickly to be believable. So much opposition is worn away in the last couple pages. But that's a small gripe compared to a great story of two people, one trapped by poverty and the other trapped by wealth, and the theme of the end of the century meaning a chance at new life and purpose.

Emily is a spirited young society girl in turn of the century New York. She is not just another "society girl." She volunteers to become a nurse..then falls in love with a handsome but poor young doctor. If Emily continues on this path, her family will shun her. Yet how can she just forget her love?

I've enjoyed reading all the customer comments on the Sunfireromances; I have fond memories of being enthralled with them when Iwas a teenager and rushing to the bookstore everytime I got my allowance to see if a new one had come out. EMILY was my favorite (also I think one of the last ones published in the longer format), particularly for its detailed description of life among the upper classes in turn of the century NY. Some publisher really should bring these back into print, or expand upon the series - it was a great tool for training young readers to be devoted fans of paperback romances. EMILY is particularly timely now - it talks all about the concerns people had when 1899 became 1900!

I actually gave this three-and-a-half stars, but since I can't do that here I rounded up.

My "youth romances" growing up were Janette Okes and other things you could find in the local Logos Bookstore. I can't lie, I really enjoyed them even though they were not Grate Literchur. If I had been allowed to read secular youth romances, these would have been right up my alley. Historical fiction with nice predictable plots and generally tame but warm-hearted Life Lessons. These seem to be like comfort food, not high-quality comfort food, more like those mashed potatoes that come in a box.

I mean, I am getting that all from this one book, but since this is the eleventh in the Sunfire series, I'm pretty sure it's got the standard formula down.

Emily is a snotty turn-of-the-(20th)-century brat who decides she is bored with her life and she wants to DO SOMETHING, so she does. Her parents do not approve, of course. While rebelling, she falls in love with a boy who is totally Wrong For Her. (Of course.) For the rest of the book, she is at war with her parents and her HORRIBLY UNHELPFUL EMOTIONS. There's also a fake love triangle thrown in there, and an irredeemable cousin whom I wanted to smack probably a dozen times. Oh, also, the cover art SUCKS and reminds me of those little figures that come with cheap Christmas Village sets.

Needless to say, I will be seeking out more Sunfires.

Emily is a rich girl that would rather work to earn her living and money. When her brother becomes seriously ill and she goes looking for the young doctor that helped her before, she finds herself in a hospital. She meets a student nurse who convinces her to work half days, at the hospital, as a nurse. While working there Emily faces many hardships. Her mother and father think that she'll ruin the family name if word gets out that she's a nurse, in one of the local hospitals; she falls in love with a doctor in training who keeps everything to himself and won't let any body help him; and her cousins don't understand why she would want to give up her wealth and social standing to become a nurse in a dirty hospital.
I like that at the end of the novel instead of telling you what happens to Emily they let you decide what happens to her.Personally this book had no effect on me because I couldn't relate to her. I would recommend this to girls about 13 or 14 that like love novels that have some adventure in them.