I really enjoyed this book, it gives you the inside look of what challenges female firefighters can face. In this instance, Cassie is starting over at a new house after an incident. She also is asked by her Mother to come and help out while she is recovering from eye surgery.

When Cassie starts her new job she realizes that being the new person isn't as easy as it was at her old fire house. She is paired up with a newbie and is forced to train him. She will NOT catch feelings from him. Even if she kinda wants to, unless...

Katherine Center’s Things You Save in a Fire is a heartfelt, engaging story about family, love, and the power of forgiveness. It follows Cassie Hanwell, a young woman who unexpectedly has to uproot her life and relocate from Texas to Boston to take care of her ailing mother. Cassie is a superstar firefighter at her precinct in Texas, but it’s a whole new ballgame when she has to start over in another city. Then there’s also the fact that Cassie’s mother abandoned her when she was 16 and Cassie has pretty much written her off ever since. Moving in with her after all these years is awkward, to say the least.

I’m just going to throw it out there right now and say that Things You Save in a Fire was a 5 star read for me. It’s just one of those wonderful books that checks off all the boxes I look for in a read. The writing is excellent, the characters are well developed – both the main characters and the secondary characters, and Cassie’s journey is such a compelling one to follow on every level.

I really adored Cassie from the moment we are introduced to her. Cassie, a female firefighter trying to make it in what is traditionally a male-dominated profession, is impossible not to root for. She’s one of those messy, complex characters that I love so much. She’s scrappy, smart, strong, and she’s very good at what she does – the best honestly, and she knows she has to be if she’s going to be taken seriously. While she’s calm, cool, and collected when it comes to putting out fires and saving lives, she’s the opposite when it comes to all areas of her personal life, especially her rocky relationship with her mother and her non-existent love life. Cassie has made a conscious choice not to date and not to fall in love. She doesn’t have the time or interest in doing either…until she meets the Rookie.

Don’t even get me started on how precious the Rookie is. He’s adorable, like a Golden Retriever in a firefighter’s uniform. He’s sweet, polite, and he even bakes a mean chocolate chip cookie. He’s practically perfect in every way that matters and Cassie is finding him pretty hard to resist in spite of her no dating rule. But it’s not all sunshine and roses for the Rookie either. He has a few messy layers too, in the form of a secret he has carried around since he was a child that weighs him down, a secret that could potentially crush his father if he were to ever find out.

Aside from really enjoying reading about Cassie and the Rookie individually, I was of course rooting for them to get together. They were hired at the firehouse on the same day and their chemistry was immediately off the charts. The more time they spent together, whether it was being tied to a flagpole all night as part of a hazing prank or sharing a late-night omelet (of course cooked to perfection by the Rookie), the more I wanted to scream at Cassie to abandon her no dating rule.

What I loved the most about Things You Save in a Fire is how multi-layered the story was and how every aspect of it was equally compelling. Aside from loving the Cassie/Rookie relationship as it developed, I also enjoyed reading about the firefighting aspect of it – all of it, the pranks, the actual fighting of fires, the EMT training, and of course how the all male dynamic evolves once they have a woman in their midst. It was all quite fascinating to read about. I’m also all about a story that features a complicated family dynamic and that is exactly what I got with Cassie agreeing to move in with her ailing but estranged mother.

As fantastic as all of these elements were though, the themes of Things You Save in a Fire are what really captured my heart. Yes, it’s a story about a woman making it in a man’s world, but it’s also an incredibly moving story about family and the power of forgiveness. And finally, and most importantly, it’s a story about strength and finding the courage to let love into your heart.

This is the first book I’ve read by this author, and I really enjoyed it! She writes well, has a good plot and background and well developed characters that the reader can identify with. The story is heartwarming and seems real. It is hopeful, as the characters learn to forgive, communicate and love.

Katherine Center is one of my new favorite authors! While I'm a hopeless romantic, I'm also pretty cynical. I don't like romances that are overly cheesy or too unrealistic. And Center's books have all the ingredients to potentially leave me cringing or rolling my eyes, but I never do. Things You Save in a Fire is sweet and pure and unputdownable! Owen may have moved up into my top five favorite male leads. I stayed up reading into the wee hours of the morning to finish this one. I smiled. I cried. I swooned. Five glowing stars from me!

This is a deep and emotionally charged, poignant story about Cassie - an extraordinary and celebrated firefighter and a paramedic who is at the top of her battalion in Austin, Texas. A plead comes from her estranged mother, who happened to have left her and her father 10 years prior and of all days - during her 16th birthday. Her mother is asking her to move her so-called perfect life in Texas to Massachusetts, due to her declining health. A series of incidents, which stem from her underlying issues of trauma and fear of abandonment, forces the move to Massachusetts.

Center creates and delivers a believable world with the right terminologies using pinpoint precision that is only privee to firefighters and paramedics; such as the scenarios, the medical devices, treatments, and even the procedures and day to day life in the fire house. Because of that, as a medical personnel, it did not muddy the story and I was able to focus on the deeper issues that this novel is trying to convey. Additionally, this novel has its serious moments, but also the laugh out loud scenarios that I know have really happened. It is fast paced and I got through this read in one day. The characters Center introduced are all so lovable and great - from Cassie to her mother, to the chiefs and firefighters.

Cassie is a strong woman who was broken down and tested in so many ways, only to prove that to be a stronger person, you may have to lose everything and decide to do what is morally right, even though it may not be the easiest route. This story taught me to believe again, and not lose hope and faith completely in people. And that forgiveness is stronger than revenge. You will enjoy this book very much!

Thank you NetGalley, Author Katherine Center and St. Martin's Press for an ARC Electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion.

What a beautiful book! This book is described as a romance, and there is that, but it so much more than that. It’s about friendship, forgiveness, never giving up on yourself, and the things that truly matter in life. And if you happen to be interested in firefighting, there is plenty of that, too!

This novel is one of my favorites, if not my favorite, of the year. The overall message of the story, forgiveness, was very clear but not discussed so much that you are sick of it. I really enjoyed the characters; they seemed fully formed and realistic. They were relatable and flawed but not so flawed that you disliked them. The premises in the novel seemed extremely realistic and were well described. I also loved how feminist this novel was. Cassie, the main character, was able to stand up for herself and be strong but still be vulnerable and open-hearted. It was the perfect modern romantic comedy.

Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center held my attention over people speaking with me, being wrapped in a blanket trying to stay warm and being at one of the most gorgeous places on earth. The main characters was kickass, take no prisoners, move forward and become the best. Cassie Hanwell was a paramedic and a firefighter. She had strength when things were tough and was able to help people. Having to move to Massachusetts to help her mother against her preferences was just the first step toward helping herself.

I enjoyed how the past story slowly eeked out while the present story moved on. Cassie had a number of things against her, but yet she managed to keep moving forward. Sometimes you do not know what you are looking for or what you need until it is in front of you and then taken away. Rookie was a great fit for her and her character. The book is one that you become absorbed in, cry a little with and then fall in love with.

People who like to read Catherine Hyde Ryan with like Katherine Center. Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center was an excellent read. The book was meaningful and thoughtful while holding your entire attention.

What a wonderful read this is! Cassie, a tough as nails firefighter, has her (unplanned) me-too moment of revenge on her attacker now a city councilman as he awards her a medal AND gropes her at the same time. Her 16th birthday was a horrible day for her because in addition to that loathsome boy, she also had to deal with the departure of her mother. Now, her mother Diana has asked her to come and live with her in Massachusetts. Faced with the possible loss of her job, she takes a hand extended for her and gets a position with a small town department and moves in with her mother. Cassie has never been on a date or voluntarily kissed and she's never let anyone get the better of her = she can best everyone- man and woman- at her job. And then she's faced with the Rookie. Oh these two make a good team. He's got a secret or two of his own but he's a good guy. Cassie finds herself harassed by someone on her shift and then there's a big fire.......This has natural ups (I laughed out loud when they saved the "baby") and downs (Diana and no spoilers). Center has created two terrific characters in the lead but the others are wonderful as well. I admit to a big smile and a little tear at the end. Thanks to net galley for the ARC. This is terrific storytelling!

This is one of the best books from this genre that I’ve ever read (and I’ve read a lot.) I’ve only read a couple of Katherine Center’s books, but I’m going to go back and read them all. It has a very realistic plot that takes on tough and relevant issues without feeling like it’s about those issues. The characters are likeable and admirable, yet flawed enough to be interesting. The theme is forgiveness, and while it would be easy enough to lapse into cliches, that wasn’t what happened. And while it was predictable at times, it was predictable in a good way, as in what happened felt right and not contrived. If you like these kind of books at all, I can’t imagine not liking this one.

I received an advance copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Things You Save in a Fire covers so many different issues, from forgiveness to workplace inequality to romance to addiction to sexual assault to, well, you get the point. You would think this would be too much for one novel, but somehow it works. All of the different issues come together seamlessly to create a novel with the perfect amount of depth (enough to leave you thinking, not enough to keep you up in the middle of the night). While this book does has some major triggers, most should find it to be a surprisingly enjoyable read.

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

Katherine Center is quickly becoming my new favorite author. She has a way of hooking me into the story and keeping me there. These stories are not light, fluffy contemporary reads but stories with heart and meaning. They are so genuine crafted that the reader is fully immersed in the story.

Cassie is a woman who has suffered from pain and loss early in her life and to make up for it has worked her butt off to exceed as a female firefighter in a world made up mostly of men. When a series of events occurs that forces her to change her plans, she must learn how to break down walls and forgive.

This book pulled so many of my heart strings and taught me much about life and forgiveness. I adore Katherine Center’s writing and if you haven’t read either of books, I urge you to pick them up.

Cassie, a female firefighter, is outstanding at her job. She knows she’s the best and she can’t imagine doing anything else. When she answers a phone call from her estranged mother, she begins to question what to do next.

I don’t want to give too much away, but I loved following Cassie on her journey!

I’m not usually a romance lover, but this book was so much more than that. I found myself smiling and crying. What a beautiful story!

Put this book on.your summer must read for 2019! A story of redemption, found love, and forgiveness.this book follows Cassie on her journey from a broken and bitter young women to resilient and empowered women . Cassie is a young fire fighter with a hidden past that has kept her from finding love and fulfillment. She has worked hard to get herself to a place of acceptance and respect in the Austin Tx Fire Department when a moment from her past forces her to make a snap decision. Suddenly her world is crumbling when a call from her mother who long ago abandoned the teenage Cassie asking her to come to stay with her while she recuperates from a serious health issue. As Cassie sets out across the country to assist her mother, can she restart her life, heal the past and find redemption? Things You Save In A Fire is a everything and nothing you expect a book to be. Ir is 5 star. A must read. Kettering Center is a master of fiction.

“Choosing to love—despite all the ways that people let you down, and disappear, and break your heart. Knowing everything we know about how hard life is and choosing to love, anyway.. That’s not weakness, that’s courage.”
~Katherine Center, Things You Save in a Fire

Katherine Center has done it again! I found myself absolutely captivated by this inspiring story of Cassie, a bad ass female firefighter. We first met Cassie briefly in How To Walk Away, and I loved getting to hear more about her story. And while I didn’t quite identity as well to Cassie as I have with Center’s other characters, I loved that she was absolutely fierce and heroic! As in all of Center’s books, Things You Save in a Fire presents the message that life IS hard, and bad things will happen, but you CAN choose joy; you can choose to love even when it makes you more vulnerable, because life isn’t worth living without it.

I loved that this book is set in Rockport, MA, and I loved watching Cassie’s relationship develop with her Mom. The backstory of her relationship with her Mom absolutely broke my heart, and I loved the important message of forgiveness woven throughout the story.

As always, Katherine’s books never fail to captivate me, teach me, and inspire me. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to have read this one!

Can love heal?

When her heart is broken and her comfortable life changes, teenager Cassie Hanwell goes into survival mode, developing an impenetrable shell and refusing to expose vulnerability.

Fast forward ten years. Cassie is a tough as nails, decorated firefighter but still has a hole in her heart where love should reside. She is certain love does not exist. The combination of a knee-jerk reaction to a workplace provocation and a call from her estranged mother will catapult her life in a new direction. Can she find the strength to forgive and trust again? I felt 100% invested in Cassie’s story and fell in love with the ‘new guy’ Rookie.

An integral part of this story has to do with a team of firefighters, their camaraderie, heroism, legendary pranking notoriety, and surprising behaviors exposed when a female is inserted into the boy’s club. This girl has got grit!

The author gives props to her husband, a volunteer firefighter. His anecdotes and insider knowledge have been resourced by Katherine, providing an authentic touch. Love the title, it is perfect!

*will post in additional online venues upon publication

Things You Save in a Fire is, at first glance, a pretty standard contemporary romance — but it’s also an exploration of trauma, forgiveness, institutionalized sexism, and so much more.

Cassie, at age 26, is a decorated, respected firefighter, an established, well-loved member of an Austin firehouse. Her life falls apart on the night when she’s receiving an award for outstanding bravery, when the presenter ends up being someone from her past, and she completely loses it on stage, leaving the presenter in the hospital and herself on the verge of being fired.

She does have a way out of the situation. Her mother had earlier called Cassie and asked her to come stay with her in her small town outside of Boston. Cassie’s mother Diana left her and her father on Cassie’s 16th birthday, and since then, the two have had a distant, unpleasant relationship. Now, though, Diana has lost sight in one eye after surgery, and asks Cassie to stay with her for a year to help her out with the things she can no longer do on her own. Cassie initially refuses, but after her meltdown, she sees an opportunity to request a transfer to the local fire station and start again.

The crew in the new town is much different than the fairly progressive Austin station. The guys (and yes, they’re all male) are old-school Boston firefighters, who see no place for a woman in their house. Cassie is determined to prove herself, and fortunately, she has years of training and hard work behind her, so it’s quickly clear to the other firefighters that she’s the best of the bunch. Still, someone is unhappy with her being there, and starts an underhanded campaign of stalking and harassment to drive her away. The question is, who’s behind it?

Complicating matters are Cassie’s unwanted but undeniable feelings for the rookie, who is kind, attractive, and very attentive to Cassie. Cassie has ruled out romance or relationships from her life long ago, but she’s having a hard time fighting the chemistry with the rookie — despite knowing that getting involved with another firefighter will torpedo her career for good.

There are hints early on about the trauma in Cassie’s past, but she doesn’t think about it or discuss it until much later in the book. Still, we can see the aftereffects and it’s clear that she’s suffered for all these years, even though she thinks she’s compartmentalized her past and that it doesn’t affect her in her present. The relationship with Diana is puzzling at first, and initially, I had no sympathy for Diana. What kind of mother abandons her child like that for the sake of an affair? As we learn, there’s much more to the story. Cassie’s baby steps toward understanding and forgiveness in her relationship with her mother is what eventually enables her to embrace the possibility of greater empathy and connection elsewhere in her life.

I was fascinated by the depictions of life in a firestation, and had nothing but admiration for Cassie’s mad skills and her practical, hard-as-nails approach toward earning her spot. At the same time, it’s hard to read about a workplace and lifestyle that so clearly resists the entrance of women in every way possible — which makes Cassie’s determination all the more impressive.

The theme of forgiveness is quite lovely. Cassie learns that forgiveness is possible, even (and especially) when it’s hard, and possibly the last thing you actually want to do. By practicing forgiveness, Cassie opens herself to connections that she otherwise might never have known, and her life is ultimately enriched in ways she’d never thought she’d experience.

The action in the last third of the book really heats up (no pun intended) as there’s a big fire that the crew battles that has awful consequences. Once I got to this part, I simply couldn’t stop reading until the end!

I enjoyed this powerful story very much, and really appreciated the unusual perspective provided by a tough, troubled young woman trying to make her way in a male-dominated environment. Above all, the relationships and Cassie’s growth are what make this book so special. Highly recommended.

Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for the chance to read and review this book. I enjoyed this story, although it was somewhat predictable. I really like stories about strong women so that was a bonus. The firehouse setting was also very interesting. Great story!

📚After a late night of reading, I just couldn’t put this book down, I finished Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center. I cried SO MUCH! 😭I cried for naïve, 16-year-old Cassie, I cried for hardened, 26-year-old Cassie, I cried for Diana, and I cried REALLY hard for Owen. Let’s just say it was an emotional night for me.
I loved watching Cassie grow as a person throughout this book. We first meet her as a hot shot, rising star at her firehouse in Austin, Texas, but when a ghost from the past shows up in the most unexpected place, she does something that will change her life as she knows it.
Now, living across the country and in a new firehouse where she is not wanted, only because she’s a female, Cassie has a plan to stay disengaged and form zero bonds. That all changes as soon as she lays eyes on the rookie. 📚

4.5 Stars

“I think you are so beautiful,” he went on slowly, deliberately, “that it’s blinding.”

Katherine Center is a ‘new to us’ author and what a first reading experience! The writing, the characters, the emotion and the adrenaline rush of the setting as we saw life through the eyes of Cassie Hanwell, a twenty-six-year-old firefighter, kept us completely riveted from start to finish. We absolutely loved Things You Save in a Fire and can’t wait to read more from this author.

‘That’s how life is. Things happen. Lives get broken. Some people never can put themselves back together.’

Things You Save in a Fire is a beautifully inspiring story about courage, love and forgiveness, and one that was written with sweetness, swoon, emotion and heart-stopping suspense, plus a little mystery is thrown into the mix. Everything about this story was thought-provoking and engaging.

Cassie Hanwell was such an admirable character. A tough career-minded young woman who saw love as a handicap, and emotions as a detriment to where she wanted to go in life. Cassie had endured some terrible experiences at sixteen and had carried the pain and hurt for ten years. From the abandonment of her mother to a horrific event Cassie has never shared with anyone.

“Love is not weak, it’s the opposite. Choosing to love – despite all the ways that people let you down, and disappear, and break your heart. Knowing everything we know about how hard life is and choosing to love anyway…That’s not weakness. That’s courage.”

After working her way through the ranks, Cassie is happy being part of a ‘family‘ of firefighters in the new pristine fire Station B in Austin Texas. However, circumstances see her moving to be with her estranged mother in Rockport Boston, starting a new job from the ground up in a fire station that is the opposite in every way to the progressive job she left behind.

Cassie must learn to fit in with the old fashioned men’s club in the Lillian Firehouse and it’s tough. Cassie is a brilliant firefighter and paramedic, the youngest ever, and the first woman to win the Austin Fire Departments Valour award, so Cassie shouldn’t have to prove herself but every day brings new challenges. As tough as Cassie is on the outside, and trust us, this girl is a bad arse, she has so much vulnerability and hurt on the inside that our hearts ached for her.

“There’s all this toughness about you – but the most impressive thing about that toughness, I think, is that you built it to protect the tenderness.”

There is one shining light in an otherwise unbearable environment, and that is the new rookie, Owen Callaghan. Owen is a generational firefighter who admires and respects Cassie, and who’s also a little smitten with her. Owen is gentle to Cassie’s toughness but for Cassie, he’s forbidden fruit! Liaising with Owen could cost her job and hinder any respect she might have with the men in the firehouse. But Owen is so sweet and irresistible with the kindest heart, we fell head over heels!

“It’s not true that nothing scares me, you scare me.”

Whilst we were swept up in the romance and utterly involved in both Owen and Cassie’s family dynamics, and gripped by the suspense, what stood out for us was the ‘behind the scenes’ insight into the life of a firefighter/paramedic and the dangerous jobs they do. Consumed with admiration and respect for these brave unsung heroes, we found this aspect of the story eye-opening and fascinating.

Things You Save in a Fire a story that offers something a little different, a story that’s full of heart with interesting characters and thought-provoking themes, and it’s a story you need to pick up! Heartfelt romance, emotion and so much more. We would’ve loved a little more together time with Cassie and Owen, but we loved the epilogue…talk about swoon!