Katherine Center does it again. She has an incredible knack for making you feel all of the emotions without the book feeling heavy. The characters and story weave together seamlessly. I was rooting for Cassie throughout the book and loved all of changes she made and the person she became in this book.

If you want a strong female character you will root for and want her to find and keep love, then you should read this book. The romance was written beautifully. The main character had something traumatic happen to her, and this caused her to close her heart. When the right person is presented slowly love is born.

Amazing book about choices, forgiveness, resilience and relationships. Cassie moves from Austin to the East Coast to be by her estranged mother. Starting over at a new firehouse comes with challenges and , maybe, love.

I was drawn in by the story and cheered for Cassie along the way. Five stars!

A very delightful women's fiction that I enjoyed reading, I like how the characters are well thought out. This is the second book by Katherine Center that I've read ( How to walk away was a great book too). The author is a fabulous story teller and I hope to read more of her books in the future.

Things You Save in a Fire is a story about Cassie Hernandez- a woman who is obsessed with being a firefighter and shows because she is good. Not just good, really good! But (and this a big but) a few things happen that throw all her hard work into jeopardy and she has to start from the bottom earning her place on a new team. Instead of being able to focus just on her passion for being a firefighter, she’s forced to deal with a sick mom who abandoned her, a hot new rookie (did I mention he’s hot) and her own history which is threatening to bubble up over the walls she’s built around it. Can she keep it together?
This was a quick read that has you rooting for (and occasionally yelling at) Cassie, saying “come on girl!” I give it 3.5 stars which can round up to 4.

This book was well written. The dialogue felt natural and there was a lot of detail about firefighting that didn't feel tedious to read. It was an enjoyable read. I wish more parts of the plot were fleshed out, but it was a good read.

Things You Save in a Fire is a book about love and loss, hurt and forgiveness. Cassie is a 26 year old firefighter, whose life takes a turn at an award ceremony where she goes from most esteemed firefighter to one that will no longer be able to work at her current precinct due to an unforeseen turn of events. At just about the same time, her estranged mother requests that she come and help her out for a year as she is having difficulty seeing due to an issue with one of her eyes, which Mom says will be rectified in a years time. Initially she says no, but when everything falls apart at the awards ceremony, transferring looks like a good idea, and so she moves in with her mother who she has not seen for 10 years, and begins to work with a new group of firefighters, who are not thrilled to have a "girl" join their ranks. However, this is no ordinary girl and she sets out to show them just what a girl firefighter can do. In the process she gets close to "The Rookie" who starts the same day she starts at the station, and whom she is tasked with training. His father is a well known area firefighter (retired), and he has always wanted his son to be in the business.
The story was a little slow to get into, but once I was in, I was very caught up in the lives of Cassie and those around her. It was a nice read... would be great to take as a beach read!

I loved this book. It’s so hard to get the real struggle of ambiguity right with words and Katherine Center does that plus more in her book, Things You Save in a Fire. The story never got bogged down in one area too much (love, romance, forgiveness, hurt, betrayal,) Hard choices are just that - hard. The different plots and characters came together in the end without feeling forced or hurried in a very satisfying conclusion.

This is a wonderful book. Loved it from beginning to end. Looking forward to reading more of Katherine Center's books. Thanks for the advance copy.

This is a very fast read, BUT it was very slow to start for me. It wasn’t until I got about halfway in that it became irresistible for me to read. There were parts that just made me smile. A big wide smile because it was so sweet it made me blush.

Katherine Center’s last book was a steady read and while this wasn’t because it was slow to get into, it was still a really good book and really worth reading.

This is my second book by her and I now think that she writes book that have a little lesson in them. “How To Get Away” was most definitely about resilience and not being bitter. This one? Forgiveness. And not being bitter.

I’ve never understood forgiveness and I’ve always held grudges. I’m his book really explained to me what forgiveness means. As it was explained, I sat here and I wondered.... can I forgive those who have wronged me?

I’m not sure I would go that far but, I now consider it a possibility and that’s a start lol.

Great book!

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I love a story with a strong female protagonist. Cassie is just that person. While Cassie's life as she knows it was defined by key events that occurred on her sixteenth birthday, a call from her estranged mother quickly changes the life she built. While the love story in this novel is slightly predictable, you'll relate to the characters and root for them until the very end. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and hope that Center will write a sequel.

Katherine Center has become one of my favorite authors. I immediately fell for Cassie (who is a kickass firefighter and who is so cynical, she makes me seem like a complete sap) and I was very nervous for her in her new town, with her job full of guys who don't like her very much and with only her mom (who is maybe one small step away from "estranged" for company). 

The synopsis is very accurate but this is also just a really fun book. It's a love story but it's about multiple kinds of love. And best of all, it's about a woman who's completely excelling at her job. She may have had to prove herself repeatedly to her new colleagues, but she's more than capable of doing it. They may not immediately respect Cassie, but they learned pretty quickly that they needed to.

Katherine Center is one of the authors who's an auto-buy for me. I think you'd love her, too. Highly recommended.

Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center

St Martin’s Press
August 2019
Fiction
Rating: 4/5

I received a digital copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review from NetGalley and St Martin’s Press.

Cassie Hanwell knew she had to work hard to prove herself in a male dominated profession. She focused her life on being the best firefighter after working her way up to being a paramedic. Unfortunately, she walled herself off emotionally after several life-altering events on her sixteenth birthday. She learned how to fit in with the guys at the Austin Fire Department with their bawdy jokes and pranks.

Cassie continued to live in Austin near her father, Ted, since her mother, Diana, left them to move to Massachusetts to be with Wallace. This happened ten years ago on her 16th birthday, a day she woul always remember with anger and sadness.

Just as she feels her life is going according to plan, until she is taken by surprise at award ceremony. She was anxious thinking about accepting the honor on stage and having to make a speech. Cassie has never been good with talking about feelings or emotions. She never expects to see let alone feel the inappropriate touching of the Austin councilman, Heath Thompson, when she accepts her award. As traumatic memories of him from high school cloud her brain, she narrowly avoids arrest after assaulting him at the ceremony.

Just as she is fretting over the consequences of her actions and probable loss of job, her mother calls her from Rockport, MA. Apparently, she’s been living in a small house making a living selling her pottery. She calls to begs Cassie to help her adjust after losing sight in one eye. With not many options, Cassie transfers to the Lillian Fire Department and moves in with her mother.

Soon, Cassie finds that her laser focus on her career is preventing her from moving forward in her life. She begins to understand the mother who left on her birthday. Life is fluid and nothing is black and white. Holding onto the past will just keep you in the past. Sometimes you have to be vulnerable and risk the step into the unknown to propel yourself in a new direction.

The things you save in a fire could very well be the things that save you from yourself. This is an enjoyable and predictable story but touching none the less.


https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2702246225

https://bookwormreviewblog.blogspot.com/2019/03/things-you-save-in-fire-by-katherine.html?m=1

This was my first Katherine Center and definitely won't be the last!

I enjoyed this story from beginning to end. Cassie was a protagonist like none other I have read. She was "not like other girls" without that being the way her story was told. She didn't try to be one of the guys because that was how she would feel tough, rather she was doing what she loved and knew she (as a woman) was tough.

There were a lot of hard subjects dealt with throughout the story, and all were treated with the upmost respect and care. It would have been easy to gloss over these issues in favor of the light, fluffy love story that was developing. Instead, they made the story stronger by making Cassie a more fleshed out character and her world filled with more realistic side characters.

I went into this expecting a simple, sweet love story, and found all that plus depth that I didn't expect but absolutely loved. I can't wait to read Katherine Center's entire backlist!

A feel good story that tugs at all your heart strings. This book has a little of everything that keeps you turning pages way into the night.
Who doesn’t love a good firefighter story? Well this ones a bit different with a lady firefighter Casie who is going through life with many hurts until she is forced to make major changes in her life. I’ll say no more because it’s time for you to grab a copy and enjoy this feel good story for yourself.

Spunky guys girl firefighter Cassie is forced to move in with her estranged mother to help take care of her after a rather public impulsive attack on the man who made her no longer believe in love. This was a nice albeit cheesy and a bit formulaic story about growth, forgiveness and love.

The writing style during dialogue wasn’t my favorite. It tended to be a lot of back and forth for periods of time with very little descriptor in between and that’s just not my preference. While I did overall enjoy and relate to the main character, I also had moments where I disliked Cassie. She fluctuated between being a bit prissy and annoying and uber tough.

It was also a confusing time frame for the events at the end to be plausible. It seemed a bit YA and immature at times, which is not a bad thing per se but it’s not the type of storytelling I was expecting. I just felt a tad underwhelmed after all the rave reviews.

I really enjoyed this book! I haven’t read the authors other book How to Walk Away so I can’t really compare the two books but this book was about forgiving (something that we all need to do in life at one point or another)!

Cassie works as a firefighter in Austin, TX. Something happens in her past where she has to confront it all and deal with it head on while she encounters this person at an award ceremony for her work. Due to an incident at the awards ceremony, she has no choice but to leave her job. She instead asks for a transfer to another fire station in another state to help out her mother who Cassie has to learn to face the facts and forgive. It’s about love, forgiving, and a strong female character which I love. I would give this book a 4/5 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

4.5/5 stars
I previously read and loved Katherine Center’s 2018 release How to Walk Away and knew I had to get my hands on her newest novel Things You Save in a Fire. Oh, my goodness it did not disappoint! Get ready to jump into Cassie’s world – Cassie is a female fire fighter in an all-male fire station and they do not make it easy on her. I loved this charming story; filled with wonderful characters, a sweet romance, and sexy firemen.

I was given an AR copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This review will be posted on Goodreads.

I could not put this book down! It was a wonderful quick, read that had the perfect amount of humor, romance and drama to keep me entertained. Cassie Hanwell is a female firefighter who transfers to Massachusetts in order to be closer to her ill mother. She transfers to a new fire station and deals with being unwelcomed in the business for the first time in her career. Before leaving her progressive Austin station her chief gave her a list of advice, one of which being: You don't sleep with firefighters. Well of course, Cassie is guaranteed to fall for the other rookie. Center's novel wasn't just a typical romance that was filled with gushy moments and predictable exchanges. She moves through the emotions and hardships that Cassie faces as a female firefighter while slowly giving us insight into her mothers illness and Cassie's struggle with forgiveness.

I laughed and I cried (a lot) and I related so much to the stories that the protagonists shared about tragedy having personally lost a child to drowning. I actually have started practicing the steps to forgiveness that Cassie learned from her mother and am very grateful that I read this book.

Things You Save in a Fire tells the story of Cassie Hanwell, a tenacious female firefighter, as she battles her past, deals with trials in her career, and confronts abandonment issues with her mother.

The novel is well-paced and the characters are relatable and likable. The main character didn't fall into any overused tropes, either. For example, she is a firefighter and dresses for her job. She never refers to herself as a "tomboy". When she dons formal attire for an event later in the book, you'd expect one of those dramatic makeover moments that are so overused in both books and movies. I LOVED that, instead, the character thinks, "I'm not 'better', just different". She doesn't have the typical transformation moment wherein now that she's dressed "feminine" she realizes she was beautiful all along. She acknowledges the difference and moves on.

Another marking of a good novel is one that introduces you to a world you wouldn't otherwise be aware of. This novel contains interesting passages and explanations regarding the work of a firefighter without being overly technical.

This novel has suspense, mystery, emotion, romance, and humour...I can't recommend it enough.

RELEASE DATE: August 13 2019.

Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for sending me the ARC of this book!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2705296697?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1