Anna Grace’s The Firefighter’s Rescue is a heart-melting contemporary romance readers will find hard to resist.

After a life-changing event during her childhood, Maisy had decided that nothing was going to come between her and her dream of becoming a doctor. She has worked hard, made countless sacrifices and racked up an eye-watering amount of student debt. When she is offered a job in the small town of Outcrop, Oregon that would allow her to clear her outstanding bills and do the job she has always wanted to do, she jumps at the chance – even if it means having to run a kids’ Cowboy Camp when she doesn’t know the first thing about children with handsome firefighter, Bowman Wallace, who has kindled feelings deep within her she has no business feeling…

Bowman Wallace loves his family and his job, but he hates attention. Unfortunately, attention is all he’s getting when he’s named Firefighter of the Year after a daring and dangerous rescue. Bowman loves his own company and doesn’t have the first clue about children, but when he finds himself with time on his hands, he ends up being volunteered for a kids’ Cowboy Camp with newcomer Maisy and sparks immediately begin to fly between the two of them.

Cautious Maisy immediately clashes with daredevil Bowman and as tensions begin to rise, the two of them wonder how they will manage to work together for two weeks. However, the more time they spend together, they more they realize that they’ve actually got quite a lot in common – including an attraction that simply cannot be denied.

Are Maisy and Bowman ready to step out of their comfort zone and admit the truth about the depth of their feelings for one another? Or will past fears and persistent doubts cost them this chance at happiness?

Anna Grace’s The Firefighter’s Rescue is a magical romance readers will love escaping into. A captivating, emotional and touching tale about healing from the past, renewal and falling in love when you least expect it, The Firefighter’s Rescue will make readers laugh out loud on one page and have them reaching for the tissues on the next.

A superb contemporary romance from a wonderful new voice in the genre, Anna Grace’s The Firefighter’s Rescue is a joy from start to finish.

This is a good book. The two main characters are Maisy and Bowman. Maisy has come to town to be the new doctor. Bowman works his family’s ranch and a firefighter. Maisy and Bowman are running a three week camp. They each have issues that affects their lives. Together they work them out and fall in love.

The Firefighters Rescue is a ver well written book. I enjoyed the plot and character dynamics. My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my book. This is my unbiased review

I have written ad nauseum about my love of category romance, but I haven’t been able to wax enthusiastic in the past few years. The Super-Romance’s demise (still mourned) and loss of wonderful category writers (Sarahs Morgan and Mayberry, Molly O’Keefe, Karina Bliss, Jessica Hart, to name a few) and there hasn’t been much to cheer about. But this year, Teri Wilson’s Man of Honour and Anna Grace’s Firefighter’s Rescue have given me reason to hope. Or at least find two auto-buy category authors…

Suffice to say I LOVED Grace’s Firefigher’s Rescue. It had a few wobbles in the initial chapters, but settled into an original, delightful, touching romance. It may even have made me, who never listens to music, a Swiftie?!

The blurb will set us up, but it makes this unique romance sound too run-of-the-mill:

Doctor Maisy Martin knows what to expect from Outcrop, Oregon—a quiet, safe, predictable existence that doesn’t include being paired up with reckless firefighter Bowman Wallace to run a kids’ Cowboy Camp. Inexperienced with children and clashing with Bowman at every turn, she’s way out of her comfort zone. But taking some chances—and falling for the gorgeous firefighter—may be the prescription for happiness!

My initial dissatisfaction lay in Grace’s inability to convince me of the plausibility of certain elements of her romance. Maisy is a GP and yet has no experience with children? All along her training, she hasn’t encountered and learned to work with children? Secondly, Bowman (not a name I’d pick for a romance hero, btw) is the reckless one, but until the end when he does one “reckless” thing, his actions seem heroic rather than reckless. I kept waiting for him to do impulsive, “reckless” things and he never did. Though why Maisy has a problem with that, in her backstory, did eventually make sense. In sum, Grace’s initial chapters weren’t graceful: her narrative threads, the characters’ intros and backstories had trouble coming seamlessly together.

But there was enough there to surprise and delight me that I held on and things were smoothed over and I began to love this romance. First, there was, despite the sad backstory (Grace thankfully didn’t over-angst, though she wobbled on this initially), Maisy’s funny inner monologue, mainly consisting of an insta-crush on Bowman. She has a crush even before she meets him when she sees a poster of Bowman as firefighter of the year, emerging from a burning building with a beaded object and puppy…who wouldn’t fall in love? What’s even funnier? Bowman is an introvert who cringes away from attention; he’s mortified: “…every possible landing place was filled with women who thought he did nothing all day but carry around puppies and save important cultural artifacts. He could kill his sister Piper for sending in that picture from the Heritage Museum fire.” The humour grows as Maisy and Bowman join ignorant forces to cluelessly run the camp. But romance is made up of people of good will and, as they compromise with each other’s “leadership style” and goals, they engage the children and each other in this joint endeavour. They start out as a motley crew and end up a bonded community. Their journey from funny point A to touching, still funny though, point B, is wonderfully rendered.

This is not all, though it would have sufficed. I’ve never read a romance before that makes such a masterful use of music to thematically link the characters and express their journey to love and commitment. And still retain the humour. This is where I went down the rabbit-hole of Taylor Swift songs (also Eric Church, Eagles, and others). It was delightful, fun, so so smart, a joy to read…also, thank you Youtube and Vevo. Which brings me to Bowman’s wowza characterization. No ordinary alpha-male firefighter romance-standard here. Bowman is complicated: a hero who wants no accolades because he’s such a profound introvert. A man of deep feelings who can’t articulate them, but is kind, thoughtful, funny, and fun. Is socially inept and yet, beloved because, yes, kindness. This is one reason why music is so important to him: he can twist, shout, turn, and croon. Karaoke Wallace family nights are the most adorable scenes in Grace’s romance, possibly in any romance I’ve read this year. Bowman doing chin-ups on the porch may put him in physical alpha-man territory, but there’s nothing ordinary about his characterization: the man gets choked up, is easily hurt, and pulls off a hilarious yarn-Muppet scene. Read for yourself:

Bowman picked up the yarn she’d dropped and placed it across the back of his hand like a wig for a puppet. “Hello, Doc,” he said in a funny voice, hand talking to her. Maisy burst out laughing. “I don’t think I’m getting enough sleep,” the hand said, twisting like a Muppet. “I can’t stop yarning all day.” Maisy giggled harder as Bowman’s hand continued to…make bad puns.”

The reason why they’re in a yarn shop to begin with? Adorable. (But I won’t spoil.)

Grace has penned a wonderful heroine in Maisy too, though Bowman steals the show. Beyond her crush, Maisy can, at times, be cavalier about Bowman’s feelings, along the he’s too good-looking and too sought after by women to have them, right? Wrong. Bowman is circumspect about his relationships and really only feels comfortable with his family and people he knows well. Maisy, once she has this realization (Grace doesn’t leave this hanging too long, to her credit) has to navigate her fears and anxieties about being with a man whose life is on the line daily. Both Maisy and Bowman have to learn to meet the other half-way and what they feel for and with each other is worth it. What could be a better expression of the genre than that? The grand gestures aren’t terribly grand, but they’re original, adorable, and memorable…

“You are too much, Bowman Wallace.” Bowman wrapped his one good arm around her waist, tethering her close. “I was going for just enough.”

If you’re going to read two category romances this year, make them Wilson’s Man of Honour and Grace’s Firefighter. In the meanwhile, this is me, with my spirit-companion Miss Austen, drumming my fingers, waiting waiting for the next Love, Oregon romance. Miss A. would agree, The Firefigher’s Rescue is “no charm equal to tenderness of heart,” Emma.

Anna Grace’s The Firefigher’s Rescue is published by Harlequin. It was released in April of this year. I received an e-ARC from Harlequin, via Netgalley. This doesn’t impede the free expression of my opinion.

This is the 2nd book in the “Love Oregon Series”. This an entertaining read. This is my first time reading a book by Anna Grace and it will most definitely not the last. I so enjoyed the romantic journey of Bowman and Maisy. Bowman is a sexy firefighter and Maisy is the town doctor in Outcrop Oregon. Bowman was just doing his job as a firefighter when he finds himself the spotlight that he does not want to be in. His sister submitted a photo of him rescuing a puppy. Now he finds himself being tasked with running the annual ranch cowboy camp with town’s new doctor Maisy. These two are great with the kids something that they both did not know that they were capable of. They have great chemistry and attraction but Maisy can’t commit because of her fears of Bowman’s dangerous job.

Can Bowman get Maisy to understand that everything will be fine and that she has nothing to worry about when it comes to job, will the two the HEA they both desire and deserve?

I received an ARC via NetGalley and I am leaving my review voluntarily.

The Firefighter’s Rescue, the second book in the Love, Oregon series by Anna Grace, is the type of story that leaves you with a smile in your heart. This wholesome, clean romance’s characters have such dynamic personalities that you’ll find yourself connecting with them almost instantly.

There are multiple lessons woven through the story, the most prominent one is acceptance. On many levels the different characters are trying to find their own acceptance from their families, friends, and the other town members. As the story unfolds, you'll find yourself immersed in both Bowman and Maisey’s backstories and completely and emotionally invested in them finding their HEA.

As this series progresses, I'm looking forward to getting to know each of the remaining Wallace siblings and their stories.

This ARC was complimentary, provided by the Publisher and NetGalley. I am voluntarily submitting my honest review.