Nothing better than a hot, broody man that has turned his back on ever falling in love fall for the one woman who can break down his walls and put his future in jeopardy. Nick has a story that he does not want known and Ava is the reporter who gets him to talk while at the same time releasing his baggage as his own. A wonderful addition not only to the series but to anyone's bookshelf.

Brennan is working as a bar manager at the small town Pine Mountain. One night Brennan picks up all the signs that there is a major fire and automatically knows that the situation is bad, and even worse when a little boy seems trapped inside the building while everything is ablaze. He doesn’t hesitate for a second but runs inside and rescues the kid, even it this means heavy pains and spasms to his injured back. Because what nobody knows is that Brennan used to go by the name Nick and used to be a highly trained fire fighter who got seriously injured several years ago.
Ava Mancuso is working as a reporter and is just on route to another unimportant story when she sees the smoke and heads up to that location. She needs a major and gripping story to get her career back on track. But to her astonishment she sees someone familiar stumbling out of the building - with the boy on his back: Brennan, whom she knows as Nick… her former boyfriend. Ava later visits Brennan/Nick at the bar where he is working but he doesn’t want to talk to anybody, especially not her, since she left him seven years ago without any explanation. But after some talk they make up and reconnect, and slowly Brennan/Nick opens up to her about his past. Brennan is very traumatized and walks around with a lot of guilt, which isn’t good for his mental health and that is also affecting his physical health. As a reader you learn bit by bit what happened; all the anger, anguish, pain and guilt he’s been carrying for the past two and a half years. It is very well written, not only his point of view but you get a renewed appreciation for the horrors that fire fighters experience and must deal with in their profession.
Ava in the meantime has written a solid but factual piece on the rescue without knowledge of all of this, but her boss (who is a jerk without any scrupulous) figures out there is more to the story and pressures her to find out all the dirty details, or else she is fired. So what does she do? She writes the story, all the while she is sleeping with him and he is opening up more and more to her! At this point, I was quite angry at Ava. How could she behave like this, so duplicitous? She acknowledged that she owed Nick Brennan an explanation for bailing on him seven years ago, and now she is writing about Nick/Brennan’s most private and traumatic personal experiences which he’s tried so hard to hide from the entire world? And she writes a newspaper article about it - really?! If she does love him, how can she not go straight to him and tell him her boss is kind of blackmailing her? Why can’t she be honest and straightforward with him - exactly what she didn’t do the last time they broke up and she broke his heart? I was very angry at her and had all kinds of strong emotions about it but the author handled this very well. It takes a while before Ava’s conscience kicks in, but is it too late? I won’t spoil that, but I can say that the conclusion was quite satisfying and all your worries, the question marks and the issues are resolved in a satisfying way. Overall it is a good story with deep emotions, struggles and realistic scenarios which result in a renewed appreciation for the fire fighters in this world who so often need to come to terms with traumatic experiences, and finishes with a deserving happily ever after for the main characters Ava and Brennan/Nick.
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for providing an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was absolutely delightful! The plot was well-paced and captivating from start to finish. The characters were charming and witty. I highly recommend this fun and quick read!

Seven years on and both Brennan and Ava have some issues to expose to each other. She left to protect them both and he has lost his best friend in an accident he still suffers the effects from. Once reunited they rediscover that feelings are still there and help to heal each other. Is Ava’s job worth the risk of his exposure in her desire for a great story? A sweet second chance romance novel.

Very excited to read, review, and acquire this fire fighter romance. Will be sharing my thoughts and a full review very soon. I apologize due to some unexpected health issues I’ve fallen a bit behind, but will catch up very soon!