5 stars for Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center

From the New York Times bestselling author of How to Walk Away comes a stunning new novel about family, hope, and learning to love against all odds.

Cassie Hanwell was born for emergencies. As one of the only female firefighters in her Texas firehouse, she's seen her fair share of them, and she's excellent at dealing with other people's tragedies. But when her estranged and ailing mother asks her to uproot her life and move to Boston, it's an emergency of a kind Cassie never anticipated.

The tough, old-school Boston firehouse is as different from Cassie's old job as it could possibly be. Hazing, a lack of funding, and poor facilities mean that the firemen aren't exactly thrilled to have a "lady" on the crew, even one as competent and smart as Cassie. Except for the handsome rookie, who doesn't seem to mind having Cassie around. But she can't think about that. Because she doesn't fall in love. And because of the advice her old captain gave her: don't date firefighters. Cassie can feel her resolve slipping...but will she jeopardize her place in a career where she's worked so hard to be taken seriously?

Katherine Center's Things You Save in a Fire is a heartfelt, affecting novel about life, love, and the true meaning of courage.

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What I thought about Things You Save in a Fire

Cassie Hanwell has it all together -- she's an exceptional firefighter, dedicated to her career.  But on the night she's receiving an award for valour, she ends up clocking her presenter on stage and ends up almost losing her hard-fought position as a firefighter.  She had good reason to do what she did, and it's not hard to figure out what it is, but the reader doesn't get all the details until later on in the story. At first I was a little ticked off it wasn't revealed earlier, but it all makes sense by the end. 

After the incident on stage, Cassie ends up transferring from Texas to a new firehouse in the northeast and helping her estranged mother after an illness. Starting over means trying to fit into a new firefighting crew that isn't all that thrilled to have a female on the team. The good news is that she's not the only newbie at the station -- there's a rookie starting along side her. 

Owen Callaghan makes her feel things she shouldn't feel toward a co-worker, and Cassie's life suddenly takes a turn she hadn't expected.  It's all very complicated for her.  I loved Owen (he's a sweetheart) and what I liked even more was that their romance wasn't the focal point of the story. Even though Owen had a bit of his own story, the focal point is all about Cassie and her personal growth as things around her shift and change.

I loved the theme of forgiveness in Things You Save in a Fire.  It was such an integral part of Cassie's next step in her life, and she learns with grace and dignity about the power of love and forgiveness. The firefighting aspect was absolutely well-done and Cassie was just so good at it -- it was easy to see  her dedication was part of her soul.

I liked everything about this -- the characters, the story, the pacing and especially the action that had me gasping and furiously reading and reading to find out what was going to happen. Things You Save in a Fire had absolutely everything I want in a story.  It will be on my favorites of 2019 list for sure!

An ARC was provided for review. 

About the Author

Katherine Center is the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author of How to Walk Away, as well as the upcoming novel, Things You Save in a Fire (August 13, 2019). She’s also written five other bittersweet comic novels about love and family, including The Bright Side of Disaster, The Lost Husband,and Happiness for Beginners. The Lost Husband is currently in production as a feature film starring Josh Duhamel and Leslie Bibb. Katherine’s work has appeared in Redbook, InStyle, People, USA Today, Vanity Fair, The Atlantic, Real Simple, Southern Living, InTouch, the Dallas Morning News, and the Houston Chronicle, and many others. 

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