Well, I was expecting a cozy romance, something on the lighter side... but this book is so much more! I should have known, since I read Katherine Center’s previous novel, How to Walk Away, last year and it was also more than expected. This book did still have plenty of light moment, and was a bit predictable, but did I care? No. I was along for the ride.

Katherine Center craftily works in themes of abandonment, trauma, sexual assault, sexism in the workplace, friendship, and love through the story. This story is timely in the era of #metoo and #timesup, it it doesn’t come across heavy handed and Center doesn’t overtly throw these themes in your face. At the heart of the story is Cassie Hanwell, who is navigating an estranged relationship with her mother and finding her place at a new firehouse while coming to terms with her own PTSD.

I enjoyed learning about the firefighter profession, especially what it means to be a female firefighter in a male dominated profession. The setting of Eastern Massachusetts was quaint and picturesque. Center even throws in a nod and wink to How to Walk Away.

I did read this book quickly because the story was engaging and the words easily flew off the page. The second half took off and I couldn’t stop. I wanted to know if Cassie could overcome her traumatic past to find happiness and forgiveness and love.

I want to thank the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book. It was a pleasure to read.

I enjoyed this book. It was sweet and charming and super mushy gushy without being over the top. I also really enjoyed the narration of the story and Cassie’s personality that you were able to glimpse from the writing. But there were a few things I wasn’t particularly fond of.

I thought the plot was a little too obvious. When a certain character was introduced I automatically knew what was going to happen in the end. It was super cliche.

I did feel that there was a lot of interesting conflict and drama but, again, it was a bit obvious and a bit like the author was trying to try to create conflict because she felt it was necessary.

Everything was a little too cleanly wrapped up. I just felt like there was so much build up and then it was just done. Easy. It was like your typical rom-com that you know will have a happy ending because they all do.

Overall, it was a quick, light read. While I enjoyed it enough, it’s not anything I would run out to read again.

I received an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you Netgalley.

What a great book. Love story. Lessons on forgiveness and more.

Believe me this book is worth the read.

This is only the second Katherine Center book I've read, the first being How To Walk Away. When I saw the title I had certain expectations. The title relates to the story in both cases, but not quite the way you'd expect. I love that!
Cassie reinvents her 16 year old traumatized self to become a competent EMT/firefighter who keeps her emotions tightly wrapped. When her estranged mother asks for her help Cassie finds she has to reinvent herself yet again. And this time love, vulnerability, and forgiveness come into play.

I enjoyed this story. Based on the title I expected a different type of story. This story is about forgiveness of the people we love when they have hurt us deeply. It is clear that we don’t always have a clear understanding of everything that happen.

Claire is a strong woman who has had a difficult life. Her mom left on her 16th birthday which left her feeling abandoned. As a result, she has worked hard to get where she is in her fire fighting career. Her independence is what she holds on to, pushing herself to reach her career goals.

When her mom calls with health issues will she leave her home and go help her mom? Will she be able to forgive her mom for leaving? What will the move do to our career?

This was my first book by Katherine Center. I loved everything about it. The character development, the lessons on forgiveness, the action, and the love story. I will definitely be reading more of her books!!!

This is not a romance in the traditional sense (even though it does have a romantic thread in it) but it is a love story. Cassie suffered some traumatic teenage experiences after which she found strength by walling off her heart from any emotional connections and focusing on her physical strength. But life has a way for throwing some curve balls and Cassie now has to drastically change her life. She is now exposed to situations where she finds out if she has the strength to accept love and forgiveness of both herself and those who had ‘wronged’ her.

“Yes, the world is full of unspeakable cruelty. But the answer wasn’t to never feel hope, or bliss, or love – but to savor every fleeting, precious second of those feelings when they came.”

Beautiful writing, relatable characters. Highly recommend.

I kept seeing this book recommended everywhere and I have to say it exceeded every expectation. Cassie the main character is complex and interesting. You are constantly peeling back layers of her life experiences with every page. Forgiveness is a theme throughout and I couldn’t help but feel I was learning right along with her. Incredibly thoughtful story and great read overall. 5 stars!

I received this book "Things You Save in a Fire" from NetGalley and all opinions expressed are my own. First book by this author and it won't be my last. I loved this book! big 5 stars. The words just flowed so smoothly and the storyline was awesome. You just want to be Cassie's best friend. I really enjoyed reading this and I will be reading the other books by this author. Did I mention that I loved this book? I really did.

If you enjoy firefighter dramas like Chicago Fire or Rescue Me, you will enjoy this PG rated book about a kick-ass female firefighter named Cassie. At the same time you get a story about forgiveness and a truly sweet romance with "the rookie".

Cassie Hanwell has a past that haunts. She is sure that love is for the weak, and not something she needs in her life. Why? It would leave her vulnerable and she wants to exemplify strength and maintain control in her life.

But when Cassie, who is now a firefighter, receives a call from her mother, who she hasn’t seen in ten years, to come live with her for a short time and help her with medical needs, that’s the last thing she wants to do. But Cassie’s quick response at a service awards dinner has her in a bit of a mess. While being presented an award by the man, who as a boy, nearly destroy her life and reputation, she loses her cool and sets off a series of events that help lead her to change her mind about moving.

While at her mother’s, a new story unfolds. She faces an unwelcome fire crew, a mother who hurt her years back, and time. Time to grow and time to work with a new Rookie who joined the fire station the same day as her. While the crew is convinced a woman is the last thing they need, The Rookie is not so sure.

But Cassie promised herself years ago that love had no real place in her life. While her mother lets her slowly adjust to her new surroundings, and The Rookie tries to figure her out, Cassie begins to learn valuable lessons.

My Thoughts


What Concerned Me: To be honest, the first part (at the awards dinner) seemed too exaggerated and almost turned me off regarding the book. But I’m very glad I read on, however!

What I Liked Most: This story has a romantic element, but it’s much deeper in scope. Being a woman, and due to her past, she feels she must work very hard to prove her worth. She has built a protective shell around herself in the process. At times, as you read the book, she might seem hard to like, but as her past unfolds, the reader better understands Cassie’s reasoning.

This story’s got many layers to peel away and explore. The pages won’t be hard to keep reading. What will be hard is putting the book down.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to review this novel.

This book has every element that I love in a good chick lit!

We’ve got Cassie, our spunky, I can do anything, main character. Tragedies in her past have made her tough as nails and only reliant on herself. She’s become a dedicated firefighter and knows exactly where she’s going in life and she has no time for this “love” people talk about.

Then someone from her past shows up along with her temper and she’s left with the choice of losing her job or transferring to the old fire station in her Mom’s town that doesn’t believe in having female firefighters. Her Mom, whom she’s refused to have a relationship with since she was 16. A mom who needs Cassie’s help even if she did abandon her daughter years ago.

I love the storytelling, character development, the element of danger, a pinch of mystery, and that emotional pull of the possibility of forgiveness. Not to mention the promise of love.

Katherine Center's books have become some of my favourites over the past few years, and I had been anticipating reading this for quite some time. I held off on reading the ARC for a few months because I wanted to be able to share my review closer to its publication date (August 2019), but eventually, I could not resist it on my kindle queue and dove in and finished it in one sitting. I loved this book, as I expected to. It was so interesting to read about the firehouse setting. Cassie was such a great character. I've found myself thinking of it almost every day since finishing, and I re-read parts of it that I really loved. To me, this is the sign of a 5-star book for me.

This will be a perfect late summer read to enjoy, laugh with, and relate to the lovely characters. I can't wait to see the success that I'm certain this book will experience.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of this wonderful book by a favourite author.

What I love about Katherine Center is her ability to weave together romance, humor and family drama in such a natural way. She’s not a cookie-cutter romance author (though in this one it is obvious from the start who is going to fall in love). Center builds strong and unique female characters which I love. This is my third of KC’s books and I intend to read all of her stuff!

Thanks to KC and NetGalley for the ARC.

I saw this book on bookstagram and just knew that I had to get my hot little hands on a copy and I am so please to say that for me it lived up to the hype!

Cassie is a woman in a man’s world, and she has proven that she belongs there as much as any of her fellow firefighters. Her past hurts and experiences have led to do what she has to do to succeed, even if this means building walls up around herself so that she will never get hurt again. This determination has led her to be one of the top in her field – nothing will hold her back from succeeding… until she comes face to face with her past and lets just say it’s not pretty! Forced into relocating or losing her job, she relocates to a fire station that just isn’t quite as up to date as her previous location and has to prove herself worthy all over again! In the midst of all of this she finds love in unexpected places and learns that her past hurts are not what she previously thought.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was the first time I had read anything by Katherine Center and what I appreciated the most was the humanity that her characters possessed. All flawed, imperfect specimens that along the way discover that they are worthy of love, acceptance and forgiveness, Cassie and the Rookie are awesome and I loved their interactions and obvious interest in each other, but I also loved all of the side characters, there wasn’t one that was playing a bit part that all molded and shaped each other! Forgiveness of yourself and others was a huge theme in this book and it was wonderful, we need more books that empower us to look at ourselves and remind us that we too are beautiful, flawed and we need to be gentle to ourselves.

So what I am saying is, do yourself a favor and pre-order this book! You won’t regret it! Available August 13th!

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for providing me a copy of this book.

I absolutely loved this book! I have heard a lot of good things about this author, so was eager to try this, as she is a new author to me. The story and characters were great. I would highly recommend this!!! Looking forward to reading more from this author!

I absolutely adored this book! Things You Save in a Fire tells the story of a fire fighter who moves to Massachusetts to help her mother. She joins a small town fire department that has never had a female on staff before. This book is charming with a lot of heart. It has a feminist bend without being preachy. I loved the idea of having a female fire fighter at the center of the story and putting a woman in a non-traditional job. As with most Katherine Center books, there is a fairly predictable love story and this one is so sweet! I loved it! If you are looking for a fun, quick, relatively light read, this is the book for you!

I enjoyed the relationships and the way they developed in the book. The characters felt very real. I would recommend this one.

I received an early copy of this book. honestly, I had no idea what it was about going into it. However, I had heard the name pop up a variety of times so I drove right in. I was immediately drawn in by Cassie's story, but somewhat annoyed by her "dark spot in my past that we will continually allude to but not actually talk about directly."

At times, predictable, but an engaging, fun, pro-woman story.

It is not too often that I read a book in one to two sittings. Mostly because work and family life keep me pretty busy, but let me tell you... this book was worth putting everything else to the side! I read non-stop and didn't want to put it down until the very last page. And even then, I didn't want it to be over. I'm pretty sure I didn't even pick up another book for several weeks because I just couldn't get my mind off of Things You Save in a Fire. The characters were fantastic, the plot was fast paced and interesting, and the romantic tension was so thick! I just loved every sentence of this novel and I can't recommend it enough!

If you've read How to Walk Away and loved it, you most certainly are going to LOVE this novel also. Even if you didn't read Center's first novel, but you enjoy a good romantic fiction novel, you will eat this up. And if you don't... come back and talk to me because I'll definitely need to figure out what is wrong with you (because obviously it was you and not the book, duh). Just kidding... everyone is entitled to their own opinions, I just won't agree with you if you have anything negative to say about this book! Anyways, as you can tell, I loved it and highly recommend it. So make sure to mark August 13th on your calendars because you HAVE to run out and buy this novel.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for sending copies of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Rating 5/5