Fantastic story and well written. This author keeps your attention and keeps you wanting to race through the story!

“Things You Save in a Fire” by Katherine Center is a very well written book about the messy things in life. This book had me hooked right from the first page and I did not want to put it down. I found myself laughing hysterically at points and almost crying at other times. There were so many things in this book that I could identify with. This book really makes you examine yourself and how you handle things that life throws at you. Forgiveness something so very hard to do, how do you forgive the unforgivable and move on? Read this book and find out the answer to that and so much more. This is the first book that I’ve read of Katherine Center and it won’t be the last! I would like to thank NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Katherine Center for the ARC, I received in exchange for my honest review!

What a great read! I read it in just a few days and couldn't read it fast enough. I'm a sucker for all things firefighter and then make it a female firefighter and I was sold! I thought the book could have used a little more action and shown a little more bonding of the people in the house, but overall, I really enjoyed the book. Cassie was a great character and I was able to relate to her and feel for her. The reference to "How to Walk Away" was a fun little surprise that I loved, especially since I read the book not too long ago.

I'm not historically a fan of 'Sweet' but Katherine Center has sold me on it, hard, first with How to Walk Away and now with Things You Save in a Fire.

Sweet, fun, sad and inspirational. A strong independent yet flawed woman in a series of challenging situations, does she overcome them, does she grow, what happens, what does she do? I couldn't put it down today till I knew!

Family, love, work, dreams, and unbeatable odds. My kind of book! #TeamCassie

Cassie is happy. She is one of the only female firefighters in her Austin department. She's so good at her job she's about to receive an award for Valor when we first meet her. She loves her job and her team. Cassie is gobsmacked when the presenter isn't the Mayor but a Councilman. An enemy from high school. Let's just say he leaves the stage on a stretcher and Cassie may not be making Lieutenant or even have a job left.

Cassie's mother left her and her father when Cassie was 16 and she isn't over it or anything else. So when out of the blue she receives a call from Diana, her mother, asking her to move to the Boston area and stay with her for a year while she is having a bit of a problem with her eye.

Reminding herself it is only temporary she heads out knowing that she will have a job with a much smaller and older station with guys she knows don't want a woman in their boys club. But she needs to stay away from Austin and let the dust settle.

Before leaving Austin her Captain had told her to not make waves and DO. NOT. Date. Firemen. Not a problem for Cassie as she doesn't even believe in love and never dates. The hazing and lack of support at the station is compounded with a new guy who on day one turns her life upside down!

I loved this story. Every character was so well done. This was a tale of perspective, forgiveness, and the complicated love of family. I was so moved by the courage Cassie and her mother had. 

Very Well Done!

NetGalley/ August 13th 2019 by St. Martin's Press

I loved Katherine Center's first novel and her newest work did not disappoint. Cassie is a lot of things: woman, firefighter, product of divorced parents, but perhaps most importantly: secret keeper.

Cassie has buried a secret since the night of her 16th birthday and when the threads of her secret begin to unravel she finds herself in a new place, with a mother she barely knows, trying to hold everything together.

Center turns Cassie into a great heroine because of her flaws, not in spite of them. If you are a fan of How to Walk Away, or strong, flawed women I definitely recommend you check out Things You Save in a Fire.

I honestly went into this book thinking it was going to be cheesy. I was wrong. It didn’t take me long to get hooked on this book!

I loved this book. This is my second book by this author and I’ve loved both. Her writing is so captivating and I loved the romance but also the bigger picture of dealing with serious subjects. I read this book in one day; I couldn’t put it down.

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

I loved this book! I could not put it down. I knew I had to read Things You Save in a Fire after loving HOW TO WALK AWAY, a big favorite.

Cassie is a true heroine and badass! Courage, forgiveness, love are the three words to describe this book.
I read it in one sitting and I can t wait to read more books by this author. She writes what I want to read. Bravo!

Thank you to #netgalley and #stmartinspress for this early reader copy.

I laughed, cried, related, empathized, and just had all the feels reading Things You Save in a Fire! This book has it all - a love story, drama, comedy, and a likable protagonist. Katherine Center has the ability to write in a way that makes her books unputdownable - and this was no exception!

Things You Save in a Fire starts out with a badass lead character in Cassie, and she faces a lot of misogyny in her role as a firefighter. So many times I shook my head, but totally related with her struggles to define herself as "one of the guys" and the pressure to prove herself as a powerful and qualified firefighter. I will admit, I underestimated this book at first - I anticipated a more lighthearted read with some cool tinges of feminism. As the story developed, I was so drawn in and became fully invested in the events that transpired! There was so much emotion, self-discovery, anger, and love built up the story which made it so satisfying.

I highly recommend picking up this book immediately when it hits shelves in August! Thank you so much to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an early review copy! I loved this book!

I received this book free of charge from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

This was a quick, enjoyable, easy read. I thought the firefighter storyline worked well. And I liked how you could see the personal growth that Cassie went through, particularly regarding her relationships with the other people in her life.

Katherine Center has done it again. Things You Save in a Fire was impossible to put down. Cassie's story was dramatic, raw, and ultimately inspiring, and the overall messages about love and forgiveness were spot on.

Katherine Center has done it again! Things You Save In A Fire is heartwarming story or forgiveness, love, and inner peace. With a cast of characters and a writing style that automatically draws you in you're going to forget that you're not living in between the pages of this book. Destined to be a best seller and one of my favorite books of the year.

For the most part I really enjoyed this book and the author's writing is pretty great. Cassie is great, strong female lead that was thrown into some pretty crappy situations. I loved that instead of getting her down she used it all to push harder. She never really let anything get to her, well except fuel her own fire to be looked as an equal, not an easy task as a firefighter. Especially when assigned to a "good ole boy" squad. She takes everything in stride though and just proves herself over and over again earning the respect she damn well deserved.

I really enjoyed the small romance part in this too. The Rookie was definitely lovable and not your typical egotistical guy we saw with other firefighters. He was sweet but also stuck up for Cassie when the time came to stick his neck out when it mattered the most.

There was one part of this book that I found hard to forgive and I just can't get over how it was really handled I guess. I felt the person got off way too easily. Had lives not been endangered I think I could have let it go a bit better but that's just not the case with this one.

With that said, this is still a good story and I can see why so many love it. I'm the girl in the middle of the track who enjoyed it but it just didn't bring out the emotions for me to love it.

I wasn’t sure what this book is classified as, is it romance? Not my genre, it it worked for me anyways. I didn’t love the main character, and I kept thinking this book was about to veer into super hokey territory, but then it changed course a bit. Or maybe it was still a bit hokey, but was still well done and I enjoyed it anyways? I don’t know, I’m still working out my feelings on this one I guess. All I know is that I enjoyed this very much despite thinking I was going to dislike it several times throughout the book. This will make a very good summer beach read with a bit more substance.

This book was provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

As usual in her books the author has created a heart warming book that hits important societal issues. This books deals with the aspect of a woman working in a "man's" world, the stereotypes women have to deal with, the harassment, and how women have to behave or else they wont be accepted. At one point the main character is even told, no makeup, no jewelry, and to keep her hair up so she can survive in a fire house. I found that incredibly sexist. Men don't have limitations so why should women. That is just the tip of the iceberg. The author hits this issue head on and I absolutely love the way she over comes it.

This book was excellent and I’m not a fan of women’s literature! In fact, the more mushy it gets, the more I tend to stay away.

Things You Save In a Fire is not this type of book. It's smart, courageous and causes you to think about your own emotions, especially old hurts and scars.

The book starts off with Cassie Hanwell being a fire fighter in Austin, Texas and she’s one of the best.
But on a day of celebration of heroic acts that she did for the city, she’s faced with a blast from the past. And this past is not a good one!

Cassie’s estranged Mom calls her around this same time and asks if she will come live with her in Massachusetts, for a year. She’s blind in one eye, struggling with some medical issues and needs help.

Having two things change her life course in matter of days, Cassie heads to Boston to live with her Mom. She's relocated to a firehouse that's an hour away from Boston.

The Lillian Fire Department is completely different from the progressive fire house in Austin. They don’t have decent funding for equipment much less know how to work with a “lady” firefighter.

I loved Cassie Hanwell! She's a strong, independent woman with tough skin. She's smart and competent. She doesn’t do emotion and especially not love.

Enter Owen Callahan, aka The Rookie.

I enjoyed the chemistry and the friendship with Cassie and Owen from the beginning. Owen is the type of guy you want to fall in love with. The type of guy you want to marry.
He’s easy going, kindhearted along with being a good guy.

This is the first book that I’ve read of Katherine Center and it won’t be the last!
I loved her writing along with this plot. She nailed the characters and the emotions that it takes to be a firefighter, much less being a woman firefighter.
I work in a male dominated profession myself and she wrote it well. Bravo Katherine Center for getting it right!

Things You Save In a Fire is an emotional, brave and vulnerable book. It caused me to tear up on occasion because of frustration, love and just having the courage to run into that burning building alone!

First, I’d like to say I was thrilled to receive this ARC from NetGalley. Katherine Center really got me with How to Walk away so I jumped at the chance to preview her newest novel, Things You Save in a Fire.
Cassie Hanwell is good at many things: firefighting, medical emergencies, and avoiding her pain. After her past comes screaming back in multiple ways, she is forced to deal with her pain and learn to forgive, including herself.
I enjoyed the story very much. It was a fast paced read and very interesting. I especially enjoyed the story lines around the emergency calls. Cassie grew a lot from beginning to end, but I still didn’t love her. Rookie, on the other hand, was wonderful and I loved his story.
The themes of trauma, grief, and forgiveness were thought provoking. However, I felt they stopped short of being deep enough to impact the reader. I wish it addressed more around the sexual trauma.
Overall, I recommend for a quick read.

I laughed so hard while reading this book. I kept reading parts of it to my hubby because some parts were so funny. Don't be foil though, this is not a comedy. This is the story of Cassie, a star firefighter, who is about to receive one of the most prestigious awards a firefighter can receive for an act of bravery. The Maire has scheduled to hand her the award but was called to a more pressing matter and went one of his counselors to do the honour. Cassie has a history with this counselor and when he discreetly grabs her butt during the award ceremony, she cracks the award plaque on his head and gives him a good beating. Cassie is told to apologize to the counselor or lose her job. She compromises by being transferred to another station near her estranged mother who has just resurfaced and is asking for her help. This is a new start but it will not be easy in a station where men have ruled and do not like women to join them. And there is also the rookie... The handsome rookie who has stirred something in Cassie which she thought was not possible.

A big thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for this fantastic novel. Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center will be available at your favourite bookstore on August 13, 2019.

4½ stars rounded up. Things You Save in a Fire was my first book by Katherine Center and I absolutely loved it! It's a quick and easy read, that made me feel weepy as much as it made me laugh out loud and squeal with delight. The writing flows so well, and I found myself quickly turning page after page, quickly devouring the story. Center's writing is simple, no extravagance or anything like that, but she honestly doesn't need it; her writing evokes powerful emotions and what I enjoyed most about it is that it's completely relatable.

This book is about the strength of healing and the power of forgiveness, especially of oneself. I really enjoyed Cassie's character arc--she's such a strong female lead--and as her walls were slowly chipped away, I found myself delighted that she was able to finally grant forgiveness to her 16-year-old self and her mother, and to embrace the love and support that the people around her had to give. It was easy to forget that Cassie is relatively young because she has a certain maturity and confidence that's usually found in older characters, and this is especially so when she dealt with the issues she faces at the new firehouse. Also in dealing with her mother, I found Cassie developed a mature understanding about the situation that I would have had trouble swallowing even now, had I been in her shoes.

I thought the romance between Cassie and the Rookie was sweet, and I loved that his character was much "softer" compared to her hard-as-nails one. Although to be honest, I was trying really hard to feel their chemistry, but even up until the end I wasn't overwhelmed with their connection; certainly not enough for such a grand HEA. To be fair though, it's probably just me who thought that and it certainly didn't take (much) away from my enjoyment of the story! The Rookie honestly sounds kind of like the dream man I'd want in real life--I mean, anyone who loves to cook and bake me delicious things, and is always understanding and supportive, is definitely a win! While romance was the big hook here, I also really enjoyed how the relationship evolved between Cassie and her mother, Diana. Mending their relationship really proves how much power there is in forgiveness.

Overall, this was a great feel-good romance and I'm looking forward to reading more from Katherine Center. If her other books are anything like this one, I know I will surely enjoy them!

Thanks to Netgalley, Katherine Center and St. Martin's Press for making this book available to read in exchange for an honest review. I have posted this review on my Goodreads and I will post it on my Blog (www.dinipandareads.home.blog) and Instagram (www.instagram.com/dinipandareads) closer to the date of publication.