I really enjoyed How to Walk Away by Katherine Center and her Things You Save in a Fire was just as wondeful. Cassie is the youngest person, and the first woman, to receive a prestigious award with her Austin Fire Department. She has the second highest score of any firefighter on an important test necessary for promotion and advancement in the department. She is well-respected in her fire house and her crew is her family. She loves her job. When she is forced to move away and leave it all behind to join a new department, it is worse than starting from square one. Her new department is filled with men who think women have absolutely no place in a fire house. Add to that stress her ailing, estranged mother and the tug on her heart of unexpected romance and Cassie may not make it out alive.

I love Center's writing. The dialogue is quick and witty, she knows exactly how to build tension and when to finally let it break, and her female characters are strong without being hard, soft without being wimpy, sarcastic without being caustic. Center's stories are marinated in humor and heart. Cassie isn't the only great character in this book. We meet her mother, who has a complicated past but also a great perspective on life; her mother's darling neighbor; her Super Woman fire chief in Texas and her begrudging fire chief in Massachusetts. We also meet some funny firefighters and one or two that are kind of mean. I really liked this book and I can't wait to read Center's other books.

After reading this, I learned that there should definitely be more books with women taking on stereotypical men roles. Like fire fighting, police work, etc. I think this is considered a contemporary type romance, but it did not read as one for me. This was a feel good story with a woman taking initiative.

“Things You Save in a Fire” was my first read by Katherine Center. The things that I liked about this book is that there were many themes throughout. A little mystery, a little romance, a little drama. Combined, it really made for a lovely book. There were times that I laughed out loud. Overall, this was a pretty smooth ride of a book and I will definitely be reading more of Center’s books in the future.

I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Things You Save in Chick Lit When Trying to Go Deep
Hello strong, sassy, and one-of-the-boys protagonist! Absent mother? Basketball coach father who raised her to be a one of the boys? Tragic back story? New girl in a strange city? Walls protecting her heart broken down? Surprise crush off limits? Listen, Katherine Center didn’t write the best rom-com in print nor did she avoid cringe-worthy sexual scenes along with every other chick lit trope in her novel, Things You Save in a Fire, and obviously someone’s married to a firefighter which takes the story into a contained, semi-interesting foreign world but overall, not to be mean, too Hallmarky.

Wendy Ward
http://wendyrward.tumblr.com/

Katherine Center is fast becoming one of my favorites! This is my favorite of hers yet! She writes such beautiful characters with such personality and interest. I loved the story in this one and how it all came together! So fantastic!

This was my first book by Katherine Center and it will not be my last. I loved Cassie's character and the fact that the author stayed true to Cassie's strong, independent personality while allowing her to develop feelings and emotions without becoming a weak version of herself like so many authors tend to do. I am not a big fan of romances, but this book had me hooked from page one and I devoured it in two days! Highly recommended...

I first discovered Katherine Center after reading How To Walk Away, and I now feel like she is a must-buy-her-book on release day type of author for me. Women's Fiction, with romantic elements is my favorite genre, and this author does it well.

I loved the strong, female firefighter and the layered complexity of the story. I quickly felt like Cassie was someone I was cheering on, and couldn't put the book down because I wanted to know what happened to her.

The theme of forgiveness was well done, and who doesn't need to hear stories about such an important topic? Highly recommend this book!

I posted to my website, Goodreads, and a post about not to be missed 2019 releases on Great Thoughts, Great Readers Facebook page.

While this doesn't technically come out until August 13, many of you have your hands on it already because it's a July early-release Book of the Month selection. As a novelist, Center has said she is “interested in the ways people bounce back,” and after our protagonist and veteran firefighter Cassie throws a few very public punches at a community event, she struggles to figure out how to do just that—in a new firehouse that is reluctant, to say the least, to welcome a female firefighter into their boys' club. Her new position is complicated further when she falls for her fellow rookie, and is forced to finally think about her feelings (ugh). A fast, feel-good read.

This is Chick Lit on every level. A strong, good-hearted woman that doesn't need saving meets dreamy, hunky man with only the best intentions just itching to get married, and an impossible situation that could never result in the possibility of these two ending up together is the premise of this title. All that's missing is a cute puppy. But...as predictable and unrealistic as it is, it is also a really delicious place to get lost for a bit. Thanks NetGalley and publishers for providing an advanced digital copy for review.

Cassie Hanwell learns to forgive and love not only herself but others in her life as well. She is stubborn at first but her hard exterior is slowly melted away.

I realized I forgot to rate this book. Honestly, it was not memorable. I forgot I read it until I was prompted to rate it.

This is the second book I’ve read by this author, and again I was thoroughly impressed. One of the main reasons I wanted to pick this one up, other than the author, was that it takes place in Boston. I can see this one playing out as a really good movie.

Cassie was one of the fiercest main characters I had the chance to read about in a long time. She was so determined to prove herself, and I found that admirable. It was fun to read from a firefighter’s perspective, since I hadn’t before.The romantic aspect of the book was done well. I enjoyed the love interest and was very invested in them.

Overall, I highly enjoyed this one. If you enjoyed Katherine’s other book I’d 100% say go and pick this one up, it will not be a disappointment. There’s not much more I can say about this one other than I couldn’t put it down.

This is the second time I've had the pleasure of reading something by this author. I love the way she writes. She writes very flawed characters who have struggles, and communication problems, and complicated pasts. I loved this book just as much as How To Walk Away (there was even a brief mention of the opening of How to Walk Away- which personally made me quite happy). This book has everything: a female fire fighter, a romance, a work scandal... I thought it was a really fun read.

I liked the characters but I hate when in a book males have to treat women like they are below them and this book did that in a big way. The book had a great concept but I feel like it fell short of what the story could have been. You have a woman trying to prove herself after her mom left and now mom wants her back. There are a lot of secrets and a lot of dumb decisions on a lot of people's parts. The romance part was cute though.

This book was high on my TBR list, as so many of my fellow book people had read and LOVED her previous books (especially Happiness for Beginners). When I immediately finished it, I instinctively gave it 4 stars because I was wholly invested and raced to see what would happen at the end - but the more I thought about it, the more I realized I actually didn't love it the way I thought I did. I love a female character that can take care of herself and takes no shit, but sometimes it was really hard to like Cassie. Probably the one thing I didn't feel invested in throughout the book was her burgeoning relationship with the rookie, and the ending felt way too unrealistic for me.

All of that being said - I STILL LIKED IT. And I would definitely give Happiness for Beginners a try, as well as How to Walk Away. I liked her writing a lot, and I think a different story could work very well for me!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the gifted book and opportunity to read and review it prior to its publication date! This in no way affected my review, all opinions are my own.

I truly enjoyed this book! I liked the characters as they developed in the story. The ending was what I expected, but has a good message.

Katherine Center books are a repeat go-to when I want a rich story with lots of substance! Things You Save In A Fire was an excellent choice for both and truly delivers from page one all the way through. It was completely un-put-downable! I finished yesterday and I am still thinking about this and playing it over in my mind. Excellent and highly recommended!

Katherine Center never disappoints.. This is one very good book. The story will pull you in and won’t let go. From start to finish it’s wonderful. Strong women are always great to read about and this does not let you down.

I’ve read other books by this author and know that I am hooked on her as an author.
This book has great characters. A great plot. A strong young lady and all the feels that a good story gives. You truly won’t want to put it down.
Well written and keeps you turning the pages until the very end. I absolutely loved it.

Thank you to #NetGalley, #KatherineCenter, #StMartin’sPress for this wonderful book. All thoughts are my own and in no way reflect this being an ARC!!

A big 5 star book and high recommendation.

This book tells the story of a strong woman with a painful past to overcome. I was drawn into the story from the beginning. I loved seeing how Cassie was able to deal with her past while making a new and better future for herself. This is a good book to read if you want something that is easy to get lost in, and looking for a happy ending. Just the type of book I needed to read at the time.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher of this book for a copy for my honest opinion. 5 out of 5 stars!!

Things You Save in a Fire is a book I was wildly excited for, but somehow got missed in my reviews. It’s now been about a month and a half since I read it, but I still really want to review it, so I’m going to do my best, but must admit that some of the details are a little fuzzy.

Things You Save in a Fire is about firefighter Cassie Hanwell. Cassie graduated top of her class and has spent the last few years building up a good reputation for herself at a progressive firehouse in Texas. She’s well respected by the rest of the male firefighters and has the pleasure of working for another female fire chief. But then at the peak of her career, her estranged mother asks her to move to Boston for a year to help her recover her health after a recent surgery. Cassie is reluctant to return, but due to other circumstances, it ends up not being a bad time for her to try something new.

The thing is, her firehouse in Texas was pretty progressive and well funded, but her new firehouse in Boston is not. The firehouse has fallen into disrepair is not well equipped in terms of what Cassie would consider important safety equipment. But the biggest difference is that Cassie is the first female to ever be hired at the firehouse and the male firefighters are not pleased about it. They’re used to things running a certain way and having the freedoms to act and speak as they choose, and despite Cassie’s protests that they can do and say all the same things around her, they choose to believe that they can’t.

As a female, Cassie has obviously had to work twice as hard to gain the respect of her peers, but she’s never worked in an old-school-boys-club firehouse like this one and she is really challenged. Cassie is used to training hard and knows how to fit in, when to speak up, and when to stay quiet, but she really struggles to be taken seriously and the other firefighters continue to be threatened by her female presence in their traditionally male place of work.

On paper, this story has everything I usually look for in a book. Although it is a romance, which is not something I’m usually drawn to, it is a book about powerful women subverting the status quo. There were parts of this book that I really liked – it draws attention to the challenges women face in male fields – how they have to work so much harder to be taken seriously and that everything that is expected of them is contradictory. You have to be as good as your male counterparts, but you can’t be better than them lest they feel emasculated by you. You can’t be girly, but you’ll never be one of the boys. And you can’t expect to be treated differently, even though everyone adamantly treats you differently. On top of the challenges at work, Cassie struggles with an incident that happened to her in her past. An incident that has made her keep her distance from dating for many years and is triggering when she finally develops a crush on one of the other firefighters.

Like I said, there’s a lot to like. Cassie is powerful, but also immensely vulnerable. She has built up a wall around her in order to keep herself safe, but you want nothing more than for her to finally tear that wall down so that she can really experience and interact with the world. So overall I quite liked the story. The romance was a little embarrassing at times, but overall I bought into it. While I generally liked the book though, there were definitely some parts where I couldn’t help rolling my eyes and wished the author had maybe taken a slightly different approach.

This is namely when Cassie repeatedly shows up the guys in her firehouse. I understand that Cassie has to work really hard to be taken seriously, but I was frustrated by how much she relied on physical strength to show up her colleagues or try and gain their respect. It just felt like she was good at everything and I didn’t buy that she would continuously beat everyone in every challenge. It had nothing to do with her being a woman, just that no one is that good at everything. I think its still okay to let female characters be vulnerable and not the best at things. It’s unrealistic to think that to be a successful female firefighter, you have to epically better than your male peers at everything. That is never going to happen and it’s discouraging to portray this as the only way to be successful in this field.

Cassie was just good at everything, even non physical feats, like applying for funding. Now don’t get me wrong because I thought this was actually a brilliant example of where a woman would bring valuable skills to a firehouse and a great example of how you don’t need to best everyone physically to be an asset. Though Cassie was vulnerable emotionally, I just would have liked to see a little more vulnerability at work.

Overall, I did like the book, but I didn’t love it and this was what made it a run of the mill 3 star read for me instead of a 4. A good read, but not a great one.