Cover Image: Still Burning

Still Burning

Pub Date:   |   Archive Date:

Member Reviews

This next story in the series is a second chance for love between Jack and Shasa. After tragic Sasha can't cope with their loss so she runs from everything and everyone. When she decides that is maybe time to start living in her life unexpectedly comes her exboyfriend who is also her new roommate. Jack is positively surprised to see Shasa and to learn that they will be roommates. After hurting for so long he is also ready to start living that is the way he is ready to start fighting for the one that got away. The only trouble is Jack ex and his job. Will Shasa accepted Jack with all his good and bad? An interesting love story that I liked that it was not predictable, I loved the humor and wish there would bitt more. Jack and Sasha's attraction is hot and explosive. I liked that we see all the gang and how are they doing. Can't wait to see arsonist to be caught and next love story of Tinman.
I volunteered to review an ARC of this book for Netgelly

Was this review helpful?

I wasnt it love with this at the beginning and it took me a while to get into but ended up really liking it! I will definitely be reading the next one and hopefully we might find out who the arsonist is

Was this review helpful?

predictable but sweet on a lot of levels. A Nice firefighter story that I wish had a little more action. But still a fun read

Was this review helpful?

While this is the third book in the Braving the Heat series, it is only the second that I have read. This book focuses on a second chance romance. Jack and Sasha were once very much in love and living together, but when Max, Sasha's brother and Jacks best friend was killed in a fire, Sasha ran away from her life, her future and Jack. Unable to face the idea that she may one day lose him in the same way, as both Max and Jack are firefighters, she decides to leave him there and then. Fast forward four years and they suddenly find themselves in each other's lives once again.
I do enjoy second chance romances, depending upon the reasons that they had split up in the first place that is. In this case, I think that it works for the most part. Apart from Sasha running away, there is no real betrayal or thing that can't be worked around. Sasha and Jack work well as a couple and the chemistry on the page between them is good.
There was again, a small mention of 'pole bunnies' and the way that Jack's ex-girlfriend that he was seeing while he and Sasha were apart was a little uncomfortable. Yes, psychos do exist, but there is a habit in these type of books to paint all women that are not the 'chosen' woman but have been in a man's life as disposable. There is also a tendency to keep the women 'pure' while they are single, while the men can do what (and who) they like. A small gripe and one common to much of this genre, not just this book.
Overall this was a really good read and I'd be keen to read the next in the series, which we were given a small taste of at the end of this book.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Was this review helpful?

I really enjoyed Still Burning by Leora Gonzales. Sasha and Jack have amazing chemistry together, even after years apart. They pick up right where they left off. I enjoyed the story line as well as the secondary characters. Can't wait for the next book in this series.

Was this review helpful?

This book started off awesome! I was hooked!
But sadly, the story became too slow moving for me until about the 60% mark. I really did struggle for whatever reason. I did enjoy the characters - Jack, Sasha, Annie, Hazel and the rest of gang. Perhaps the ex-girlfriend was a bit over the top. She could have been toned down. Maybe. I don't know. Its hard to say. I do know I didn't like her. At all!
Overall, I did enjoy this one and really do look forward to reading the next story in this series.

(I LOVE a good fireman!)

Was this review helpful?

When I picked this up, what drew me in was the blurb and once making it half way through, that was probably the only interesting thing about the series. After being separated for a few years then rekindling their romance at a wedding reception, Sasha and Jack quickly jumped back into the relationship despite her initially ending the relationship because he wanted to remain a fireman after her brother tragic death. There just wasn't enough built-up leading up to the leads giving their romance a second chance and that left me feeling more than disappointed. The series just wasn't what I was expecting and there just wasn't anything drawing me in enough to finish the series.

Was this review helpful?

I really enjoyed reading this book by Leora Gonzales. Storyline was well written and kept me intrigued with every turning page. Was funny, flirtatious, a smokin-Hot tale. Can’t wait for the next book by this author. Would recommend

Was this review helpful?

Ah, a fireman. Can't resist them to be honest. Sasha and Jack are in a relationship when her brother/his best friend and fellow fireman dies in a fire. Sasha is devastated and decides to move with her sister-in-law to another part of the country, breaking it off with Jack. She is sure she can never be with a fireman, afraid he might die as well. Four (!) years later Jack shows up in her town, stubborn and determined to win Sasha back. But can they pick up where they left off?

I was not really sure about the book. After the first chapter where Sasha decides to throw away her relationship with Jack, it takes a while for Jack to show up (10 chapters). I never really warmed to Sasha. Jack had to do all the work in my opinion.

Overall a nice read but nothing special to me. I have not read the other books in the series so might have influenced my opinion.

Was this review helpful?

Still Burning
by Leora Gonzales

This story felt so real, it was like an actual life event being retold.
Sasha Kendall’s family is a firefighting family. After getting the news her brother Max, was killed in a fire after saving two young girls, Sasha stays with her sister in law Annie. Annie advises Sasha not to love a firefighter isn’t worth it.

Jack Turner is Sasha’s love interest, and Max’s best friend. After the funeral he let’s Sasha go with Annie to help care for the baby and grieve her brother. But Jack wasn’t prepared for the fact that Sasha decide to break it off.

Four years later, Jack transfers to the fire department in the town Sasha and Annie live, hoping he can get her back. When he meets up with Sasha, the sparks ignite again, and it’s game on.

I found this story to be endearing, they both worked at the relationship without the ridiculous fights and temper tantrums or silent treatments. Read this book, and you’ll see the forgiveness and love between Jack and Sasha in this contemporary romance. I am looking forward to the next in the series.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

#Netgalley

Was this review helpful?

This was the first book I have read by Leora Gonzales and it did not disappoint! While this book is the third in a series, I think it can definitely be read as a stand alone. This book tells the story of Sasha, whose brother was a firefighter who died in the line of duty, and Jack, a firefighter that was also best friends with Sasha's brother. This was a really great second chance romance. Both Sasha and Jack were likable. I was rooting for them from the beginning. The secondary characters were great as well. I loved that it wasn't super angsty but it also wasn't totally predictable. Overall I thought this was a well-written contemporary romance.

Was this review helpful?

I LOVE Jack. How he fought so hard for love. I understood Sophie’s fear, and was glad she could overcome it eventually. This is a great second-chance love story, and a great series!

Was this review helpful?

STILL BURNING by Leora Gonzales is a fast easy read, perfect for an afternoon. I didn't realize this story is part of a series when I started reading. This is the first book I've read but, I'll definitely be looking to get caught up in the series! There was a number of characters I really enjoyed. Jack is a great character, such a good guy! Sasha, I didn't really care for at first. She was so selfish and juvenile. Once Jack and Sasha got their second chance, I liked her a lot more. This story left quite a few unanswered questions. So, I can't wait for the next book.

Was this review helpful?

Coming straight into this particular story without having read the previous books, the setup of the ‘Still Burning’ isn’t difficult to grasp: there’s the death of a firefighter, some grieving and a breakup—written and done in short order in the first chapter before the story picks up again 4 years later.

And this is on me, really, not having realised that this was a second-chance romance that had iffy conditions surrounding a pairing’s reunion when I requested this book. Mea culpa.

But I suppose having a protagonist rub you the wrong way didn’t bode well for the entire read at all.

There just weren’t enough emotional peaks and troughs in what I thought could have been a turbulent, heartfelt reunion between a couple who split so suddenly. I get it—the death of a loved one can make people do things. Stupid things or otherwise. But I didn’t feel it too much here, sadly, except for the gross injustice Sasha dealt Jack when she upped and left and cut off all frantic contact with him the the next 4 years, without much that she needed to make up for even when they finally met again.

That Jack suddenly muscled back in on her date out of the blue in 4 years, asking to try again, without the breathless feels, the awkwardness and the backlog of pain and angst took me by surprise for starters, at how...too easy it all went. And having come across as rash, selfish and impulsive after breaking up with Jack over the fact that Sasha couldn’t date another firefighter, to the extent where it was ‘easier’ to suffer a break up than risk him dying, playing the non-committal woman the second time around who just didn’t do enough to fight for a relationship made it all tank for me. I mean, should that poor guy really do all the work here?

Throw in some odd and perplexing time jumps past their reunion, the unresolved arson case, and the unwelcome intrusion of a psychotic ex-girlfriend to stir up more drama and I was about done with the bumpy reading experience. That Jack hadn’t moved on properly, so to speak, with an insane woman stalking him and creating more drama—using the villainous ex as a plot device to steer the reader's attention to how Sasha's the only one for him-didn't sit well at all.

Needless to say, ‘Still Burning’ didn’t work out as a good read for me. I’d hoped I was getting a brother’s-best-friend kind of trope, but hey, failing to read the blurb properly after the initial excitement of seeing another firefighter story? That's my fault.

Was this review helpful?

There were so many things about this book that I liked. I liked the characters of Jack and Sasha. They were just likable people who has something thrown at them and decisions were made that in the moment seemed like the right thing to do.

I liked the character of Jack. He was a good friend, wonderful boyfriend and loyal firefighter. One horrific situation caused Jack to not only lose his best friend but the love of his life. I really liked the concept that Jack never got over Sasha. He knew they were meant to be together and she was it for him.

I liked Sasha 99% of the time. I think she acted very rashly in her decision to end things with Jack but yet I know people grieve differently. I liked that she was a strong character and she was there for her sister-in-law and niece.

I really enjoyed this book.

Was this review helpful?

The next book in this series - the second one I have read.

Sasha is moving house, having lived with the sister-in-law after her brother was killed in a fire. Little does she know that her new housemate will be her ex boyfriend, who wants her back. Passions are high once they start sharing the house, but will his ex and Sasha's feelings on his choice of career mean they don't have a future together?

Looking forward to the next book in this series!

Was this review helpful?

I hope you are keeping up with series because they do elude to some of the situations that happened in previous books characters, yes they explain some of it but I feel like you get more if you read them. I have to admit that I did not read the first one, but do plan to, I started with the second book which was about Nix and Lou. In this one we meet Sasha and Jack who are now renting Lou's house since she moved in with Nix. We find out that Sasha and Jack were previous lovers who though while still loving each other had broken apart when Sasha's brother had died in a fire and Sasha couldn't be with Jack if he stayed a firefighter. (yes you get upset at this) I felt bad for Sasha and even understood where she was coming from but it was also unfair of her to just let Jack go without truly discussing how she felt. When these two see each other all the feelings that they had were still there and they decided to work on it and them and you were rooting for them because they truly should have been together. We know that nothing is ever easy and Jack had a cray cray he had to deal with as well as a firebug who is getting some sort of revenge on those in the unit that he along with the rest of the gang we met and love work in..can't wait for next one...Enjoy!

Was this review helpful?