Cole and Natalie have been in each others lives for years. When Natalie was married to Cole's best friend Evan things were straightforward for Cole. She was Evan's wife and they could be nothing more than friends. But Evan died two years ago and Cole has been in love with Natalie for years. Guilt over Evan's death and the old school firefighters traditions have kept Cole for making a move, but when he sees her out on a date (at his bar no less) he cannot contain his jealousy. As things heat up between Cole and Natalie, she will have to decide if she is willing to risk her heart to another firefighter and he will have to decide if she is worth risking the career that has been his life for so long.
VERDICT is that this is a quick steamy read that fans of contemporary romance novels will enjoy. Cole and Natalie are both extremely likable characters. Natalie's mom is a phenomenal side character that adds a different dimension of familial love and obligation, as well as brings the wisdom and some humor. There is some good tension in the novel between the two characters and it all stems from their own preconceived ideas of the world and misconceptions of each other. Cole flips a little easy from never happening to accepting his want for Natalie, but Natalie does seem pretty awesome so a reader can forgive that plot point since it allows for a few more steamy scenes.

Cole and Natalie’s journey through grief, tragedy, frustration, and success comes together in this lovely friends to lovers story. Cole and Natalie have been friends for years. Cole was Natalie’s deceased husband’s best friend, which prevented him from pursuing her at the start of their friendship. Then, after her husband passes while fighting a fire, Natalie is grief consumed, and Cole is both grief and guilt consumed. However, two years after his passing Natalie has decided to start dating again and Cole won’t let her get away again.

I want to start by saying that I read this book in less than 24 hours. I seriously could not put it down. I honestly enjoyed all of the characters in the story and can see where the next books in the series could go. All of the characters added to the plot and were well written. The flow of the story stilled just a touch in the middle, but it picks back up quickly. I would absolutely recommend this book to others and cannot wait for the next book in the series.

I really liked this book!!

It was well written and really addictive - I loved every page and read it in one sitting.

This was a book that focussed on the struggle of the heart, it was romantic and heartfelt

It is 5 stars from me for this one, very highly recommended!!

Another amazing series starter by Skye! I love this story about hidden forbidden love, friendship, and sexy firefighters. Cole is there when Natalie needs him and as their relationship builds they both learn what is most important. The side characters (they are really more than that) are involved enough that I can't wait for their stories. Skye is one of the best at series storytelling! This is definitely a 5+ read!

This is Natalie’s story. A story of a woman who has lost too much to fire. Firefighter Cole is determined to take care of Natalie after losing his best friend at a fire. But he wants more and Natalie feels she must cut herself off from the firefighters family but the intense drawing she has to Cole inches her slowly back.
Sky has written a book which is truly amazing as I felt Natalie’s torture as she went about her life after losing her husband and the guilt she felt for even feeling again. The name of the series is Forged in Fire, totally fitting for this book and I’m sure this will be for the others in the series.

Ohhhhh these two will break your heart and your will be rooting for them from the very beginning. So we beginning with some hotttt firefighters, I mean how can we go wrong with that? right? Cole is worried about his friend Evan, because he is noticing that he is taking Oxy's again and he warns him to get help and to tell his wife or he will, well unfortunately he gets disoriented in a fire and loses his life and Cole feels guilty. 2 years later and his wife Natalie decides it is time to move on and even though she is having some feeling for Cole she wont go there because was Evan's best friend, and Cole has always loved Natalie but he still feels guilty for not getting there in time for his friend and for having loving Natalie, but I was so happy that his friends urged him to go for it. And Natalie's mother encouraged him reminding him than Evan was not the best husband and she knew he always loved her and they were the best together...I hope we get the other guys stories....

4.5 stars

I love books by Ms. Jordan and read them without looking at the blurb. In this new series, I am blown away. Before I knew it, I was out of pages, and I still want more. I expect strong women, but the layers to Natalie take her strength to the next level.

Cole has secrets and demons, a past that drives him, and an attraction to his best friend's widow. His interest as something other than friends has been around for some time, but she is off-limits. Cole and Natalie have been friends for a long time and recently started to admit feelings other than friendship.

Natalie is just starting to live again, yet life keeps pushing her back. Her family business has a setback; she manages but not without Cole’s help. Can she get past the hurt fire has caused in her life?

Will they give in to their feelings? Can she make lemonade out of all the lemons life keeps throwing at her?

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the advanced copy; this is my voluntary review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️4 Stars - I really enjoyed this one. It was super sweet and light hearted, with just a hint of 🌶spice🌶 The author tackles topics like grief, guilt and loyalty and nails it. I would definitely recommend this to anyone thinking of dipping their toes into romance, or just if you have a hankering for firefighters 🤷🏻‍♀️ I am excited to explore more titles by this author! The book will be out on the 22nd of Feb 2021! Thank you to the author for letting me read this early, it was a delight!

Review also available on Instagram:@somelikeithardback

Loving Skye Jordan and all of her books as of late!
What happens when you fall for the widow of your best friend? Evan has been in love with Natalie for as long as he can remember. I usually am not a fan when it comes to best friends making a move on a widow.To me, it feels off.But, somehow this one worked for me.

4.5

Flashpoint by Skye Jordan is the story of Natalie and Cole and the first book in the Forged in Fire series.

Natalie’s husband Evan died two years ago while on the job as a firefighter. Cole is also a firefighter and was Evan’s best friend since childhood. While Cole has always had feelings for Natalie, he was able to keep them in check. One night Natalie showed up with a date and Cole decided that he was done standing on the sidelines.

This book was a great start to the series. I was hooked from the prologue to the epilogue. I liked both of the characters. Cole was patient but also unwilling to let Natalie hide from what they shared. Their story was emotional - one minute I had tears in my eyes and the next I had a big smile on my face. I liked the side characters and can’t wait to see what’s in store for them.

Thank you to Netgalley- (I received an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review)

I have to admit that I do enjoy romance stories where one (or more) of the main characters is a firefighter. I'm not sure what it is about that profession, but I also know that I'm not alone in appreciating them. Flashpoint is the first (I believe) in a new series by Skye Jordan that features that particular career.
Cole is our firefighter (perhaps not the best name for someone who fights fire; a substance the usually fuels it but who cares). He lives and breathes his job and has no time for a woman in his life, especially one who happens to be the widow of his best friend. A best friend who just so happened to die in a fire. Unfortunately, he's been in love with Natalie forever and when he discovers that she is ready to date again, jealousy rears its ugly head. Especially as he knows that the last thing that she wants is a relationship with another firefighter who does such a dangerous job.
I liked the relationship between Cole and Natalie, it's clear that they are friends long before it grows into something more romantic. I wasn't entirely convinced about the idea that people and the fire service, would object to a relationship between a firefighter and the widow of another firefighter, but who knows, stranger things have happened and it worked within the storyline.
Overall this is a good romance and a great start to a new series. I'm interested to see who gets a story next, I think I might have an idea.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Flashpoint in the beginning was a heart breaking book. Natalie has been through so much between losing her husband and father both to fire she already can't take it anymore. Then her mom is injured in a fire and she's done with fire, she wants nothing to do with it anymore. However, Cole has different ideas. He has been in love with her since before she met her husband, Evan, whom he was best friends with. Cole felt that he couldn't be with her because she was the wife of a fellow firefighter, until the day his friends and co-workers, told him to follow how he felt. Natalie and Cole together are like fire themselves, they burn, and are so good for one another. He balances her, while she pushes him to be more than what he feels he is. By the end of the book, he has made sure to give Natalie everything that she could possibly want, and he makes her exceedingly happy. I loved these two characters and their willingness to fight for one another. This was a great book, and I hope there are more books in this series. I will be lining up to read them! Highly recommend.

Things don’t always work out as planned. For Cole loving his best friend’s life wasn’t what he wanted, losing his best friend wasn’t either, and now two years later he may lose his friend ship with Natalie as well.

Natalie has lost it all and has a lot going on. She’s a very likable character and I extremely liked this book. So much is going on but it’s enjoyable and you can’t help but be pulled in.

Beautiful history of friendship and slow burn between Cole and Natalie as they both move through their grief and guilt over the death of Evan, Cole’s best friend and Natalies husband.

Cole has been in love with Natalie for years and finally reveals all when she brings a date into his bar. Natalie shows feelings for Cole but his career in firefighting is still too much of a reminder of Evan’s death in a fire. Their relationship also sees struggles with outside opinions, lies, secrets and roadblocks for Cole’s career.

Hoping this is a series because there are more firefighters in station 21 that deserve love!

ARC received for review

Evan has been in love with Natalie for forever, even when she was his BFFs wife. He never did anything until years after his death. Evan has a lot of guilt surrounding his friend's death that delays his moving into a relationship with Natalie. Natalie has one thing after another happen, and Eric is there to support and help her. They fall in love and then there's department drama trying to keep them apart.

Please tell me this is going to be a series because there are a lot of great firefighters who need to get HEAs.

4.5 Stars
This story had me on an emotional rollercoaster a few times. I couldn’t help but relate to Natalie and feel her pain over the death of her husband. And then there is Cole. Her husband’s best friend. Her friend. A man who is secretly in love with her, but he won’t cross that line because she’s Evan’s wife.
Great story with wonderful supporting characters. I look forward to the other stories in this series.

I enjoyed reading, Flashpoint. I will be telling all of my friends that they have got to read it.
Cole and Natalie finally found a way to be together just to have narrow minded people try to ruin it for them. I'm a sap for firefighter romances,

Flashpoint is a great start to a new series. It does a great job of establishing the characters for both this and future novels. The problems these characters have are a little on the dramatic side, but not so much that they become unrealistic. I thought Natalie's reluctance to get in a relationship with another firefighter made sense - having lost her father and husband and then almost her mother in fires would turn anyone off getting into a relationship with someone who runs into burning buildings on an almost daily basis. But I appreciated that she was able to have these fears and talk about them with Cole. The fact that he was willing to give it all up to be with her made me fall in love with him a little bit myself. The were only two parts of the story I was not a big fan of 1)people being critical of Cole and Natalie being together because of Evan (especially since he had been dead for 2 years - this definitely was not a rebound thing for either of them) and 2) Natalie only going to see Cole because he was in the hospital - I would have rather there not have needed to be an emergency to get her to go talk with him. Looking forward to book 2!

This story has depth one doesn’t always find in a romance novel, you can feel the emotions come through as you read the words. A friends to lovers story, intertwined with sad events, meddling busybodies and their own personal angst, Cole and Natalie’s story was so engaging, heartwarming and the right balance of sizzle, I didn’t want to put down. And the full cast of characters, wonderful and demonstrated that family is not always blood but bonded by life’s ups and downs. The first book in the Forged in Fire series is a winner and looking forward to the next.

Stories that involve falling in love (or being secretly in unrequited love) with your best-friend's widow can sometimes get a little dicey. The guilt, the secrets, the feelings of shame and betrayal. But the storyline handles all of that so so well and really gives you so much more. Natalie lost her husband in a fire two years ago - they were very much in love but facing a lot of issues (some known and others unknown) at the time of his death. Natalie had already lost her father to a fire, and at the start of the book almost loses her mother and her business. She's had so much loss in her life - but for the last two years her husband's best friend and Natalie's friend Cole has been a strong source of support. Even though he has really not been present in her life emotionally.

Cole has complicated feelings about his friend's death - he is worried that his friend's opioid dependency (that only he knew about) contributed to it. He's also been very much in love with Natalie for a long time but didn't act on it because of his friendship.

Cole and Natalie have a lot of obstacles to overcome - but when Cole decides to go for it and try with Natalie - he really goes all in. Natalie quickly realizes that her friendship with Cole is so much more than just friends.

This is a great start to what will probably be an amazing series about this very interesting crew of firefighters. Its a great view into firehouse and firefighter culture and community.

I'd recommend this for anyone who loves this type of story!

I received it as an ARC from NetGalley, but these opinions are all my own!