My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I had recently read What You Wish For by the author and loved it so much that I wanted to check all the works by the author and I’m super excited to say YAY, Katherine Center didn’t disappoint me, in fact, she held me so much in thrall with her beautiful narrative of a young woman learning forgiveness and opening herself to love.

An absolutely charming story that one can’t help but be in love with, Things You Save In A Fire gives the reader lessons in humility and the sacrifices and danger that a firefighter endures in the course of their work. Cassie Hanwell lives and breathes her job but when circumstances force her to make a move to Rockport to stay with her semi-estranged mother, Cassie has her task cut out. She has to overcome her own traumatic past but the additional stress of being the first female to join the Lillian Fire department, she faces an uphill task in convincing her colleagues of her capabilities and strengths. Adding to the trouble, is the new rookie Owen Callaghan and for someone who considers herself totally emotionless and cool, Cassie finds her tough wall crumbling under the kindness and the charming personality of the rookie.

The fact that the author writes dialogues so adorably that the reader is left in tears with laughter is the dessert that needs to be savored in its entirety. There are some hard lessons to be learned from the book, the most powerful of them being that it is essential to forgive oneself before being able to forgive others and there’s nothing truer than that in the world.

I think its fairly obvious that I loved everything about the story immensely, the relationships, the friendships, the camaraderie and the beautiful love between Cassie and Owen.

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.

Cassie Hanwell was born for emergencies. As one of the only female firefighters in her Texas firehouse, she’s seen her fair share of them, and she’s a total pro at other people’s tragedies. But when her estranged and ailing mother asks her to give up her whole life and move to Boston, Cassie suddenly has an emergency of her own.

The tough, old-school Boston firehouse is as different from Cassie’s old job as it could possibly be. Hazing, a lack of funding, and poor facilities mean that the firemen aren’t exactly thrilled to have a “lady” on the crew—even one as competent and smart as Cassie. Except for the infatuation-inspiring rookie, who doesn’t seem to mind having Cassie around. But she can’t think about that. Because love is girly, and it’s not her thing. And don’t forget the advice her old captain gave her: Never date firefighters. Cassie can feel her resolve slipping…and it means risking it all—the only job she’s ever loved, and the hero she’s worked like hell to become.

Katherine Center’s Things You Save in a Fire is a heartfelt and healing tour-de-force about the strength of vulnerability, the nourishing magic of forgiveness, and the life-changing power of defining courage, at last, for yourself.

This review is published in my blog https://rainnbooks.wordpress.com/; Amazon India, Goodreads, and Twitter.