Review: Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center

Title: Things You Save in a Fire
Author: Katherine Center
Published: August 2019, St. Martin's Press
Format: ARC Paperback, 320 pages
Source: Publisher

Summary: 
From the New York Times bestselling author of How to Walk Away comes a stunning new novel about family, 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 excellent at dealing with other people's tragedies. But when her estranged and ailing mother asks her to uproot her life and move to Boston, it's an emergency of a kind Cassie never anticipated.

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 handsome rookie, who doesn't seem to mind having Cassie around. But she can't think about that. Because she doesn't fall in love. And because of the advice her old captain gave her: don't date firefighters. Cassie can feel her resolve slipping...but will she jeopardize her place in a career where she's worked so hard to be taken seriously?

Katherine Center's Things You Save in a Fire is a heartfelt, affecting novel about life, love, and the true meaning of courage.


My thoughts: Katherine Center has been a favorite author of mine for a while. I had read quite a few of her earlier books and then I hadn't read anything by her for a while, until her most recent two releases...and for the life of me I can't figure out why I stopped reading her. She creates such real, relatable characters and is able to infuse humor into her stories at just the right time while still giving us little moments of truth.

I really enjoyed this story. I loved that we get a strong female character working in a non-traditional role. But she comes with a lot of baggage and this had forced her to put up walls that are going to require a lot to come down. And the biggest lesson she needs to learn is to forgive. Not only does she need to learn to forgive herself, but she also needs to be able to forgive others and I know this is something most people, myself included, struggle with.

This book gives so much food for thought, as most of Katherine Center's books do. The characters are instantly likeable and you will find yourself caring for and rooting for them. It makes you realize that being a little vulnerable now and again isn't such a bad thing. 

Katherine Center is definitely an author I know I can count on. Her books all have little bits of wisdom peppered throughout and leave you with food for thought along with a great story to get lost in and I can't recommend them enough! If you haven't picked this one up yet, I definitely encourage you to do so!