Thinks You Save In A Fire by Katherine Center

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?A woman who has built her life on independence and being one of the guys, has to make the decision if being herself fits into either of those categories.I received this copy for free from Netgalley in exchange for my review which does not have to be favorable.*Reader beware: this book deals with rape*The majority of the book the reader is aware of a shady "relationship" between Cassie and another man, but no details are given (which I appreciated). But in the last 1/8 or so of the book, the event is described (it's not in extreme detail, but it is described). I personally steer VERY clear of this type of storyline, and had I known this was going to be a plot in this book I probably would not have picked it up. All in all, that is a negative for me, but nothing described was nightmare inducing, and it was written well overall.Another thing I didn't love... There is an issue with a fellow firefighter that endangers the life of another person. As a reader, we see how Cassie reacts, but we don't see enough of how the other person affected reacts. This seemed like a missed opportunity to me.There wasn't enough dialogue in this book for me. I craved more of it.Regarding Cassie's mom's health.... I think as a reader, I was supposed to be surprised about something. I wasn't surprised. I mean, I do watch a lot of Masterpiece Mystery shows on the BBC so maybe I'm unwittingly channeling Sherlock. Or maybe that was predictable.This book felt long. I can't describe that another way, other than I asked myself if it was going to be over soon, just to look down at the percent completed and realize "nope, only 65% done." And I'm not sure this book was actually long, it just felt like that at times.I don't believe in love at first sight. Attraction? Of Course. Lust? For sure. Love? No way. This book had a case of love-at-first-sight's and the majority of the book did feature a love story. I read the whole book and I didn't finish it and think to myself... wow they really love each other.Wow that was a LONG list of things I didn't like! I bet you're wondering if there is anything I DID like in this book. Don't worry, there was! A 3 star rating for me is by no means a dud! Consider this a thorough review!There are some great quotes in this book. I felt like I was constantly highlighting quotes to come back to later! (In my initial draft of this review I wrote down no less than three quotes from this book- but then I remembered this was an ARC and I can't include quotes in my review! but TRUST me, her writing is AMAZING!)This book talks a lot about forgiveness. Katherine Center has an uncanny ability to capture an unbelievable degree of realism in her books. Maybe not every plot line, but she'll describe something so accurately that you'll begin to wonder what struggles she's experienced in life to make her so acutely aware of the words needed to describe them! And then you realize that perhaps she hasn't at all and she's simply an amazing author. In The Bright Side Of Disaster, she captures everything from a birth plan to life as a new mom. In How To Walk Away she captures the ache of being in a hospital and the truth about hopelessness in your health. In this book, it's the real steps it takes to forgive, and the reality of what it looks like to cope in life without forgiving. You can live a perfectly reasonable life without forgiveness, but a much more full one with it. I think that was the message in this book and it was well received.Another BIG pro (I can't emphasize that enough) in this book is the women's issues it tackles. Cassie is a woman doing a job that is almost exclusively male. She sees the pros and cons of being a girl and doesn't have a chip on her shoulder when proving why she is amazing at her job. Her attitude throughout the book is so stellar - because she assumes positive intent from her coworkers. Cassie mentions at one point that she was trying to recalibrate her coworkers idea of what it meant to be female. I loved that thought.Overall I'm not sure if I should classify this book as a romance novel or a fiction novel- truth be told, those genres overlap a lot more than people are willing to admit. This book wasn't crazy steamy or anything (it's no Winston Brothers), but there is romance involved!Act: make sure your house is up to date with Carbon monoxide and smoke detectors and that the batteries all work.Listen: Moonlight Kiss by Bap KennedyWatch: How to Deal (Mandy Moore at her finest!)