Firefighters bring the heat!Handsome fire captain Jack Barnes gave up hope of finding love long ago. He keeps busy leading his crew of firefighters at Station One in the small city of Golden Falls, Alaska, and riding his beloved horse, Honest Abe. He tells himself that’s enough, but he hand-built a house fit for a family and his heart yearns for the love of a good woman. Leave it to Jack to fall …
Leave it to Jack to fall for the one woman he can’t have.
Elizabeth Armstrong wants more out of life than to just be known as the daughter of the town’s most notorious corrupt cop. Barely making ends meet as a bartender at the Sled Dog Brewery, she has dreams of becoming a nurse, wife, and mother. To create the family she never had and to fill her house with love, laughter, and the smell of baking bread. When sexy, kind fire captain Jack Barnes helps her out of a bad spot one night, she falls hard … but dare she hope that the sparks flying between them could ignite into true love?
Unbeknownst to Elizabeth, Jack is harboring a secret that destroyed her family in an attempt to save his own. Despite the heat between them, he feels honor-bound to keep his desire for her at bay, but secrets have a way of surfacing. When Jack reveals the truth about the past, Elizabeth must either forgive him, or walk away from the one man who can give her the happiness she deserves.
FROM THE ASHES is the third in the Golden Falls Fire series of contemporary romances. While it can be enjoyed as a stand-alone novel, there are plenty more love stories for the Golden Falls firefighters, so check out the other books in the series!
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Secrets have a way of digging deep and sinking deeper the longer they’re kept. And when it’s a secret born of pain, it festers inside the keeper, infecting the way they view the world and others involved with the secret they hold. In Jack’s case, his secret destroyed one family in favor of his own. He had no way of knowing that his soul mate would be hurt the most but when he realizes that the woman he loves is the woman he could crush if he were to speak the truth he’s left with a difficult choice to make.
Elizabeth is an incredible woman. She’s had to grow up under the shame and shadow of her corrupt cop father. Despite that, she’s worked hard and does her best to keep her home and her brother from crumbling all while nurturing her dreams of becoming a nurse, a wife, and a mother. Her relationship with Jack is a bit of a roller coaster. She knows he’s it for her even if he’s to stubborn to give her half a chance. It bothers me a little that she has her moment of knowing in her soul that Jack is the one for her but she sometimes acts contrary to that knowledge. In some cases it’s how she responds to their passion. Other than that, her perseverance when it comes to making Jack open his home and his heart to her is admirable.
Jack, on the other hand, was a bit too wishy-washy for me. He had his own moment of knowing in his soul that Elizabeth is the one for him forevermore but then he goes on that little trip to the bar. It’s a good thing he’s an honest and sappy drunk because otherwise he would have put himself in a situation I’d be hard-pressed to excuse or forgive. When you fall in love with a strong woman you have to trust her. Trust that she can handle the truth, the bad news, the hell you’ve hid. Lies of omission hurt just as much as lies of commission. I found his lack of trust and belief in Elizabeth the most disappointing. Well, that and that bar trip.
The amount of forgiveness is staggering. While I felt it was given a little too easily, I admire their strength of character. I’m very glad that it wasn’t a “forgive and forget” situation, though, and that the guilty parties were made to make amends no matter the reason for the crime in the first place.
Overall this was a moving story, one with a lot of chemistry and tender feels. It was also a story of honesty and redemption. Once again, Golden Falls is a place of humbling, resolution, and hope. It’s also home to fierce women and the men they choose to share their lives with.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Booksprout and I am voluntarily reviewing it.
This is the first book from Scarlett Andrews that I have read. It is the third in the series, Golden Falls Fire. All I can say is WOW! This is a fantastic story and one that kept me reading and afraid to put down. The characters were wonderfully believable and lovable. I would want to move to Golden Falls. The plot was smoothly done and very interesting to read. The story also has my favorite dual POVs for understanding the character so much better. I will definitely have to go back and read the other two stories. I can see more Golden Falls books coming (hopefully as there are so many characters that I would love to see get their HEAs.)
I highly recommend this story to anyone. Ms. Andrews delivered a solid romance story that shouldn’t be missed.