Burning HeartsBeing a fireman is a tough job. For Jase McGrady saving lives, helping people and supporting his colleagues are rewards in themselves. And then the unthinkable happened.Jase had a life, a job he loved, a fiancée, a future. Until the one thing he believed he could always win against took the one thing he loved. And he couldn’t do a thing to save her. One fire and Jase’s life had gone … Jase’s life had gone up in smoke.
Jase has now managed to piece his life back together but it’s been hard. He’s adamant that he’ll never love again.
And then Grace Montgomery walks into the station.
Grace is soft, kind and gentle. She’s a capable firefighter but as the only female in the station, Jase just can’t help his protective streak making an appearance. Grace starts to break down his walls and opens up to him about her own history of abuse.
As the emotional storm rages, can Jase and Grace learn to weather it together or will their own personal demons pull them apart?
Can Jase forget his lost love and allow Grace into his heart, or is it for ever burnt and ravaged from the past?
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A year ago, Jase McGrady tragically lost his soul mate and the love of his life, Michelle. She died due to something he’d fought and won in the line of duty as a fireman, so losing Michelle that way made him feel powerless and he still blames himself. With the help and support of others, he’s managed to rebuild his life the best he can but he’s vowed to never love again. Then Grace enters his life and there’s something about her that draws him near and has him wondering if he could possibly ever love someone that’s not Michelle.
“Love…love is when you want to be with that person 24/ 7. Love is when you feel like your heart belongs to someone else. Your heart beats for someone else. Without that person, your life isn’t worth living. You wake up and go to sleep feeling happy and content. When that bond is broken, you feel like a piece of you is missing. You can’t sleep, and not for want of trying. You can’t eat. Life is miserable.” – Jase
Grace Montgomery moved back home after the breakdown of her relationship and she’s the new recruit on Jase’s team. She’s nervous as this is her first job as a firefighter since graduating and she’ll be the only female in the station. As she spends more time with Jase both in and out of work, Grace finds herself having unexpected feelings for him but she knows they’re destined to be just friends. Will either of them ever take the first step to there possibly being more between them?
“Why? Why was I having these feelings? It was only going to end badly for us. We couldn’t work together and have something outside of work. Why? asked my subconscious, which was a devil at the best of times? It wouldn’t work, and neither of us was brave enough to make the leap and make the first move. I guess we were stuck as friends. It was better than nothing.” – Grace
After reading Burning Hearts – A Dark Loss, I couldn’t wait to read Burning Hearts and see if Jase got a second chance at finding love and being happy. The devastation Jase felt in the first book had me crying and my heart went out to him as he couldn’t imagine a life without Michelle. However, he slowly started to rebuild his life and grow strong again but he hadn’t moved on from losing Michelle. It was clear in Burning Hearts that he wasn’t the man he was before and I worried that he’d sink back into the black hole from the first book. However, meeting Grace ignited something in him again and he felt protective over her almost immediately. It was at this point that I became hopeful and couldn’t wait to see if Jase and Grace would get their HEA.
Grace lost everything when she left her boyfriend and moved back home, but she didn’t let this stop her from achieving her dream of becoming a firefighter. Her confidence was knocked though and I feel this played a part in how she was when she first started working at the station; she had self doubts and worried about what the other firefighters would think of her. Jase made her feel safe and she trusted him, which she can’t have found easy after what her ex boyfriend did to her. Btw, we get to meet her ex boyfriend in Burning Hearts and he really is a waste of space!
As with Burning Hearts – A Dark Loss, this book had me hooked and took me on an emotional roller-coaster ride. K.M. Lowe writes with such emotion and shows the grief and guilt someone can feel when moving on with their life after losing the person they love. However, she made Michelle sound like a kind and caring person who would’ve wanted Jase to move on and be happy again. You will fall in love with all of K.M. Lowe’s characters (other than Grace’s ex of course) as she describes them so well and you feel like you know them personally. My heart not only broke for Jase and Grace, it also broke for Mark who received some unexpected news and struggled to deal with it. Due to K.M. Lowe’s words, you could feel the turmoil Mark was going through as he tried to figure out his relationship and future. Thankfully, Jase was there for his best friend and colleague.
Again, I was able to relate personally to parts of this story and I’ve included the quote from Jase further above in this review because I feel it describes perfectly how someone feels when they lose the person they love; be it due to death or the relationship ending. It describes exactly how I felt about my ex boyfriend when we were together and then separated. He didn’t die but I still grieved and I wish I’d had this quote 7 years ago to help me explain to others how I was feeling! K.M. Lowe always seems to ‘hit the nail on the head’ when she’s explaining the emotions someone is feeling. I just absolutely love her work!
Burning Hearts by K.M. Lowe can be a read as a standalone. However, there is a prequel novella called Burning Hearts – A Dark Loss that tells us more about Jase’s story before he meets Grace in this book. I would recommend starting with the prequel novella first as this helps you to better understand Jase’s feelings of guilt and grief.
This was a lovely heartfelt story that will touch you deeply. Jase and Graces story is a must read lovely story of instant love and even after tradgedy and bad relationships. I loved this story and would highly recommend as a must read.