**INDIE NEXT PICK FOR AUGUST****AN AUGUST 2019 LIBRARYREADS SELECTION****BOOK OF THE MONTH PICK FOR JULY****AN AMAZON EDITOR’S PICK FOR AUGUST**“Center gives readers a sharp and witty exploration of love and forgiveness that is at once insightful, entertaining, and thoroughly addictive.”— KIRKUS, STARRED REVIEW“An appealing heroine, a compelling love story, a tearjerking twist, and a thoroughly … appealing heroine, a compelling love story, a tearjerking twist, and a thoroughly absorbing story. Another winner from Center.”
— BOOKLIST, STARRED REVIEW
“A spirited, independent heroine meets a smoking-hot fireman in Center’s smart romance… If you enjoyed ‘The Kiss Quotient,’ by Helen Hoang, read Things You Save in a Fire”’
– THE WASHINGTON POST
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.
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Loved this book!! The characters were well developed. Also learned a lot about fire fighting profession which was a subject that was unique to me. I really enjoy romance novels with many more aspects to the story. Excellent novel re women’s issues.
From the first page, I was hooked. I fell in love with the main character and could completely relate to her struggle as a female in a male dominated field. Cassie is not a girly-girl and neither am I. Never have been. Being raised with 3 brothers can do that.
I took my time reading this one, savoring every detail. I highly recommend it.
I voluntarily reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy from the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
This is the story of Cassie. She is a firefighter who is at the top of her game. She receives a reward for her bravery, and knows that a promotion is right around the corner. But an incident at the ceremony changes her path completely.
In the meantime, Cassie gets a call from her estranged mother asking her for help. Her mother is sick and would like Cassie to come and live with her for awhile to help her get back on her feet. Cassie sees this as an opportunity to start over fresh, and agrees to go.
Now she is in a new firestation in a new town, and trying to find her way as the only woman firefighter this station has ever had. She and the new rookie firefighter are thrown together and made to find their way without much help from their crew. She then again finds herself in a situation where she has to make a tough choice and doesn’t know if her career will survive it.
This was a pretty good book. It was a bit on the cheesy side, and sickingly sweet in a lot of ways. Things seem to always work out for Cassie. And I did like her character. She was sassy and I could picture the faces she would have been making when she delivered her cleverest lines. Was it top literature? No. BUT – the book was an easy, summer read. And I listened to it, and the reader of this book was perfect. It held my attention and I found myself looking for opporutnities to listen because I wanted to see how it was going to end.
I think a lot of people would love this book. Like really love it. I will stick strictly in the like column because it wasn’t deep literature, but a fun, sweet read. I am glad I read it.
Cassie Hanwell has it all together — she’s an exceptional firefighter, dedicated to her career. But on the night she’s receiving an award for valour, she ends up clocking her presenter on stage and ends up almost losing her hard-fought position as a firefighter. She had good reason to do what she did, and it’s not hard to figure out what it is, but the reader doesn’t get all the details until later on in the story. At first I was a little ticked off it wasn’t revealed earlier, but it all makes sense by the end.
After the incident on stage, Cassie ends up transferring from Texas to a new firehouse in the northeast and helping her estranged mother after an illness. Starting over means trying to fit into a new firefighting crew that isn’t all that thrilled to have a female on the team. The good news is that she’s not the only newbie at the station — there’s a rookie starting along side her.
Owen Callaghan makes her feel things she shouldn’t feel toward a co-worker, and Cassie’s life suddenly takes a turn she hadn’t expected. It’s all very complicated for her. I loved Owen (he’s a sweetheart) and what I liked even more was that their romance wasn’t the focal point of the story. Even though Owen had a bit of his own story, the focal point is all about Cassie and her personal growth as things around her shift and change.
I loved the theme of forgiveness in Things You Save in a Fire. It was such an integral part of Cassie’s next step in her life, and she learns with grace and dignity about the power of love and forgiveness. The firefighting aspect was absolutely well-done and Cassie was just so good at it — it was easy to see her dedication was part of her soul.
I liked everything about this — the characters, the story, the pacing and especially the action that had me gasping and furiously reading and reading to find out what was going to happen. Things You Save in a Fire had absolutely everything I want in a story. It will be on my favorites of 2019 list for sure!
Things You Save in a Fire is an emotion filled forbidden love/family saga type of story about a female firefighter, the struggles she goes through both professionally and personally, and the rookie she bends the rules to fall for.
Cassie is a self-assured strong character who knows what she wants in life and goes for it. She had a couple of things in her life that inspired her to push past the negativity and become a powerhouse, and throughout this book she will confront both of those issues and reflect back on her life while forging through the new situation she finds herself in.
Owen becomes Cassie’s only ally in her new firehouse, and shows her the powerful support a man can bring to her life if she lets her walls down enough to let him in. He’s definitely a joy of a character.
I recommend this book to anyone looking for a strong female heroine with an emotional story line with a bit of suspense, a bit of romance and a whole lot of heart. The plot was very interesting, and the way we are given bits of her life here and there keeps you reading to find out more. It was a bit slow moving in places, but overall a really solid story.
Katherine Center says that she writes about “the ways we all get tangled up — and what we do about it.” She has followed up her 2018 bestseller, How to Walk Away, with Things We Save in a Fire. And the story is exactly what you might expect. It is about the myriad ways in which Cassie Hanwell has gotten tangled up — and what she does about it.
Twenty-six-year-old Cassie Hanwell loves being a firefighter, even though it’s a career she stumbled into through circumstances and opportunity. She is completely devoted to her career and has excelled in her profession. While other people panic and run, wild-eyes, from an emergency situation, Cassie remains calm and springs into action, at very best when things are at their very worst.
Perhaps that’s because Cassie suffered two life-changing events on her sixteenth birthday, both of which affected her deeply and informed the trajectory of her life to date. She shut down emotionally, and focused solely on her career. She hasn’t even been on a date since that night.
As the story opens, she is about to receive a prestigious award for bravery in the line of duty which she believes will be presented to her by the Mayor of Austin. Instead, she is horrified when she realizes — at the award ceremony — that she will have to accept the award from one of the people who subjected her to a life-altering trauma all those years ago. Her reaction is visceral and swift — as is her employer’s.
However, her mother, Diana, from whom she has been estranged since that impactful night so many years ago, calls and asks her to come live with her in Massachusetts.
And so Cassie transfers to a small firehouse that has never before employed a woman. In the wake of the MeToo movement, one might think that the days of a Captain calling his staff together by announcing over the public address system that there is a stripper in the firehouse kitchen are over. Or that the firefighters would not need to relocate their stash of porn in order to make a place for the new female firefighter to sleep. But apparently not. When Cassie and the rookie — charming, handsome and fit Owen Callaghan — report for duty on the same day, they are both subjected to hazing and practical jokes. But Cassie’s male counterparts insist upon treating her like a “lady.” She reacts by challenging the stereotypes to which they subscribe, as well as their pride by proving that she is strong, competitive, knowledgeable, and able to serve as their equal.
Center’s dialogue is fresh, witty, believable, and often hilarious. She surrounds Cassie with an eclectic and believable group of supporting characters, all of whom she brings to life her reader’s mind because of her colorful descriptions of them and their interactions with Cassie. Predictably, Cassie’s defenses are worn down as her attraction to the rookie grows stronger, and she gets reacquainted with and better understands her mother’s motivations, choices, and vulnerability. Even so, Cassie does not settle easily into her new circumstances, and remains resolved not to walk away, even while an unidentified stalker’s actions grow increasingly dangerous and she is wrongly accused of misconduct.
Things You Save in a Fire is dedicated to Center’s husband, Gordon, a volunteer firefighter who clearly provided sound advice because the story is absolutely believable and rings true, even while it is disarmingly charming.
Center delivers an emotional punch through the challenges Cassie faces and her realizations about how destructive it is to refuse to experience and deal with one’s emotions. Center skillfully and empathetically illustrates the numerous ways and reasons why the structure of Cassie’s life changes, how she reacts and copes, and her resultant growth. At a critical juncture in her journey to adulthood, Cassie was abandoned — physically and emotionally — and had to rescue herself. Ten years later, she has to learn to forgive and make decisions about her future — and whether it will include love and the willingness to be vulnerable again.
Things You Save in a Fire is simultaneously entertaining, deeply thought-provoking, and emotionally satisfying — an engrossing look at endearing characters who deserve the happy ending Center gives them.
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader’s Copy of the book.
I loved this book, and the characters. Some I loved and some I didn’t like at all. There was action, romance, fires, some moments of fear for the characters. Wonderful story and also some sadness. Still a great book.
There is a moment in Cassie’s life that simply defines her existence so far. Something from the past that deeply marked her and made her the warrior she is today. She is very well suited to her work as a firefighter, and is seen by everyone as an extremely competent and ethical professional. But the past comes back to haunt her and force to redefine her goals. When her mother calls for her help and a situation gets her down, she drops everything she has built and go to face a new team of firefighters who do not quite accept a female figure among them.
Willing to prove her competence, she goes out of her way to assert herself in this masculine environment until she meets sweet Owen and is illuminated by this aura of joy that captivates everyone around him.
As they are both new to the station, she is assigned to train the guy and this proximity will generate many conflicts in her mind.
I loved the plot and the way Cassie’s story was conducted, even though I thought the writer put a lot of strong drama into the lives of the main characters. A book about forgiveness, second chances, learning from the past and fighting for the future. A book about the power of love.
Thanks to St. Martin’s Press for a copy of this book. My thoughts and opinions are my own. #thingsyousavebook #tysiaf
Once I started reading this book I didn’t want to put it down. I continually thought about the characters and wondered how things would develop. I loved Cassie, the first person narrator, because she was an honest, strong, and realistic woman with an amazing ability as a female firefighter to prove herself repeatedly to her male counterparts. Humor, drama, truth, love, and forgiveness are all woven throughout the novel. As an added bonus, I learned so much about the firehouse culture and firefighters. This is one of my 2019 favorite reads. I’m now going to read other books by Katherine Center – I am impressed by her skillful writing.
Katherine Center’s “Things You Save in a Fire” was a quick, engaging read, and I read most of it in a single sitting. Cassie was a very likeable main character who clearly experienced a lot of trauma in her short life, but still managed to turn into a kind, caring, if somewhat emotionally reserved young adult. I enjoyed observing Cassie’s growth over the course of the story as she learned to forgive her mother for leaving her as a teenager, and also as she fell in love with her fellow firefighter, Owen (aka “the Rookie”).
This story featured nice messages about love and forgiveness which really resonated with me, though I did find it a bit hard to believe that Cassie was able to not only forgive some of the other characters, but actually become friends (or at least friendly) with them in the end. The author herself noted at one point that not everyone gets a happy ending, and unfortunately I would have to agree with that. It’s possible to forgive someone without welcoming him or her back into one’s life, and that seems like it would have been a more realistic outcome here based on the way some of the characters behaved and how they treated Cassie.
In any event, I did enjoy this story very much, and would absolutely read other books by this author in the future.
*ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
THINGS YOU SAVE IN A FIRE is another book to be added to my best books pile. I can’t recommend it enough. This book grabbed me right in the beginning, and I couldn’t put it down. When I had to stop reading, I couldn’t wait to get back to it. If I could give it more than 5 stars, I would.
The genres for this book are women’s fiction and romance, and the book deals with loss, hurt, pain, family issues, heartbreak, courage and love. To sum up the story, love is the only thing that heals. I won’t give away any spoilers as you must read it, but what I will do is provide several quotes about forgiveness that are from page 112 which helped me personally:
“How does forgiveness work?”
“There are a lot of different methods for chipping away at forgiveness. Just saying the words, ‘I forgive you,’ even to yourself, can be a powerful start.”
“Forgiveness is about a mindset of letting go.”
“It’s about acknowledging to yourself that someone hurt you, and accepting that.” “Then it’s about accepting that the person who hurt you is flawed, like all people are, and letting that guide you to a better, more nuanced understanding of what happened.”
“And then there’s a third part”…“Probably the hardest, that involves trying to look at the aftermath of what happened and find ways that you benefited, not just ways you were harmed.”
These words hit me like a ton of bricks. Everyone’s been hurt in their lifetime, but these words were so profound and had such an impact on me. The author’s words made me sit and think, and I had to go back and re-read page 112 and apply everything she said to myself. I thought about how I benefited and grew as a person which helped me let go of an old hurt.
Everyone needs to read this book. Katherine Center’s writing is very powerful, and she is now one of my favorite authors. I can’t wait for another fantastic novel from her. Don’t let this one slip away.
I voluntarily offered to review this book with no obligations and my opinions are honest
It was a great book!
Cassie is a firefighter living in Houston, TX.
When her mother gets sick, she asked Cassie to move to Massachusetts to live with her.
He mother left Cassie, when Cassie was a teenager.
What is Cassie to do ?
It is her mother, but Cassie’s feelings for her mother are very complicated.
Cassie moves to Massachusetts.
New town and new fire station.
Don’t worry!
Cassie is a fighter.
She will not be keep down for long.
The characters + storytelling were very captivating.
She pulls you into her world + she does not intend to let you go.
It has all the ingredients that you need for an awesome book!
Feel-good and uplifting tale of forgiveness, growth, and love.
Sweet, funny, touching and just lovely! I enjoyed this book so much and absolutely loved the characters and their growth we got to witness throughout the story. It had some powerful moments and life lessons that really resonated with me. Fantastic book!
Cassie pretty much had her life planned out. Everything was going according to plan, everything was in a nice neat box, everything was good. Until it wasn’t anymore. Suddenly everything was coming undone.
I was immediately taken by Cassie’s strength and resolve to be strong, no matter the cost. She’d shut down all of her emotions many years ago, the night her whole life changed. As she struggles with the changes that are happening in her life now, will she be able to open her heart and accept the feelings that she has kept suppressed for years?
Cassie is a strong and compassionate person, someone who is able to work through the myriad of issues with a number of people in her life, a person who should be able to forge ahead. The relationships in this story are complicated. Those complicated relationships are what drive this wonderful story and kept me reading.
Things You Save in the Fire, and Cassie, captured my heart from the very beginning. I could understand why she was the way she was—how her past had closed her off to others. It was heartwarming to see her finally forgive and to be able to move on. This is a story that I devoured. I found myself engrossed in the story-line and the character’s lives. This is definitely a book that should be high on your TBR list.
Things You Save in a Fire is a beautifully poignant read that no one should miss! Katherine Center is a new-to-me author that I’m kicking myself for not discovering sooner. Throughout the book, you get to experience her personal growth during the many trials she faces. I found myself glued to each page – demanding answers, justice, and closure. This is definitely one that I’m immediately adding to my bookshelf and recommending to anyone that’ll listen! I can’t wait to dive into How to Walk Away after finishing this phenomenal book.
Katherine Center is pretty near perfect in my opinion. Things You Save in a Fire deals with gender, family, ethics, trauma, and forgiveness. It’s engaging and activates a number of emotions across the board. I loved the characters, and I loved this book. Check it out.
Thank you to the following for permitting me access to an advance reader’s copy (ARC) of Things You Save in a Fire. This generosity did not impact my honesty when rating/reviewing.
Source: NetGalley
Author: Katherine Center
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Genres: Women’s Fiction
Pub Date: August 13, 2019
I’ve never read this author before, and now have the task of hunting down all of her previous works to binge read. Yes. Things you Save in a Fire, was just that good!
Having worked in emergency medical services when I was younger, I have to say this was one of the most descriptive books of what actually goes on in a fire station. The pranks, the nicknames, the times when you’re absolutely bored out of your skull, and then the alarm goes off and you’re going 90 miles an hour on pure adrenaline, pulling together for the good of the community and your firefighter family.
Cassie Hanwell, a female firefighter from a very progressive department, heads to the Northeast where the fire department is anything but progressive. She’s relocated due to an issue in Texas that wasn’t her fault, and heads there to her help her estranged mother who is ill. Cassie isn’t happy with the move, but truly had no choice. Cassie is till holding on to the resentment she’s felt for her mother since she was 16, and forgiveness just isn’t in her vocabulary.
Making her way in an atmosphere she isn’t familiar with, is difficult. When someone in the new department tries to oust her with veiled threats and vandalism, Cassie keeps her cool, but knows there is someone out to get her. When the man she loves is threatened, she will do anything to keep him safe.
This book touches on misunderstandings, romantic love, the firefighting brotherhood/sisterhood, forgiveness, family, and doing the right thing. Cassie learns that when you forgive others, you ultimately can forgive yourself and move forward.
A very worthwhile read!
I loved Cassie’s story! She is a kick butt firefighter who’s pass has defined how she runs her life. She is amazing at her job, but her personal relationships are none existent. When a personal trauma comes back to haunt her and her mother calls needing her to come to her, Cassie’s world is turned upside down. She has to now move home with her estranged mother, to help take care of her and start her career essentially over.
These characters made you love them all. Cassie is tough as nails but doesn’t believe in love, but I was rooting for her to find some, even with her family again. The male firefighters, though some of them thought she couldn’t do as much as them because she is female. All these character had so much growth. Mostly Cassie! It was a fun, made me laugh, sometimes serious read that had me racing to see what was going to happen with this family of characters. Thanks to St. Martins Press for my copy for honest review.
Cassie Hanwell is a firefighter. She excels at her job to the exclusion of a personal life. She is a rising star in the Austin FD but like all stars, hers is about to get tarnished. In the midst of all this, it seems her mother is trying to get her to come help her with health issues. It turns out this may be a blessing in disguise. Lillian FD is the good ole boys club, women need not apply. They were in for a real surprise. As Cassie and her mother Diane work through health issues, they also have to work on forgiveness. Forgiveness is not easy when it has consumed you since you were 16. The adult part is thinking it is taking to much energy to stay angry. Forgiving yourself and the person that hurt you are easy to read on paper, just so much harder to vocalize. This opens the possibilities to finding the one and falling in love. Who better than The Rookie, Owen Callaghan. He is a helper. Always doing something to help someone. You will love the ending!