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Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center

Romance

Things You Save in a Fire

Repeat author

Katherine Center is back at Book of the Month – other BOTMs include Hello Stranger and The Bodyguard and The Rom-Commers and What You Wish For.

Early Release

This is an early release that's only available to our members—the rest of the world has to wait to read it.

by Katherine Center

Excellent choice

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Quick take

A redemptive read from the author of How to Walk Away with a tough-girl firefighter who isn't as tough as she thinks.

Good to know

  • Illustrated icon, Romance

    Romance

  • Illustrated icon, Emotional

    Emotional

  • Illustrated icon, Inspirational

    Inspirational

  • Illustrated icon, Family_Drama

    Family drama

Synopsis

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?

Free sample

Get an early look from the first pages of Things You Save in a Fire.

Things You Save in a Fire

One

The night I became the youngest person—and the only female ever—to win the Austin Fire Department’s valor award, I got propositioned by my partner.

Propositioned.

At the ceremony, In the ballroom. During dinner.

By my partner.

There we all were, the entire B-shift from Station Eleven, in our dress uniforms, using salad forks—and there I was, in my crisscross tie, getting more and more nervous at the prospect of having to walk up on that stage in front of all those people under all those lights. The winter before, a busload of schoolchildren had slid off an icy road into a ravine, and I had climbed inside to push the kids out through a window, one by one, as the water rose. That's why we were here. The newspapers were calling me the School Bus Angel.

And Hernandez, of all people, chose this moment to hit on me.

Hernandez, my partner of three years. Hernandez, who I'd never once thought of that way. Hernandez, who was so perfectly, mechanically handsome that he didn't even register as handsome anymore.

He was like a Latino firefighting Ken doll—so bizarrely perfect, he wasn't even real. He lifted weights, and flossed, and preened, and he used his washboard stomach and perfectly aligned white teeth to snare more unsuspecting ladies than I could count. He wasn't just in our department's calendar—he was on the cover. Picture-perfect Hernandez, the last guy on earth I would ever think of as anything other than a health-food-eating, CrossFit-training ladies' man, leaned over close to my ear, right there at the banquet table, and asked me to spend the night with him.

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Why I love it

I guess it’s pretty old hat to introduce a repeat author around here with the promise of an even-better follow-up, but I can’t help it: Things You Save in a Fire is BETTER than Katherine Center’s breakout romance novel of 2018, How to Walk Away.

Cassie Hanwell is a no-bullshit, tough-as-nails firefighter who doesn’t need (or want) a man in her life. When her ailing, estranged mother calls her home to Boston, she is faced with the dual challenges of navigating their rocky relationship (which she’s in no mood to do) and making her mark in a new firehouse, where even the chief is annoyed at the idea of having a woman around. Between trying to fit in and icing mom at home, Cassie’s days are more than filled. Interesting, then, that the other rookie firefighter seems to be worming his way into her heart…

I don’t even know how to explain how much I adored this book, but let’s start with the best thing about it: the main character. Cassie is smart, unapologetic, and great at her job, and watching her make her mark at a firehouse that’s practically muggy with testosterone is as satisfying as it entertaining. This is a story of love, of family, and of learning how to be vulnerable—and trust me, Cassie’s life journey is one you don’t want to miss.

Other books by Katherine Center

Member ratings (19,368)

Romance
Yours Truly
One-Star Romance
Leather & Lark
The Pairing
Happily Never After
The Paradise Problem
The Love of My Afterlife
Not in Love
The Rom-Commers
Butcher & Blackbird
The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love
Ready or Not
Four Weekends and a Funeral
Just for the Summer
How to End a Love Story
The Second Chance Year
A Winter in New York
This Spells Love
Red, White & Royal Blue
You, Again
Love, Theoretically
People We Meet on Vacation
Hello Stranger
Stars in Your Eyes
Part of Your World
Love & Other Disasters
Georgie, All Along
It Ends with Us
The Heart Principle
The True Love Experiment
A Rogue of One's Own
The Holiday Swap
The Bodyguard
The Love Hypothesis
One Last Stop
The Bride Test
Love on the Brain
Head Over Heels
The Reunion
This Time Next Year
The Kiss Quotient
One Day in December
Things You Save in a Fire
Lunar Love
Bringing Down the Duke
Ana María and the Fox
Beach Read
Before I Let Go
The Boyfriend Project
How to Marry Keanu Reeves in 90 Days
The Heiress Gets a Duke
The Rewind
In a Holidaze
Kiss Her Once for Me
Romance
View all
Yours Truly
One-Star Romance
Leather & Lark
The Pairing
Happily Never After
The Paradise Problem
The Love of My Afterlife
Not in Love
The Rom-Commers
Butcher & Blackbird
The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love
Ready or Not
Four Weekends and a Funeral
Just for the Summer
How to End a Love Story
The Second Chance Year
A Winter in New York
This Spells Love
Red, White & Royal Blue
You, Again
Love, Theoretically
People We Meet on Vacation
Hello Stranger
Stars in Your Eyes
Part of Your World
Love & Other Disasters
Georgie, All Along
It Ends with Us
The Heart Principle
The True Love Experiment
A Rogue of One's Own
The Holiday Swap
The Bodyguard
The Love Hypothesis
One Last Stop
The Bride Test
Love on the Brain
Head Over Heels
The Reunion
This Time Next Year
The Kiss Quotient
One Day in December
Things You Save in a Fire
Lunar Love
Bringing Down the Duke
Ana María and the Fox
Beach Read
Before I Let Go
The Boyfriend Project
How to Marry Keanu Reeves in 90 Days
The Heiress Gets a Duke
The Rewind
In a Holidaze
Kiss Her Once for Me