Possible spoilers:
Cassie Hanwell is a stellar, tough-as-nails firefighter and paramedic with the progressive and modern Austin Fire Dept. After a moment of passionate, righteous anger, she puts her job in jeopardy when she refuses to apologize. When her estranged mother asks Cassie to move east to help her after she loses sight in one eye, she agrees because taking a job in a chauvinistic, old-school Massachusetts firehouse is her only hope of salvaging her career. She is counseled by her female fire chief in Texas to be better than the men, to not show emotion, and to not date a fellow firefighter if she hopes to be accepted as one of the guys. This won’t be a problem because she doesn’t believe in love and her job is her life. However, her resolve is tested when she begins to fall for the sweet, kind-hearted rookie, Owen Callaghan, who faints at the sight of blood and bakes cookies in his free time.
On her 16th birthday, Cassie’s mother moved away and she was raped by the boy she had a crush on. In the decade since, she has walled herself off from emotion and focused on routine, order, and safety. She has survived, but the price has been loneliness. As she begrudgingly spends more time with her mother whose health continues to decline and acknowledges that she feels safe with Owen, she begins to realize how much she has lost by pushing away the people she loves. Ultimately, this is a book about forgiveness, feminism, and toxic masculinity, and how destructive and lonely it is to hang onto anger. This is one woman’s journey to rediscover love after devastating loss and betrayal. It speaks to how talented author Center is that she has managed to infuse humor and a sweet romance into a story that could easily have been darkly dramatic. Highly recommended for fans of Susan Wiggs and Kristan Higgins.
I received a complimentary ARC of this book from St. Martin’s Press through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.
On her 16th birthday, Cassie’s mother moved away and she was raped by the boy she had a crush on. In the decade since, she has walled herself off from emotion and focused on routine, order, and safety. She has survived, but the price has been loneliness. As she begrudgingly spends more time with her mother whose health continues to decline and acknowledges that she feels safe with Owen, she begins to realize how much she has lost by pushing away the people she loves. Ultimately, this is a book about forgiveness, feminism, and toxic masculinity, and how destructive and lonely it is to hang onto anger. This is one woman’s journey to rediscover love after devastating loss and betrayal. It speaks to how talented author Center is that she has managed to infuse humor and a sweet romance into a story that could easily have been darkly dramatic. Highly recommended for fans of Susan Wiggs and Kristan Higgins.
I received a complimentary ARC of this book from St. Martin’s Press through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.
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