Book Review: Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center

Center, Katherine. 2019. Things You Save in a Fire. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press, an imprint of Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 987-1250047328. $26.99 USD

I was fortunate to hear Katherine Center speak at a librarian conference last year and get a signed copy of this title. She is delightful, and so enthusiastic about reading and books. I've had it on my TBR for a while, and having had trouble focusing on fiction during the COVID19 pandemic, this seemed like a good choice to help me get my reading groove back!

It had both more depth and more melodrama than I expected, but overall I enjoyed this fast-paced, absorbing read about a tough-as-nails female fire-fighter who experienced, and eventually overcame, some major losses in her life.

Cassie Hanwell is an fearless, ambitious fire-fighter in Austin, Texas, who has worked hard to develop a place for herself and gain the respect of the male-dominated fire station company she works for. She's being presented an award for bravery at a formal dinner with a number of fire-fighters and city employees when she unexpectedly loses her cool and bashed a city councilman on the head with her award when he tries to cop a feel. We find out fairly quickly that there is some history between them, but the facts about that are not revealed until much later. The trauma we slowly learn that Cassie experienced as a teenager is a driving force in the book.

When her estranged mother contacts her needing help for a year in Maine due to an injury, Cassie initially refuses. She doesn't owe this woman who abandoned her as a teenager anything. But when Cassie's captain tells her she needs to remove herself from Austin for a while due to the repercussions of the assault on the councilman, and a fire-station is found in Maine who will take her on, Cassie reluctantly agrees to move in with her mother and help out, but grudgingly.

The rest of the novel is an fascinating look at what a female fire-fighter goes through to prove herself in an all-male station. Cassie is a strong character, who doesn't allow herself to feel much. She basically has to come across as one of the guys, and she does this very, very well by, among other things, beating the men at pull-ups and later a challenging obstacle course.

Cassie is consummate professional throughout the book, which makes some things that happen toward the end of story surprising. When Cassie finally allows herself to "feel" her emotions, she does a LOT of feeling. It didn't quite match up with the first 3/4th of the book. Additionally, some of the sudden changes in the antagonist's character I felt were wrapped up a bit too neatly. But these minor issues didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of the story and the slow-burn romance Cassie develops with another fire-fighter.

Ultimately, Cassie must face her past, both her teenage trauma and her anger toward her mother, to heal and gain a chance at a life and a love she never thought she'd have.

I was fortunate to recently receive a galley of the author's next book from the publisher (What You Wish For, coming in July) and will look forward to reading it, too. Especially since the main character in the new book is a Librarian! Katherine Center is a great writer, and I enjoyed spending time with the characters she crafted and the world she created in Things You Save in a Fire.



Happy Reading!