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Five-Alarm Affair
With his blond hair and wall-to-wall shoulders, Wayne Montgomery looked every inch the knight in shining armor. And when the heroic fireman arrived to fight the inferno in Aimee Greer's kitchen, he found his damsel in distress.
Thirty-year-old widowed mothers who doubled as real-estate dynamos simply could not afford to fall in love. Not when losing hurt so much. But armed with red roses, soufflés and tenderness, Wayne stormed the fortress around Aimee's heart. His goal was to fight fire with fire—and to set passion ablaze in the blood of a beautiful woman.
Thirty-year-old widowed mothers who doubled as real-estate dynamos simply could not afford to fall in love. Not when losing hurt so much. But armed with red roses, soufflés and tenderness, Wayne stormed the fortress around Aimee's heart. His goal was to fight fire with fire—and to set passion ablaze in the blood of a beautiful woman.
185 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 1, 1988
About the author
Marie Ferrarella
1,255 books277 followersMarie Rydzynski-Ferrarella
aka Marie Charles, Marie Michael, Marie Nicole, Marie Ferrarella
Marie Rydzynski was born on March 28 in West Germany to Polish parents. She moved to America at the age of four. For an entire year, Marie and her family explored the eastern half of the country before finally settling in New York.
Marie swears she was born writing, "which must have made the delivery especially hard for my mother." From an early age, Marie's parents would find her watching television or tucked away in some private place, writing at a furious pace. "Initially, I began writing myself into my favourite shows. I was a detective on '77 Sunset Strip,' the missing Cartwright sibling they never talked about on 'Bonanza' and the 'Girl from U.N.C.L.E.' before there was a 'Girl from U.N.C.L.E.,' not to mention an active participant in the serialized stories of 'The Mickey Mouse Club.'" Marie began to write her first romance novel when she was 11 years old, although she claims that, at the time, she didn't even realize it was a romance! She scribbled off and on, while dreaming of a career as an actress.
Marie was only 14 when she first laid eyes on the man she would marry, truly her first love, Charles Ferrarella. During her days at Queens College, New York, acting started to lose its glamour as Marie spent more and more time writing. After receiving her English degree, specialising in Shakespearean comedy, Marie and her family moved to Southern California, where she still resides today.
After an interminable seven weeks apart, Charles decided he couldn't live without her and came out to California to marry his childhood sweetheart. Ever practical, Marie was married in a wash-and-wear wedding dress that she sewed herself, appliqués and all. "'Be prepared' has always been my motto,"the author jokes. This motto has been stretched considerably by her two children, Nikky and Jessi, "but basically, it still applies," she says.
In November of 1981, she sold her first novel for Harlequin. Marie, who now has written over 150 novels, has one goal: to entertain, to make people laugh and feel good. "That's what makes me happy," she confesses. "That, and a really good romantic evening with my husband." She's keeping her fingers crossed that her reader's enjoy reading her books as much as she enjoyed writing them.
aka Marie Charles, Marie Michael, Marie Nicole, Marie Ferrarella
Marie Rydzynski was born on March 28 in West Germany to Polish parents. She moved to America at the age of four. For an entire year, Marie and her family explored the eastern half of the country before finally settling in New York.
Marie swears she was born writing, "which must have made the delivery especially hard for my mother." From an early age, Marie's parents would find her watching television or tucked away in some private place, writing at a furious pace. "Initially, I began writing myself into my favourite shows. I was a detective on '77 Sunset Strip,' the missing Cartwright sibling they never talked about on 'Bonanza' and the 'Girl from U.N.C.L.E.' before there was a 'Girl from U.N.C.L.E.,' not to mention an active participant in the serialized stories of 'The Mickey Mouse Club.'" Marie began to write her first romance novel when she was 11 years old, although she claims that, at the time, she didn't even realize it was a romance! She scribbled off and on, while dreaming of a career as an actress.
Marie was only 14 when she first laid eyes on the man she would marry, truly her first love, Charles Ferrarella. During her days at Queens College, New York, acting started to lose its glamour as Marie spent more and more time writing. After receiving her English degree, specialising in Shakespearean comedy, Marie and her family moved to Southern California, where she still resides today.
After an interminable seven weeks apart, Charles decided he couldn't live without her and came out to California to marry his childhood sweetheart. Ever practical, Marie was married in a wash-and-wear wedding dress that she sewed herself, appliqués and all. "'Be prepared' has always been my motto,"the author jokes. This motto has been stretched considerably by her two children, Nikky and Jessi, "but basically, it still applies," she says.
In November of 1981, she sold her first novel for Harlequin. Marie, who now has written over 150 novels, has one goal: to entertain, to make people laugh and feel good. "That's what makes me happy," she confesses. "That, and a really good romantic evening with my husband." She's keeping her fingers crossed that her reader's enjoy reading her books as much as she enjoyed writing them.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 2, 2015
A great Harlequin Silhouette book. I enjoyed the characters of Aimee and Wayne. They were very believable and reminded me of dear friends. Aimee is afraid to get love after going through the death of her husband. Firefighter Wayne plans on igniting a flame in her heart.
July 6, 2012
Good. Very good.
February 6, 2017
Average.
January 7, 2022
Widow Aimee Greer met firefighter Wayne Montgomery when her daughter inadvertently caused a kitchen fire. Although they are attracted to each other, Aimee is not willing to love and lose again.
This is a nice, inoffensive romance between 2 very nice people, although I did want to scream at Aimee once in a while for her inability to get past her loss.
This is a nice, inoffensive romance between 2 very nice people, although I did want to scream at Aimee once in a while for her inability to get past her loss.
June 1, 2020
He walks into her house to stop a fire in her kitchen. He can't take his eyes off her and Aimee stares at him. It's like they have met before. Their journey is rough and painful. I liked it pretty well but Aimee was a bit hard to listen to. Was a good book.
January 4, 2012
Five Alarm Affair
By Marie Ferrarella
Men in Uniform Series
Silhouette Books
Four stars
Aimee Greer is a widowed mother, working as a real estate agent in a small town, Greenfield California. Her daughter, Heather, age 10, decides to surprise her mother by cooking dinner for her. She starts a fire in the kitchen. A neighbor, Emmet, calls the fire department. This emergency brings fireman Wayne Montgomery into Aimee’s home and into her life.
The plot moves along at a nice pace. Each chapter has an event that offers a moment of tension or emotional conflict. The writing style is easy to read with a nice balance of conversation, description and story line.
Aimee is reluctant to fall in love because of her husband’s death. She never wants to be hurt that much again. The ending, her change in attitude, is plausible and well motivated. The author does a good job of choosing an event that is serious enough to warrant her change in attitude. It is more than just an “oops, my bad” ending.
Points were subtracted from the star rating for three reasons.
A common standard for writing fiction is that the point of view, which character is thinking, should remain constant throughout the chapter. It should be her chapter, his chapter, if the author wants dual perspective.
In this book, the point of view bounces back and forth like a ping pong ball. This subtracts from the element of suspense the author wants to create. A good romance is plotted like picking petals off of a daisy—he loves me, he loves me not. Because the reader knows what both characters think of the current scene, there isn’t any element of wondering, guessing, and looking for clues about how he feels. This makes the plot a little too easy, more tepid, less suspenseful, than it could be.
Points were also subtracted for a lack of research and inaccurate details. Three of the situations in the plot are not believable because the author didn’t check her facts or do any research on the subject.
The first instance is when the couple is driving on a city street. She hears a pop, the car careens out of control, comes to rest against a curb, and she changes a flat tire.
When a tire explodes, it makes more noise than a pop. This is called a blowout, not a flat. A blowout usually sends rubber flying all over the place, ripping up the wheel well and making the car undriveable. To be careening, he would have had to been driving at least 60 miles an hour. Most city streets I know of have a speed limit of 35. If the car had careened out of control, she would have experienced an increase in her pulse rate and adrenalin level that would take more than a minute to calm down.
I enjoy books more when they have social redeeming value; that is, when I walk away from it knowing more than I did before I began reading. The author has several chances to do this, but doesn’t. I didn’t learn any history of the area. I didn’t learn anything about being a real estate agent. Her instructions for changing a tire were inaccurate. A wheel has five or six lug nuts, not four. There are several types of jacks, used in different ways, but all of them have to be placed under the frame or else it will break through the floor boards. If Aimee knows enough about cars that she could rebuild an engine if she had to, then she should have proven her claim by explaining more about jacks and tires. The author could have used this scene to teach the reader a useful skill. At least, she should have had a man read the manuscript to make sure she had her facts straight.
Fiction should also avoid mention of anything that can change from year to year or location to location. If the reader picks up a book five years later, the facts should still apply. Details matter.
For example, Wayne buys a three bedroom, handy man’s delight in a rural, non-prime location. He pays 400K for it. Are you out of your mind? Maybe a house like that would cost that much in San Francisco, but here in Pensacola, 400K would buy a fully furnished, brand new condo on the beach. I wouldn’t pay more than 40K for what he bought. Mentioning the price was a bad move. It makes the characters look stupid.
The author also used the YMCA for a location without researching the organization. As a former employee of the Y, I was offended by what the author said. I don’t want to spoil the ending, but I do want to assure the reader that the Y is a quality organization that would never do anything so lame, irresponsible or foolish. That event was against corporate policy and would never have happened. Family Services would shut them down and take away their license for doing that.
All in all, it was a pleasant read with just enough physical contact, no swearing, no nudity, and a well-paced plot. If you are willing to take the author with a grain of salt, then it’s a nice book to read.
By Marie Ferrarella
Men in Uniform Series
Silhouette Books
Four stars
Aimee Greer is a widowed mother, working as a real estate agent in a small town, Greenfield California. Her daughter, Heather, age 10, decides to surprise her mother by cooking dinner for her. She starts a fire in the kitchen. A neighbor, Emmet, calls the fire department. This emergency brings fireman Wayne Montgomery into Aimee’s home and into her life.
The plot moves along at a nice pace. Each chapter has an event that offers a moment of tension or emotional conflict. The writing style is easy to read with a nice balance of conversation, description and story line.
Aimee is reluctant to fall in love because of her husband’s death. She never wants to be hurt that much again. The ending, her change in attitude, is plausible and well motivated. The author does a good job of choosing an event that is serious enough to warrant her change in attitude. It is more than just an “oops, my bad” ending.
Points were subtracted from the star rating for three reasons.
A common standard for writing fiction is that the point of view, which character is thinking, should remain constant throughout the chapter. It should be her chapter, his chapter, if the author wants dual perspective.
In this book, the point of view bounces back and forth like a ping pong ball. This subtracts from the element of suspense the author wants to create. A good romance is plotted like picking petals off of a daisy—he loves me, he loves me not. Because the reader knows what both characters think of the current scene, there isn’t any element of wondering, guessing, and looking for clues about how he feels. This makes the plot a little too easy, more tepid, less suspenseful, than it could be.
Points were also subtracted for a lack of research and inaccurate details. Three of the situations in the plot are not believable because the author didn’t check her facts or do any research on the subject.
The first instance is when the couple is driving on a city street. She hears a pop, the car careens out of control, comes to rest against a curb, and she changes a flat tire.
When a tire explodes, it makes more noise than a pop. This is called a blowout, not a flat. A blowout usually sends rubber flying all over the place, ripping up the wheel well and making the car undriveable. To be careening, he would have had to been driving at least 60 miles an hour. Most city streets I know of have a speed limit of 35. If the car had careened out of control, she would have experienced an increase in her pulse rate and adrenalin level that would take more than a minute to calm down.
I enjoy books more when they have social redeeming value; that is, when I walk away from it knowing more than I did before I began reading. The author has several chances to do this, but doesn’t. I didn’t learn any history of the area. I didn’t learn anything about being a real estate agent. Her instructions for changing a tire were inaccurate. A wheel has five or six lug nuts, not four. There are several types of jacks, used in different ways, but all of them have to be placed under the frame or else it will break through the floor boards. If Aimee knows enough about cars that she could rebuild an engine if she had to, then she should have proven her claim by explaining more about jacks and tires. The author could have used this scene to teach the reader a useful skill. At least, she should have had a man read the manuscript to make sure she had her facts straight.
Fiction should also avoid mention of anything that can change from year to year or location to location. If the reader picks up a book five years later, the facts should still apply. Details matter.
For example, Wayne buys a three bedroom, handy man’s delight in a rural, non-prime location. He pays 400K for it. Are you out of your mind? Maybe a house like that would cost that much in San Francisco, but here in Pensacola, 400K would buy a fully furnished, brand new condo on the beach. I wouldn’t pay more than 40K for what he bought. Mentioning the price was a bad move. It makes the characters look stupid.
The author also used the YMCA for a location without researching the organization. As a former employee of the Y, I was offended by what the author said. I don’t want to spoil the ending, but I do want to assure the reader that the Y is a quality organization that would never do anything so lame, irresponsible or foolish. That event was against corporate policy and would never have happened. Family Services would shut them down and take away their license for doing that.
All in all, it was a pleasant read with just enough physical contact, no swearing, no nudity, and a well-paced plot. If you are willing to take the author with a grain of salt, then it’s a nice book to read.
June 29, 2015
I enjoyed this book, it was a great quick read, which is what I need right now. Marie Ferrarella did a reaaly good job of writing about Aimee and Wayne. I especially liked how honest Aimee was about her fears, didn't try to hide them or make excuses for them. As for Wayne, I loved how patient he was with Aimee, willing to wait for her to come to terms with her fears. All in all, a great book.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews