From the Bookshelf of The Perks Of Being A Book Addict…

Things You Save in a Fire

Katherine Center

Start date: October 1, 2019

Finish date: October 31, 2019

Discussion: Group Books of the Month (BotM)

Why we're reading this: Chosen as our group BotM for October 2019.
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What Members Thought

Sep 03, 2019 Christi rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley, audiobooks, kindle, 2019-reads, 2025-reads

Reread as an audiobook in 2025. The voice actor is excellent. She does a pretty good job on the Boston accents and with all the male voices. Still really enjoyed this book and highly recommend.
****

This was a very good book. The writing is engaging. The firefighting parts were very interesting. (but, I have to ask if you can master parkour in a few weeks?) The relationships were also well developed.

The ending felt a little rushed as it all tied up super quick. Maybe if there was another logical ...more

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Sep 12, 2019 Bruin Mccon rated it it was amazing

Shelves: library-audiobook, pub-2019

”Its not the easy moments that define who we are; it’s the hard ones.”

Things You Save in a Fire is a novel about saving yourself.

Cassie had a traumatic double play on her 16th birthday and was dead inside for the next ten years. She works as a firefighter in Austin and she’s a freaking rock star.

One day her estranged mother calls and asks Cassie to come live with her for a year to help out. Mom has lost the use of one of her eyes. Cassie is furious that this woman who abandoned her at age 16, o ”Its not the easy moments that define who we are; it’s the hard ones.”

Things You Save in a Fire is a novel about saving yourself.

Cassie had a traumatic double play on her 16th birthday and was dead inside for the next ten years. She works as a firefighter in Austin and she’s a freaking rock star.

One day her estranged mother calls and asks Cassie to come live with her for a year to help out. Mom has lost the use of one of her eyes. Cassie is furious that this woman who abandoned her at age 16, on her birthday of all days, would call and ask for such an enormous, life-altering “favor” and tells her no. Shortly thereafter, her father, long since remarried, calls and tells her to go. And then through a series of events that I won’t reveal, Cassie ends up moving from Texas to Massachusetts to live with her mother.

Before she goes, her boss explains to her that going from rock star recruit to newbie in a male-only fire squad is going to be a big adjustment. She’s advised to stay away from emotions, avoid crying, never do anything even remotely girlie, and above all never sleep with any of her fellow firefighters.

I’m sure you can guess where this story goes so I’ll leave the synopsis at that.

This is a really good romance novel. She’s so broken in the beginning and it’s so easy to understand how she’s thrived in spite of her trauma, and how it also holds her back. Cassie is a woman holding on to the pain and it’s almost impossible for those who come to know her to not see it. Yet she won’t talk about it because to talk about it is to relive it. She has nightmares still and obviously needs to process it, but can’t. She’s stuck.

Eventually she is able to tell her story and it heals her. Love heals her but love is not possible without forgiving herself first.

Different people have different problems and I don’t want to underestimate this character’s trials. But it is great to see a book where the main character can begin to recover from something like this and then immediately start giving back, advocating for others who have gone through similar misery.

4.5 ⭐️s. ...more

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Apr 04, 2020 Amy rated it really liked it

After getting burned by her parents and relationships, Cassie Hanwell becomes a firefighter to extinguish past anguish and save others. Throughout her career she's tested and rises to the occasion. When her past resurfaces, she's filled with fire and unearths her revenge. Forced to apologize or risk termination, she can't forgive even to save herself.

A a newbie on a misogynistic team she commences fighting fires before starting her shift. Striving for acceptance, Cassie pushes herself to excel. ...more

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Aug 10, 2019 Sandy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2019-reading-challenge

#thingsyousavebook
"Things You Save in a Fire" -- which I won in a contest -- was absolutely terrific. I had already read "How to Walk Away" by Katherine Center which I recommended to lots of people so I knew before I started reading that I would enjoy it and I was right. The beginning of TYSF immediately delighted me because Center involves the main character from HtWA in the backstory for TYSF's main character, Cassie by revealing her involvement in the HtWA storyline and it was a real kick to ...more

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Sep 03, 2020 Leslie rated it liked it

This was a good book - fine for a weekend read or taking on a trip. The second half I felt IMO was much stronger than the first half. I enjoyed the back and forth between Cassie and The Rookie - there was obvious chemistry there! It was palatable page to page. My favorite scene was when they attended The Rookie’s family home for a special event. It was so fun to read. Plus, they were so cute together!

One thing that I questioned throughout the book was Cassie’s age. I think she is supposed to be This was a good book - fine for a weekend read or taking on a trip. The second half I felt IMO was much stronger than the first half. I enjoyed the back and forth between Cassie and The Rookie - there was obvious chemistry there! It was palatable page to page. My favorite scene was when they attended The Rookie’s family home for a special event. It was so fun to read. Plus, they were so cute together!

One thing that I questioned throughout the book was Cassie’s age. I think she is supposed to be mid- to late- twenties. In the beginning she acts without consequences and does not want to visit and or stay with her mother who needs her. It takes a call from her father for her to “see the light” and change her mind and actually go live with her mother. I find that a very immature way to act. The way she behaves at the banquet was bizarre too (we do find out the reason later for her actions) and we get a sneak peek into who that man at the banquet is much, much later on in the novel.

Along with age, I was surprised to find out she had never been kissed and that she told The Rookie — that was even more surprising. That is not something you would willingly reveal, am I right? Given her history maybe she hasn’t had very many or any suitors. But I think that needed more explanation. In all honesty, she acted 30s-early 40s. In our culture, you are seen as something “other than” if you are not kissed by a certain age. And believe me if she was a 20-something firefighter they really would have given her hell!

Back to Cassie & Owen... when the two finally have sex the author mentions her “virginal bed.” It honestly didn’t sound like the character at all. That term seems very Victorian or something? I don’t know. It just stopped me in my tracks. Like WHAT??

We have this Drew Barrymore-never-been-kissed character who ends up being a very inward thinker. She tells The Rookie that she can help him work on the act of forgiveness because she has been working so much on it herself. This is a huge jump in character from the beginning ( in Texas). It is almost like she got a character makeover. Twenty-year-olds are not too keen on working on themselves and making themselves better individuals - that’s not to say it doesn’t happen but normally that’s the case. Twenty-year-olds are too busy living, being themselves. It also depends on life experiences - what happens to a person at [a] certain time in his/her life that may make them grow up faster than their peers. Cassie had to deal with her mom’s illness and that was tough on her. I wish there was more with her mom in the book. I think that could have been a really neat ending too but it didn’t really have one. Back to age-I feel as though Cassie was more representative of a thirty-something woman than a twenty-something woman.

If she truly was scared by that other guy (in TX) wouldn’t she be freaked out being naked on a pole with another man - a man she barely knows? Yes, it is The Rookie but that could have been written to show how to make her more comfortable and at ease. She could have had a panic attack or something.

I listened to it on audio but I would not recommend it. I think reading it on a tablet or on the phone might be best. Actually... A real book is THE best. I liked The Rookie. He was a fun character. Cassie had her moments. The storyline was a bit predictable yet I still enjoyed it. I liked the camaraderie between the firefighters. The author captured that well.

Pull Quote:
“I was proud of myself. I was proud how I handled it all. I had brought him soup and gone to check on him and chosen over and over to be compassionate, to be human, and to do the right thing no matter if he [her firefighting co-worker] deserved it or not. I had risen above my anger. It wasn’t all gone yet but it didn’t have to be. I had forgiven him... or tried at least.” -Cassie Hanwell ...more

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Mar 16, 2019 Cathy marked it as to-read