The main character of the book, Cassie, is a female firefighter who reluctantly transfers from her firehouse in Texas to a small firehouse in Massachusetts that has never had a female firefighter before, to help her somewhat estranged mother through her health difficulties. For reasons that we find out as the book unfolds, when the book starts Cassie is very closed off emotionally, when it comes to family, love, friends, and more. It's not like the themes of family, love, work, and closed off characters learning to open up are things that have never been done before, but Katherine Center just handles them so beautifully. And the firehouse setting was pretty unique, and I found it really interesting as well.
Also, I love a book that touches me emotionally, and this one really did a number on me. I cried sad tears, I cried happy tears, I even cried a few tears just at passages of writing that explored themes of forgiveness and love so beautifully. I would quote a few of my favorites for you but I don't want to spoil the experience of reading them for yourself. It's also been quite a while since I tore through a book in one day. I was lucky enough to have a quiet day yesterday that gave me reading time, but I also really just couldn't put this one down.
This is only my 3rd 5 star review this year, following "Daisy Jones & the Six" by Taylor Jenkins Reid and "One Night at the Lake" by Bethany Chase. I give out 4 stars quite liberally, and even 4.5 stars a decent amount - but I'm pretty choosy when it comes to 5 stars. (I actually almost gave 5 stars last week to "The Lager Queen of Minnesota" by J. Ryan Stradal but I spent enough time going back and forth on it that it tipped it back to 4.5 stars. But don't be surprised if that one ends up on my 2019 top 10 list too.) Much of the time reading "Things You Save in a Fire" I was actually thinking this was going to be another 4.5 star book, but ultimately I was just so moved by it that I had to go 5 stars.
Last year I read Katherine Center's "How to Walk Away" and absolutely loved it - it just missed making it onto my top 10 favorite books of 2018, so I included it on my "best of the rest". Well, "Things You Save in a Fire" will definitely make my 2019 top 10 favorites list! I also will definitely read anything Katherine Center writes in the future, and am also super excited to catch up on the 5 books she wrote prior to "How to Walk Away."
Hope you enjoy it too!
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