The guys (and yes, they’re all male) are old-school Boston firefighters, who see no place for a woman in their house. The crew in the new town is much different than the fairly progressive Austin station. Cassie initially refuses, but after her meltdown, she sees an opportunity to request a transfer to the local fire station and start again. Now, though, Diana has lost sight in one eye after surgery, and asks Cassie to stay with her for a year to help her out with the things she can no longer do on her own. Cassie’s mother Diana left her and her father on Cassie’s 16th birthday, and since then, the two have had a distant, unpleasant relationship.

Her mother had earlier called Cassie and asked her to come stay with her in her small town outside of Boston. She does have a way out of the situation. Her life falls apart on the night when she’s receiving an award for outstanding bravery, when the presenter ends up being someone from her past, and she completely loses it on stage, leaving the presenter in the hospital and herself on the verge of being fired. Things You Save in a Fire is, at first glance, a pretty standard contemporary romance - but it’s also an exploration of trauma, forgiveness, institutionalized sexism, and so much more.Ĭassie, at age 26, is a decorated, respected firefighter, an established, well-loved member of an Austin firehouse. Katherine Center’s Things You Save in a Fire is a heartfelt, affecting novel about life, love, and the true meaning of courage.

And because of the advice her old captain gave her: don’t date firefighters. Cassie can feel her resolve slipping…but will she jeopardize her place in a career where she’s worked so hard to be taken seriously? Except for the handsome rookie, who doesn’t seem to mind having Cassie around. Hazing, a lack of funding, and poor facilities mean that the firemen aren’t exactly thrilled to have a “lady” on the crew, even one as competent and smart as Cassie. The tough, old-school Boston firehouse is as different from Cassie’s old job as it could possibly be. But when her estranged and ailing mother asks her to uproot her life and move to Boston, it’s an emergency of a kind Cassie never anticipated. As one of the only female firefighters in her Texas firehouse, she’s seen her fair share of them, and she’s excellent at dealing with other people’s tragedies. From the New York Times bestselling author of How to Walk Away comes a stunning new novel about family, hope, and learning to love against all odds.Ĭassie Hanwell was born for emergencies.

Things you save in a fire