Reviews with content warning for Bullying - Things You Save in a Fire

A really hopeful, beautiful & unputdownable read about forgiveness, courage and relationships. I loved the premise of the book and the strength of the main character.

Content Warnings

jecollins's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Content Warnings

jade_sanderson's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Content Warnings

While I've enjoyed other books by Center, this book made me so angry. The main character is a survivor of multiple traumas and has her life near ruined by misogyny multiple times. Instead of getting any kind of support, she has parents who manipulate and bully her into living with her mother.

Her mother is written as if we're supposed to believe she's caring, which is awful because at no point does she provide genuine emotional support. She doesn't value her daughter's incredibly successful career nor does she recognize the harassment at any point. Instead the mom pushes the self-serving advice that the main character needs to work on forgiveness. I kept yelling at the book that the mc needed to stop listening to mom and find a competent trauma therapist.

I really wish she could have found one genuinely supportive friend connected to neither her mother nor work on all of those long runs around town to make this a slightly healthier story. The bf provides a couple moments of support, but also trauma dumps on her and pressures her into breaking her boundaries because apparently he's incapable of managing his relationship with his parents. No one really listens or holds space for her. She ends up telling her trauma only to build rapport with someone her harassed and nearly killed her.

This book says that giving empathy and forgiveness to others is more important than expecting respect and empathy for yourself and your experiences. Let people walk all over you or harm you! Forgiving them is good for you!

Also, 4 out of 4 Center books I've read have featured romances where at least one character is at work. Can we all agree that romance in a workplace is so much more likely to be problematic and really shouldn't be a consistent theme???

Content Warnings

jenniferbbookdragon's review

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Center gives us a complex woman to root for, and she is a real heroine: a firefighter and EMT dealing with sexism in a very male dominated profession. When her family and personal history force her to move across the country and start over in a new fire department, Cassie discovers new ways to address her past and build a new future.

Content Warnings