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

Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center

8 reviews

milesandmiles's review

1.0

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???

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jg34's review

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funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5

Ok I may have another new favorite author. I just get pulled in right away and can’t stop reading!! I do think this book wrapped up a bit too nicely (tho I was scared for a second it was going to devastate me). There were a few cringeworthy declarations of love but that could just be because of my cold dead heart. Also

the marriage proposal felt a bit too sudden

but other than that no complaints! Made me cry and made me happy and giddy

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rebeccarudisill's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book completely surprised me but in the best way possible. Cassie is delightful and easy to root for. Every time I thought the book was going to fall into silly tropes, it zipped around them perfectly.

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spellygirl's review against another edition

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hopeful sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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readwithria's review

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Things You Save in a Fire is a beautiful story about forgiveness, family, and post traumatic growth. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and it’s an excellent book! However, I don’t know if I could call it a compelling romance novel.

I really enjoyed this book! Cassie’s personal growth is incredible, and the relationships that she builds are so compelling. I loved reading about the firehouse and how she weaseled her way into the hearts of the brotherhood. I also really loved the epilogue, and seeing how she created a community for herself.

That being said, the romance was definitely the weakest part of the book for me. I don’t think we spent enough page time with Owen to make the depth of her feelings for him feel earned. We don’t even learn his first name until 50% of the way through the book. I completely believe all of the interactions they have, but there are so many that we don’t see and it made it hard for me to believe that they were deeply in love.

I think if I had gone into this book not expecting it to be a romance, I would have enjoyed it a bit more. It’s still a book that I would definitely recommend! 4 stars.

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