3.5 Stars

Prepare to feel the burn. Stacey ignites the pages with a HOT firefighter and a fiery EMT. Lust runs rampart with this scorching duo. However, there's more to the attraction than hormone overload. There's heartbreaking tragedy, dangerous scenarios and a chance at emotional maturity. The sizzle is abundantly obvious, but the emotions run deep.

The last thing EMT Cait Tasker needs is to be thinking about fireman Gavin Boudreau. Their interactions are typically more antagonistic than friendly ever since she was working up the courage to ask him to coffee and he called her: ma'am. Plus, for the last six months Cait has been the only thing keeping her family afloat after the sudden and tragic loss of her step-father. Adding a man to that mix just isn't something she needs, regardless of what she may want.

Gavin won't deny that he's attracted to Cait, but he can't figure out what he did to make her dislike him. All that's put to rest when Gavin helps Cait out during an emergency. Once they start talking and getting to know one another, they can't help but want to be around each other. While neither will admit to want a commitment, their growing feelings for each other say otherwise. But Cait isn't able to step away from the family that needs her, and looking in from the outside, Gavin sees Cait's family relying on her more than is necessary, denying Cait from being able to move on with her own life. Will their differing of opinions keep them from moving forward?

I liked getting back to the Boston Fire series. I loved the enemies-to-lovers trope we get with Gavin and Cait. Light on the enemies side though it is. I appreciated that, in this relationship, Gavin and Cait are equals. There's not really any alpha-maleness happening which I liked for a nice switch-up. Instead, a lot of the story focuses on Cait and Gavin trying to build their own relationship around the conflicts of family. I like that both Cait and Gavin's view of Cait's current family situation are valid and, to me, neither was completely off base. Except for a little of the way things were handled toward the end, the opinions were true. When is a good time for Cait to move out of her mother's home again and let her mother start relying on herself for the day-to-day as well as start taking care of her teenage son again? When does Cait get to move forward with her life? The commentary on loss and how everyone handles loss in a different way was definitely front and center.

I loved the camaraderie between Gavin and his Ladder 37 team as well as Cait's familial bond with her EMT partner Tony. This, too, speaks a lot in regards to families are made and not born into.

There's no shortage of interesting characters in this series, and I'm looking forward to the next firefighter who get's their HEA in [b:Under Control|35287633|Under Control (Boston Fire, #5)|Shannon Stacey|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1496419402s/35287633.jpg|56650050].

*ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a first for me from this author, and she grabbed my attention right from the start. The writing flowed well, and I thought that Gavin and Cait were great together. Their chemistry was good, and I liked that they fit well into each other's lives. The secondary characters were developed nicely, and even though I haven't read the other books in this series, I was wasn't lost in names with no back story. My only complaint with the book was Cait with her family. She was enabling her mother and her brother, and they never had to start the healing process if they had her as a crutch. I've never went through a loss like that, but I do know, especially with kids, that life goes on. You can't lay down and not do anything. You have to keep going. It was frustrating to see Cait put herself in that position, and not see a problem. Gavin might have went about it the wrong way, but I agreed with everything he said. I loved the ending, it was perfect for these characters.
I voluntarliy reviewed an advanced readers copy of this book.

Boston firefighter meets Boston paramedic, romance ensues. I find Stacey pretty reliable, rarely earthshaking. This one felt very, very true-to-life with both hero and heroine going through truly ridiculous gyrations and over-analysis trying to let the other person know that they’re interested while not appearing, you know, TOO interested in case the other person ISN’T interested and OMG so many flashbacks to my bygone single days. The dialogue flows really well, the characters are pleasant, just really easy to read, although I’m not going to remember most of it a week from now and there were way too many side characters. Although seriously, who the hell takes someone to Brockton on a first date? Come on.

First up: This is the first book I've read from this author. I read a review online stating you didn't need to read the series to enjoy the book, so I took it for what it was worth and picked it up. So if you have read the series and some of my points would make more sense had I read previous books, take my review with a grain of salt.

For the most part, I liked the book. It was a quick read and a simple little story that I could lose myself in. Not too deep, not too intricate, and a good romance. The story line was hit and miss for me: some parts I loved, other parts I was pretty 'meh' over, but nothing that really turned me off or had me putting the book down. It was well paced and the characters solid.

I think I just have a problem with Cait. There's a constant theme throughout the entire book that she's not ready to let her mother stand on her own two feet. Which makes sense, considering the backstory and what happened. However, Cait's level of ignoring this issue stays the same through the entire thing. There's no wavering in her stubbornness, no moments where she even contemplates that it's not working. There is one part that she's angry she can't go with Gavin because family emergency, but nothing that even pushes her thoughts to acknowledge (even a little) that she's enabling bad behavior.

Spoiler

Even Gavin pointing it out over and over again, and then extremely bluntly that leads to the apex of the plot line doesn't do anything. Cait is stuck in her own thoughts the entire time until her mother sits her down and tells her Gavin is right. And it just seemed...off. Like. It didn't make sense to me. I could have totally bought everything the way it went had Cait been wavering back and forth through the entire book. But with her refusing to budge, it didn't seem like a big enough scene to finally get through her head. I don't know, could totally be just me, but that's bugging me after finishing the book.

In terms of the sex scenes, eh? They weren't terrible, but I feel there was a lot missing. The entire start of the book is talking about how attractive Gavin and Cait find each other, but as soon as clothes start coming off, that's not really mentioned at all. And the author builds up to this sexy lingerie Cait bought, but skips over Gavin unwrapping that particular present. Overall, not the worse I've read and not even in the bottom half, but those scenes were definitely missing a spark.

Only other thing that I can comment on is that the pacing seemed to be really slow. There's three near-death experiences for the main characters, but those experiences are completely separate from the emotional plot line. I wish the two had been more closely related. While a bit cliche, that's a huge driving point in most first-responder books I read. It was missing in this one.

EVEN WITH ALL THAT SAID, it was good. A nice read to enjoy and I might pick up another book from this author, I haven't decided yet. A solid 3 stars from me.

This is actually the first book I've read by this author. I received my copy as a gift from a friend and was a little skeptical going in, because, especially in this genre, you never know what you're going to get. You never know if you're about to read pure magic or pure cheese. Lucky for me, this book was much closer to magic than that other thing. It has complex, realistic characters I could easily relate to and fall in love with, and the relationship between the two leads has a very natural progression that never feels forced, something that trips up far too many writers with otherwise interesting ideas. This book was a great read and a wonderful surprise. I look forward to reading more of Shannon Stacey's books.