Come on Baby Light My Fire

Lisa Tawn Bergren, an accomplished Christian novelist with dozen of books in print, combines fear, risk, love, loss, and fires all into one novel, in "Firestorm." As I've admitted before this isn't my favorite genre but I'm always pleasantly surprised when I read a Christian romance that doesn't have me gagging. This story follows fire science expert, Reyne, as she tries to overcome her fears and learn to trust in God again after she loses four of her crew in a horrendous firestorm. After taking a much safer job behind the scenes she starts to cross paths with sexy smoke-jumper, Logan, but is hesitant to get to attached because she fears that he too will be overcome by the fire someday. As the story progresses she learns to drop some of her barriers as she takes a dying friends advice (her best friend, Beth, has cancer) to live life to the fullest and to trust God with what he has in store for you.

Overall, it was predictable and sappy but still pulled at the heartstrings. A light breezy read that doesn't require too much of your focus. On a side note, it is also interesting to see how fire-jumpers and firefighters combat big forest and plain fires. Read at your leisure if you like Christian romance.

I received this book for free from Waterbrook Press in return for my honest, unbiased opinion.

The Most Well Christian Romance Reader in all of Indiana

In this past year or so I've become one of the most well-read christian romance readers in all of Indiana. Bragging rights? Anyhoo, I grabbed this After All by Deborah Raney because based on the description (and it's genre) I figured it would be a quick read and I need to start zipping through my insanely large "to read" book-pile from Goodreads.

It was as I guessed an insanely fast read, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. The story follows Susan, the widow of a fallen fire fighter who struggles to deal with her loss, with her family (she has two adult sons), and her homeless shelter. Her husband and five other fire fighters died in a tragic fire the year before when her fledgling homeless shelter caught fire. Many people in the town thought good riddance of the homeless shelter and were aghast when she re-opened it in another location so soon after her husband's death. She faces opposition everywhere she goes, especially from Fire Chief Peter who harbors some blame at the homeless for starting the fire that killed five of his men, including Susan's husband, the year prior. Against his better judgement he starts to help out Susan and they begin to develop feelings for each other. Besides struggling to keep the shelter open, Susan must deal with the fact that her son informed her that her fallen husband had been cheating on her prior to his untimely death, and then she has to deal with the temptress herself as she tries to steal Peter away from her.

Overall, this was a small quick plot that was easy to plow through. Not the most romantic or impactful, but a light breezy beach read that fills the time. Not great, not bad. But alright for a Christian romance.

Disclaimer, this book is the third in a trilogy, although you would never know it by the way the story is set up. It stands easily on it's own, I was never once confused.

I received this book free from Goodreads giveaways in return for my unbiased, honest opinion.