Controlled Burn (Boston Fire #2)

Ok so I hesitated to buy this one. I love a good fireman romance but some of the reviews were less than stellar. Overall I did really like the book. It was a slower; much less dramatic romance. And I liked that. I usually read fast paced, drama filled stuff. But I liked the relationship between Rick and Jessica. The ending, however, nearly ruined it for me. It just stops. Like literally, there’s one small thing that happens and it just ends. No resolution with her work, her father, her grandparents and the house. Nothing. It just ends. When I turned the page I was sure there would at least be an epilogue. Nope. That really has me irritated. The rest of the book was good, though, and I did enjoy it.

A solid entry into the lives of the Boston Ladder and Engine companies that share a station. I put off reading it, but once I saw the price was down a dollar, I one-clicked and DL’d right away. Rick is more of a side character in the later books, but an important incident that plays into Scott’s book after this takes place here. And of course, the world in this series is expanded with the addition of his landlords and their granddaughter from San Diego. The setting of Boston and its people and neighborhoods is, as usual, a large part of this series and this book, and I love it. Could these stories take place elsewhere? Maybe. But they wouldn’t be nearly as much fun anywhere else. You do find out how things are going for these characters in the next book (Scott’s), but yes, it would have been nice to have a little *more* at the end of this one. These are linked sequential stories, but there’s no overarching plot (like a rampant firebug or so on…it’s just life). It’s more like a soap opera. 🙂 As long as Ms. Stacey keeps writing ‘em, I’ll keep reading ‘em.

My Review: This book is a sweet, easy, entertaining read with a very light romance. There’s no heavy angst with this one…just pure romance featuring one very hot firefighter and one slightly uptight financial advisor. The romance was fairly easy and happy and I enjoyed the chemistry between Rick and Jessica. But it felt like the meat of the story fell within Jessica’s family. She’s in Boston (although she lives in San Diego) to meet and take care of a situation with her grandparents. The thing is…neither Jessica nor her grandparents knew the other existed for the first 34 years of her life. David/Davey is estranged from his parents and never told them about his daughter or his daughter about them. But they’re getting older and their doctor was concerned so he called David as their next of kin. Jessica took the call and with her father “unavailable” flew to Boston to figure out the situation. See, you can tell…this is where the really emotional aspects of the story come into play. Rick is a part of all this because he rents the upper floor of Jessica’s grandparents house and has for a lot of years. He keeps an eye on them and takes care of the house along with being a firefighter. It’s a complication because of the house situation and the fact that Jessica lives on a whole other coast, but Rick and Jessica are drawn to one another. There was a lot about this book that I really enjoyed: *of course the fact that Rick is a firefighter is a major WIN. I really enjoyed the scenes of him at the fire station. *Jessica’s grandmother cracked me up, but I also really loved her and her attitude toward David. It would be so easy to be bitter about the fact that he’s stayed away for so long, but she actively tries to keep from putting Jessica in the middle of a difficult situation. *I liked the glimpses of change that we saw in David although he was really never a truly active part of the story. *Like I said the book was just an easy, entertaining read. It’s nice to not have the huge, heavy drama in a lot of other romance out there (and I laughed when Jessica was detailing the sexy times in the romance book she was reading and how unlikely sex was in those situations.) I’ve always like Shannon Stacey’s writing and I’d definitely recommend this one and any of her other books. I received a complimentary copy of this book in return for an honest review.

The Boston Fire family is all about love and heart as the firefighters protect the city and the people they love. Rick is one of the best and his big heart is more than apparent as he treats his landlords like family, like his own. When Jessica shows up, a surprise granddaughter, he is immediately suspicious of her motives. And turnabout is fair play, as Jessica feels the same way about him… I LOVE these characters. I had high expectations going into this second of the series and Jessica, Rick, Joe and Marie, they exceeded all of them. It was family wounds being healed, it was love at its most warm and funny. Brought together by grandparents who I wish I could claim for my own, Rick and Jessica’s path to love was the perfect warm hug on a cold winter day. *I happily reviewed this story

I would have given this an extra star or two because I like Shannon Stacey’s stories but she always cuts the endings off quickly. This was the worst one. The characters were great. Storyline great. The ending was not. It left off with so many open questions of what was going to happen. Was Jess going to move to Boston and open an office there or commute back and forth. Were they going to buy her grandparents house. What was the father going to do? There are more questions but you get my point. Shannon, please give a little more to your endings.

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