Seeing Red by Jill Shalvis

Seeing RedNarrated by Laura Heisler

I am delighted that the Firefighter books by Jill Shalvis finally made it to audio. For years they were out of print and I scoured used bookstores to find copies of White Heat, Blue Flame, and Seeing Red. I remember feeling particularly special when I finally got my hands on Blue Flame after two years of looking. I have to admit I feel like an old-timer who “walked uphill in the snow each day” to go to school. I did it the hard way while the young whipper-snappers get to download the eBooks or, better yet, listen to the audiobooks instantly.

And that brings me back to the audio format of Seeing Red, narrated by the new-to-me Laura Heisler. The first thing to realize is the three books in this “series” are actually stand-alone stories. Although it’s been years since I read all of them, I don’t remember any common thread in the books except they involve firefighters. That’s a good thing, since it means you can just as easily begin with Seeing Red as any of the other books.

Summer and Joe were best friends growing up. Summer, the pretty outgoing daughter of a hippie-influenced interior decorator mom and a writer dad, doesn’t see Joe as “the fat kid.” Instead, he’s simply her best friend and keeper of her secrets. To Joe, the son of an abusive father, Summer is not just a best friend and confidante, she’s also the one he loves. Their young friendship ends when Joe, Summer, and the young man Summer hopes will be her boyfriend fight about their relationship in the basement of the family warehouse. During this fight the warehouse catches fire and the three barely make it out alive. When Summer is well again she leaves town and in the ensuing twelve years, her visits home are infrequent and short.

While Summer has been making her living as a wilderness guide, Joe has become a firefighter and finally a fire marshal. He is now trim and muscled from years of working out. Their paths meet again when the family warehouse burns once again, and Joe and Summer are thrown together as the investigation leads to arson, and then reopens the case on the original fire. Summer still has memory lapses and panic attacks from the previous fire. Added to that, her family and friends, including Joe, don’t trust her decision to stick around until the fire is investigated. She has spent the last twelve years running away so what’s different now?

My favorite character in the book is Joe. He’s honest, capable, and completely down to earth. Summer’s character sometimes seems obtuse and selfish, unable or unwilling to see the power she has to hurt Joe. But I do like the way they both come around to the happy ending. (Come on, that’s NOT a spoiler. This is romance, after all.) My least favorite character was Summer’s mother. She seemed determined to push Summer away. Her character acted too weak and timid for the way she is described.

For me, Laura Heisler as a narrator is much like Jill Shalvis as a writer. They are perhaps not the most gifted in their field, but very solid and reliable. I look to Shalvis for a fun, dependably enjoyable read and am never disappointed. It appears Heisler will be that sort of narrator for me. I can see myself finding her name as narrator and thinking, “Oh, good! That should be enjoyable.” She performs the male and female voices quite well and mostly gets the emotional intent of the scenes. Her narration is just a tad slow for me, but that’s minor. Overall a good effort.

Carrie


Narration:  B

Book Content:  B

Steam Factor:  For your burning ears only

Violence:  Minimal (one fight scene between teen boys)

Genre:  Contemporary Romance

Publisher:  Audible, Inc.

 

Seeing Red was provided to AudioGals by Audible, Inc. for review.

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