Narrated by Kasha Kensington
Firefighter romance is extra attractive to me right now because I find them generally unproblematic. There are a few other occupations I used to enjoy reading about but these days? Not so much. Fighting fires and saving lives is noble and heroic and I feel like I need extra of both in ears and eyeballs right now. I also have a weakness for the “brother’s best friend” trope and Kelly Jamieson’s books are generally fairly successful for me so I dived in to Firecracker with optimism.
Arden Lennox returns to Chicago from Phoenix after the death of her husband and financial ruin, to take up the generous offer of her brother to live rent-free in an apartment he’s renovating, while she gets back on her feet. Jamie, Arden’s brother, lives in a house which has been converted into four apartments with his BFF, Tyler Ramirez (a firefighter and amateur handyman who is doing most of the renovations for a break on his rent) and his other BFF, Mila. (It’s obvious to any romance reader that Mila and Jamie belong together and I expect they will be the leads in the next book in the series).
Arden’s first husband was a football player and they lived the high life until injury stopped his career. Given Arden’s business degree I was a little surprised that she didn’t realise that would have a drastic impact on their financial situation. Arden was fairly naïve in many ways and did not always feel like the 28-year-old adult she was.
Tyler and Jamie are both 26 and Arden knew Tyler way back when as a geeky, gangly teen. When she returns to Chicago, she hasn’t seen Tyler for years so she’s very pleasantly surprised at the hot gorgeousness he has grown into. Plus: firefighter muscles. The age gap between them is pretty much a non-issue – Tyler often came across as the more mature of the pair to me anyway. (Also, my own husband is 2 years younger than me.)
To my delight, Jamie wasn’t a barrier either. It’s always seemed a bit weird to me that a guy would not want his BFF to date his adult sister. I mean why be friends with a jerk and if he’s not a jerk why not, right?
Anyway, Tyler and Arden’s apartments are on the same floor and Tyler is in and out doing renovations so he and Arden spent a lot of time together. Tyler has had a crush on Arden ever since he was a teen and now that she’s back and he’s all grown up, those feelings quickly become very adult and much deeper.
Arden is reluctant to get into any relationship with anyone ever again after her disastrous prior experience. Prior to his death she had fallen out of love with her husband and it is clear that they didn’t communicate very well. She does carry guilt about not realising things in her marriage and she also feels like she “lost herself”; she never did anything with her business degree because they were so wealthy and it wasn’t necessary for her to work. I was a little vague on whether this was a result of a push from the husband or not. I had some sympathy for Arden over these issues even while I couldn’t understand a relationship that did not discuss finances and the like. It certainly didn’t sound very healthy to me.
While it is a mild spoiler, it could be triggering to some listeners so I want to mention here that Arden’s husband died by suicide.
Tyler and Arden get closer and kind of stumble into a relationship which Arden very carefully does not name or acknowledge. Some of that didn’t quite work for me because really, how could Arden not know they were in a relationship when they spent all their time together for a month and ditched the condoms by agreement?? Anyway, the reality that Tyler has feelings for Arden and wants more (even though he’s very patient and willing to wait until she’s ready) sends her into a panic and her response is a little immature. That’s actually directly from the narrative, but I agreed with the judgement.
Tyler is a carer-protector kind of guy. His younger sister was murdered when he was a teenager and obviously this left scars. He wants to protect and take care of Arden but Arden wants to stand on her own two feet. Especially after all the things she missed doing and seeing in her marriage, she doesn’t want to leave everything to someone else ever again. This is the central conflict of the story. I had sympathy for Arden in her desires. At the same time, Tyler isn’t oppressive or horrible. He just likes to take care of people. He crosses a few lines from good intentions but he’s in no way controlling or abusive. Fortunately, over the course of the story they both realise there’s a happy medium available.
The narration was good with reasonable character differentiation between the main cast. In addition to Arden, Tyler, Mila and Jamie, there’s Liam and his sister Sorcha who own a bar where Arden gets a job, and Danny, a new friend who joins the group. Liam has a lovely Irish accent which fits with the description in the text of being mild but present.
There’s a scene in the book where Tyler and his crew are fighting a fire and things get pretty intense and this was particularly well narrated. The tension and chaos of the scene were well-conveyed by Ms. Kensington with characters shouting to one another and emotions on high alert. I felt like I was in the scene when I was listening.
Firecracker suffered a little from some pacing issues generally – there were sections of the book that did little to drive the plot forward and felt too long. One in particular was about Arden getting a haircut and I admit I zoned out a bit there. But I enjoyed the connection between Arden and Tyler and the friendship between the wider group.
There was one part early on which I was a bit uncertain about. I’m not an expert but it involved some laughter at Jamie’s expense and a dating app and I wondered if there was potential transphobia or if the joke just didn’t land very well for me. However, in the wider context of the book, including the group’s acceptance and inclusion of this particular character into their circle (I’m pretty sure he will be a future MC), I felt like it was more likely the latter rather than the former.
Firecracker was a pleasant listen but I would have enjoyed a tighter pace and a little more action so it lived up to its title better.
Kaetrin
Buy Firecracker by Kelly Jamieson on Amazon
