A review by np24
Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center

adventurous emotional sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Ehh, this book was just ehh for me. The main character was a badass who has experienced a lot and been hardened by it, which is something that I empathize with and want to root for, but I honestly found her so irritating and unnecessarily dismissive with the people in her life. ***WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD
I very much understand how being a victim of sexual assault affects your relationships with others, but I feel like this character was written as simply mean and shut-off without much nuance, and then just so happened to stumble into a perfect love story that fixed all her problems immediately. She said that she hasn’t dated or opened up to anyone in 10 years (very understandable for what she went through) and then within an hour of kissing the rookie she’s unquestioningly ready for sex and it’s so magical and perfect and there is no PTSD or trauma or bad feelings of any kind it’s all just perfect, and that just feels kinda unrealistic to me and minimizes the experience that so many go through. It’s often not as simple as just “finding the right guy” but I digress.
It just felt like it was trying for so much and ended up being cheesy and unrealistic. 
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