Review: Heartwarming and so real! A New Favorite!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 25, 2014
I signed up for this blog tour because I had seen the book and hype around. Naturally, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. However, I had no clue what to really expect from it – and boy, am I glad that I didn’t. I finished this book and immediately took to Twitter to communicate with Dani Hart. I honestly felt so wowed by it. I was in awe. I snickered, I ugly cried, I sympathized. It was such a beautiful, authentic tale. If I’m being honest, I love a good romance that is all heart and flowers because, really, who doesn’t want to escape real life. However, there’s also something so refreshing about reading a book that is more down to earth and realistic in its descriptions and feelings.A Firefighter’s Flame isn’t really just a story – it’s a journey. Lennox is a mother, a firefighter’s wife, a friend, a daughter, etc. She plays all these roles, yet she is lost. She is so confused and conflicted by the events of her life and questions what fate has brought to her. I’ve been in her shoes where her heart and her soul feel so torn apart and the raw feelings of it were so spot on that it was uncanny. Rather than just reading these situations she gets put in though, you really experience them as a reader through the way Dani Hart writes them. She goes back and forth between time periods which helps to build the emotions and the sympathy for every character involved. When I first began seeing this pattern, I was nervous that it would be jumpy and not make much sense. However, because she does it as flashbacks or memories, it completely works with the story! It enhances the experience in a way.I loved the male characters and how supportive they were. Yes, I wanted to slap them both from time to time, but it just made the book that much more interesting. I also had a serious love/hate relationship with Kylie – Lennox’s best friend. She did some pretty stupid things, but I felt like she always had good intentions and it never worked out in her favor. You really do grow to feel something for every character that is brought to light.The book also taught me about the community and camaraderie that is often experienced in a firefighter’s life. It was a beautiful thing to see portrayed in these words. As a reader, I gained an even greater respect for these heroes and what they do, but also what their families are put through. Furthermore, I love that a light is shined on mental illness. We read so much as fantasy that we forget that things we come across DO happen in real life, and much more often than we realize. As someone who has bouts of minor depression, I could completely sympathize with the pictures being drawn of wanting to lay in bed or sleep all day, not wanting to clean the house, etc. You close up in this hole and although you may want to escape, the path to do so isn’t always clear. I thought these feelings and emotions were so accurately depicted that it was comforting in a way. It made a reader who experiences these feelings and thoughts not feel so alone, and I think that’s an extremely difficult emotion to express.This book was added to my favorites list as soon as I finished it! Overall, it was heartwarming and REAL and I would absolutely recommend it to others to read! It’s not your average love story – but it’s about learning to love yourself. There were times I snickered and laughed, there were times I bawled my eyes out, serious ugly cry. There aren’t many books out there than can make you feel so many different things in such a short period, but this is definitely one of them. I really cannot wait to see what Dani Hart will come up with next!