Customer Reviews

After the Fire (Berkley Sensation)

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

After a devestating fire, Mitch, Jenn, and Zach Malvaso vow to change their lives for the better. Mitch decides that he either has to make a serious commitment to making his marriage work or call it quits, Jenn decides she wants a baby, and Zach wants his wife back.

Megan Hale moved to Hidden Cove to escape the demons chasing after her. After her husband died in the line of duty and her father only a short time later, Megan knew that she had to leave the big city scene. She has finally found peace in the little town that is just like family. Her attraction to Mitch is as unexpected as it is complicated. Vowing never to be the 'other woman', Megan is adamament about not admitting her feelings for Mitch, and he feels the same way. This book is overcoming the trials of life and falling in love when you least expect it.

Although the story revolves mostly around Mitch and Megan, Shay has subplots with the other siblings that grab the reader and don't let go. I can't wait until her next book in this series comes out. I never understood exactly how much a firefighter risked until I read this book. The things that a firefighter has to know, along with the risks they take for strangers is humbling.

The emotion in this book is so overwhelming at times that I felt like crying. This is a superbly written book that I would highly recommend!

This was a very good book. I didn't want to put it down. The characters seemed real, the story seemed realistic. It was obvious the author did a lot of research. I think firefighters would enjoy the story.
I found the sex scenes a little explicit but I admit I am a bit of a prude. Without the expletives and the sex scenes I would recommend the book to everyone. But given the above mentioned I won't recommend it and I won't be able to read the sequels.

I found some of this book pretty good. I was put off, though, by the long drawn out sex scenes (to be fair, they weren't many,) the unnecessarily foul language, and the sense of ground already covered. And covered. And covered. I'd say the book would have been greatly benefitted, earning a 4, or perhaps even a 5, rating, had probably one quarter to one third of the book mercifully fallen to a more astute red pencil. Hint to author: "Edit, edit, edit!"

At first, I was a bit overwhelmed by the numerous characters and plot lines. But it didn't take long before the people and plots really drew me in. This book was hard to put down, and I'm looking forward to the next one. I found it an interesting premise -- three siblings facing the mistakes they'd made and wanting to change their lives -- after an event that made them all too aware of their mortality. Again, I'm looking forward to seeing where the next book takes them.

This free kindle book was recommended to me so i added it and read it. I enjoyed the details on firefighting and it really had the potential to be a good story. Too bad i ended up skipping over pages and pages of long and drawn out sex scenes that were not necessary. I admittedly to not like harlequin type romance stories becasue they are so predictable, boring, and filled with nonsense. This book is on the fringe of that genre and I really hated that about it.

This story of a family of Italian-Americans, 3 firefighters, 2 adamantly opposed to firefighting, is a good story about making changes after a devastating event. Each of the 3 vow to change their lives in a meaningful way: Mitch, the older brother who gave up his college dreams of basketball to care for his brothers and sisters after the death of their father, vows to do something about his stagnant, unhappy marriage. Jenn, the unmarried, tough yet tender firefighter, vows to have a baby. Zach, the bad boy, vows to clean up his womanizing ways and try to win back the favor of his ex-wife. Add to the mix a fragle looking lady detective who lost both her husband and father in the line of duty, and you have most of the recipe for this book.

As mentioned in some of the other reviews, there was way too much blatant sex and cursing. It is possible to tastefully fade to black and let imagination fill in the rest. But, I guess that's what a lot of people want. Not me. I thought the author did a reasonably good job of creating realistic situations, even if they were sometimes overly cliched. All in all, I give it a solid "3" rating. Good enough to read, especially considering it's free(!) but not so good that I'm going to buy the next 2 in this series. Cut the unnecessary profanity, tone down the sex, and we'll talk.

It took me a while to get to this story to read once I downloaded it. If the current reviews had been posted at the time, I would have passed on the download. I had no problems keeping up with the story lines of the five siblings, their children, and their significant others. The emergency responder scenes seemed realistic. The problems sounded plausable. What truly disappointed me was the vast use of expletives and x-rated scenes - I agree with other reviewers that these were over-done; and for me, they actually detracted from the story. For this reason, while I would love to read more about the characters whose intertwined lives were so expertly brought to life, I will not. Having associated with some fire companies, I know the people on the crews don't all use the type of language all these characters did - maybe one or two, but not all of them. I applaud Kathryn Shay for the vast amount of research she put into making this story as life-like as possible.

After the fire is a compelling read about the lives of one family after a tragic fire almost claimed the lives of three firefighting siblings.
Still at the scene of the fire, they vow to change their lives for the better.

Mitch, a lovable father-figure to his other firefighting siblings vows to make things better with his kids, who have recently gotten a little more than out of control & to try to resurrect things in his marriage to the selfish semi-crazy Cynthia for the children. Things get out of control for him when a sexy new police officer from the city moves to their town & brings forth feelings in Mitch that he long ago lost for his wife.

Jenny, a strong, but sensitive female firefighter on the crew, longs for a baby, but without a husband and with no foreseeable romances in the future, she leans on her best friend (and also firefighter) Grady to help.

Zach, is a hot-headed player, who before the fire "chased anything with a skirt" unfortunately causing great pain to his wife, and splitting up his family, keeping him from spending time with his two children.

All three have two other siblings, who never seemed to fit into the firefighting role or even appreciate the fire department for that matter. "After the Fire" documents the struggles they all face to make things right in their lives & their efforts to give back to the community in a camp for children of firefighters or cops killed in the line of duty,
Of course nothing goes as easy as planned, and personal drama, as well as personal anguish of having lived through such a tragic fire makes it even harder for the siblings to keep their vows and mend their lives. You will not want to put this book down, in an effort to find out how things work out for these lovable and personable characters.

Very good writing, only a few editorial errors that don't really detract from the story. I will definitely be looking forward to reading more by Kathryn Shay.

Being in the fire/EMS field I was naturally drawn to this book. I loved how the characters were developed and it gave just enough back story to make you satisfied with how the characters came to be. There are a bunch of characters in this book however Mitch takes the spotlight. The story line is great and I love how Jenn and Grady come to realize how much they love each other.

The only bad thing I have to say is that all the story lines ended rather abruptly. We get no further closure on Jenn and Grady, Mitch and Meg's story line drifts and ends in a different way than the last few pages would lead on, and we get absolutely nothing on Zach. I just wish the author would've tied off loose ends a little better.

There are some grammatical errors and spelling mishaps so as long as you can get by those you'll be good to go!

I do enjoy this story (haven't finished it yet.) What struck me almost immediately (and I first assumed was just a mistake) was the use of "I got." One example of many: "Probably because I got a gun." The author uses "I got" "you got" over and over instead of "have." "I HAVE a gun." In every context where she uses "got," it should be "have." It is a really poor use of words, and it happens so frequently that I assume the author does not know the difference. Which is really bad if you are a writer...even of a free book.....if she is trying to convey that firefighters and detectives are so uneducated that this is how they talk.....it is insulting. But I suspect it is just maybe how SHE talks in real life....doesn't know the difference.....