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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Solid book by Erin Dutton, December 27, 2007
This review is from: Fully Involved (Paperback)
Erin Dutton's second book is a solid novel in its own right. Reid is a firefighter; her best friend Jimmy is killed in a fire, and Reid feels guilty about this. In swoops Jimmy's younger sister Isabel who comes to help take care of Jimmy's son, Chase.
Reid has loved Isabel for years, and has held back (Reid is not one to just go and mess with her best friend's younger sister). Sparks ensue (pun intended) when the firefighter is attracted to the financial planner, and vice/versa.
My only complaint? ATTENTION ALL AUTHORS...PLEASE QUIT TRYING TO WRAP UP A 233 PAGE BOOK IN A FEW SENTENCES. Grrrrrr.....Please, spare a few pages for a resolution. Doing so makes for a much better book.
Enjoy!!
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Solid effort by the author; an inoffensive read, January 26, 2008
This review is from: Fully Involved (Paperback)
I liked the premise of this book, as far as I could tell from the publisher's synopsis. And this book had great strengths. I really appreciated the little details about fire fighting and even day-to-day living with which Erin Dutton imbued the lives of her characters. It really helped to flesh out events. The author has a tendency to rely too heavily on "showing" what her characters are going through internally through their actions, then tacking on internal dialogue and other motivational explanations after the action, but at least she does include relatively strong inner voices to flesh out these people.
Emotionally, the book was a tad uneven and rather like a roller coaster. It was amusing to have one of the characters actually bring up the roller coaster metaphor, but I really felt at times like I was getting mental whip lash from the dramatic stops and starts and about-faces these characters executed throughout the book, sometimes with no warning (though, as I mentioned, even the most confusing or frustrating of actions was generally well-supported through motivational exposition following the sudden events).
The family structure was charming. And as one who has had deaths of those close to me, I couldn't help but be touched and project extra emotion into my reading of this book.
I agree that the ending could have been fleshed out. But this seems to be a common complaint in this genre.
This book has flaws, but is above-average in its execution. I enjoy the way this author handles emotion and character, but would like her to develop a more consistent or strong narrative voice; think about what the book is trying to say about relationships. I will definitely look for her future works, however, and recommend this one as a quick read, with some poignant moments related to coping with death and loss, interesting insight into the lives of fire fighters, and exploration of the many types of love we hold in the various relationships in our lives.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good solid book, June 17, 2008
This review is from: Fully Involved (Paperback)
Reid Webb and Jimmy Grant had been friends since they were children. Where you saw one, you saw the other. It was only natural that they would decide together to become firefighters and that they would end up in the same station. They depended on each other for everything and their families formed one extended family. When Jimmy's wife died in an accident, Reid and her mother stepped in to help raise Jimmy's young son, Chase. What they didn't count on was Jimmy dying in a fire under circumstances that leave Reid believing she caused his death. Now she knows she has to help provide stability in Chase's life and that means dealing with his Aunt Isabel, who arrives to be Chase's guardian. Reid fell in love with her when they were much younger, but she thought Isabel was straight and she was Jimmy's sister, so definitely forbidden territory. Isabel has her own feelings about Reid. When they were children she resented the relationship Jimmy had with Reid and not with her. Now, she blames Reid for her brother's death, not so much for the accident, but because she drew him into the life of firefighting. What they have in common is a love for Chase and the determination they both have to give him the best life possible now. As the two women struggle with their grief and anger, they realize they have to work together and then that an attraction is growing between them. There are a lot of issues that have to be resolved before they can decide if they want to be "fully involved," maybe too many issues.
Erin Dutton does an exceptional job of creating the personalities of her players. Reid Webb is a strong character - brave, stoic, guilt ridden. She has the patience to deal with a small child and his hurt, but not with the woman she loves. Isabel is a study in contradictions, one moment admiring Reid for the courage she shows and how she seems to instinctively understand Chase, and the next hating her for what happened to Jimmy. Chase struggles to be the "man" he knows his father would want him to be while trying to understand how one little fellow could have so many bad things happen to him. The strength of the characters' emotions pour from the page and will catch the reader up in the story. This is not a sad book, but there are certainly parts that will cause tears to rise. Yet, it is also a story of hope, of how people can put their lives back together after great tragedy and how the definition of "family" needs to be revised for the world today.
This is one of the better books out there to read.
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