Up In Smoke (Hot in Chicago Rookies 1) by Kate Meader-Review Tour

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date February 22, 2022

Lives are on the line at Engine 6 … and so are hearts.

Running an engine crew in the Chicago Fire Department is my dream job, and between that, my awesome kid, and my nosey sister, I lead a pretty great life. Bruised and burned by my marriage, I don’t have time for dating or drama, but I always have time for pie. And when I share a slice of cherry with a sweet redhead, followed by the hottest, dirtiest, most pulse-pounding kiss of my life, I start to rethink the possibilities.

Until that same woman walks into my firehouse and upends my well-ordered world.

Abby Sullivan is now a rookie firefighter on my crew and a threat to my self-control more dangerous than a five-alarm blaze. My job is to watch her six when all I want is to watch her fall into my bed. Lust has no place in the firehouse, and a distraction like Abby with her electric blue eyes, waves of flame-red hair, and freckles I want to map with my tongue, is one I can ill afford.

Because one wrong move … and it could all go up in smoke.

•••••

REVIEW: UP IN SMOKE is the first instalment in Kate Meader’s contemporary, adult HOT IN CHICAGO ROOKIES erotic, firefighter romance series-a spin off from the author’s HOT IN CHICAGO series. This is twenty six year old, paramedic and rookie firefighter Abby Sullivan, and thirty-two year old, single father and firefighter Lt. Roman Rossi’s story line. There is a slight cross-over with the author’s Rookie Rebels series.

Told from dual first person perspectives (Abby and Roman) UP IN SMOKE follows the forbidden relationship between twenty six year old paramedic and rookie firefighter Abby Sullivan, and thirty-two year old single father and firefighter Lt. Roman Rossi. Roman had no idea the woman he met at an all night diner would be the newest rookie on Engine 6. Starting a relationship with someone under his command is all kinds of wrong but the palpable sexual attraction and burn could not be contained. As a rookie Abby Sullivan is continuously stepping out side of the line but it doesn’t help when someone is reporting Abby’s every move to the Chicago Fire Commissioner, a man Abby knows only too well. As Abby and Roman try to keep their relationship on the down low, someone is waiting in the wings to destroy our story line couple. What ensues is the building but secret relationship and romance between Abby and Roman, and the potential fall-out when a dangerous fire finds Abby going against orders to save the man with whom she is falling in love.

Abby Sullivan knows the reality of life as a firefighter having grown up in a house with firefighting parents but Abby’s reality is about to crowd out her chances at Engine 6 when an over protective parent curtails Abby’s career as a successful firefighter. Roman Rossi is a single father who landed in Chicago after a disastrous marriage and career in New York City. Roman never set out to fall for Abby Sullivan but the heart wanted something more from out story line heroine.

The relationship between Abby and Roman begins as co-workers. Roman is Abby’s immediate superior, and as such their relationship is off limits unless reported to HR. Abby struggles with the possibility of her relationship with Roman seen as improper or sleeping her way to the top, and in this, Abby is constantly pushing away Roman Rossi, when in her heart, she wants nothing more than to claim Roman as her own. The $ex scenes are intimate, passionate and intense without the use of over the top sexually graphic language and text.

We are introduced to Abby’s fellow rookies: Jude Torres, and Sam Killian; fellow firefighters Danny Acosta, Luke Almeida, Paul Wozniak, Alexandra Dempsey-Cooper, Commissioner Chuck Sullivan, as well as Roman’s sister Chiara, and his eleven year old daughter Lena. Jude’s story is next.

UP IN SMOKE is a story of family, friendships, relationships and love; a story of struggle and trust, grief and loss, acceptance and forgiveness. The premise is captivating,engaging and emotional; the romance is seductive and steamy; the characters are charismatic, strong, determined and energetic.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

Originally from Ireland, USA Today bestselling author Kate Meader cut her romance reader teeth on Maeve Binchy and Jilly Cooper novels, with some Harlequins thrown in for variety. Give her tales about brooding mill owners, oversexed equestrians, and men who can rock an apron or a fire hose, and she’s there. Now based in Chicago, she writes sexy contemporary romance with alpha heroes and strong heroines who can match their men quip for quip.