Cocktails and Books
Written on Mar 8, 2013
Roman married is widowed after losing his wife, NY firefighter Maureen, in the 9/11 tragedy. He is left to be the father of their 13 year old son Luke. He dedicates his life to Luke and decides to honor Luke's wish to live ""where he can play baseball all year"" by moving to San Gabriel, CA.
Sabina is fleeing San Gabriel and another lonely Thanksgiving, and encounters Roman on the highway. He asks her to turn her music down and in an act of defiance she turns it up. They irk each other and end up with traffic fines. They bump into each other at a restaurant and the chemistry is more than they can handle. They decide on a one night stand but Sabina changes her mind and leaves a note ""sorry"" under his door.
She returns to work to learn that Roman is her new boss. The fireworks began and through the mix of bar room brawls, movie star mothers, sizzling sex you fall in love with these characters and wait with baited breath as they fight dangerous fires and rescue runaway teens. The author tackles the grief, pain, loss, and isolation faced by those touched by the 9/11 tragedy. She does equal justice to the complex relationship between mothers and daughters. She writes about how the character's pasts and draws a line between past events and present actions. The story expands to the epiphany that only through releasing past hurts and forgiving offenses are the characters able to move forward. She is able to do this while weaving a tale that keeps the reader uplifted and unfolds for the reader as if you were the character. Indeed it did cause me to reflect on my own life or close family/friends that allow the past to get in the way of living in the present and moving forward to the future.
The book entertained, enlightened, and educated me. I would definitely recommend reading this book.
Reviewed by Michelle for Cocktails and Books.