Review: Taking the Heat by Kathryn Shay

Book description:

Liam O’Neil is trying to take care of his troubled seven-year-old son and cocky teenager, and work full time at the family-owned Bailey’s Irish Pub. Widowed three years ago, he’s ready to date again (at the insistence of his brothers). But his life is in flux, his future unclear, when he meets Sophie Tyler, a female in the Fire Department of New York. A consummate firefighter who was rescued herself by the FDNY when she was ten, she loves her job and her “firefighter family.” Liam’s as attracted to her as she to him, which is fun and flirty, until they both start to care about each other. Yet she’s the last person he can get involved with. His youngest is suffering from abandonment issues and depression, and needs stability. Even when they become involved, both Liam and Sophie know their relationship is doomed. Or is it?

One thing I’ve always loved about Kathryn’s books are that the characters seem so real. They are real people with real problems. Situations where the reader might think “Hey, that could be me.”. And while one of these characters could be your best friend or next door neighbor, they still make the book(s) interesting.

Of course it helps that I luuuuurve firefighters. In the past I’ve contemplated getting a job as Holly’s assistant so I can stare at them all day long.

Liam O’Neil has been a widower for three years. Since the day his wife died of cancer, Liam has kept his focus on his two young boys. Though he has recently started dating, he doesn’t let it touch his boys. Trying to help his youngest, Mikey, overcome his emotional problems has been no easy feat. That is yet another reason that Liam won’t get serious with a woman. That all changes when he meets Sophie Tyler.

Sophie Tyler has dreamed about being a Firefighter almost her entire life. After she lost her mother to a fire, Sophie was taken in by the men and women that saved her and her brother. Now, her fellow firefighters are more than her friends; they’re her family. When she first meets Liam, there is an instant and sizzling attraction…that they both ignore. When Sophie takes a part time job at the O’Neil pub, the attraction becomes too much to ignore.

Let me just say, the first time these two are “together”…HOT. I think what made it that hot was that Liam is perceived to be the shy, silent type. Uh-uh. He’s not fooling me.

It’s after that that the two decide that they’re going to see where their relationship can go. Liam makes it perfectly clear from the beginning that his first priority are his children. Of course that’s when everything starts going wrong.

Taking the Heat is the story of a father that is trying to do right by his children who have already lost so much. It’s about a man that has found love with someone that will always be in harms way. It’s about two people who are trying to compromise because they know they have something special. It’s about two young boys that have lost their mother in the worst way imaginable, yet they will still accept a woman in their father’s life.

The obstacles that Liam and Sophie have to overcome make the ending all the more sweet. We are able to revisit some of our favorite O’Neil siblings, including Bailey O’Neil whose husband is now the Vice President. There are some very amusing scenes between Bailey/Clay/Sophie.

Readers of Shay’s work will enjoy Liam’s book. Readers who have not read Shay’s work should definitely give it a try. You won’t be disappointed.

4 out of 5.

This book is available from Penguin Group (USA). You can buy it here.

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