Heather Sampson is a battered woman in a self-destructive relationship with David, her mentally and verbally abusive husband. She condones his manipulation and horrible treatment of her out of fear throughout most of the book. The only light in her life is her sexy next door neighbor, Fire Inspector Kevin Jensen, and his two children. Kevin’s a widower who spends far too much time at his job and often relies on Heather for help with his kids. His teenage son is acting out and he doesn’t know how to reach him.
Both Heather and Kevin have made a lot of mistakes in their lives but, as they help each other deal with their pain and strife, they find the strength to fight their own demons as well. Then there’s the mysterious arsonist that’s setting fire to women’s homes but he doesn’t seem intent on hurting the women. When Kevin gets too close, the arsonist sets his sight on Heather with deadly intent.
Will Kevin and Heather make it out alive, or will their love and their lives go up in smoke and ashes?
I liked this book but there were a few typos. Since I received an advanced reader’s copy, the mistakes should be fixed in the final version. Still, it didn’t take me out of the story and I'm very happy I read this book.
4 Stars

Disclaimer – Thank you, Danica Winters, for sending me a print ARC copy for an honest review. I am not paid or compensated in any way, shape or form for this review. I will not change or alter this review for any reason unless at my discretion.
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Meh. I found the characters a bit difficult to really like. They weren't bad, but I didn't really care too much about them either.

I was a bit conflicted about this book. The setup was a little strange and for the first part of the book I wasn't sure if I even liked the main characters. The book opens with the arsonist about to set fire to Heather's house while she's sleeping in it. In his mind, he's looking at her as a martyr who will bring attention to bad marriages. Then the book cuts to several days before this takes place, to explain what is happening.

Heather finds a note from her husband telling her he's leaving. She's mad, but she's also convinced that it's all her fault, because it's always all her fault. She can't do anything right in his eyes anymore. All she can think about is that he has to come back. She is the classic victim of an abusive marriage. Then there's a knock at the door, where the single dad next door is asking for Heather's help watching his daughter because he's been called into work. Suddenly she's getting all hot and bothered looking at him. Hello - you're MARRIED! The marriage may not be the best, but you claim you love your husband, so why are you fantasizing about Kevin? This bugged me.

Kevin is a widower, raising his daughter and teenage son on his own. He is also a fire inspector for the city fire department, a job with often irregular hours. Work took over his life after his wife's death and his family life is paying the price, especially his relationship with his son. While his job is an important one, he has yet to find the balance he needs to make it work. I really didn't like the way that he was more willing to work than to make time for his family. To top it all off, there is a serial arsonist setting fires, and his boss is doing everything he can to make it difficult for Kevin to do his job. Kevin finds himself calling on Heather more often to bail him out of trouble. He's also very attracted to her, but tries to suppress the attraction because she's married.

Things got a bit interesting when Heather and her husband were at a neighborhood barbecue together. He was being a real jerk and Heather drank too much as a result. When she got sick in the car on the way home, he kicked her out of the car on the side of the road and drove off. Not wanting to go home, she went to Kevin's instead, and proceeded to make drunk advances to him. Even though he was tempted, Kevin was actually a gentleman and resisted. When Heather went home the next morning David made accusations and tried to force her to sign the divorce papers he had ready for her. This is where things got a little better because she actually began to stand up to him.

The development of the relationship between Kevin and Heather began to grow as his protectiveness came to the front. He had seen that all wasn't well in the marriage, and began to suspect that it was worse than he thought. I liked the way that he gave her a safe place to stay and tried to boost her confidence. I liked how Heather was there to help Kevin out with his kids, especially since he was having so much trouble. He is struggling with a lot of guilt because he feels that he is letting his kids down the same way he thinks he let his wife down. She tries to show him that things aren't as bad as he thinks. The sparks between them continue to burn hot, and they do give in to them, something else that bothered me because she was actually still married. I thought that things were going pretty well, until David made another attempt to reel her back in. I liked seeing Heather and Kevin get their happy ending, but they did have to work for it.

The suspense of the story was pretty good. There were sections that were done from the arsonist's point of view, giving us a glimpse of just how off he really was. Kevin had his work cut out for him, especially since his boss wasn't very helpful. I liked Kevin's determination to stop him before there was loss of life as well as property. There were several possible suspects, one of whom I thought had a good chance to be the culprit. It wasn't until the end that I thought I had a real handle on who it was. The final confrontation was intense, but I felt it wrapped up just a little too neatly.

I liked the epilogue and Kevin's big moment. I thought the cheesecake was a pretty sweet touch. ( )