Hot to the Touch

Thank you so much to Berkley and Netgalley for sending this to me!! *3.5* I really liked it and had a lot of fun flying through this! Surprisingly this is my first book by Jaci Burton! I own a bunch of her books and I’ve heard nothing but great things but when I saw she was coming out with a Firefighter series I knew I wanted to get my hands on it ASAP! And now I’m definitely eager to pick up more books from her! This story follows Jackson and Becks who knew eachother from the streets when they were kids. They both have had a really hard life and share a devastating past but Jackson is very closed off and doesn’t want to talk about it. When he rescues Becks from her tattoo shop burning, she ends up moving in with him while she gets her feet back under her. She also is living with Rafe and Kal, Jackson’s other two brothers from when they were kids. It’s a really sweet kind of second chance romance since she had a huge crush on him when they were kids, now their relationship is FLAMING with sexual tension. Overall, I really did like this book. It was easy to read, light even though it dealt with some serious issues and the romance was really hot. I think I just had a hard time coming around to Jackson. He kept not wanting to talk about the past and it kept being brought up CONSTANTLY to the point where it got a bit frustrating. I liked the family moments between the brothers and Jackson’s parents but the way Jackson would treat Becks because he didn’t want to confront the past got repetitive. It was the same conflict that kept coming up but when it all came to a head, it felt a tad anti climatic in a way. And not too much actually happened in the book which made it a bit slow towards the middle portion. I really liked the last two chapters and all the steamy moments between Becks and Jackson. They had a ton of sexual tension and I loved how this book took place in the summer. I thought Becks was a great character and I was rooting for her the whole time. I liked how Jaci Burton talked about a serious issue that is homelessness in kids and foster care. So even though not a lot happened in this book, I found her writing to be captivating and addicting. I especially loved Rafe and Kal so I’m very excited to read their books!! Be sure to pick this one up if you want something hot to read this summer!

Jackson, Rafe, and Kal became brothers while living on the streets. One night when the sought shelter in a beach house, a firefighter, Josh Donovan, saved them when the house began to burn. After the fire, Josh and his wife adopted the three boys and gave them a life. Now they are also firefighters, living together in a house left to them by their grandmother. While putting out a fire in a local tattoo parlor, Rafe recognizes the owner as Becks Benning, a girl who had also been living on the streets when they were young. They offer Becks their spare room until she gets back on her feet, but Jackson has reservations about her living with them. Hot to the Touch is the first book in the Brotherhood by Fire series. Among other things, Jackson's issue with his past is repeated throughout the book, to the point that it becomes annoying. Some of the dialogue is a bit stilted and the problems that Jackson and Beck deal with are basically trivialized. Also, Beck and Jackson seem fairly one dimensional as do many of the other characters in the book. Overall, Hot to the Touch has all the elements of a good story, but the execution makes this a very average romance.