Playing With Fire by Kate Meader 

Description: From popular romance author Kate Meader comes the second novel in Hot in Chicago, a brand-new, sizzling series that follows a group of firefighting foster siblings and their blazing hot love interests!

As the only female firefighter at Engine Co. 6, Alexandra Dempsey gets it from all sides: the male coworkers who think she can’t do the job, the wives and girlfriends who see her as a threat to their firefighter men, and her overprotective foster brothers who want to shelter their baby sister at all costs. So when she single-handedly saves the life of Eli Cooper, Chicago’s devastatingly handsome mayor, she assumes the respect she’s longed for will finally come her way. But it seems Mr. Mayor has other ideas…

Eli Cooper’s mayoral ratings are plummeting, his chances at reelection dead in the water. When a sexy, curvaceous firefighter gives him the kiss of life, she does more than bring him back to the land of the living—she also breathes vitality into his campaign. Riding the wave of their feel-good story might prop up Eli’s flagging political fortunes, but the sizzling attraction between them can go nowhere; he’s her boss, and there are rules that must be obeyed. But you know what they say about rules: they’re made to be broken…

Review: I really relished this book. Female firemen are the best! This book made me want to reread Jennifer Bernard’s Bachelor Firemen series. While I haven’t read the first books in this series, I did just buy the first one when it went on sale. I’ll probably end up buying the novellas too. I really liked Alex’s family and I want to read more about them. I especially like that one of the stories involves a gay couple. LGBT romances are relatively new to me and I tend to read them more if they’re part of a series I like, i.e. Lover at Last from the Black Dagger Brotherhood, Cloak and Silence from the League series, or Hard to Be Good in the Hard Ink series. So I’m excited when I find a series I like that has LGBT romance as well.

Despite enjoying the book, it took me a while to warm up to Eli and Alex as a couple. They had the whole enemies to lovers, with a side of steamy attraction, thing going but I questioned their believability as a functioning couple. Part of that was because I wasn’t a fan of choices either of them made within the relationship. For example, Eli for tricked Alex into a pretend relationship. And when Eli finally revealed his secret to Alex, I didn’t like how she reacted to it. I seem to be reading a lot of contemporary romances with politicians in them lately. I did like the politics and public side of Eli and Alex’s relationship and how she wasn’t afraid to disagree with him. Overall, this was an entertaining read but not a stand-out romance.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 

Published by SomewhereLostInBooks

I’m Melisa! I’m an avid reader. I love romance novels and decided, hey, why not write about what I love and hate about the genre. And my favorite books. And when I get to meet authors. And all round why romance novels are awesome. Expect a lot of fan-girling, laughter, and some tears. View all posts by SomewhereLostInBooks