Hot to the Touch by Jaci Burton

Hot to the Touch (Brotherhood by Fire #1)

by Jaci Burton

Release Date: May 7, 2019

Source: Publisher

Goodreads

Firefighter Jackson Donovan doesn't look back—as a rule. So when his past comes roaring back to life in the form of not-so-damsel-in-distress Becks Benning, the last thing he wants to do is relive old times. No matter how tempting she makes it seem...

Now thanks to his two interfering brothers, Becks is living with them while she looks for a new place and tries to pick up the pieces of her tattoo business that went up in flames. Which means a grown up, smokin' hot Becks is in his house, sharing meals, and digging up old wounds. And despite his better judgement, the more time he spends with this smart, artistic, incredible woman the more he wants her in his bed—and his future.

Becks always had it bad for Jackson. Unfortunately for her, not much has changed—he's still honorable, hard-working, sexy as sin—and closed off. But there's more than one way to get to a man's heart and if Jackson doesn't want to recall old memories, she'll just have to help him make new ones. Because now that she's found Jackson again, she's not letting him go.

I really love shows that have to do with police officers and firefighters, so when I saw Jaci Burton was writing a new series about firefighters, I knew I had to get my hands on it!

Jackson Donovan became a firefighter with his two brothers after they were rescued from a fire when they were little. Jackson hates thinking about the past and where he came from, but when he rescues a woman from his past from a fire, Jackson isn't sure he can ignore his past anymore. Becks is forced to relocate when her tattoo shop and apartment are ruined from smoke damage from a fire. When she has nowhere to go, Jackson and his brothers offer their home to her. Becks finds herself falling for Jackson all over again, but he's closed off and isn't opening his walls up anytime soon.

I really love a book where the couple is forced to live together, so it was super cute when Becks decides to move in with Jackson and his three brothers. There's definitely no avoiding each other now! I enjoyed learning about their history as Becks made them revisit where they all came from. That being said, the rest of the book was a bit slow and we rehashed Jackson's inability to think about the past over and over again. 

The romance was cute, but aside from that, this fell a bit flat. I did enjoy Jackson and his brothers and the set up for the next book sounds very intriguing. As for Becks and Jackson, I was left wanting more of their current lives and less of them trying to confront the past when Jackson so obviously didn't want to. I also wanted much more firefighter action than we got. We got a few scenes of them on the job, but the rest of the time was slow paced and harder to get through. I definitely want to continue on in this series, but this first book didn't do it for me as much as I wanted it to.