Flirting with Fire

Hot in Chicago Series #1

By: Kate Meader

Narrated by: Carrie Brach

Savvy PR guru Kinsey Taylor has always defined herself by her career, not her gender. That is, until she moved from San Francisco to Chicago to be with her fiancé, who thought she wasn't taking her "job" of supporting him in his high-powered career seriously enough and promptly dumped her for a more supportive and "feminine" nurse. Now, as the new assistant press secretary to Chicago's dynamic mayor, she's determined to keep her eye on the prize - and she certainly doesn't have time for men.

But that all changes when she meets Luke Almeida, a firefighter as searingly sexy as he is quick tempered. He's also the second oldest of the Firefightin' Dempseys, a family of foster siblings who have committed their lives to the service - if Luke's antics don't get him fired first. When Luke goes one step too far and gets into a bar brawl with the Chicago Police Department, Kinsey marches into Luke's firehouse and lays down the law on orders from the mayor. But at Engine Co. 6, Luke Almeida is the law, and he's not about to let Kinsey make the rules.

©2015 Kate Meader (P)2016 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Meader's general writing skill and good humor go a long way." ( Publishers Weekly)

Steamy start

This is a steamy start to the series, there are some holes for me and some things I wish were developed more but overall I enjoyed it and the narration was done well

loved the story but narrator was bad

The story was fun and sexy but the narrator was very stilted. There was no differentiation between voices so sometimes it was hard to tell who was speaking. I was able to get past the poor narration. The dynamics of the characters were fun but characters were a little flat. Fun for a free listen.

Okay romance

Parts of this book were good.

I was engrossed at about hour three, although it took me until then to get into the story.

I liked the characters but it was distracting to follow the stories of two couples in one book. I'd rather have two separate books and more in-depth stories with each couple.

The narration was great though.

Great Story

This was a great story with great characters. Narration was not bad except couldn’t tell one voice from another.

3 For The Narration

A narrator can make or break an audible story and this one broke it.
I struggled to keep up with the characters because her voice didn't attempt to change between characters at all. It was frustrating.
The story itself was good but I'm getting my credit back on this one.
I'll NEVER listen to it or any other book solely narrated by Carrie Brach. She can't handle various characters or male characters at all. She has a good voice and if she were playing one female character ALONE it would have been fine.

hot audiobook!

i loved the characters, very strong female lead! hot fireman... the narrator was very good.

I recommend this one!

Great Story

Loved the story...the narrator seemed a little flat and robotic to me for a romance novel

love this story

like how in the state of New Hampshire if a kids is taken a way the parents have 5 years to get there stuff together before the parents don't have to sign over right for a child to be adopted along as the child stay with the same home for 5 years and the parents have not tryed to or done what the court say to do the adopter only have to get courts to sign off on the paperwork makes it so much or easier for people to adopt

Great book - terrible narrator

I really like the heroine and the hero, the story is well written and well developed. I also enjoyed the support and development of a strong woman as the main lead - the author brilliantly acknowledged the stereotypes that women often face if they show intelligence and strength.

In this book the hero was a true alpha - not threatened by feminin strength and confident, man enough to stand up for what he believes and feels without having to resort to bullying macho bullshit involving ordering the ‘little woman’ around.

The biggest drawback of this book is the narrator, usually I can just adjust to anything a bit grating, however this narrator used a very feminin voice for everyone, men and women - it was so bad that I sometimes had no idea who was actually talking they just sounded the same. It was so bizarre when the big bad fire fighters were calling out gruff instructions and sounded like little girls.

fun story, needs to add male narrator

This was a good read. I really loved watching Luke and Kinsey fall in love. Luke is the strong alpha type but he's tempered by Kinsey who is a strong, smart and wonderful character. There is a lot of fun banter, a really strong connection and overall, a good amount of stuff happening that shows how their connection is building.

The one thing is that there is a lot happening in this book. This book is the first in a series and is supposed to showcase the Dempsey family, a group of orphans that have formed an amazing family of firefighters (Loved that part). But the romance was mainly Luke and Kinsey but also another arc was about Gage and his paramour. However, it got really confusing with the POV.

I have to say, it was a little more clear when I read the ebook vs listening to the audiobook which is available on audible escape. The narrator, Carrie Brach was ok but I didn't think she did a great job differentiating between the characters. It would have likely been better with a male character, someone to clearly differentiate between Luke and Gage, Luke's brother. Also, her male voice was a little forced and unrealistic. I actually had a little more difficulty listening to the book rather than reading and once I went to the ebook, the book went faster.