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Source: Bought from Books-A-Million
Back Cover Blurb:
Inside burning buildings, Captain Caleb Holt lives by the firefighter's adage: "Never leave your partner." Yet at home, in the cooling embers of his marriage, he lives by his own rules.
Growing up, his wife Catherine always dreamed of marrying a loving, brave firefighter...just like her father. Now, after seven years of marriage, she wonders when she stopped being "good enough."
Countless arguments and anger have them wanting to move on. As they prepare for divorce, Caleb's father challenges him to commit to a 40-day experiment: "The Love Dare." Wondering if it's even worth the effort, Caleb agrees, for his father's sake more than for his marriage.
Surprised by what he discovers about the meaning of love, Caleb realizes that his wife and marriage are worth fighting for. His job is to rescue others. Now Captain Holt is ready to face his toughest job ever...rescuing his wife's heart.
Review:
This book is a "Christian Romance" novel, though it's not typical of the category. The romance is portrayed accurate to real life and is mainly from the male point-of-view. I think men would find the book as interesting as women would.
The book isn't terribly preachy and is more a "this character happens to become a Christian" than a "listen up, readers--if you aren't Christian, you ought to be and here's how!" Unless you are vehemently anti-Christian, the Christian content probably won't annoy you.
Because the novel is based on a movie, the novel isn't as deep as it could be. However, it's a lot better than I expected. The pacing was very good. The world-building (of the fire house and hospital) was good. The main characters were interesting. They acted and changed in realistic ways. This book is about loving when the other person rejects you and acknowledges that repairing a broken marriage isn't an easy deal.
There was no cursing that I noticed it. There is kissing and some off-screen sex between husband and wife at the end. I'd rate this as "good, clean fun."
Excerpt: Chapter Two
[Chapter One is more of a prologue, so I'm skipping it.]
Caleb Holt, rookie and recent hero, had been given orders to find the hose stretcher. What was a hose stretcher, though? He searched the fire engine high and low for the seemingly non-existent object, ducking his head into compartments and running his hand along every inch of the truck.
That's when Catherine Campbell strolled into the bay, the captain's daughter and his pride and joy.
Eighteen. Brunette, with natural highlights.
Catherine wore a summer dress, with a red mini-sweater tied off above her thin hips. The slight curve of her brown eyes was simultaneously alluring and friendly. "You must be Caleb."
"Uh, well..."
"Unless you're going under a different name now," she goaded.
"Caleb. Yeah, that's me."
"Thank you for what you did. Saving my dad like that."
He shrugged that off. "You're Catherine, right?"
"Word spreads fast."
"Your father's proud of you. He has a picture of you in his office, but I never realized that you...Well, now I guess you're just more..."
"More what?"
"Uh, you're older."
She grinned. "Yeah, I wish he'd put up my new picture instead. I was, like, what, fourteen in that one?"
"You looked like you were just a girl."
"Just a girl?"
"Well, you know, not all grown up."
"And now look at me." A smile played over her lips. "All grown up."
Caleb tried not to stare and shout a rousing Amen!
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