Embers of Hope

Second Gift Series, Book 1

By: Kristen James

Narrated by: Anneliese Rennie

Length: 5 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

Savanna Thompson knows what it’s like when you blink and your life shatters. She’s been hiding her divorce from her best friend Cassie, but she knows she can’t any longer. Cassie’s husband, a firefighter, just died. Savanna rushes home, along with her one-year-old daughter, to help, and now, she’s staying with Cassie in a nursery meant for a baby that won’t ever exist.

She will fix their relationship, but it’s complicated with Jason around. He’s the firefighter who saved Savanna’s life two and a half years ago. He just lost his best friend, and like Cassie, he blames himself for Mike’s death. When he convinced Mike to remain with the department, how could he know Mike would die fighting a house fire?

Though hurting herself, something deep inside her won’t let her walk away. Jason needs her, but she’s off limits on so many levels. She’s falling for this sexy firefighter, but he confuses her to no end. Being stuck in the middle is enough stress, plus her own problems are festering behind her helping smile. Can Savanna find the balance between loving Jason, helping Cassie, and taking care of herself and her daughter? Or is she going to lose this bet and her best friend?

Book two, More Than a Promise, is now available.

©2013 Kristen James (P)2018 Kristen James

Enjoyable listen

What an emotional story this is. Embers of Hope focuses on Savanna and her daughter coming back to town after her best friend, Cassie's husband dies in a fire. She is ready to start her new life in her old town, but there are many issues she needs to overcome. Jason, the fireman who saved her several years earlier quickly becomes the man she wants to be with, but the two know there are obstacles in their way. And we have Cassie, dealing with her loss and trying to make sense of her life without her husband. James takes real life issues and has transformed them into this love story, including grief, a slow burning love and second chances at happiness. I especially love Aubrey, Savanna's daughter. Her relationship with everyone she encounters truly makes the scene shine.

Anneliese Rennie gives this story the narration it deserves. There is pain, guilt, hope, fear and happiness all wrapped up in this story, and each emotion is played out so the listener can feel them and is a performance to enjoy.

Good Story with Terrible Narration

I received this book in exchange for a unbiased review. It took me a bit to get into this one at no fault of the story. The narration was terrible. some excellent books get passed with horrible narration. Lets get to the story. I loved the storyline, Firefighter saves girl and later reconnect. This book was good. It would probably be better reading than listening.

Good Love Story

Best friends with her husband and he still feels the blame after he died. Savanah trying to rebuild a life and for her daughter, with friends. Jason was there before and now still drawn to him, but with them both having secrets, will it ever be. Enjoyed the audio of this, was a nice story to is
listen to and wondering how will they let their guard down. Given audio for my voluntary review and my honest opinion

Amazing listen!

Amazing story of love, loss, and coming back from grief. Loved the romance, humor, and range of emotion of this story. This one kept me hooked from start to finish. Fantastic narrator, she really captures the emotion of the story. I received a free review copy of this audiobook at my request and I have voluntarily left this review.

Story was good

Editing was bad. The narrator cleared her throat and repeated lines several times. Although she herself was good, this hurt the presentation

Enjoyable story

I enjoyed listening to this book and the storyline was good.
"I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review."

Hope is good to have

Savannah returns home to help her friend after she lost her husband. No one know that she is divorced. Savannah is attracted to Jason who her friend blames for her husband death. Jason helps Savannah and they start a relationship but she fails to tell her friend. Will Savannah be able to keep the guy she is falling for without losing her friend in the process. Good story and Narration

Love hawt firefighters!

This was an easy listen love story in a small town. Anneliese Rennie does an amazing job with the narration. Each emotion is played out so you feel them and is an amazing performance. I am looking forward to the next in the series! I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Good contemporary romance

I'm going to start with the narration and say you REALLY need to listen to the sample and decide if you're OK with it before getting this book. I was disappointed to find that I often couldn't tell which character was speaking or even the characters gender from the voice used. There were also dozens of recording errors that had not been edited out and this really started to annoy me after awhile. I would have preferred to read the eBook on this occasion.

Onto the story... I enjoyed it, but it felt a bit rushed and not everything felt resolved when it ended. I would have liked Savannah and Jason to have had more time before things developed, it felt a bit unrealistic. That said, there was a lot going on and the story was always interesting. The complications of real life came through well and the characters were nicely developed. I thought it was relate-able.

I received a free copy of this book from the author and/or narrator and/or publisher and I voluntarily wrote this honest review.

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Sweet Story

First I want to say; Kristen James wrote a story that is very sweet and touches your heart. The story has all the elements that any good HEA should have. There is drama, love, emotion and of course an HEA.

The narration has a couple issues. The narrator did a good job differentiating between the characters. But there are spots in the rerecording where you heard a long pause, and papers rustling. Towards the end there are spots that I feel should be edited out, where you can clearing hear a throat clearing that I do not believe is part of the story.