When I find an author I like, I tend to stick with them. Part of the reason my TBR keeps ballooning is that I will try to read every new book by an author I have enjoyed in the past. It means that I am never out of books I want to read but also means that my TBR seems to keep growing!
Last year I started highlighting some of the authors whose books I've read all of or nearly all of (Sara Ackerman, Kristin Harmel, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Beatriz Williams, Elin Hilderbrand). Those are all authors I will read their newest book of, often putting it on hold months in advance and then bumping it up the line once it comes in.
Before 2021 I had read one Katherine Center book (What You Wish) and I enjoyed it. I didn't think much about her back list, I have plenty of books to read! But then she had a new one come out last year (The Bodyguard) and I really enjoyed that one too. When we were getting ready to go to Texas last fall, I was looking for a book set in Texas and ended up with Things You Save in the Fire. It barely takes place in Texas but I had had good luck with two other books by her so I put it on hold and took it (as well as 3 other books...and I actually finished 3 and was about halfway through the 4th when we got home!). Well, that was an enjoyable reading experience so when I was trying to figure out what book to have Matt give me for Christmas and there were no newer releases I was super interested in...I went with a back list of Katherine Center's. In January I was looking for a contemporary set book that didn't have a wait list at the library and I read another one. And as I write this I have ANOTHER one sitting in my library book basket to read soon.
She's become a very reliable author for me in a rather short period of time!
What I like about her book is that they all have an intriguing romance story that will suck me right in. I'm usually sold by page 20. The characters are interesting and not just cliches or tropes. The stories are always a little more complicated than the type of book that could be a Hallmark Christmas movie with a meet cute and small town problems before falling in love. There just seems to be a bit more depth to Katherine Center's characters but written in a very relatable way. Very easy to pick-up and just get lost in. I've read 5 of her books now and they've all been chaste romances as well. Plenty of romance but no details on what is going on.
I put Things You Save in a Fire on my best of 2022 list but now I might be leaning back towards The Bodyguard being my favorite of hers I read last year? I don't know, I really enjoyed them both. Things You Save in the Fire was the very slightly Texas based one before moving to Boston (another place we had tagged along on a work trip with Matt). A female firefighter who uses self-defense on stage on a man who assaulted her in the past. Well, that doesn't go over well and she takes a leave from her Texas fire station to move to Boston and be near her mother (who I believe was named Diana) who is in ailing health. Now she's the newbie at a fire station there and starting from the bottom even though she's very capable. There is another rookie, a real rookie, as well, and they are pitting against each other when the station can only keep one. Also, sparks fly. It was fun and a bit complicated with family relationships. I learned quite a bit about being a firefighter! (Excuse me for remembering next to zero character names.)
The Bodyguard is about a female bodyguard in Texas who is hired to take care of a famous male actor who is back in Texas to be with his mother while she undergoes cancer treatments. Although he doesn't want his family to know that he needs a bodyguard so the have a fake relationship which might turn a bit real since they do spend a lot of time on his family's ranch where there aren't usually any threats. Sparks fly! Then something happens. I forget what the thing was but it was intriguing!
In How to Walk Away there is a plane crash and rehab and dire circumstances that probably don't happen in a Hallmark movie (I've never actually seen one). Considering most of the story takes place in a hospital, there was still a lot going on.
What You Wish For is the first one I read and I don't remember a lot of the details but I know it takes place at a school and there was the dreamiest sounding library. The library part really stands out but I'm sure there was romance too (I read a lot of books, I can't remember the details for them all!).
Don't let my half done descriptions detract you. I might not remember the details but I know I have enjoyed every one of my reading experiences of these. Some really stand out (Things You Save in a Fire was largely read in a semi-dark hotel room, next to our tiny kitchen area, with a cup of tea I snuck down to the breakfast area to get while the boys were still sleeping) but they were all books I looked forward to picking up and breezed through them, enjoying the characters and the story.
Katherine Center has become a very reliable author and one I'm always excited to pick up. I can't really expect much more out of a story!
Have you read any of her books? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
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