Soot and Sweat on Flesh
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
Soot and Sweat on Flesh
This is the story of a young woman firefighter-in-training at a fire station filled with men who are looking to make her one of them or break her. All Bette Maguire wants to do is become a full-fledged firefighter -- it is her dream job, her passion.Probationary firefighter (probie) Bette is naively confident of success at her new occupation. All her life she has been independent, smart, and strong; she doesn’t expect the difficult, humbling, and sometimes dangerous trials she must undergo to prove herself to her close-knit, all-male squad in Webster, NH. One of these tests involves a shower scene where nobody is getting wet.
Complicating matters, she disobeys direct orders of her boss, Lieutenant Patrick Keane, and falls for her good-looking, loyal squad mate Joe Griffin. Joe is trying to help her overcome her mouth and her independent ways so she can become one of them, but in the process he grows to like her more than he should if he is to remain an impartial co-worker. Joe can´t help it, though: he likes Bette and she grows to like him.
Although Griffin tries to protect her, Bette has a very strong independent streak. She ends up making an enemy of the truck lieutenant, the old-school, anti-woman, hard-ass Lt. Harold "Dirty Harry" Briscoe. She runs her truck into his much-loved car and runs her mouth off at him at the worst times, pissing him off and making him plot to turn her job into a living hell. While she battles her mouth and her feelings, she struggles to hide a haunting childhood memory involving her brother and a fire that could end her career before it has even begun.
At her probation’s end, Bette must survive a trial by fire that tests her willingness and ability to truly become one of the team. Being a firefighter is what she wants with her whole heart to come true. She won´t let a little thing like facing death get in the way.
Go to www.juliemacshane.com to learn more information about the book and author.
She is currently writing the sequel.
About the Author
Julie MacShane grew up writing in Canton, MA, and is currently an editor living in New Hampshire with her husband and Sesame Street monster family. Torch is her second published novel. The prequel, Soot and Sweat on Flesh, was published in 2004. The author’s web site is at www.juliemacshane.com.