Rockford Fire Department

Series · 5 books · 1999-2018

By Kathryn Shay

Books in series

Feel The Heat

1999

She saves him from a fire, then steals his heart without even trying. When white hot attraction kicks in, sparks fly! Francey Cordaro is a dedicated firefighter, devoted daughter and a loyal friend who has made her way in a man’s world. She rejects material goods, doesn’t give a whit about her striking looks and focuses on saving lives, spending time with her family and friends, working out and playing poker with the guys. Until she meets Alex Templeton. A wealthy businessman, Alex is the epitome of success in every area of his life. A decent man, he returns home to run the family company when his father takes ill and his brother loses his way. What he can’t control is his reaction to the sexy firefighter who dragged him from near death. She’s gorgeous, fun-loving and challenges him at every turn. But she refuses a relationship with him. With differences that rival champagne vs. beer, uptown galas vs. karaoke bars, and the world of high finance vs. the reality of walking into burning buildings, their relationship seems doomed. Or is it?

Risking It All

1999

Author’s note: the original title of RISKING IT ALL was THE MAN WHO LOVED CHRISTMAS. The book has been fully revised and updated and also contains cameos from the Hidden Cove Firefighters. She’s the only woman he can’t charm. He’s the only man she can never love. Dylan O’Roarke has the ideal existence. As a firefighter, he’s been at the top of his game. Even when he’s reprimanded for his risk-taking, the accolades far exceed the censure. Women fall at his feet, and he always has a blond bombshell on his arm. By-the-book Beth Winters does everything with precision and caution in her job as an EMS instructor and recruit trainer, even if she is considered stern and stoic. She has a few good friends she manages to keep some modicum of distance from. Life is best lived on its outskirts, where it can’t wound you so badly you might not survive. The only place the two of them “lose it” is with each other. When Dylan was her student at the academy, she sought out ways to focus on his flaws. And he irritated her intentionally, snidely nicknaming her Lizzie Borden. With eight years of open animosity that rivaled that of the Hatfields and McCoys, they were both grateful when he graduated. Years later, fate throws them together again when he’s assigned as her EMS partner to train new recruits. Working side by side with him, Beth can’t deny his rapport with the students or his warm and giving nature. And Dylan sees the vulnerable side to her, caused by a past that would level an ordinary person. When physical attraction flares between them, they can’t stop their inevitable coming together. Falling in love isn’t in the cards for Beth and she rejects the hand they’re dealt. She can never be part of the family Dylan wants. And he can’t break down her final, indestructible wall. Nail-biting fire scenes, sizzling sexual encounters and the revelation of background that will make you cry buckets permeate this beautiful story of compromise and undying love. Be sure to follow up with the rest of the Rockford Fire Department Series: FEEL THE HEAT, CODE OF HONOR and NEVER FAR AWAY. \\\* NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Kathryn Shay spent five years riding fire trucks with a large city fire department, eating in their firehouses and interviewing hundreds of America's Bravest.

Code Of Honor

2004

He was the most upstanding lieutenant in the department, until he made a critical error in judgement that almost ended his career. And she’s a mistake just waiting to happen. Fate has been cruel to Lieutenant Jake Scarlatta. His father died when he was ten, his best friend stabbed him in the back and his marriage went sour. When he’s saddled with a female firefighter on his crew, he knows trouble is coming his way again. Chelsea Whitmore is a pariah in the RFD. A stellar firefighter and competitive weight lifter, she assumes none of that will matter this time around either. When Scarlatta says he’ll help her fit in, she doesn’t believe a word he says. She plans to keep her head down and her heart safe from more bruising. But when she’s accused of one rookie mistake after another on the line, that she knows she didn’t make, all hell breaks loose. If that isn’t bad enough Chelsea finds herself falling for Jake. And he feels the same. Can things get any worse? With cutting edge fire scenes, exploding passion at the station house, and emotions shooting off the charts, readers will gasp at the stunning conclusion to this suspenseful and scorching story. Cameo appearances from your favorite guys in Hidden Cove will delight readers. Be sure to follow up with the rest of the Rockford Fire Department Series: FEEL THE HEAT, RISKING IT ALL and NEVER FAR AWAY, as well as all of the Hidden Cove Firefighters series. \\\* NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Kathryn Shay spent five years riding fire trucks with a large city fire department, eating in their firehouses and interviewing hundreds of America's Bravest.

Never Far Away

2001

Author’s note: the original title of NEVER FAR AWAY was THE FIRE WITHIN. The book has been fully revised and updated and also contains cameos from the Hidden Cove Firefighters She’s a feisty counselor of troubled teens. He’s the fire department psychologist who’s trying to outrun his demons. They clash at every turn. Until one New Year’s Eve encounter changes everything. PTSD plagues Dr. Reed Macauley and he tries to channel the disorder into helping other firefighters with the malady. He keeps the nightmares at bay by distancing himself from his colleagues. But when, in a moment of weakness, he surrenders to Dr. Delaney Shaw’s allure, he finds he can’t put that particular genie back in the bottle. Delaney has fought her attraction to Reed for a year, ever since she met him at workshops and they clashed on philosophies. When he acts on his feelings for her, she won’t let him go. She can help him, she knows she can. Tragedy in the Rockford Fire Department throws them together as they must work side-by-side to help the victims cope. She won’t give up on him, and he won’t give in to her. Will they ever be able to find happiness together? The horrific consequences of PTSD, edgy firefighting scenarios, and an irresistible intimacy of the main characters haunt the pages of this bittersweet firefighter romance. Be sure to follow up with the rest of the Rockford Fire Department Series: FEEL THE HEAT, RISKING IT ALL and CODE OF HONOR and catch up with the Hidden Cove Firefighters series, whose characters appear in all these Rockford books. \\\* NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Kathryn Shay spent five years riding fire trucks with a large city fire department, eating in their firehouses and interviewing hundreds of America's Bravest.

All I Need

2018

He’s a fire chief who curses out the mayor at every turn. She’s the mayor who needs him in a crisis.He’s a line firefighter attracted to the mayor’s daughter. She’s a woman who wants nothing to do with a man like him.Chief Chase Talbot has butted heads with Mayor Vanessa Jordan since she was elected to office two years ago. And since he’s the head of the fire department, she’s his boss. Still, he takes no grief from her. But after a fire involving her parents, Vanessa turns to Chase for help. When the situation calms down, both are unable to get their relationship back to what it was. Throw in troubled teens, estrangement from family, a possible arson and you get a complex, gripping plotline and an emotional and scintillating love story.Interweaved with Chase and Vanessa’s lives is Joe Santori, the young, brash and immature firefighter of book one. Now Joe is a wiser, more settled lieutenant running his own crew. When Holly Michaels, a fourth grade teacher, and the mayor’s daughter, moves into the condo next to his, she intrigues him. But Holly doesn’t want to get Joe is worldly, gorgeous and way out of her league. The problem is, he doesn’t think so. These young people go on a rollercoaster ride of emotional highs and lows, but even after they give into their passion, the old Joe resurfaces and Holly’s having none of it.It comes as a shock to both couples that contrary to what each thought, they don’t have all they need!Cameo appearances of readers’ favorite firefighters from Hidden Cove, as well as Shay’s trademark tense and nail-biting rescue scenes, sizzling sexual encounters, and emotions exploding on every page, this book will pull you in and not let go until the characters find their way back to each other.If you haven’t read the first four books of The Rockford Fire Department, be sure to grab FEEL THE HEAT, RISKING IT ALL, CODE OF HONOR and NEVER FAR AWAY, all intense firefighter romance books.\\\* NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Kathryn Shay spent five years riding fire trucks with a large city fire department, eating in their firehouses and interviewing hundreds of America's Bravest.

Author

Kathryn Shay

Author · 85 books

Kathryn Shay is a lifelong writer. At fifteen, she penned her first 'romance,' a short story about a female newspaper reporter in New York City and her fight to make a name for herself in a world of male journalists - and with one hardheaded editor in particular. Looking back, Kathryn says she should have known then that writing was in her future. But as so often happens, fate sent her detouring down another path. Fully intending to pursue her dream of big city lights and success in the literary world, Kathryn took every creative writing class available at the small private women's college she attended in upstate New York. Instead, other dreams took precedence. She met and subsequently married a wonderful guy who'd attended a neighboring school, then completed her practice teaching, a requirement for the education degree she never intended to use. But says Kathryn, "I fell in love with teaching the first day I was up in front of a class, and knew I was meant to do that." Kathryn went on to build a successful career in the New York state school system, thoroughly enjoying her work with adolescents. But by the early 1990s, she'd again made room in her life for writing. It was then that she submitted her first manuscript to publishers and agents. Despite enduring two years of rejections, she persevered. And on a snowy December afternoon in 1994, Kathryn Shay sold her first book to Harlequin Superromance. Since that first sale, Kathryn has written twenty-one books for Harlequin, nine mainstream contemporary romances for the Berkley Publishing Group, and two online novellas, which Berkley then published in traditional print format. Kathryn has become known for her powerful characterizations - readers say they feel they know the people in her books - and her heart-wrenching, emotional writing (her favorite comments are that fans cried while reading her books or stayed up late to finish them). In testament to her skill, the author has won five RT BookClub Magazine Reviewers Choice Awards, three Holt Medallions, two Desert Quill Awards, the Golden Leaf Award, and several online accolades. Even in light of her writing success, that initial love of teaching never wavered for Kathryn. She finished out her teaching career in 2004, retiring from the same school where her career began. These days, she lives in upstate New York with her husband and two children. "My life is very full," she reports, "but very happy. I consider myself fortunate to have been able to pursue and achieve my dreams."