First, he saved me.
I lived because he was a hero.
And then he was gone.
Uprooted by the fire that destroyed our home, my family moved away and I never saw David Andrews again.
Then, he found me.
Eighteen years later, he rescued me again - in much simpler terms, of course. By loving me, by giving me the fairy tale I’d always hoped for, he provided me with the perfect life.
Now, he needs to be saved.
It’s my turn to be strong, to be brave, to be valiant.
When flames threaten to turn us to ashes, it’s up to me to pull us From the Wreckage.

From the Wreckage is the story of David Andrews and Grace McCann.

With a blurb that starts like this, I was instantly drawn to this one:

First, he saved me.
I lived because he was a hero.
And then he was gone.  

Eighteen years ago, these two had an encounter that touched both of their lives, one that plays out so beautifully throughout the story.

Witnessing David and Grace (or his Gracie as David calls her) reconnect was so much fun. The first few encounters had me grinning from ear to ear as they played out.   David was immediately a hero I was drawn to, he knows what he wants and he wants Grace (I love that in hero.)

The first date that David takes Grace on made me fall even more in love with him. A man who wants the woman he is attracted to get to know him, to understand him on a deeper level, well that is so much more attractive than a woo with a fancy dinner, or expensive jewelry.  (yes this will layer so perfectly to the end of the story just hold on and wait for it!)

This book is filled with emotions as well as some humor along the way:

“Don’t worry. I was wearing my I heart David Andrews t-shirt. You know the one that says ‘He’s a big strong scary fireman. Keep back 500 feet’ on the back.” I joke. 

David truly cares about Grace and I loved his desire to want the best for her on so many levels. One of his gestures that so touched my heart, had me wanting to strangle Grace for her reaction (so childish is a grown up world were life is often about who you know).

I adored the use of September 11th in this book; not just for the honor and respect it showed for the FDNY but more than that it pushed the reader especially toward the end, to think about what it means to remember, the importance of memories and how they become a part of who we are.

Love is about what happens when life happens and I adore when this occurs in a book! This book has David and Grace dealing with a huge event that causes unexpected and life altering changes in their lives.

How they deal with it (nope not telling what it is…read the book) affects them both, but the bigger issue becomes – can their relationship survive?

I will not relay how this played out, but I will say this is when Ms. Collins’ writing truly shined! She layers so many emotions and elements of the story back into this portion of the book and it had me glued to my kindle and reading past my bedtime.  I was thoroughly engrossed at the end of this story and I truly didn’t want it to end.

As an aside, I hope we get a novella so we can to witness Jade and Ian coming together!

I am going to end my review with these beautiful words from this story:

“Why did you want to come here?”
“Because….”  Pausing, she turns away from the water, looking only at me. Her eyes sparkle, so blue and pure, it hurts to look right at them. “I wanted you to know that no matter how many tomorrows we get, I will spend the rest of them by your side, remembering all the things you may have forgotten along the way. I promise to never forget right along with you.”