ROMANCE

The Anti-Social Season

Afterglow: Harlequin. (First Responders, Bk. 2). Oct. 2024. 288p. ISBN 9781335574848. pap. $12.99. CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
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A colleague’s close call has firefighter Thea Martinelli contemplating leaving emergency services—the job she has loved for a decade. When her boss offers her the new social media coordinator position instead, it feels like she’s been tossed a lifeline. The problem? Thea knows next to nothing about digital engagement. Enter librarian Simon Osman, who runs the library’s social media accounts. He had a crush on Thea in high school—sadly, she barely even remembers him—but the county bigwigs have asked him to help Thea learn everything she needs to know to do her new job. Thea is even more appealing than the teenager he knew only from a distance, though, and soon the lines between working together and being together start to blur. Can Thea and Simon forge a path forward together, or will the chaos of their jobs and the demands of the holiday season tear them apart for good? Though these characters are likable, they face some complex issues that seem too easily resolved.
VERDICT Buck’s opening novel in her “First Responders” series, Fake Flame, was a treat. Fans of that novel will certainly want to read this.
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