AUDIOBOOKING WITH LEAH: When We Caught Fire by Anna Godbersen

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Based on an actual Historical Event

Incendiary Romance with a Love-Tri

For the Older-YA Lovers

A stand-alone story

With Narration Seamlessly Performed by Suzanne Elise Freeman

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Despite having less than likable characters (with Fiona as the exception) this was still an engrossing listen. The backdrop of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 was what made this story stand-out for me. I could see how others found this to be slow in the beginning, with its soap-opera-like feel and melodrama of the elite high society of the times, but on Audio, those parts fly by fairly quickly. Once the fire starts burning, the unceasing flames and the lives at stake make this unputdownable. The way the author takes the truth about the actual fire and plays it out with her cast of characters is quite the tale. I found this exert from here about the Great Chicago Fire.

The Chicago Fire of 1871, also called the Great Chicago Fire, burned from October 8 to October 10, 1871, and destroyed thousands of buildings, killed an estimated 300 people and caused an estimated $200 million in damages. Legend has it that a cow kicked over a lantern in a barn and started the fire, but other theories hold that humans or even a meteor might have been responsible for the event that left an area of about four miles long and almost a mile wide of the Windy City, including its business district, in ruins. Following the blaze, reconstruction efforts began quickly and spurred great economic development and population growth.

With the ending the irredeemable characters become redeemable and the love triangle that takes the center of the stage throughout this story has its inevitable outcome.