When We Caught Fire by Anna Godbersen

Summary from Goodreads:

It’s 1871 and Emmeline Carter is poised to take Chicago’s high society by storm. Between her father’s sudden rise to wealth, and her recent engagement to Chicago’s most eligible bachelor, Emmeline has it all. But she can’t stop thinking about the life she left behind, including her childhood sweetheart, Anders Magnuson. Fiona Byrne, Emmeline’s childhood best friend, is delighted by her friend’s sudden rise to prominence, especially since it means Fiona is free to pursue Anders herself. But when Emmeline risks everything for one final fling with Anders, Fiona feels completely betrayed.

As the summer turns to fall, the city is at a tipping point: friendships are tested, hearts are broken, and the tiniest spark might set everything ablaze. Sweeping, soapy, and romantic, this is a story about an epic love triangle—one that will literally set the city ablaze, and change the lives of three childhood friends forever.

Review:

I believe I first read The Luxe by this author in 2007, 11 years ago! That was around the time YA books were starting to become the amazing genre that they are now. It was the first time I had read a soap opera –esque historical fiction novel, and I was hooked. I knew, even at the time, that it was not great literature, but it was fun and dramatic and what I wanted at the time.

I didn’t love the Luxe series, but I enjoyed them. Sometimes I want a predictable, dramatic romance. And I always knew what to expect. I never read the other series by this author, but this book jumped to my attention because it’s about Chicago and the Great Chicago Fire. There’s tons of historical fiction and current fiction, set in NY, but no so much in Chicago. And this is a period of history I’ve always been fascinated by.

I went into this thinking it would probably be another dramatic historical romance set in a place I’m super interested in. I was partially right. I did love the background and the setting of this novel. I loved all the Chicago streets and neighborhoods mentioned. Everything else though just felt so blasé. I’ve read this story a million times. I’ve read this love triangle a million times. And I guess, I’ve come to expect more in YA now. Like, if you’re doing a story that’s been done before (many times), change something up a bit, at least a little.

The characters were all so two-dimensional. Privileged Emmeline never learns from her mistakes. I almost liked her. I thought for sure she would have learned a lesson about wealth and privilege following the aftermath of the fire, but no….She just seems to always amount more wealth, attention, and love no matter what terrible things she does. Fiona felt too good. She put up with way too much, and her reactions felt almost fake to me. No one is that good. Anders was boring. He literally had no personality, besides that he was good at boxing. I didn’t love how he could easily go from one girl to another, either. I don’t even remember the name of the fiancé, who was also terrible.

Maybe I’m getting more accustomed to diverse YA, but so much of these characters problems seemed like first world problems. I never truly felt bad for any of them…And Godbersen does excel at the whole “upstairs/downstairs” writing thing. She does write the points of view of the servants and compares them to the wealthy. But, the servants at times seemed almost worse. They were petty and scheming more than the wealthy were. I never liked any of them either.

All in all, this was not the book for me. I’m a character reader, who desperately wanted to like any of the characters but failed to do so. The plot has been done before and there was nothing new added to it this go-around. The location, the time period, and the fire made this readable enough for me to finish. But, if there’s more to come in the series, I do not plan on reading more. I give this one a 4/10.