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Burn District #1
Controlled Burn
🔥 Controlled Burn
She’s the rookie chasing her father’s legacy.
He’s the fire captain with everything to lose.
A single spark can ignite an obsession.
Talia Cross knows how to survive in a man’s world.
Tough, smart, and freshly pinned as a probationary firefighter, she’s determined to earn her place in a station that would rather see her fail. What she didn’t expect? Her commanding officer lighting her up with one look. Captain Dean Maddox is cold, calculated—and off-limits.
Dean doesn’t break rules. Until her.
He’s spent his life following the discipline, duty, and a marriage barely breathing. But Talia is temptation in turnout gear—a walking risk he can’t afford. One touch threatens everything he’s built. But one taste isn’t enough.
What starts in the shadows can’t stay hidden forever.
As the firehouse microscope tightens and reputations are set to burn, Talia and Dean are forced to
Can you walk through fire and come out clean?
Or will loving her turn everything to ash?
For readers who
✔️ Forbidden romance
✔️ Age gap tension
✔️ Dub-con heat
✔️ Firefighter drama
✔️ Morally gray men
✔️ A heroine who never backs down
One night was a mistake.
The second was a choice.
The rest?
A controlled burn.
She’s the rookie chasing her father’s legacy.
He’s the fire captain with everything to lose.
A single spark can ignite an obsession.
Talia Cross knows how to survive in a man’s world.
Tough, smart, and freshly pinned as a probationary firefighter, she’s determined to earn her place in a station that would rather see her fail. What she didn’t expect? Her commanding officer lighting her up with one look. Captain Dean Maddox is cold, calculated—and off-limits.
Dean doesn’t break rules. Until her.
He’s spent his life following the discipline, duty, and a marriage barely breathing. But Talia is temptation in turnout gear—a walking risk he can’t afford. One touch threatens everything he’s built. But one taste isn’t enough.
What starts in the shadows can’t stay hidden forever.
As the firehouse microscope tightens and reputations are set to burn, Talia and Dean are forced to
Can you walk through fire and come out clean?
Or will loving her turn everything to ash?
For readers who
✔️ Forbidden romance
✔️ Age gap tension
✔️ Dub-con heat
✔️ Firefighter drama
✔️ Morally gray men
✔️ A heroine who never backs down
One night was a mistake.
The second was a choice.
The rest?
A controlled burn.
442 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 23, 2025
5 people are currently reading
26 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
July 31, 2025
Rating: 3.75/5
Please check the triggers before reading, as this one is a heavy story.
The story follows a firehouse and the many chaotic ups and downs. There are multiple different characters, and you follow different POV's throughout. The main storyline is following Talia, a rookie firefighter in a long-standing station. Her father was a firefighters and she followed in his footsteps to continue that legacy. Being a woman in this field is rough and tough, and she fights her way through everything and ends up on top.
The plot took me by surprise. It was definitely more suspenseful and tension that I expected, with a whole lot of villains vs. heroes. It will keep you intrigued, but you really have to pay attention to figure out how everything ties in together. Good story, good spice, and a whole lot of drama and tension.
I was lucky enough to receive an arc of this amazing novel and am leaving a review of my own thoughts and feelings.
Please check the triggers before reading, as this one is a heavy story.
The story follows a firehouse and the many chaotic ups and downs. There are multiple different characters, and you follow different POV's throughout. The main storyline is following Talia, a rookie firefighter in a long-standing station. Her father was a firefighters and she followed in his footsteps to continue that legacy. Being a woman in this field is rough and tough, and she fights her way through everything and ends up on top.
The plot took me by surprise. It was definitely more suspenseful and tension that I expected, with a whole lot of villains vs. heroes. It will keep you intrigued, but you really have to pay attention to figure out how everything ties in together. Good story, good spice, and a whole lot of drama and tension.
I was lucky enough to receive an arc of this amazing novel and am leaving a review of my own thoughts and feelings.
August 2, 2025
ARC Review
Pub Date: August 23, 2025
Book one of Burn District
4 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️
This is a spicy, forbidden age gap Firefighter romance. Talia really has a thing for her fire captain, Maddox. Talia is the rookie in the firehouse wanting to take on her father’s legacy. Talia really falls for her commanding officer which is Captain Dean Maddox. Lots of sexual tension between them and they have to watch out because they both can be fired. There are secrets and affairs as Captain Dean Maddox is married(not a spoiler) and everything is up in flames and I would even say a little bit suspenseful too because of blackmail that can really mess up Talia’s career and those involved as there’s a lot of drama and sexual things between not just one guy in the firehouse. Pretty entertaining and I really liked it :)
Pub Date: August 23, 2025
Book one of Burn District
4 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️
This is a spicy, forbidden age gap Firefighter romance. Talia really has a thing for her fire captain, Maddox. Talia is the rookie in the firehouse wanting to take on her father’s legacy. Talia really falls for her commanding officer which is Captain Dean Maddox. Lots of sexual tension between them and they have to watch out because they both can be fired. There are secrets and affairs as Captain Dean Maddox is married(not a spoiler) and everything is up in flames and I would even say a little bit suspenseful too because of blackmail that can really mess up Talia’s career and those involved as there’s a lot of drama and sexual things between not just one guy in the firehouse. Pretty entertaining and I really liked it :)
August 27, 2025
Controlled Burn by Roxy Ember is a unique novel in that the twists and turns this novel takes actually shocked me! I didn't see half of the main characters' choices or challenges coming but they all worked so wonderfully together and the ending was excellent!
With that said, please check the trigger warnings as this story has many emotional ups and downs and many possible triggers.
I loved the main character; Talia was so strong and set in her ways, even when everyone thought they broke her, she was devious and strong willed.
The characters and plot of this story were well done. The spice was sprinkled throughout and written well. The love story will take you by surprise. I will say the time line was slightly confusing but I received an advance copy and hope that they edit it to make it a little less confusing. The timeline didn't mess with the plot but did mess with me just a bit.
Overall, I enjoyed this read and can't wait for book two to see where the next adventure will take Talia Cross!
With that said, please check the trigger warnings as this story has many emotional ups and downs and many possible triggers.
I loved the main character; Talia was so strong and set in her ways, even when everyone thought they broke her, she was devious and strong willed.
The characters and plot of this story were well done. The spice was sprinkled throughout and written well. The love story will take you by surprise. I will say the time line was slightly confusing but I received an advance copy and hope that they edit it to make it a little less confusing. The timeline didn't mess with the plot but did mess with me just a bit.
Overall, I enjoyed this read and can't wait for book two to see where the next adventure will take Talia Cross!
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August 31, 2025Ugh, this was crap. I thrive on angst, and don't mind the cheating label, but the characters here weren't even worth fighting for.
We get the POV of why a husband cheats on a wife, and with a shrewish wife like that, I don't blame the man for leaving a cold home and into the arms of a warm, willing body. Ok, scratch that, he connected with a woman who saw right through him, understood his feelings/pain and wanted him for himself. The wife he married? She sounded like a picket fence bitch who only wanted life to look good on paper.
Cheating is a sensitive as fuck topic, so to make the readers "take sides" you have to make it relatable or sympathetic towards their plight or at least a clear logical understanding. Sadly, I just didn't respect the characters' bad decisions at all. They ended up hurting people around and themselves. Toxic at it's lowest, not finest.
That aside, I DNF because the heroine was starting to lose her dignity. For a woman who started telling readers that she's tough, she's a firefighter who fought and won a place in a man's world for goodness sake, but chapters in and she's unravelling so quickly....I just lost my respect for her. A tougher woman would have at least tried to reign in her lust and not let the man walk all over her, or kick her to the curb like a lost puppy. Also, she's self-destructive. Just because the man she wants says it's over, she goes and have a threesome with her male colleagues who were red flags. Umm...where's the intelligent heroine now?
The writing style? Terribly choppy. ZERO INTRODUCTION. It opened up with the MCs already in the thick of their "attraction". Apparently everyone could smell them like bitches in heat. GAWD. It was awful, I thought I missed the prologue or smth.
OVERALL this could have used a good editor, and maybe a revised plot or character makeover for it to be attractive or acceptable. There's no black and white when it comes to reasons why people cheat, and in fiction, this taboo topic can generate a wealthy amount of angst, HOWEVER, Controlled Burn was written all wrong, and that's why it's not going to fly.
We get the POV of why a husband cheats on a wife, and with a shrewish wife like that, I don't blame the man for leaving a cold home and into the arms of a warm, willing body. Ok, scratch that, he connected with a woman who saw right through him, understood his feelings/pain and wanted him for himself. The wife he married? She sounded like a picket fence bitch who only wanted life to look good on paper.
Cheating is a sensitive as fuck topic, so to make the readers "take sides" you have to make it relatable or sympathetic towards their plight or at least a clear logical understanding. Sadly, I just didn't respect the characters' bad decisions at all. They ended up hurting people around and themselves. Toxic at it's lowest, not finest.
That aside, I DNF because the heroine was starting to lose her dignity. For a woman who started telling readers that she's tough, she's a firefighter who fought and won a place in a man's world for goodness sake, but chapters in and she's unravelling so quickly....I just lost my respect for her. A tougher woman would have at least tried to reign in her lust and not let the man walk all over her, or kick her to the curb like a lost puppy. Also, she's self-destructive. Just because the man she wants says it's over, she goes and have a threesome with her male colleagues who were red flags. Umm...where's the intelligent heroine now?
The writing style? Terribly choppy. ZERO INTRODUCTION. It opened up with the MCs already in the thick of their "attraction". Apparently everyone could smell them like bitches in heat. GAWD. It was awful, I thought I missed the prologue or smth.
OVERALL this could have used a good editor, and maybe a revised plot or character makeover for it to be attractive or acceptable. There's no black and white when it comes to reasons why people cheat, and in fiction, this taboo topic can generate a wealthy amount of angst, HOWEVER, Controlled Burn was written all wrong, and that's why it's not going to fly.
January 12, 2026
Controlled Burn by Roxy Ember is a forbidden, slow-burn firefighter romance centered on tension, restraint, and high emotional stakes. The premise is compelling—a rookie firefighter determined to prove herself paired with a fire captain who has everything to lose—and the story leans heavily into moral conflict, power dynamics, and internal struggle.
This was a slower read for me, and I had a hard time fully settling into the story. The burn is very gradual, and I found it difficult to connect with the characters on an emotional level early on. Much of the focus is internal, which will likely appeal to readers who enjoy introspective storytelling, but it made the pacing feel heavy at times for me personally.
That said, the writing itself is solid, and the author clearly commits to the tone and themes she sets out to explore. The tension is intentional, the stakes are high, and readers who enjoy slow-burn, forbidden romances with morally gray characters and layered power dynamics will likely appreciate what this book delivers.
Overall, Controlled Burn wasn’t quite the right fit for me, but it’s a strong match for readers who prefer deliberate pacing, internal conflict, and high-stakes forbidden romance within a dramatic setting.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This was a slower read for me, and I had a hard time fully settling into the story. The burn is very gradual, and I found it difficult to connect with the characters on an emotional level early on. Much of the focus is internal, which will likely appeal to readers who enjoy introspective storytelling, but it made the pacing feel heavy at times for me personally.
That said, the writing itself is solid, and the author clearly commits to the tone and themes she sets out to explore. The tension is intentional, the stakes are high, and readers who enjoy slow-burn, forbidden romances with morally gray characters and layered power dynamics will likely appreciate what this book delivers.
Overall, Controlled Burn wasn’t quite the right fit for me, but it’s a strong match for readers who prefer deliberate pacing, internal conflict, and high-stakes forbidden romance within a dramatic setting.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
August 26, 2025
Talia y Dean se merecen el uno al otro.
Pude dejar pasar la infidelidad porque según el matrimonio ya estaba mal, pero estaba mal porque el señorito no ponía de su parte: no ayudaba en nada y era un padre ausente. En todo el libro no pasó ni un minuto con su hijo y, después del divorcio, nunca volvió a verlo, ni siquiera fue un pensamiento. Lo único que le interesaba era estar con Talia.
Y luego tenemos a Talia, la “chica de chicas” hasta que le gusta Dean, un hombre casado, y no le importa lastimar a otra mujer, pero según ella es sorora. A lo largo del libro, la autora intenta vender la idea de que es alguien especial, una buena persona, que le gusta ayudar a la gente, bla bla bla… pero en realidad demuestra que no lo es. Talia resulta ser egoísta con mucha suerte.
Pude dejar pasar la infidelidad porque según el matrimonio ya estaba mal, pero estaba mal porque el señorito no ponía de su parte: no ayudaba en nada y era un padre ausente. En todo el libro no pasó ni un minuto con su hijo y, después del divorcio, nunca volvió a verlo, ni siquiera fue un pensamiento. Lo único que le interesaba era estar con Talia.
Y luego tenemos a Talia, la “chica de chicas” hasta que le gusta Dean, un hombre casado, y no le importa lastimar a otra mujer, pero según ella es sorora. A lo largo del libro, la autora intenta vender la idea de que es alguien especial, una buena persona, que le gusta ayudar a la gente, bla bla bla… pero en realidad demuestra que no lo es. Talia resulta ser egoísta con mucha suerte.
January 4, 2026
Hot, spicy addictive
Controlled Burn completely pulled me in from the very first chapter. The chemistry is intense, the tension is constant, and the characters feel real and layered. I loved how the romance builds alongside the danger, making every interaction feel charged and meaningful.
Roxy Ember does an incredible job balancing spice with emotional depth. The relationship feels earned, not rushed, and the stakes keep rising in a way that makes it impossible to put down. The world of the Burn District is gritty and immersive, and I was hooked on both the romance and the suspense.
This book is perfect if you love strong characters, high heat, and a story that keeps you turning pages late into the night. I cannot wait to continue this series.
Controlled Burn completely pulled me in from the very first chapter. The chemistry is intense, the tension is constant, and the characters feel real and layered. I loved how the romance builds alongside the danger, making every interaction feel charged and meaningful.
Roxy Ember does an incredible job balancing spice with emotional depth. The relationship feels earned, not rushed, and the stakes keep rising in a way that makes it impossible to put down. The world of the Burn District is gritty and immersive, and I was hooked on both the romance and the suspense.
This book is perfect if you love strong characters, high heat, and a story that keeps you turning pages late into the night. I cannot wait to continue this series.
November 18, 2025
I usually avoid romances with cheating like the plague. But there was something about the writing style of this author that made me reconsider my hard line. I ended up liking this book, and liking both the main characters. While I wouldn’t say it was okay for them to cheat, ultimately you can understand why they did considering their circumstances. Aside from that, I thought the story flowed well and it kept my interest. Talia and Dean were multi-dimensional characters, and their romance was sexy and sweet and had me hooked. I’ll be looking for more from this author.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
September 14, 2025
In the beginning of the book, she is just another "legacy firefighter," but she is fighting to be more. I love the way the main character goes from "being used" to taking charge. She not only stands her ground but digs out some bad characters and sends them packing, as well as help other find their footing. By the end of the book, she is so much more than just another "legacy" firefighter. I can't wait for book two.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
August 15, 2025
ARC review:
So this story was WILD!! There is so much tension in the beginning, hot, cold, hot, cold. But once all the players are on the board, things really go off the charts. There is so much intrigue. I devoured this novel in one setting. I was just locked in. I’m super excited about book 2, because I want to see what else is going to happen to these characters, especially Kennedy.
So this story was WILD!! There is so much tension in the beginning, hot, cold, hot, cold. But once all the players are on the board, things really go off the charts. There is so much intrigue. I devoured this novel in one setting. I was just locked in. I’m super excited about book 2, because I want to see what else is going to happen to these characters, especially Kennedy.
November 21, 2025
This book was well written. It had great characters and an overall good story. This is a pretty intense book with some drama. Talia was a great character. Strong and she fell into this role so well.
The book has some twists and turns and moments you don’t see coming. I enjoyed reading this book.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
The book has some twists and turns and moments you don’t see coming. I enjoyed reading this book.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
October 6, 2025
This novel is a mix of erotica and drama/mystery. It had me guessing what was going on. I enjoyed the book a lot. The spicy scenes are on the BDSM side and are hot.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
August 14, 2025
Absolutely loved! Written good and I loved the story! 🩶
September 8, 2025
I really liked this book. It kept me engaged and I loved the steamy scenes and the ending.
August 26, 2025
I really wanted to like this one but it just wasn’t for me. It was marketed as a forbidden work place age gap romance. Which it is, but it also contains cheating which is not for me.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews