I generally liked the writing and characters, there were just a few things that kept this from being higher rated for me.. The characters seemed a bit flat. Some of the decisions didn't make a lot of sense and there was no real explanation given. There was also the CONSTANT use of "boyfriend". Like, I get it, some people think being in a relationship is novel and want to use the word whenever they can, but these didn't really seem like that kind of characters?? There were just a lot of little weird things to me that hampered enjoyment of the story.

Burning it Down is an okay read by C Koehler.
I keep forgetting that I don't love this author's writing style. It's just not for me.

I was excited when I saw a third book in this series. I loved the first book despite it's problematic coach/athlete story line. I was excited when the first two reviews said this book was better than the first two. (The second book plot rambles.) I was pleased to see that "Burning it Down" tried to tackle the hard issue of gay domestic abuse. And I was really enjoying the first part of the book. The author does a good job setting the stage and it was nice to see what happened to the couples in the previous books.

My first problem was the couples constant calling each other 'boyfriend', throwing it in a a very unnatural way. RUINED the sex scenes. I've never heard anyone talk like this and I don't find it cute, I find it very very irritating. For example.. "So where're we heading, boyfriend"? And it's not occasional, it's constant. Most of the time the "boyfriend" could just be dropped.

Second, this book does NOT handle abuse story line very well. The back story Adam has just gotten out of a very abusive relationship. His previous boyfriend was described as being excessively jealous, as well as the belittling & hitting ad controlling all aspects of his life. Owen is supposedly the opposite, very open and caring. BUT his actions don't live up to this promise. When they go away for vacation, Owen plans the whole trip and doesn't tell Adam where they are going. For a person who has been in an controlling relationship, this just feels WRONG is so many ways. They should be planning the trip TOGETHER. The scene that upset me the most is where Adam gets hit & kissed on by cute young thing in a restaurant. One minute Owen is being amused by the situation, and the next Owen is jealously throwing the young man out of the restaurant by force. WHAT?? If I were Adam I would find that scary. Why is this thought of as romantic?

Rocking the Boat was the first in the CalPac Crew series, and Burning It Down is actually the third. I felt like the author did a good job bringing readers up to speed on events in the second book though, so I didn’t really feel like I was missing much. I liked the premise of this one – Fire Captain Owen Douglas is injured on the job and ends up joining an adaptive rowing team where he meets Adam Lennox. First off, Adam is a veterinarian and I just loved seeing how he interacted with all the animals! Second, I think it’s cool that there is adaptive rowing for people with disabilities! I had no idea!

Now, when it comes to actual story, this is one that kept me reading (just like Rocking the Boat), but I have to say that story-wise, I liked this one less. I think both Owen and Adam made some dumb decisions – especially Adam, who is dealing with an abusive ex. I just feel like this serious topic could have been handled better in the overall story, because it’s important to show people that abuse happens in same-sex couples. Unfortunately, this was not a favorite.

This is an exciting suspense filled m/M romance story.Battalion Chief Owen Douglas is injured severely when fire trucks collied.He's lonely an tired of one night stands.He wants a man to come home to at the end of his shift.Someone to start his life with.When he starts missing physical therapy an just coming off an on drinking an just mopung.Finally he decides that if he wants a chance to work again,he's better start working on it.His pt gives him a book on rowing pt.She says it would really help him.Then he gets a call from Brad a man he had a one time thing with but pushed him into fighting for the man he loved.Brad suggested he try the rowing.When he arrived there was a gorgeous tall man standing across from him an his breathe was hard to get it was like everything was fine but them.Adam is a veterinarian an just left an abusive relationship he wasn't looking for anyone but when he saw the gorgeous man across the way he wanted to know everything about him.The story has so many twists and turns to this story will keep you riveted until the very last page and leave you begging for more.I love the way this amazing author brings the characters to life before your eyes and you can feel their emotions and their pain.I can hardly wait to see what's next by this multi talented author.

A very nicely written M/M Contemporary romance, the heroes where well written and the story fun to read with plenty of heat!

I enjoyed getting to know Owen and Adam. It was great to see many of the characters from the previous two books filter in and out of the story too. I felt the topics were a little too dark, a little too unfocused in this third book in the CalPac series. I felt mostly like an observer, missing parts of the story. Author C. Koehler needed to fill in more of the blanks. Maybe there were too many topics here to explore them all satisfactorily? The second half- with the most action/ emotion charged storyline- seemed a little choppy. I felt all the characters, including Owen and Adam, were talking at each other, not to each other. Issues that would have been the most traumatic, were easily brushed over. Some accepted as if they were nothing. That really bothered me.

I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is the third book in a series, but it can be enjoyed as a standalone.

Owen Douglas is the first out fire battalion chief in the Sacramento Fire Department. He’s in his early 40s and a little sad that he’s always the hook-up never the boyfriend. He’s responding to a fire when he’s involved in a fatal crash with an engine truck. He survives, though badly injured, and is upset that his young driver is killed. He’s despondent about his recovery, shying away from the necessary PT he needs to learn to walk again. His physical therapist is adamant that activity is necessary and pushes Owen toward adaptive rowing. Owen’s once hook-up Brad Sundstrom is a former collegiate rower, and he’s a coach on the open men’s rowing club that supports the adaptive rowers. Brad makes it a mission to get Owen to the water’s edge.

Adam Lennox is a veterinarian, and a man hiding in plain sight. After enduring more than a decade of an abusive relationship, Adam has changed his name and licensure and moved to Davis to restart his life. He’s learning to reintegrate with people outside of the watchful eye of his abuser, his college sweetheart named Jordan. Adam had been a collegiate rower and he joins the open men’s rowing club headed by Brad and his former college coach, Nick Bedford. (Both Brad and Nick were MCs in the previous stories.) Nick taps Adam to be a pair rower with Owen, when he turns up for adaptive rowing, and the chemistry is instant.

Both Adam and Owen suffer PTSD from their respective traumas. They are immediately attracted to one another, but neither feels whole. While they begin a tentative connection, Adam is living in fear that Jordan will return–and his hallmarks are appearing again. Owen’s got a pal on the police force, but it seems he might not be able to intervene until Jordan, who is both wealthy and wily as all get-out, is caught confronting or abusing Adam. Owen’s recuperation is put on hold when he’s mysteriously attacked, and Adam is sure that Jordan is involved. It could be someone for the fire department, though, as Owen’s position is pretty tenuous. He’s reinstated for active duty, but grudgingly and with a disability hearing that could bounce him out of the service he’s been a part of for two decades. With both their lives in flux, Owen isn’t willing to let Adam shut him out–not when he’s finally found a man worth loving and fighting to keep. Meanwhile, Adam’s just fighting to stay alive.

This story has some graphic bits of violence, and descriptions of violence against animals. There is a definite sense of the victim’s mentality, of feeling that pain and potential death at the hands of person he loved is simply inevitable. Owen’s strong and fearless love gave Adam hope in his times of complete distress. Owen needed to take charge of his own life in a way he had not, before getting the time his recuperation allowed him to invest in himself. These men finding such a deep love that satisfies on a soul-deep level was so sweet and bittersweet. It rides a fine line between romance and romantic suspense. I really enjoyed the tenderness, and the conflict, and of course the happy ending.

I really wanted to love this book :) Hot firefighter, Hot Vet, hurt/comfort. I was in till about 50% and then the choices made by Adam and the police just did not make sense to me. I do want to read the others in the series bu things just went off the rails in the conclusion. I do think the author writes well, has some hot steamy scenes and very engaging liakable characters. It would have been more starts for me but the implausibility at then end just had me shaking my head.

After being horribly injured in an accident while on the job, Firefighter Owen Douglas takes up adaptive rowing at the encouragement of a friend and his physical therapist to help with his rehab and fight his depression. He meets soft-spoken veterinarian Adam Lennox there, and it's love at first sight.

But both men are fighting demons. Adam has recently left a relationship that was so abusive he had to change his identity to keep his ex from finding him. After so long in an abusive situation he isn't even sure he knows what love is anymore. He brings a huge amount of baggage, and possibly even danger, into a new relationship. He isn't sure this is fair to Owen.

For his part, Owen is fighting lingering PTSD symptoms brought on by his accident. He is also struggling with the fact that he no longer feels like he belongs at the firehall. Being the first out battalion chief in the department was difficult enough to deal with without having to deal with the issues brought on by his accident. He is also realizing that his life of meaningless hookups and no real relationships isn't what he wants anymore. He wants an actual relationship - someone to rely on and spend time with aside from just sex. He wants to build a life and a love with someone. He thinks he may have found that with Adam.

When Owen learns that Adam's identity is fake, he has some trouble with it. He feels like the man he has fallen in love with has become a stranger. And he had sworn off strangers. But then Adam's ex shows up in their lives, and he understands why Adam had to run and hide. Jordan is terrifyingly unhinged, and he feels ownership over Adam, which puts both Adam and Owen in danger. It leads Adam to make some hard, risky decisions. But Owen refuses to give up on the man he loves, and they earn their happy ending.

Burning It Down was an enjoyable read. I felt Owen's anger and frustration towards Adam when he thought he wasn't standing up for himself. But I'm fortunate enough to have never experienced being in an abusive relationship, and I can understand how it might lead to decisions others wouldn't understand. I did enjoy both characters though. Both were just broken and damaged enough to be appealing, and I cheered for their happily ever after all the way.

When I started this book i really felt for the characters, especially Adam and his abusive past. His life wasn't easy and with the help of trusting people he could get out of that toxic environment. Owen, he was a very interesting character; with him we saw the ups and down of a recovery (even when I think the author should have done a better research with this and other things in this book). The first half of this book was good even when I honestly didn't like the inclusion of the povs of previous couples since this is Owen and Adam's book but it was enjoyable. Now... the second half was a mess. Things made no sense or were so out of top or the main characters did things that I just... had to put my eReader down because it was too much.
This is my second book from this author and I've come to the sad realization that is not for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved it. There's something about this series and the characters that's so comforting. I thought this was a very well written book. The story and the characters were different to the previous ones in the series, but still had a similar vibe and the world building was consistent.

There was a solid connection between Owen and Adam. I found Owen intriguing in the previous book, I wondered what kind of man would steal his heart and Adam was a very interesting choice. They were hot and heavy but also very sweet together. In a way they were complete opposites, since Owen never had a real relationship, and Adam had a long term relationship that still has a hold over him. They were both struggling with their own issues but somehow they found their way to each other and were very good together.
It was definitely angsty and the second half had a different feel to the first one, but overall I thought the pacing of the story was pretty good and I was invested all the way. The trauma, the anxiety, and the struggle of dealing with an abuser were depicted realistically. The secondary characters were well-defined, I really liked Mike and Steven(I kind of need a book about them), and it was nice to see Brad and Drew again, and it was very enjoyable seeing Owen and Drew interact

All in all, it's a sweet, sexy, angsty book with two hot men being ridiculously in love with one another. I very much recommend this and I can't wait for the next one.

TW: Domestic Violence

I remember reading one of the Cal Pac books a few years ago, and it was amazing to come back to it again!

Owen made a cameo in the last book, and this focuses on his story. He meets veterinarian Adam during an adaptive rowing stint he’s doing for physical therapy. While Owen has his own issues forming commitments with people, Adam makes him want more — but there’s more to Adam than he thought there was...and hence the plot builds up its romance and trust between characters, all while Adam deals with demons from his past, and Owen works through his recovery.

While I definitely enjoyed the characters, I definitely felt like the story was very imbalanced at times, tilting far too much in one direction. Some decisions were made, and some of the plotlines were rushed, but all in all, it was a wonderful story! There’s another book in the series that I want to get to at some point, too!

I'm sorry to say this didn't work for me. I like the premise and the beginning held promise but the book has to many unnecessary storylines. I understand it's part of a series but I don't think we had to read about the other characters and how they fit into Owen's world now. I was a bit confused about why the author kept writing them into the story.
The characters are older but their dialogue was immature and akward. The last few chapters of the book were too unbelievable and I skimmed the ending.

With a little more editing this story could be a winner but as it stands it's a bit of a jumble.

A passionate complete love story that has friendship, relationship, and kinship along with wit and humor. And a happy ending I loved. I'd recommend this to any romance junkie I know. After reading Tipping the Balance, I couldn't wait to read more from this author. I wasn't disappointed.

Koehler's Cal Pac Crew novels keep getting better, this is the strongest yet. This is the third the series, and while it is not required that you read the previous installments, it does offer some really fun Easter Eggs if you do. This one shines a light on Owen, a character from the last novel who had a short but memorable cameo. He's recovering from an injury and decides to start rowing as part of his physical therapy. This is how he meets cute with the prickly veterinarian Adam, who has his own fairly deep back story. At first glance, it's hard to understand what would engage them with each other, yet slowly Koehler begins to build a strong case for romance. The story escalates at a strong pace and does everything you want a good romantic drama to do.