Format read: ebook 
Release Date: 24 April 2012
Number of pages: 384 pages
Publisher: Avon
Series: Book #1 in the Bachelor Firemen of San Gabriel series
Formats available: ebook, paperback
Source: review copy provided by publisher through Edelweiss
Purchasing Info: Goodreads, Author’s Website, Amazon, Kindle store, B&N, Indiebound, Books-a-Million, Walmart

Captain Brody has been badly burned by his ex-wife. When he orders Ryan, his star fireman, to participate in a bachelor auction, little does he know he’s the one who will lose his heart.

Melissa McGuire is a brainy local news producer trying to get her career back on track. She can’t believe she’s being set up by her grandmother, who bid on a date with a fireman at the auction. She prefers the artsy type, not the tough, commanding , though clearly attractive, fire chief.

And yet, they can’t resist each other, especially once her ambitious news anchor assigns her the “Thanksgiving with the Firefighters” news special. Add in her grandmother’s matchmaking and the combined efforts of Captain Brody’s crew…can Brody help being the first bachelor to succumb to love, and the crazy rollercoaster ride of the Curse?

My Thoughts: The Fireman Who Loved Me is the first book in Jennifer Bernard’s cute and sexy new contemporary romance series which features handsome and heroic firemen as its heroes, so you can bet I was excited to read it! 😉

The Fireman Who Loved Me opens with Melissa a serious young woman dedicated to her career meeting her old and frail grandma at a bachelor auction where women of all ages and types bid on the firemen of the San Gabriel Fire station. You can imagine Melissa’s shock and embarrassment at not only being caught at such a scene but seeing her beloved but meddling grandma ferociously bidding on a young stud for her! With such a beginning I knew we would be in for a fun and witty, cute and sexy story and I wasn’t wrong.

Melissa was a likeable heroine because she was such an ordinary girl, she could be you or me, her approach to life and her career was real, though be warned she is quite the feminist (it took some time for her to grow on me as she was a bit too belligerent at the beginning). And I just loved, loved LOVED her interaction with her meddlesome grandma. She had a warm heart and it was so much fun seeing how her old grandma played her easily with just a sigh or feigning exhaustion.

Harry is a wonderful hero. He has been hurt before so he has no intention of looking for romance, but it finds him when he stumbles (literally) upon Melissa. The sizzling chemistry between him and Melissa was at times very entertaining to read (the way they both tried to battle their attraction) but most of the time just plain explosive:

Hands shaking, he attacked her buttons one by one. As her creamy flesh was exposed, a kind of madness came over him. He bent his head […] devouring her [skin] with greedy strokes of his tongue. She tasted like heaven, like forgiveness, like every good thing in the universe. She moaned and twisted under him. God, she was beautiful.

He was a true gentleman and I loved how intense and honourable he was.

“And he told you Melissa was trapped?” Brody nodded. “And what did you feel?”
That he would have thrown himself into the flames to save her. That if he couldn’t save her, there would be no reason to save himself. That the entire world centered on one house, one bedroom, one irreplaceable woman who needed him.

Besides a heroine the reader can easily relate to, a tortured yet generous and selfless handsome hero, Jennifer Bernard gives us a whole array of quirky secondary characters. Some of them are a bit over the top like the meddling grandma who was a big favourite of mine:

“Oh, that fancy career of yours. You think your career is going to take care of you when you’re my age?”
“As a matter of fact, yes. My IRA—”
“I don’t want to hear about your IRA. It’s not going to drive you to the pharmacy, it’s not going to rub your feet, or change your colostomy bag.” Melissa hid a smile. Nelly loved to hold up the specter of a colostomy bag, even though she herself had never had any problems along those lines.
“I’m only twenty-nine, I don’t think I need to worry about my future hypothetical colostomy bag just yet.”
“It’s never too soon,” said Nelly darkly.

or Ella, the Sexy Wicked Witch of the West, and then there are of course the firemen (and women) of the station who all brought something to the mix be it charm or heart, but they all did it with a lot of humour. I’m very much looking forward to seeing them again in the next book(s).

My only complaint was how Ella became a bit of a caricature, and the way Jennifer Bernard handled Harry’s ex-wife and decided to resolve the romantic drama. I found the conclusion over the top and even irritating and felt somewhat let down by it.

Verdict: Despite a few bumps The Fireman Who Loved Me was a light and fun read I’d recommend to fans of Kristan Higgins who love a love story with quite a few chuckles and some tears. Jennifer Bernard introduces a cast of memorable characters the reader will grow to love and hate instantly. A cute start to a promising series, I can’t wait to read the other firemen’s stories!

I give The  Fireman Who Loved Me a solid 3.5 stars!

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

About Stella

Stella is a proud bookaholic and a self-taught multilinguist in training. Besides reading, her other great passions are travelling and baking. When she is not globetrotting she lives in sunny Budapest, where she loves to spend her free time preparing (and feasting on) delicious cookies or devouring equally yummy books. Her favourite genres are urban fantasy and romance and she couldn't live without her daily dose of sunshine. Besides being the Latin Lover on BLI Stella also blogs about books and a bookish life on Ex Libris.

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