Review: The Fireman Who Loved Me by Jennifer Bernard

This is the first book in the Bachelor Firemen of San Gabriel series.  We are introduced to Melissa McGuire and her grandmother Nelly.  Nelly has requested that Melissa join her for her birthday at the Hilton.  But instead of their usually yearly sundaes or lunch buffet, Nelly has planned to buy Melissa a date from one of the San Gabriel Fire Department Bachelors who are being auctioned off, for the benefit of the Widows and Children's Fund.  Nelly has picked out the fireman she wants, and ends up buying for Melissa.  But the Ryan, the fireman she purchases, is embarrassed about taking an octogenarian out on a date.  So he asks his Captain Brody if he will fill in for him.  Nelly tells Melissa that she isn't feeling well and has her fill in for her.  Of course, Captain Brody had seen Melissa at the auction and helped her up after another of the bidders had knocked her to the floor.  She though he was their to go up for auction and brushed him off.  So imagine their combined surprise when he is the one who knocks on the door for the date.

I really enjoyed this book.  Reading the prequel, I had gotten a introduction to many of the secondary characters in this book, the firemen of San Gabriel Firehouse, plus Stan the firehouse dog and mascot.  They help move the story along and provide a comic relief to this romance.  

The curse that supposedly Virgil Rush, a fireman during the 1800's put on the firehouse after his mail-order bride never showed up and left him the laughing stock of the firehouse, plays again and again.  But that is the bases for the series after all.   

There was a theme of forgiveness that appeared several times and in several ways in this book as well as standing up for oneself and acceptance.  I gave this book 4 stars on Goodreads.

Goodreads:

Fearless, smoking hot, and single: meet the Bachelor Firemen of San Gabriel. These firemen might be heroes, but it's their bad luck in love that makes them legendary.

News producer Melissa McGuire and Fire Captain Harry Brody couldn't be more different, though they do have one thing in common: they're both convinced they're perfectly wrong for each other. But when Melissa's matchmaking grandmother wins her a date with Brody at a Bachelor auction . . .

Sparks fly. Passion flares. Heat rises. (You get the picture.)

Add a curse, a conniving nightly news anchor, a stunningly handsome daredevil fireman, a brave little boy, a couple of exes, and one giant fire to the mix, and Melissa and Brody's love may not be the only thing that burns.