Review: Hot for Fireman by Jennifer Bernard

This is the second book in the Bachelor Firemen of San Gabriel by Jennifer Bernard.  This story takes place approximately a year and a half since The Fireman Who Loved Me.  In this book, we are re-introduced to Ryan, the young stud who was originally the intended date for Melissa in the first book.  He has been on a leave of absence after a mishap that almost left a woman dead when she hid out in the plug-buggy and Ryan responded to a call alone, when he shouldn't have.  A woman with a mental illness shot at him and injured the woman hiding in the plug-buggy.  Instead of being fired, Captain Brody had put Ryan on leave of absence.  He returns to San Gabriel after some time soul searching.  His first stop is the Hair of the Dog bar, just down the block from the firehouse.  There he meets, Katie Dane who is filling in for her father, who recently had a heart attack.  Her family chose her to run the bar, since she was only in graduate school and not already working another job.  Plus she is her father's favorite, so he is who he wants tending his bar.

But Katie knows nothing about running a business, and the bills are piling up.  When her first big idea to draw in a crowd turns out to be a bust, and Ryan showing up to help out, she hires him to tend bar.  After a small fire scare that Katie tells her family about, they all seem disappointed that the bar doesn't actually burn down.  After that, Katie starts figuring out a way for the bar to burn down so her family can collect the insurance money.  Unfortunately, Katie has no idea that Ryan was a fireman and he keeps saving the bar.  

We don't get to see much of the guys from the firehouse, except during a little strip tease some of them do for a bachelorette party.  Then we get to see (or at least imagine) quite a bit of them. *wink*  Captain Brody and Melissa, from book 1, show up in several scenes and it is nice to be able to check up on them and see how they are doing.

The themes of forgiveness was once more in this book.  Forgiving others, yourself and acceptance of the past.  I enjoyed this book and gave it 3 stars on Goodreads, because I would have liked to have seen a bit less of a cliched ending.

Goodreads:

Ryan Blake got suspended from the San Gabriel firefighters a year and a half ago for a daredevil act that nearly killed someone. Now he’s back in San Gabriel, fighting to return to the force. He takes a job at a local dive, the Hair of the Dog, while he studies for the test that will get him his job back. 

But the real test comes in the form of Katie Dane, bar manager. Katie got stuck running the family bar when her father had a heart attack. The place is losing money like crazy and the insurance is about to lapse. Her desperate solution? Burn the place down, collect a million dollars. The only problem--little does she know, her new bartender is actually a firefighter. 

Can a professional fireman and a wannabe firebug ever manage to get along? More importantly, can they stay away from each other and/or keep from ruining each other’s careers? Not likely. This is San Gabriel, after all.