Slow Burn (Colorado High Country #2) by Pamela Clare

Blurb...

Victoria Woodley is done with men. Fresh off a dating nightmare, she flies from her home in Chicago to Scarlet Springs to take part in her best friend’s wedding. Who picks her up at the airport? Eric Hawke. Of course. She made a fool of herself over him last time she was here. He’s cocky, charming, and sexy as sin. But the fact that she’s attracted to him is all the proof she needs that he’s bad news. She would ignore him if she could. But he’s the best man, and she’s the maid of honor. She can’t just tell him to jump in a lake—especially not when her lips are locked with his.

Eric isn’t looking for a relationship. Between running the firehouse and volunteering for the county’s search and rescue team, he has enough on his plate. He doesn’t need to get tangled up with a woman from the big city, especially one whose idea of roughing it is going without designer coffee. Yet from the moment he looks into Victoria’s big brown eyes, the attraction he feels is too strong to deny. Faster than he can imagine, the spark of desire that has smoldered between them since the first day they met will flare into full-blown passion.

But can Eric convince Victoria to set aside her doubts and trust him with her heart before their time together runs out?

There are very few authors who write contemporary romance (or ANY genre she writes in) as well as Pamela Clare does, and her Colorado High Country series is easily one of my favorites. The way she tells a story is exactly the story I want to read; no contrived drama, no silly misunderstandings to fill the page count. Nope, the stories she tells are filled with romance, passion, humor, and characters I ALWAYS fall in love with!

Eric and Victoria are amazing. They are from different worlds - one from a world of money and one not - but both are solid. Down to the core they are good people, the kind I'd be proud to call friends or family. They have their issues but those issues don't define them or keep them from being happy, and that, in my opinion, is what makes them so real and why I fell so hard for them and enjoyed their story so much.

The bottom line - I absolutely adore Scarlet Springs and the people who live there. Truth be told, if I could find such a place I'd do everything in my power to get there, and get there fast!

To learn more about Pamela Clare and her books, visit her blog: At Home with Pamela Clare

Wild Heat (Hot Shots: Men of Fire #1) by Bella Andre

Maya Jackson doesn't sleep with strangers. Until the night grief sent her to the nearest bar and into the arms of the most explosive lover she's ever had. Six months later, the dedicated arson investigator is coming face to face with him again. Gorgeous, grinning Logan Cain. Her biggest mistake. Now her number-one suspect in a string of deadly wildfires.

Risking his life on a daily basis is what gets Logan up in the morning. As leader of the elite Tahoe Pines Hotshot Crew, he won't back down from a blaze-or from beautiful, lethal Maya Jackson. She may have seduced him with her tears and her passion, but it'll be a cold day in hell before Logan lets down his guard again. Until Maya's life is threatened. With his natural-born hero instincts kicking in, Logan vows to protect the woman sworn to bring him down. And as desire reignites, nothing-not the killer fire or the killer hot on their trail-can douse the flames....

Wild Heat is the first book in Bella Andre's Hot Shots: Men of Fire series, set in gorgeous Lake Tahoe. If you've ever been there you know just how tranquil it can be on the lake. It can also be a fierce and terrifying place when you hit the Tahoe National Forest during fire season, but toss in an arsonist with revenge in mind and those men and women firefighters are standing on the threshold of hell.

To be honest, I went in to this thinking it'd be one of those books with a thin plot, nothing more than a backdrop for sex. You know the type - 6 pages devoted to sex, then a page devoted to plot, rinse and repeat. That's what I expected...

I was so very wrong!

This is an exciting, poignant, sexy romance with a fast-paced, intense mystery plot. From chapter to chapter I was trying to figure out who the arsonist was and what their motives could be, and just when I was sure it was suspect #1, another person of interest would come along and then I'd be sure it was suspect #2! Or #3... I was never positive who it could be until it was proven, beyond a shadow of a doubt.

The bottom line - Wild Heat is my kind of book and if you're like me and want a solid story with your romance and steam, and love you some hot, sexy firefighters...then stop what you're doing and listen-up - you must read this book! And if you enjoy listening to audio books, this is a great one. Eva Kaminsky's voice is clear, sultry, and a pleasure to listen to!

Purchase Wild Heat at Amazon

How to Tame a Wild Fireman by Jennifer Bernard

The Bachelor Firemen of San Gabriel have a rebel among them, and there's only one woman who can put his flames out.

Firefighter Patrick "Psycho" Callahan earns his nickname every day. Fast, fit, and a furious worker, he thrives on the danger which helps him forget a near-tragedy that changed his life forever. But when his off-duty carousing gets out of hand, Patrick is sent back to Loveless, Nevada, where the wildfire threatening his hometown has nothing on sizzling Dr. Lara Nelson.

Lara would rather be thought of as the physician who returned to Loveless than as the misfit brought up at a hippie New Age commune. But right now she's focused on her job at hand, patching up injured firemen...until the past hits her in the hard-muscled, blue-eyed form of Patrick Callahan. Now, the embers of their decade-old attraction have ignited into a full-on inferno, as the bad-boy firefighter and the good doctor take a walk on the wild side they'll never forget.

**********

Romantic, Passionate, Poignant and Engaging!

How to Tame a Wild Fireman is the fourth book in Jennifer Bernard’s totally awesome The Bachelor Firemen of San Gabriel series. All the books are fun, sexy, romantic… but there’s always a level of poignancy that brings out the “need to take him home and love him all better” in me.

The Story:

This time the man in need of my tender loving care is Patrick “Psycho” Callahan. For ten years he’s been blaming himself for an accident that almost took the life of his mildly autistic, deaf brother. As the older, more mature sibling, he's supposed to be watching after Liam, not getting him into dangerous situations, and if Patrick had been doing his job, the accident would never have happened. Or so Patrick keeps telling himself. And to further prove his fault, Patrick’s dad, ex-governor of Patrick’s home town of Loveless, Nevada, is an arrogant, blow-hard of man who tosses Patrick not just out of the family home, but out of the family, period. With nothing to lose, thinking there's no one who cares, Patrick has more than earned his “Psycho” nickname. After one stunt too many, Captain Brody gives Patrick just what he needs - a chance to burn off some steam - by sending him to Nevada to help with the out of control fires that are threatening Loveless.

Lara Nelson grew up in Loveless, best friends with Liam Callahan. As Patrick’s younger brother, and always under Patrick's watchful eye, the three of them spent a lot of time together until the accident changed everything. She doesn’t totally understand why Patrick left the family the way he did, but it is what it is, and what it isn't is her business. Ten years have past since the accident, and Lara is settled, practicing Family Medicine at a San Diego hospital. Her life is right on track, but she gets a call that the aunt who raised her has passed away and, much to Lara’s chagrin, she’s the heir to all of Aunt Tam’s worldly goods.

Having no choice, Lara returns home to settle the estate, then jumps right into the thick of things, lending her medical expertise to helping care for injured firefighters working the blazes threatening Loveless. But working this closely with Patrick, Lara finds herself in a whole different kind of “thick of things.”

My Review:

Like I said, I really love these books. They’re not just sexy, they’re truly engaging stories. The characters… their lives, their loves, their trials and their triumphs… every one of these “cursed” firemen are amazing, tormented, lovable people in need of women strong enough to put up with them. What? It’s true! These guys aren’t perfect, but they’re close enough for me! And the stories are always entertaining without being too fluffy or over-the-top dramatic!

Ms. Bernard is one talented author and, lucky for us, she puts that talent to work giving us stories we can get lost in and happily ever afters we can believe in.

My thanks to Avon Book and Edelweiss for providing me with a copy of this story in exchange for an honest review.

The Fireman Who Loved Me by Jennifer Bernard

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.

The Fireman Who Loved Me is the first book in Jennifer Bernard’s The Bachelor Firemen of San Gabriel series, as well as her debut novel. It’s fun, it’s sexy, it’s poignant… it’s a thoroughly entertaining story!

The Curse:

In my review of the prequel, One Fine Fireman, I explained a bit about the curse:

First, a little background to the series title: Due to an event over 150 years ago, the firefighters assigned to this firehouse are cursed to never find love. The curse surrounds the true (supposedly) story of mail order bride Constancia B. Sidwell and says that one of the first volunteer firemen in the area, Virgil Rush, had been corresponding with Constancia B. Sidwell who was eager to start a new life in the West. Like many women of the time were doing, she hopped on a mail coach to travel across the country to meet her future husband, but before she could reach him, a gang of robbers attacked. The story goes on that she fell in love with the leader of the gang and never thought about poor Virgil again, and Virgil, subjected to the unrelenting teasing of his fellow firefighters, vowed that from that day forward, San Gabriel firefighters would suffer the same rocky road to romance that he did.

As I said then, this really has little to do with the actual storyline of this book, but it’s a fun “backdrop” to the entire series, so I wanted to share that with you.

The Story:

News producer Melissa McGuire has been burned - and not by fire. Thanks to the dog-eat-dog environment of television news, she lost her job and got her heart broken in one fell swoop. Leaving the glitz and prestige of Los Angeles behind, Melissa now finds herself living and working in not-so-glitzy San Gabriel, California, and taking care of her ailing grandmother. A grandmother with a secret whose made is her mission to match Melissa with one of the hot, legendary, “Firemen of San Gabriel.”

Melissa and Fire Captain Harry Brody couldn’t be more different but sometimes, as the saying goes, opposites attract. And in the case of this matchmaking endeavor, they match, and match big. But that doesn’t mean everything goes smoothly, though, because…

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.

My Thoughts:

All I can say is Wow! What a great story this is. Lots of excitement, action, romance, humor, and sexy goodness, and even some moments that found me fighting back the tears. There was so much packed into this story that I honestly can’t think of a thing it lacked.

If you’re a fan of contemporary romance, and if you love firefighters, then you definitely need to give this series a try. Ms. Bernard is a talented writer, giving us awesome characters, great stories, and happily ever afters we can believe in and cheer for!

Sex and the Single Fireman by Jennifer Bernard

The toughest captain on the East Coast, single father Rick Roman has come thousands of miles to San Gabriel to put an end to the "Bachelor Firemen" media hype. But when a stunning woman he nearly hooked up with in Reno turns out to be a firefighter from his new station, Roman realizes it's going to be tough keeping the tabloids at bay.

But there's even more Sabina isn't telling him. Before dedicating her life to battling blazes, Sabina led a very different life, one that made her famous. The last thing she wants is to have her secret exposed. The papers, bloggers, and TV gossips will have a field day with that—especially when they sense the obvious sexual heat between Sabina and Chief Roman, who's torn between firing her...and falling in love with her!

*****

Jennifer Bernard knows how to deliver sexy, romantic, emotional stories, and Sex and the Single Fireman, the third installment of the Bachelor Firemen of San Gabriel series is all that and more!

One of the things I most love about this author is how well she tells a story. They’re easy to read, yet compelling, and pull you in right from the start. Her characters are people we come to care about because even though they’re totally amazing, they’re also human. They're the kinds of people you live next door to, and they’re like the odd cousin that everyone wonders about. They’re the people you meet in the grocery story and the friends you wish you had… they’re people who draw you in and make you love them, every single time.

Sabina Jones is the “Bachelor” fireman in this book, and Chief Rick Roman is a man who’s trying to build a life for he and his son after losing his wife in the 9/11 attacks. That right there got my attention because we’ve all heard the tales of the real men and women who gave their all that day, and stories like this – stories of the ones left behind – never cease to touch me deeply. Whether it’s only mentioned briefly or the center of the story; whether it happened yesterday or eleven and a half years ago, it gets to me. Every single time.

Watching Sabina and Roman’s relationship grow from lust to love was heartwarming – and burn up the pages sexy. Start to finish, through the good and the bad, I couldn’t get enough of them and that thirteen year old Roman-in-training, Luke.

My thanks to Avon Books for providing me with a copy of this story in exchange for an honest review.

One Fine Fireman by Jennifer Bernard

 

One Fine Fireman is the first book in Jennifer Bernard’s The Bachelor Firemen of San Gabriel series and a sweet, steamy, romantic story!

First, a little background to the series title: Due to an event over 150 years ago, the firefighters assigned to this firehouse are cursed to never find love. The curse surrounds the true (supposedly) story of mail order bride Constancia B. Sidwell and says that one of the first volunteer firemen in the area, Virgil Rush, had been corresponding with Constancia B. Sidwell who was eager to start a new life in the West. Like many women of the time were doing, she hopped on a mail coach to travel across the country to meet her future husband, but before she could reach him, a gang of robbers attacked. The story goes on that she fell in love with the leader of the gang and never thought about poor Virgil again, and Virgil, subjected to the unrelenting teasing of his fellow firefighters, vowed that from that day forward, San Gabriel firefighters would suffer the same rocky road to romance that he did.

Now, that really has nothing to do with the storyline, but it’s a fun “backdrop” to the series, so I wanted to share that with you.

But on to the story itself!

Kirk, nicknamed Thor by his fellow firefighters because of his tall, handsome, Viking god looks, has been pining away for Maribel, the sweet waitress who works at the diner he and the other men of the San Gabriel Firehouse visit. For six years he’s been going there for his coffee, and for six years he’s uttered no more than a handful of words at time when he sees her. Kirk is shy, and she’s engaged. He’s moving, and she’s engaged. He’s a cancer survivor who knows there’s always a risk of reoccurrence and doesn’t want to burden anyone with that, so he’s mostly stayed clear of relationships, but there’s something so special about Maribel that he just can’t keep from developing feelings for her. But… she’s engaged!

Maribel loves it when the men of the San Gabriel Firehouse stop in for coffee, especially the good looking blond, Kirk. He’s incredibly sweet and he always purchases her handmade ornaments and other goodies. She can't help but be attracted to him, but she knows it can't go anywhere because she's engaged. Not that she'd ever think of cheating on her fiancee Duncan! They've been engaged for years and she's sure he's finally ready to set a date... but Kirk is... out of her league. And besides, she's engaged!

But when a precocious little boy and an adorable stray dog bring she and Kirk together, sparks fly and Mirabel starts to wonder why she's never felt for Duncan the things she's feeling for the sexy fireman. And Kirk... well Kirk isn't about to let this chance for a life with the woman he's loved from afar pass him up.

As I already said, this is a sweet, entertaining read. I enjoyed the story, the romance, the characters, and even the small glimpses we're given into the other firefighters. It's a quick, feel good story that left me with a smile on my face and looking forward to reading more in this series, soon!

My thanks to Edelweiss and Avon Books for providing me with a copy of this story! It was a pleasure!

Line of Fire by Jo Davis

Line of Fire is book four of the Firefighters of Station Five series and ended up liking much more than I thought I would.

At 23 years old, Tommy Skylar is the youngest member of Station Five, and everyone treats him that way – not like a kid per se, but they’re always watching out for him and in fact, they do call him “kid.” He’s a sweet, easy going Brad Pitt lookalike who gets along with everyone, so he’s come across as kind of wimpy in the other books. But the thing about Tommy is that he’s known some serious grief in his life, so his experiences have made him a mature, wiser-than-his-years man, a side of him which we finally get to see now that he’s got his own book.

Shea Ford is a 28 year old ER nurse who happens to be on duty when Tommy is brought in with a head injury he received during a rescue. Tommy hasn’t hidden his feelings for Shea, and even though she’s pushed him away time and time again, when she sees him this way she can no longer fight her feelings, and things really start to heat up between them.

The story was pretty interesting, with a corrupt politician and a home grown terrorist trying to set up house in Sugarland, TN, but even so the most exciting things that happened actually took place during the scenes with the firefighters on the job. But one thing that really bugged me - and it’s a plot detail so don’t peek unless you’ve read the book, but (view spoiler)[ when Tommy went back into that building the last time and was hit over the head and left to die… how was it the person who attacked him was able to lay in waiting for him in a dangerously burning building? How could said attacker see through the smoke to know that it was Tommy there, underneath all that gear? And last but certainly not least, how could Tommy’s murder have been planned in this way when they had absolutely no way of knowing he’d be the one going into the building? (hide spoiler)] Now, did I miss something there? If so, please set me straight! So anyway, while I love these books and I find Jo Davis’ writing to be exciting and easy to read, in each book there’s been something that takes away from the overall story. It might be coincidences that border on unbelievable, or some other things that happen which leave me shaking my head with more questions than answers, but book after book, it’s there.

Fortunately, those hot, hunky firefighters of Station Five always make the stories worth reading and in fact, they’re the only reason I read these books. In typical Jo Davis fashion, Line of Fire is an incredibly erotic non-erotic book, and it turns out that Tommy has some kink lurking beneath the surface which made for some very steamy sex scenes. And as with the previous books, there was at least one close encounter of the anal kind, which has me wondering if perhaps there’s something in the water…

4 of 5 stars