Book Review: Four Weddings and a Fireman

Author: Jennifer Bernard

Publication Date: February 25, 2014

Publisher: Avon

Series: The Bachelor Firemen of San Gabriel #5

It takes a certain kind of man to stand out among the Bachelor Firemen of San Gabriel.

Firefighter Derek "Vader" Brown is one of a kind—six feet of solid muscle with the heart of a born hero. It's that protective streak that has him pursuing a promotion to Captain to pay for his mother's home care. And it's why he intends to figure out why his sometime girlfriend Cherie Harper runs hot as hellfire one minute and pushes him away the next.

Cherie's got it bad. Vader sweeps her off her feet—literally—and their chemistry is combustible. There's just the little problem of a nightmare from her past she was desperate to escape. And then her sister Trixie arrives, causing havoc for Cherie and the male population of San Gabriel. Cherie doesn't want her past to complicate Vader's life or his career. But there's nothing like a firefighter to break through all your defenses, one smoldering kiss at a time…

Vader, wearing firefighter’s pants, suspenders, and nothing else, bent the giggling blond girl backward over his left arm, flexed his right biceps, and grinned for the camera. “How does that look?”

Hell, if not for his firehouse buddies, he’d have blown a fuse long ago.

If Cherie were completely honest with herself, she’s started falling for Vader the first moment she’d ever seen him, more than a year and a half ago.

He swallowed hard. Lord in heaven. What had she gotten himself into?

I am probably the biggest fan of this series that you will find! They are all sitting atop my shelf with some of my most favorite series of books. I fell in love with the storyline when I picked up the first book in this series. I read that book in the summer of 2012, so now every time that I read one of these books I reminisce about summer time and that fun, easy feeling. This book follows another one of San Gabriel’s finest, Derek “Vader” Brown. He was one of the firemen that I could not wait to get to. I kept hoping his story would be the next one I read. Vader and his on and off again girlfriend, Cherie, are obviously in love, but after she shoots down his marriage proposal not once, but twice, Vader just doesn’t know if he can handle being around her anymore. However, Vader and Cherie have a love that is so strong even a bruised ego can’t keep them apart!

I loved Vader’s character just because he is this big, handsome bulk of a man whom you would expect to be this huge player and ladies’ man, but in fact he is the most loyal, funny, and sweet man of the bunch in my opinion. His intentions in his relationship with Cherie are notable and I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him when she continued to turn him down over and over again. I also loved the scenes when he was visiting his mother, who is physically handicapped. He is so genuine and so caring when it comes to be supportive for his mother. Now he does have his flaws as a character, please don’t mistake me, he has a hot temper and a mouth on him, but of course this only attracts me to him more.

At first I did not care for Cherie at all, or her sassy, know-it-all friends. I did not like the way she treated Vader, but as the story progresses we learn that Cherie has some family secrets that she doesn’t quite feel comfortable sharing with Vader. By the end of the book, however, I began to see her in a different light once I learned all there was to know about her. I knew that she deeply cared for Vader, but at first I just couldn’t understand why she couldn’t allow herself to be with him.

This book has such a light, romantic feel to it and I recommend this series to any and all!

*** A copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at Avon in exchange for my honest review***