Falling for the Firefighter (The Summer Sisters #5)

I’m totally thrown by all the great reviews for this book. I even double-checked to see that they were reviewing the same book that I read. Maybe the problem was that I hadn’t read the previous books. There were so many couples that the main couple really didn’t have any time to develop what I deem to be a real relationship. Apparently, this book was meant to give endings to couples from prior books. The heroine, Simone, was said to be feisty and independent. I just saw her as hard and judgmental. The “romance” consisted of the main couple constantly arguing about EVERYTHING while three other couples watched. And it was a quick, one-day thing that ended in love? Sorry, it just didn’t work for me. But, the main thing that bothered me (drove me up the wall, actually!) was the constant defensive posture of the hero defending his masculinity. So, he designed hair ribbons and fairy paraphernalia for children in a burn unit (his actual occupation was as a smoke jumper) and that made him worry that people would think that he was gay? Oh, and his father was transgender…that was also brought up numerous times. But, the whole “is he gay?” thing was tiresome. After reading this, I have NO interest in going back and reading any of the other books. I was bored out of my mind and did a lot of skimming to finish. The only character that was interesting was the 5 year old.

It was difficult to continue reading, but I slogged on, hoping she would have a Christmas epiphany. Or miracle. Or visiting ghosts, or SOMETHING, that would change the spiteful, homophobic, bitter witch into someone worth rooting for. But it didn’t. We were left with insta-love between a woman who calls him a liar, throws his aggressive teenage years in his face, gets angry that he is good-looking, refuses to call him by his name, won’t believe he is the creator behind his products, and then uses “gay” as both a insult and the answer to why she can’t fit him into a neat box when she wants insult him more. Why would anyone fall for this woman? Looks alone? Because her personality was awful, and didn’t improve from beginning to end.

I did not enjoy how many characters used being gay as an insult, how the main characters fell in love despite the heroine’s nasty attitude, and the ending felt abrupt and disjointed. The story had potential, but while the flow was difficult, it was really the characters that torpedoed the whole thing. I’m irritated with myself for spending the time reading this one. Very disappointing.

This book really threw me at first. A group of people, spending, or starting their holiday at a cottage. O.k. Evidently they all knew each other for years and some were related. Again, so far I got it. I haven’t read the other books in this group so I’m sure I missed a lot of their beginnings. However, as I read along I began to feel like I wasn’t really confused, I was just being an observer. I almost felt like I was there, on the sidelines, listening, laughing, and wondering if the two main people were ever, ever going to realize that they were destined to be together. It was almost a lesson in humanity. These people were just normal people. Heroes to each other, lifelong friends and relatives that have experienced a lot of pretty much everyday things together. Our two main people, J.C. (Josh) a firefighter with a transgender dad (he’s dealing with it) a superb woman, Simone, a designer that has made her mark and is fighting a past that she feels she has always lacked something while becoming strong and independent. She knows Josh from their childhood, has a love-not like relationship with him. Their story in all this is how they manage to find each other, deal with their problems amidst all the other couples’ lives that are moving forward. It’s hard to describe this story without giving too much away. Besides, you really have to read this for yourself, at your own pace, in order to take it all in. While it’s basically Josh and Simone’s story, the interaction with the others is very, very necessary, even in small doses, for it to all come together. It’s surprisingly a clean romance story. I’m so glad it was. I kept thinking that at any moment the story was going to get “dicey” and hoping it wouldn’t as it would have sullied it. It was “beautifully” clean. I mean, you know that a small romantic interlude happened when lipstick is smeared and a shirt is being tucked in! LOL. I laughed at that and thought “there you go, that’s how it’s done”. I will read this again in the future and remind myself that life in the real way could absolutely be like this, these people came across as real and believable. With all their frailties, just like the rest of us. Kudos to the author. I will recommend this to anyone.

I was lucky not to read this series until 2017 as it meant the whole series was available and I read them 1 after the other. I loved the series and felt really involved with the lives of the characters.

This romance still takes place on Nymph Island at the Summer sisters’ cottage but as all 4 sisters are now partnered, how will this pan out? Will the magic still work? Read it and find out for yourself

Very disappointing in view of all the reviews. Im glad it was a free download.
Simone is at best a hormonal mess and I dont believe anyone could possibly find her attractive with her judgemental, defensive and abrasive attitude. Josh wasnt a particularly well developed character and other than being surprisingly knowledgeable about little girls interests and fairies didnt have much to recommend him. The short time frame – 1 night – in which they fell in love coupled with a very nasty rather than antagonistic dynamic, defied belief. And I say this as a regular reader of romance fiction.

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