To Protect & Serve by Staci Stallings

My edition: Kindle Owned
Pages: 332
Series: Courage #1
Genre: Christian Fiction, Romance, First Responder, Firefighter
Published: May 13, 2012
Rating: DNF on pg 31

Synopsis:

To save others’ lives, they will risk their own…

Houston firefighter, Jeff Taylor is a fireman’s fireman. He’s not afraid of anything, and no situation is too dangerous to keep him on the sideline if lives are at stake.

Lisa Matheson runs a semi-successful ad agency that’s on the brink of falling apart. Her employees are incompetent and her schedule has become exhausting. When she takes on a client with a brilliant idea for a big conference, she thinks that maybe, finally this is her lucky break. However, the fire station wasn’t what she had in mind for finding conference speakers. When she falls for a handsome but shy firefighter, it’s possible that life might just be going her way for a change. The only problem is she can’t control Jeff and the death wish he seems to have…

Review:

First, this book was published five days before my high school graduation making it ten years old. Second, I am not a fan of Lisa.

I am so tired of the stereotypical man-hating woman trope. No, this isn’t she had trauma so she has issues trusting men. That actually has depth to the trope if done right. No, unfortunately, this is an all men are jerks who throw themselves at women. Blugh! Not all men are jerks nor are they all man hoes. I hope one day that men and women will one day be depicted throughout all media outlets with respect.

Along with Lisa hating men, she treats her employees like crap. She is so focused on work that when two of said them said they had plans to get to and left early, she responded without acknowledging what they said. So when she needed something and they weren’t there she thought “As usual, she was alone in the sinking boat.” She thinks she doesn’t need anybody and wishes she could do everything herself. The reason she started her own business and did not go into a bigger firm is that she isn’t really a team player.

This is not a heroine I want to root for let alone read about. I don’t have many thoughts on Jeff our hero but so far he seemed like an ordinary guy. I guess this one just isn’t for me.