Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: May 17, 2022
Synopsis
After one wild night together, two complete opposites plan to stay firmly in the friend zone, but life has other plans in this delightful romantic comedy, perfect for fans of Emily Henry and Abby Jimenez.
As a successful book publicist, Imani Lewis works night and day to promote her authors. It’s her dream job, but she’s become a total workaholic. So when her grandmother invites her to stay for the summer as she recovers from surgery, Imani happily agrees. But being back in the same small town as her one-night stand may not be quite the relaxing break she envisioned…
Zander Matthews wakes up every day determined to enjoy the present because he knows from his time in the Marines that tomorrow isn’t guaranteed. But he’s never gotten over the beautiful woman who blew through town a year ago, then disappeared. And he doesn’t want to be hurt again. So they agree to a deal: he’ll help Imani fix up her grandmother’s house as long as they stay firmly in the friend zone.
Whether it’s repairing tiles in his ceramics studio, dodging nosy neighbors, or soothing the most obnoxious parrot ever, Zander never fails to make Imani laugh. And soon their friendly banter is turning ever flirtier. But since Imani’s stay is temporary and Zander can’t be tied to anything beyond the most tenuous plans, will she be able to handle it when things get all fired up?
Review
*I voluntarily read and listened to a review copy of this book*
I really enjoyed How Sweet It Is and was excited to find out that happy go lucky Zander would be getting his own book. All Fired Up can be enjoyed as a standalone, but characters from the previous book do appear. There are some serious topics woven into the story, so please be sure to check the CW’s.
Things to look forward to:
– Tropes like: opposites attract, second chance, small town, friends to lovers, he falls first
– I loved the chemistry between Zander and Imani. They shared an amazing weekend together, but I liked that the second time around, they took time to become friends and truly get to know each other before letting things shift.
– Imani’s character growth. She makes a few missteps here and there (though understandable given her history), but I felt like her journey was much more fleshed out than Zander’s. I loved her relationship with Gigi as well as Kate.
– Amazing cast of secondary characters. I already mentioned my love of Gigi and Kate, but the entire Matthews family is equally wonderful. I’m already excited about grumpy Ryker’s book. I could have maybe done without Lancelot, but he did provide some interesting comic relief. LOL
– I loved the overall message to be present/mindful and that it’s never too late to chase your dreams.
– Zander. He was such a sweetheart cinnamon roll. I loved how patient, yet persistent he was. He was so caring and giving and I may have swooned a time or two at how thoughtful he was. I do wish that he would have had his epiphany about his future sooner though and more page time devoted to his personal growth. Things happened so quickly that it made the ending feel very rushed.
I both read and listened to All Fired Up and really enjoyed the narration by Emma Love and Max Lloyd-Jones. Both employed a variety of voices that made it easy to distinguish between characters and conveyed so much emotion in their performances. They’re both new to me narrators, but I look forward to listening to them more in the future.
Overall 4 stars
Performance 4.5 stars
Story 3.5 stars
CW: grief, death of parent (past, fire related), injury/hospitalization of loved one, panic attack, insomnia, discussions/mentions of: PTSD, military injuries and recovery, bipolar, struggles with body image and food
book bruin 