Title: All Fired Up
Author: Dylan Newton
Publisher: Forever
Publication date: May 17th, 2022
368 pages
4/5 stars
Goodreads 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
Imani and Zander’s story is a second chance romance where he fell first. They hooked up at a wedding before Imani left and didn’t return for a year – but Zander never forgot about their night together. Imani is back in town because her grandmother needs surgery and Zander is determined to change her mind about giving him a chance. This story has mental health themes, growth and development, and the lengths people will go to for family.
Imani pushes back hard against Zander for a good portion of this book, really she gives it a strong effort. But they are very adorable as a couple and they both go through a very different journey in this book to get to their happy ever after.
The background characters really stole the show, like Imani’s grandmother and the parrot. The hijinks that parrot caused was laugh out loud funny. I have to say I am even more excited for Ryker’s book, I think it will end up being my favorite because he is really interesting to me as a character. To prepare you get more scenes with him in this book than in How Sweet It Is to set up the story line.
Thank you to Forever and Netgalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.
Happy reading, folks!
Baltimore Bibliophile 