The hero and the heroine had a one-night stand at a wedding, but then the heroine ghosted the hero afterwards. They reunited when the heroine returns back to the hero's small town to stay for the summer with her grandmother, who'll need some help after her surgery. The hero has a plan to change the heroine's mind about having a relationship with him, starting with being friends with her as he stealthily made moves that he hopes will give a different view of himself in her mind. As time moves onward, the start of a new romance shines through in this delightful Dylan Newton book!

This Dylan Newton book is focused on a couple given a second chance to truly be together in a romantic relationship. The heroine is a career woman who is questioning the direction of her life and the hero is an artistic man with a carefree image that requires changes he needs to face for his future. The main couple is surrounded with a supportive cast of secondary characters who care about them both. It even includes a dirty-speaking avian pet whose commentary enlivens the story, especially in the main couple's romance. The overall story is entertaining, though it would have been nice to have more details about the heroine's family. Definitely an enjoyable Dylan Newton book and I look forward to reading more from the author.

** Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy. All opinions and thoughts in the review are my own. ** ( )

All Fired Up is the best of – well, everything. Second chance, opposites attract, small-town romance. Sweet, sexy, steamy, silly with some serious thrown in – and wait for it: a return of The Fabulous Matthews Brothers! If you haven’t already read the first book in the series, How Sweet It Is, go do it. All Fired Up is just perfect as a standalone, but it’s beyond perfect if you already know Kate and Drake and Patty and everybody else and how Imani and Zander got in their current situation.

Imani is the driven, I-will-make-it-to-the-top successful book publicist. Life hasn’t always been easy and career is everything. But when the book launch being planned by her best friend Kate for horror author Drake Matthews’ new book, she is drawn back to the village of Wellsville in Western New York. The village where the launch will take place, the village her grandma Gigi, who raised her after her parents died, lives in, and the village where Zander Matthews is.

Zander is the Matthews brother who never finishes anything. The youngest one who can’t seem to make up his mind, whether it’s women or jobs or anything else. He smart and talented but seems to be a bit reckless and careless, because there is a lot going on underneath that smiling (heart-shatteringly handsome) face. He figures he’s already failed at everything that is most important and just can’t take any more chances.

Little sparks, then bigger sparks, then really big sparks, fly between Imani and Zander when they meet. They try to resist, can’t resist, and decide since the friend zone is already behind them maybe they can just enjoy whatever it is that they have until Imani goes back to her real life and Zander continues on his merry, no commitment way. Famous last words.

The more time you spend in the small town of Wellsville the longer you want to stay. All Fired Up is ridiculously funny, spicy, heartbreaking and amazingly romantic. I didn’t want my time with the Matthews brothers, their friends and family and Imani and Kate to ever end. I am voluntarily leaving this review. Wonderful book, wonderful series, go back and read the first book and then eagerly await the next book with me. All opinions are my own. ( )

Author's guest post at my blog:
https://bookfare.blogspot.com/2022/06/foodfic-please-welcome-dylan-newton.html

All Fired Up by Dylan Newton
2nd book in the series. Contemporary romantic comedy. Can be read as a stand-alone but this is the second brother’s story and the first plays a role in this book. Dual POV.
Imari and Zander hooked up after his brother’s wedding. It was a fantastic two nights for Zander and he wants more. But she mostly ghosted him afterwards. So he plays the long game and he’s going to be there for whatever she needs when she’s home to help her grandmother after surgery. And she can’t resist him.

Fun and engaging.
Inappropriate comments from an African gray parrot make for some hilarious moments. And that’s over and above the cheerful Zander.
Live your life for the joy? Or plan and carry a huge purse with supplies for any contingency. Two philosophies.
Loved this book and excited to know that Ryker will get a book next summer too.

I received a copy of this book from Forever. ( )

2.5 stars

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Zander Matthews.
Yep, she remembered him, all right. He was her first and only one-night stand. Well, technically, it was two nights, two mornings, and one long, glorious afternoon, nine months and twenty-five days ago. But who was counting?

All Fired Up stars the youngest brother of the hero and best friend of the heroine from How Sweet It Is. I didn't read that first book but the author relays enough information, Imani and Zander had a two-night stand after the main couple's wedding, that I had a an idea of what happened between them. Both appear to have had feelings after their time together but Imani panicked and ghosted Zander, ignoring all his texts and calls. When Imani has to come back to the town everyone lives in to help her grandmother Gigi after she has knee surgery, there is no avoiding Zander as he's intertwined with her life now as her bestfriend's brother-in-law.

“Look, I want to know if Imani Lewis is renting space in my head because she's 'the one' everyone says will someday appear, or if she's only intriguing because she ghosted me.

I do think not reading the first book and enjoying that couple's romance did hurt my enjoyment of this, especially the first half. A good chunk of the beginning is about the gender reveal/baby shower of the past main character bestfriend, in fact, a lot of this book deals with her pregnancy, the reveal shower and delivery. I didn't really care about that character and wished the focus could have been more on Imani and Zander. I was also missing a little bit of those beginning romance feelings as they seem to have already developed those feelings from their two-night stand, I wish we could have gotten a prologue or some flashback scenes to see some of those two days. I'm not sure if those scenes were shown in the first book but that would probably help set the foundation for this one.

“Will you go on a first date with me, Zander Matthews?”

Basically, Zander was in the Marines, been to war, and helped his middle brother recover from a war injury, which has taught him that life is fleeting and to live in the moment. He owns three ceramic stores (All Fired Up) but is known as the guy who doesn't make plans and keeps everything light and breezy, making some think he is irresponsible. Imani's mother had Bipolar Disorder and she lost her to a fire when candles burned down the apartment, this has caused Imani to be strict about always having a plan and keeping things structured so they don't get unmanageable, out of hand. Seems like opposites attract but Zander is pretty much all in with Imani right away and decides that he will let her set the pace and just constantly be doing things for her that she needs done or starts stressing about. It makes it kind of lopsided then with Zander constantly giving and Imani not sure she even wants to give him a chance. Imani constantly claims she wants to keep things just friends but then gets grumpy when Zander does that, even has a trying to keep the anger down jealous moment. These two never quite jived for me with their different vibes and even though the cover has a fun cartoon-y cover, there are some heavier topics in here, the bipolar disorder I mentioned along with death of parent, Imani's panic attacks, Zander and his brother's PTSD from war, and a fraught birthing scene. Imani's grandmother has a parrot that likes to curse (says b*tch a lot) that I think was supposed to lighten the mood but those antics didn't quite do it for me. The inside does make good on the cover's promise of hot air balloons, though, with a romantic date scene.

If you read the first, you'd probably enjoy this more as the first book's couple has a strong showing in this and I missed some scenes of Imani and Zander's first two nights together that could have shown me those romantic feelings developing. ( )