4.5 stars

Okay listen. I LOVE Dylan Newton. She really know how to write the perfect cute romance novels!! I really enjoyed her debut novel, and now that I got the chance to read her second novel, I'm even more in love with this story and her writing!!

Zander is literal perfection, and him and Imani make my heart happy. I love that this book follows the second Matthew’s brother and we get to see Kate and Drake from the first book!! This story had so many amazing moments, and y'all are NOT ready for Gigi. She's hilarious and the epitome of a badass grandma. I was laughing so hard.

Also, If a book makes me tear up and keeps me feeling emotional, it ABSOLUTELY deserves its high rating from me.

Claps all around for this lovely book that made me swoon more times than I can count and was just all around so freaking lovely!!!!! Add this to your TBR besties!

Imani and Zander share an intense weekend. She returns to her busy work life and ghosts Zander for nearly a year. With her grandmother's upcoming surgery and her best friend's pending childbirth, Imani returns to the scene of the crime and sparks flare.
I expected to like this more than I did but ultimately it didn't meet the bar How Sweet It Is set. My favorite characters were in the cast: namely Gigi, Ryker, and the irreverent bird. While initially the humor filled with innuendo put a smile on my face, it became a little too much and I desperately wanted more of a dive into the backstories of both MCs. They each had traumas leading up to the story that seemed glossed over at best.
Thank you to Forever Pub and NetGalley for the advanced copy. All thoughts in this review are my own.

Facing uncertainty in her career, Imani Lewis sets out to spend the summer taking care of her grandmother Gigi post surgery. What she does not count on is a friendship with last year’s hookup who also happens to be her best friends brother-in-law.

When Zander agrees to help Imani fix up her grandmother’s house, in part to help convince her to give them a chance, she agrees as long as things stay strictly platonic. But as they spend more and more time together, Imani realizes there might be more to Zander Matthews, and a potential relationship, than she allowed herself to see.

This book has the cutest cover and I wanted so much to love it. And when I read the first couple of pages, and laughed out loud, I thought it was a sure thing. However, whether it was my mood or the book, something stopped jiving about 1/3 of the way in and I struggled a bit trying to finish it.

If you have read “How Sweet It is”, the first book in the series, you will probably like this one as well. For me, however, it fell a bit flat.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever Publishing for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

When Imani Lewis goes to stay with her grandmother in a small town for the summer, she's relieved for the break from her workaholic schedule in publishing. She's not so relieved that she runs into Zander Matthews, a man she had a one-night stand with at her best friend's wedding.

I didn't read How Sweet It Is before diving into All Fired Up, and this worked really well as a standalone novel. Imani and Zander have great banter and balance in their relationship, and I loved that they had adult conversations and dealt with mental health, opposing outlooks, and the big life events of their close relatives. The setting was fun in a small town (close to where I live!) in NY with a hot air balloon festival. We also got to meet a hilarious, foul-mouthed parrot and Gigi, Imani's grandmother, who both provided some great comedic relief. I loved the dual perspective narrated by Emma Love and Max Lloyd-Zander and think audio is the way to go for this book!

Thanks to Forever for the ARC and to Hachette Audio for the ALC!

I *adored* How Sweet It Is, so of course I jumped at the chance to read Dylan Newton's next book set in this world!

The chemistry between Imani and Zander is just gorgeous. He's definitely very swoon-worthy, as he patiently waits for Imani to be ready for a relationship with him. (Well, mostly patiently.) There are some very big failure to communicate, crossed wires moments here that made me shake my book and go "Whyyyyy don't you just TALK to each other, ahh!" I also felt like the third act dark moment/drama and the resulting resolution was rather abrupt and sort of extreme/out of proportion to the rest of the story - it felt a little shoe-horned in, which is the only thing that kept this from being a solid 5 stars for me.

I LOVE Imani's Gigi, she's is about my favorite person in the world, followed closely by Zander's mom Patty. I love book where I want to hang out with the side characters and be best friends with them, haha. Imani and Zander both go through a remarkable amount of personal growth in this book - though Zander's growth seemed a lot more abrupt and sort of out of nowhere, whereas we see Imani stretching her wings and questioning what's really important to her bit by bit all throughout the book.

All Fired Up is not designated as being part of a series, but it is a follow-up book to How Sweet It Is. There are major spoilers for the first book, and I feel like you're missing a lot by not having the backstory of Kate and Drake, who return as very prominent side characters in this book.

CW - [this is a slight spoiler so don't keep reading if you don't want to be spoiled at all about any plotpoint!!
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Ready?
CW for pregnancy complications/difficult birth (the baby IS okay, though)

All Fired Up is a beautiful story about growing up, facing our fears and following our dreams!!

I loved the relatability of the story! I could easily picture these characters in the real world and I connected with them instantly!

Imani was a very soft spoken, warm hearted woman! I loved her friendship with Kate and her Gigi! Zander now for me personally stole the show! His growth and strength had me hooked!! From start to end he was a charmer and had me addicted!!

This was such a great easy read!! I was a huge fan of How Sweet It is, so I was very excited to get my hands on this arc! Imani is such a strong, organized, and sweet girl! I loved her from the start. The humor in this romcom was great! I laughed so many times. Although this book is light and easy it’s also a very deep book with real life problems. That’s what I love about Dylan Newtons writing. I will be recommending this book to all friends!!

This book was the perfect mix of humor and heart. I love when an author can tackle more serious issues but still keep things light-hearted and entertaining. The chemistry and romance was off-the-charts swoony! It was such a fantastic read. Highly recommend!

This book was hilarious! I could not stop laughing. I loved the characters - talk about steamy! I loved to see the progression of their relationship. This is definitely one that I would recommend. Thank you NetGalley and publishers for an eARC of this book.

I enjoyed this one so much more than I thought I was going to! The characters were engaging, the plot kept me interested, and I loved the writing style.

Favorite character: Lancelot, cracked me up, great comedic timing, I loved him. Imani and Zander had such opposing but complimentary traits and good relationship are when you can learn from each other. Imani’s career was wishy washy for a while. It was clear to readers that she was not happy with recent promotions and what that meant for her job, but to leave the stability of said job and take a chance on something was a big move for her personality. It seemed kind of drastic for this list making type A character.

Argh. This one just entirely missed the mark for me. There were some cute/funny moments (for example, when Lancelot the parrot started imitating their “romantic” vocalizations). But when the highlight of the book is a parrot’s antics, unfortunately you know something is wrong.

Maybe I’m just tired of reading books where the man treats the woman with the utmost respect, kindness, and bends over backwards to do endless ridiculous deeds for her, and the woman treats him like crap and leads him on. It’s unrealistic, it’s unhealthy, and I’m tired of the trope. Nobody in an equal relationship should have to do such extensive planning or work to make the other person recognize their worth.

Or maybe it was that at one point of the book, Zander verbatim says that he needs to change who he is for Imani. WHAT? NO. Changing yourself for someone else is not ever something that should be promoted. Now, did Zander have some adulting to do? Yes. If he had come to this realization and sought out some self-growth because he thought that would be best for himself and his future, it would’ve been different. But it felt like it was happening because Imani wouldn’t accept him otherwise, and I just can’t get behind that.

3/5 stars because the writing was decent and the supporting characters were zany and enjoyable. Thank you to NetGalley and Forever Hachette Book Group for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

All Fired Up is an opposites attract romance with a control freak (in the nicest way) and a happy-go-lucky hunk. There's laughter and tears and anxiety and swoony moments that will have readers hooks. Plus, there is a profane parrot who never holds back.

Zander is one heck of a patient man when it comes to Imani and that's all I am going to say about that. You'll have to read it to find out more. :)

All Fired Up can be read as a standalone but I recommend starting with How Sweet It Is first. There are tons of scenes with the characters from the first book and it will make you feel more at home.

Perfect for a summer beach read, don't miss out on All Fired Up!

Hilarious, steamy and swoony! Love this! Highly recommend!

Watch my Amazon live with Dylan: https://amazon.com/live/broadcast/a3a54cc7-77e4-4b48-82e9-e17b299dc481?tag=erinmbransco-20&linkCode=ilv&ref_=social

This one was so cute. I really loved getting to know both Imani and Zander better.

I liked how their relationship progressed. A two-night stand, moving to friends fighting attraction, to more. I liked how despite their differing life views, they were able to develops a strong bond, and ultimately helped each other make some necessary changes.

There were some super sweet, super funny, and sexy moments. And I would definitely recommend.

I loved this sweet opposites attract second chance (of sorts) romance!

We met both main characters in How Sweet It Is, Imani is best friends with the heroine and literary agent to the hero, while Zander is the brother to the hero. They had a two night stand at their friend/brother’s wedding, then Imani quickly ghosted him. She’s got a busy life to live in NYC and that doesn’t include Zander. However, when Imani returns to town to take care of her grandmother after surgery, Zander’s not so willing to give up that spark they had.

Both characters were so loveable. Imani is a very relatable type A kind of person who thinks everything is her responsibility and the weight of the world is on her shoulders. Zander is a laid back, easy going, Marine veteran who chooses to focus on the here and now. I loved how he was the one who was all in and had to woo Imani.

I loved the way the two opposites wore off on each other, Imani learned to relax and have a little fun, while Zander realized he couldn’t live only in the moment forever. There were tons of sparks between them and I liked the careful way their romance progressed.

I really enjoyed the relationship between the Matthews brothers and I’m so so so excited for Ryker’s story!

All Fired Up by Dylan Newton is so layered and interesting. You get both Imani and Zander’s POV’s, which creates a depth and an ability to really fall in love with these characters. Zander kept me laughing through out. His humor, heart and personality made me want several more books about him. On a more series side, Newton tackles mental health issues with empathy and realism. She portrayed Imani’s struggles with sensitivity and I think people who have anxiety can read this and understand the struggle. If you like romance with a heavier plot line, this fits that bill!

Well I loved the first book so I just knew I would love this one. Sure enough I did! This is such a fun cute little romcom and the story just flowed so nice. You can totally read this one as a standalone no problem but do yourself a favor and read the 1st one also. This book had a lot of hidden depth! I liked how the lead Zander continued to show up for Imani. He gave her the lead in the relationship and allowed her to process her feelings without any pressure. Each of them had some things to figure out about their own lives before they can go all in on a romantic relationship with each other.

I was beyond excited to be able to read and review this book. I loved the first book in this series, and I just knew this one would be just as good. It was!! This book hit me in all the feels. I love how the author tackles serious issues but there are laughs in there too. This book was well written with great characters. It had good conflict. All ingredients for a great book! I just love this author’s writing style. Zander and Imani had very different personalities, but we’re really great together!! I highly recommend this one! Huge thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review this book.

Oh my goodness, this book was SO much fun! I absolutely loved the chemistry between Imani and Zander. This made all of my romcom dreams come true, and I am so happy about it.