All Fired Up

by Dylan Newton
Pub Date: 17 May 2022
3/5 Stars

This was a pretty, average story for me. There was much dialog about the attraction and previous sex-filled weekend with the main characters, Imani and Zander. I felt none of the heat or chemistry between the two. Zander just seemed like a sweet, goofy guy not a playboy type a all. Imani’s character at times annoyed me. Also irritating, the crazy nicknames for the characters and the car.

I enjoyed the book most from the balloon surprise on and it ended on sweet note.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you to Forever and Grand Central Publishing for my gifted review copy.

I read almost this entire book in one sitting and it was so fun! This author was likened to Abby Jimenez and I can see why- such relatable characters, friendship, a sweet romance, and lots of subtle life lessons. I enjoyed this sweet and fun romance and the reminder of living in the moment being my favorite storyline.

I was also excited to see the announcement of a sequel - I’ll definitely be back to see where the author takes these characters next!

Fantastic, and totally a 5 star read - even better than How Sweet It Is, if you can believe it! If you haven't read that one first, you definitely need to - this isn't a stand-alone. So much happens in book 1 that you might be a touch lost if you pick this up first.

This storyline, which is as perfectly crafted as the first, follows Imani, an overworked book PR agent, and Zander, the younger brother and ex-military, recent ceramics studio owner of Imani's client Drake. The pair had a bit of a fling the night of Drake and Kate's wedding, but it was just a one night thing, or so she thought. He'd sort of tried to keep in contact, but she'd brushed him off, too busy and living too far away to pursue anything. Until her Gigi (Grandmother) needs to have surgery, and she has to come back home and live with her - and suddenly Zander is everywhere in her business.

While one tries to see if something could work because this person was always firmly in that position, the other is always trying to come up with excuses that it could never work. The push and pull and the tension is delectable the whole way through. Gigi is a brilliant chaperone, Kate and Drake and the rest of the crew from the first novel - it's just as Sweet and fiery and loveable, and if you enjoyed the first book, do not miss out on this one.

I adored Imani and Zander’s story, and loved how much time Kate and Drake receive in this one. Sequels are great but I find in too many the previous characters might have a name mentioned once, or show up for coffee or a phone chat - in this one, they were as integral to the story as Imani was in book one. Thank you for including them as such main and major characters again, Dylan! I was sad to have the first book end, and so happy to be able to continue the story here.

Now, do we get a book for the third Matthews brother, Ryker? I'd love to see what's ticking behind that grumpy, broken and battle scarred exterior!

(The hot air balloon on the cover does feature in the story - not to worry! Oh, boy... does it ever!)

Two extremely enthusiastic thumbs up, I can't wait to find out who will be narrating this to grab my audio copy to join the first book, and will shout from the rooftops at release that everybody has got to get their hands on this book!

Thank you Dylan Newton, Netgalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for this ARC copy. This is my honest review!

#AllFiredUp #NetGalley

I loved this second book in this series. It was sweet, beautiful, and awe-inspiring. I look forwad to the next book from this author.

Thank you to Netgalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the ARC.

🌟🌟🌟🌟💫 4.5/5

Dylan Newton is back with another adorable small town romance featuring fun characters and perfect chemistry. All Fired Up follows Imani and Zander, who were featured in Newton’s previous book, How Sweet It Is. After a (memorable) one night stand, Imani and Zander’s burgeoning romance fizzled unexpectedly. When Imani returns to town, Zander is determined to keep her in the “friend zone”. However, the two cannot stay away from each other and they soon have to figure out if this relationship is worth working on.

I really loved How Sweet It Is and this was a great follow-up. All of the characters are endearing and the banter between all of them is top notch. Newton had excellent “Fall vibes” with her previous book and now she excels with “Summer vibes”. The plot. The pacing. The chemistry. I loved it all.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Full review to be posted closer to release date.

4.5

very cute with a cast of fun characters! things flowed easily, and i liked the progression of zander and imani’s relationship. i’m looking forward to ryker’s book.

#netgalley

Such an adorable book! One of my favorite genres is contemporary romance…I love the sassy, sarcastic, awesome characters, the cute interactions they have and how everything ties up so nicely at the end, leaving a smile on my face.

This book is the second one about the three brothers in the Matthews family. I didn’t realize that so I haven’t read the first one and the third one comes out in 2023.

Thanks to NetGalley for the early read.

I enjoyed this book enough, but didn’t love it. This book had a few story lines I didn't predict, and I liked that. This book has mature content, but not much swearing. I appreciate NetGalley giving me a chance to review this book early.

I enjoyed reading "All Fired Up". There wasn't a moment of downtime for any of the characters and with all that tension weaved in, it made it hard to put the book down. I found myself fully immersed in the characters, Imani and Zander, rooting for them. I love how they learned such important life lessons from one another. I found myself laughing and crying at all the feels along their journey. It was a fun read and I would recommend it to others!

One of the best books I’ve read this year. The characters were believable which I do believe is important even though this book is fiction. Opposites do attract and the sparks fly. However, the drama is definitely realistic. I would read more books by this author.

3.5 Stars Rounded up to 4. All Fired Up works as a stand-alone, but both Zander and Imani make appearances in How Sweet it Is and can provide some context for this book. I adored Dylan Newton’s previous book, I freaking loved Drake and Kate, and I was very much looking forward to dropping back into this world and seeing how our laid-back, *ahem* lazy, dude-bro Zander falls for the uptight and over planning Imani. Ultimately, while I liked All Fired Up, it just didn’t have the charm of How Sweet it Is. How Sweet it Is has one of the best meet-cutes I’ve ever read in a rom-com, and Drake and Kate’s chemistry was everything. I just didn’t feel that here with Zander and Imani, and their constant personality clashing lost its appeal the longer the book went on. I know it’s the worst to compare to an an author’s previous work, but I just can’t help be a little let down by this follow-up. This is almost one of those books where I wish I had read this one first, and then gone back to be pleasantly surprised by how good the first in the series was since honestly All Fired Up works well as a stand-alone.

The book begins a year after Zander and Imani hooked up at the wedding of Drake and Kate, and while Zander has been holding a torch for Imani and thought their weekend together was the beginning of a relationship, Imani very much ghosted him and put their weekend into the hook-up category. Imani is now back in town to help her grandmother recover from knee surgery, and Zander wants to see if their previous connection meant what he always thought it could mean.

What I liked about this book is that Zander and Imani really are complex characters that go though some great character growth. They’re such opposites, and they both have to do some compromising and soul-searching to make their way to one another in the end.

What I didn’t personally like was that Zander was such a man-baby. He reminded me a lot of Teddy Prescott from Second First Impressions actually, who I also had a hard time falling for. Zander is an overgrown Peter Pan type that always “lives in the moment”, and while he has a huge heart and generous spirit, he’s not someone a grown adult woman would want to settle down with. Contrast that with Imani, who has put her whole life into her career and needs a ton of stability after losing her mother at a young age. It was frustrating that Zander spent the actual entire length of the novel with zero self-awareness about himself and how he might make it hard to have a relationship with. He gets there in the end, but it was a journey let me tell you. Imani also definitely had her flaws, and was extra harsh to Zander in some awful ways. I guess at the end, they both have to meet in the middle some to find a way to live together, and Dylan Newton did an admirable job with their growth as individuals and becoming a couple.

All that to say, I’m still a Dylan Newton stan at this point and I’m still very much looking forward to Ryker’s story next year.

I received a free copy of this e-book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

First off, I want to say that writing is hard and I admire anyone who finishes writing a novel. I know the writer is an actual person with feelings and put a lot of effort into this book. I tried to see what they were trying to do when I got confused or bored instead of bashing them as a creator. I think a lot of writing out there has a strong foundation but needs some fine-tuning and editing. This book falls into that category.

Ok, now onto the review….

I stopped reading at about 77%, and it was a serious effort to get that far. After the entire back and forth with the two leads, we get one brief steamy scene, then the conflict. I could not bring myself to trudge through to the resolution.

What I liked:

This was more readable than a lot of other romance novels out there. Some of the dialogue was quite clever and witty. The initial premise of revisiting a hook-up a year later was interesting and pulled me into reading more. I could see the attempts at humor and with more editing, I think it could have laugh-out-loud moments.

What I didn’t like:

I really had to be in the right mood to read this book because there was so. much. dialogue. It dragged the book down and I didn’t like learning everything about the characters that way. It also felt like every convo was pleasant, encouraging, touching, and/or sappy. Even the humorous dialogue just comes off as pleasant and it lacks sharpness that I can see the author is capable of.

And how many times do we have to be told about her friend Kate and her spreadsheets? From my reading, it's a lot.

The story would benefit greatly by cutting the dialogue by 30 to 40%. I found myself editing the book throughout as well. Lots of run-on sentences, awkward explanations, attempts at sex jokes that don’t quite land, and dare I say, just too long a book for what it is.

The Romance:

I didn’t feel the two characters had enough at stake, which made their connection lukewarm. Both make jokes and it seems like the other one doesn’t get the humor. Lots of telling and not showing with their chemistry. The heroine was basically a control freak who becomes a hot mess. Usher in the hero who, to a bizarre extent, saves and helps with literally everything she does. I thought that was excessive. There is a big focus on all their scenes while glossing over everything else. Which is fine, but all their scenes are stuffed with sitcom-like problems and the hero always just happens to be there. With that structure, it seems unplausible.

This leads me to the part that had me rolling my eyes: the hero is too god-like and perfect. He doesn’t have much of an inner struggle and he isn’t giving up anything to be with her. He comes in to save the day in every scene. As mentioned above, it's excessive. I found his perfection annoying and made him very one-sided.

Overall, I wasn’t a fan of this book and I’m not inclined to read the next book.

I am a huge fan of Dylan’s books!! I loved reading about Imani’s job. Imani has my dream job and I loved getting the behind the scenes for it.

B O O K R E V I E W

All Fired Up by Dylan Newton

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

G E N R E: Romantic Comedy

S Y N O P S I S: After one wild night together, two complete opposites plan to stay firmly in the friend zone, but life has other plans for these two. Imani Lewis is a total workaholic who is busy living her dream job as a book publicist. So when her grandma needs her help recovering from surgery, she happily agrees. But when she is back in the same small town as her one night stand, her summer isn’t as relaxing as she envisioned. Zander Matthews has never gotten over the woman who blew through town a year ago then disappeared. He doesn’t want to be hurt again, so they agree to stay firmly in the friend zone. Their friendly banter soon turns even more flirty. But since Imani’s stay is temporary, will she be able to handle it when things get all fired up?

WHAT I LIKED:
☆ The focus on mental health! The author did a great job of keeping this theme going throughout the book! It was handled with a lot of respect and authenticity in how the stories were told.
☆ The opposites attract trope! I found Zander really funny and I was rooting for him the whole time!! He is so sweet *chefs kiss*
☆ Lancelot. IYKYK.
☆ Gigi!! She was the queen of sass and sly remarks!

WHAT COULD BE BETTER:
☆ I wish I read How Sweet It Is first! I think this would’ve helped me better understand all of the characters!

Thank you @netgalley @readforeverpub & @authordylannewton for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!! Publishing 5/17/2022

I was happy to be back in the little town with some of the characters from Newton’s last book. It was fun getting to know Imani better and I loved Zander. I read this in one sitting. It was a fun distraction!

All Fired Up is a delightful follow-up to the first book in the series, How Sweet It Is. The book follows Imani Lewis, a successful book publicist and Kate’s best friend, as she returns to Wellsville for the summer to take care of her grandmother who is undergoing double knee surgery. Her goals for the summer include helping her Gigi recover, repair her neglected house, relax and stay away from Zander Matthews (who she spent a wild, whirlwind weekend with after Kate and Drake’s wedding).

Zander has other goals for the summer, to spend as much time with Imani as possible to show her he is relationship material. However, Zander and Imani are complete opposites. Imani is serious, structured and a Type A planner. Zander is laidback, fun, compassionate and flirty. But, can they find common ground?

All Fired Up is funny, sweet, tender and steamy. This story has a lot of hidden depth in illustrating how 2 people navigate survivor’s guilt and loss differently to shape their perspective on life. Imani has navigated her pain by planning and controlling everything that happens in her life. Contrastingly, Zander navigates his experience by choosing to live in the moment and solely focusing on happiness over stability.

In the end, they choose to compromise to pursue a future together and address their personal issues through therapy and introspection. AFU is heavier than How Sweet It Is, but Newton intersperses the heaviness with comic relief and swoon worthy moments.

Dare I say, Zander is my favorite Mathews brother. However, I am excited for Ryker’s story in Summer 2023, because I have a feeling he is a total cinnamon roll of a man for the right person.

4.5 stars (rounding up to 5)

Favorite parts:
• Lancelot, the foul mouthed parrot
• Gigi, Imani’s very spunky grandmother
• Tough love from Kate Sweet- Matthews, Imani’s best friend
• Zander, because he is literal perfection
• The way Zander takes care of Imani

Content Warning: Survivors guilt, PTSD, anxiety/ depression, traumatic loss of a loved one

Thank you so much to Net Galley and Forever Publishing for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.
**I will post my review on Instagram closer to the release date!

How Sweet It Is was one of my favorite reads of 2021, so I was beyond excited to see that Imani and Zander were getting their own book!

In All Fired Up, we return to Wellsville a few years after the events of How Sweet It Is to an overworked Imani thrust into orbit with her one-time fling Zander, who she all but ghosted a year prior. What follows are a series of circumstances (and well timed favors) that bring the two closer together and help reignite the spark that they felt all that time ago.

We’ve got all the best tropes: second chance romance; opposites attract; one-night stand turned friend turned lover. This book will make you laugh out loud, swoon, and fall in love with the entire cast of characters (Grandma Gigi is the BEST)! It’s honestly one of those books that will make you forget you’re even reading.

I had already preordered a copy of this book, and am so excited to read it again when it comes out in May! Do yourself a favor and preorder or request from your library. You’ll thank me later.

A special thank you to Net Galley and Forever Publishing for the advanced digital copy!

I voluntarily read this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.
I really enjoyed this second book from Dylan Newton. I feel that reading the first book in the series is beneficial before reading this one, because the other characters are so deeply imbedded in the story. Not that you'll enjoy it less if you don't.
Imani and Zander make a very cute couple, and their chemistry is lovely. Imani definitely has some issues to work through, but I was surprised with how they handled the mother situation and the honesty of that. There was some real medical talk amongst it all.
It's a great little world the author has continued, and I look forward to reading the third book in the series.

Loved this book!

Imani and Zander had a fling at a wedding. Do they have a second chance now she is back in town for a while?

Can't wait for the next book in the series.

First off, I loved the first book in the series -- "How Sweet it is". This book is a standalone that follows the story of Imani and Zander Matthews (Drake's little brother). Both characters were introduced in the first book, but you definitely don't have to read that to read this...although you should because it is great too.

This book is so sweet and cute and I always had a smile on my face while reading. The story starts with Imani moving from NYC to small town Wellsville for the summer to help her grandma, who she calls Gigi. Her best friend Kate and her husband, Drake, and his family all live in the town too. As she gets picked up from the airport by Kate, Drake, and Zander, we find out that Imani and Zander had a wild passionate weekend the year prior during Kate and Drake's wedding. The rest of the book follows as Imani figures out if her fling with Zander was a one time fling or something she wants to pursue long term.

I don't want to give away anything, but there was a scene at the end involving a shoe that made me laugh out loud. It reminded me of my own experiences and had me rolling.

The book is well written and characters well developed. I would whole-heartedly recommend this book.