📖 Genre: Contemporary Romance, Romantic Comedy
⭐ Rating: 4/5

📚 Overview
Fireball is an energetic, witty romance set in the world of tech startups. It follows Samantha Vine, a brilliant and bold CEO, and AJ Trachtenberg, a grumpy, no-nonsense guy who isn’t easily impressed—especially not by Samantha. After an awkward first encounter where she unknowingly insults him, Samantha becomes determined to fix things. What follows is a delightful mix of tension, humor, and undeniable chemistry as they navigate their differences.

🧐 What I Loved
✔ Grumpy-Sunshine Trope Done Right – Samantha’s go-getter attitude and AJ’s reserved demeanor create the perfect push-and-pull dynamic. Their banter is sharp, funny, and full of tension.
✔ Authentic Workplace Setting – The tech startup backdrop adds a fresh and modern feel to the story, making it even more engaging.
✔ Fast-Paced and Entertaining – The writing is lively, the dialogues are witty, and there’s never a dull moment.

🤔 What Could Be Better
🔹 A Bit Predictable – If you’ve read enough enemies-to-lovers romances, you might see where the story is heading early on.
🔹 Pacing Dips in the Middle – Some sections slow down, especially when diving into the characters’ personal struggles.

✨ Final Thoughts
Fireball is a charming, feel-good read packed with humor, chemistry, and heart. Lainey Davis delivers an enjoyable romance that’s perfect for readers who love strong female leads, workplace drama, and a grumpy hero who can’t resist falling for the one person who gets under his skin.

📌 Would I recommend it? Yes! If you love romantic comedies with strong personalities clashing (and eventually colliding), this one’s for you.

I went into this book expecting a fun, lighthearted romance, but instead, I got a whirlwind of chaos with zero emotional depth. The pacing was ridiculously fast; one second they’re enemies, and the next, they’re suddenly into each other with no real buildup. And don’t even get me started on the MMC… he’s supposed to be a teacher, but he acts more like one of his students. Immature, inconsistent, and honestly, not very likable.

And the hair. Oh. My. God. The amount of times the FMC mentioned his pelt (yes, she actually called it that) was just… too much. I couldn’t take any of their interactions seriously because of it.

The only thing I’ll give this book is that it was easy to read, but that’s about it. The romance lacked depth, the characters felt flat, and by the end, I just wanted it to be over. Definitely not one I’d recommend.

Thank you Lainey Davis and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest reviews
#Fireball #NetGalley

I honestly feel catfished by the beginning of this book. I thought we were going to get Sam a strong female CEO but oh my goodness she is not one. Instantly when she meets AJ she feels bad about turning him down when he asks if his school can come and do shadowing at her tech company and I was just like Sam why do you feel bad? You don't owe him anything! Also that's the big insult??? She said no. Gosh that was infuriating. Then AJ as a MMC was just so unlikeable and entitled that I was like nope I can't do this. He is awful! If I am going to read a book I want to enjoy the characters and root for them but in this case nope I was like AJ deserves to be alone.

This is the first book in the Bridges and Bitters series and also my first opportunity reading g something by Lainey Davis and I was not disappointed. I would say this is probably a bit more of a “trying to fight their mutual attraction” type situation versus enemies to lovers, but the entire relationship build up and dynamic was still enjoyable to read. Plus I love a found family!

"Fireball" was difficult to like. My main problem is the "hero." AJ is hot and cold the whole time and seems determined to misinterpret and believe the worst of Sam. She gave him WAY too many chances. I did like Sam's growth as a woman in tech. Sam's journey of finding meaning in her role in her startup was the highlight here.

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of Fireball.

I enjoyed this book. The enemies to lovers was cute, and the characters were well developed.

I also received a copy of the second book, Liquid Courage, which I enjoyed even more. I hope this is an even longer series!! 😄

I really enjoyed this book! It gave Love hypothesis and Love on the brain vibes. I adore women in stem and it was great to see this represented however, I do think it was rather jumpy. Certain elements seemed to just rush ahead while other chapters felt too slow. I found myself having to go back a chapter to ensure I understood the chemistry between the characters properly - however, I did enjoy it. I'd probably give it a good 3.5 out of 5. Perfect if you want a change genre or something quick and easy!

Fireball was an absolute lovely read. The characters were amazing, the snark and the enemies to lovers romance all I ever needed and I can't wait to read more by Lainey Davis

This is a good book. The two main characters are Samantha and AJ. Samantha is the CEO of a tech company and AJ is a teacher. AJ goes to a meeting at Samantha’s company and he gets mad at something that Samantha says and he leaves. There was a mutual attraction. Samantha runs into AJ at a book signing apologies for the mistake she made. They each have trust issues but together they work them out and falling in love.

I found this to be a really fun and fast-paced book. The main female character Sam or Samatha owns and runs her own tech company. Getting ready for a launch she is finding herself pulled short most of the time but she feels she needs to look at everything. Wanting to help the schools in the area as well her company has an open house for science teachers to come in and get a tour and see some of the products that they have which she would like to give to the schools.
A.J. is a teacher and is told by his principal to go to this open house sort of speak. Not really wanting to be there he, of course, is rude when she shows up and after they have words back and forth she at the end of the day feels bad. She finds out what school he was from and decides to make an appearance in his class. When she does he is still not pleased but that is because she took it over and he found out that she knows what she is talking about. He is still at times being a jerk to her but yet she wants to be with him. Of course, it is not until he thinks she is with someone else that he actually gets his head out of his ass and becomes civil. His attitude and that of her father are really the only issues I had with the story. Other than that a good fast-paced book.

Super cute, fast past rom-com! I really loved the strong female lead in this book and the career theme was entertaining.

This is my first time reading this author and now I'm obsessed!! This book was just so much fun to read. I was looking for a book that would provide me with a good time while I was reading and this one did that perfectly. This book brought me so much joy to read.

This is the first book in the Bridges and Bitters series and also my first opportunity reading g something by Ms. Davis and I was not disappointed. I'm always looking for a good enemies to lovers trope and this one fits that category well. There were plenty of fun moments throughout and moments that just generally left me smiling. Samantha is the owner of a tech company and AJ is a teacher and they meet at a community event. They don't necessarily get off on the right foot, but that changes as they have the opportunity to spend more time together.
The characters were interesting with realistic qualities that gave them an authenticity and were easily relatable. The story was delightfully cute and enjoyable. If you're looking for a fun, quick and light read, then you definitely will want to pick this one up.

I received a complimentary copy from Netgalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.

This is a cute rom-com and a great start to a series. You can definitely devour this quick read in one sitting. I can’t wait to see how the rest of the series progresses!

Thank you NetGalley for this free copy in exchange for an honest review.

This one was an okay read for me! I am normally a huge fan of enemies to lovers but this one felt less enemies to me and more the guy taking out his insecurities from past relationships onto the girl. I wasn’t really rooting for them until over halfway through the book, which was a bummer.

That said, this is a quick read, I read it all in a day. I did like the friend groups both main characters had. This was my first book by Davis so I didn’t know until reading other reviews that Samantha, the main character had been mentioned before. That seemed fun, I like that some of the characters in this book have their own stories, and will continue to have their own stories. I think the #2 to this one follows Samantha’s friend Chloe, which I probably wouldn’t mind reading!

Overall, it had fun steamy scenes, so I can’t complain too much, just wasn’t my favorite but I also still breezed through it!

This book was read thanks to NetGalley.

I loved this book, they are "enemies" do some circumstances that are very understandable, she is the CEO of a tech company he is a teacher, and she insults him which causes them to be "enemies" and she tries to make him like her.

It was a fresh story, usually the story is he is the ceo, she is the pride one, but this is reverse and I love it, it was so refreshing and a good love story.

Highly recommended for the enemies to lovers hive

I absolutely can not wait to read the next books in the series. I’m actually more interested in Ted than anyone else. This was classic enemies to friends. I’m not sure there was enough evilness yo classify AJ as horrible or even an enemy. I think he was perfectly flawed.

An interesting rom com in which the heroine is determined to get the hero to like no matter what. It was a fun ride and I enjoyed it.

This was a fast paced story and it was really enjoyable! Sam is the CEO of a tech company and AJ is sent by his school (he's a teacher) to attend sort of a community day at Sam's company. Their first meeting doesn't go well and they have some disagreements. Though when they end up spending more time together, they can't deny the attraction between them. Sam was a pretty well plotted character. I loved her independence, her kind, sunshine, nerdy personality but she was a total people pleaser. I admit that I was frustrated by AJ. He let his past trauma get in the way of his relationship with Sam but their chemistry eventually developed a lot. The side characters especially the FOOF group were all so encouraging that I couldn't help but love them! Overall, this was a very engaging read, quick, funny, with a likeable female lead and a grump hero.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me the ARC

I really enjoyed the premise of this book - haters turned lovers is always a joy! However, I did feel that some of the sex scenes were a bit rushed and would have liked a bit more build up to these - but I enjoyed the story and enjoyed reading this book!