this had a lot going for it for me, and it is a four star read for me with one minor hangup that made me drop it a star, which is the character of Skylar, who i could not stand from the jump. i hated that Kira and Nicole getting together was dependent on another person. i can see the appeal of one half of the couple needing to get over that third person in order to start the relationship, but i didn't love it here. the best part about this book was the firefighter x fire scientist, and i wish we had spent more time there.

A fun and fiery sapphic romance with a lovely queer found family ensemble cast. A silly but fun premise with a surprising amount of heart, particularly in regards to mental health. Would recommend for a lighthearted and spicy read.

I ended up enjoying this book a lot more than i expected to!! it had so much depth of emotions and talk about mental health that were so important, plus the chemistry between the girls was prominent as well!! a great start to anyone’s queer reading journey.

Thank you to Canary Street Press and NetGalley for the arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This is a sweet, and fun queer romance - it's filled with adorable banter but also has some emotional heaviness in it as well. I really enjoyed the mental health representation - the advocating for therapy, the talking to yourself with kindness messaging, and just the overall messaging. I enjoyed all of the characters as well and the found family aspects.

It's possible I just need a romance novel pallet cleanser; I've read a few really good ones lately, and this was just ok for me. I thought the spice level was great, really appreciated that. But outside of those scenes the chemistry between the two leads was just not there. I also found the Skylar character really difficult. She was supposed to be the glue of the friend group, but seemed completely insufferable to me. I could not understand why Nic would be so hung up on her. It was maybe this dynamic that made the romantic chemistry harder to buy into. I know that Skylar has a bit of redemption arch and that's an important part of the plot, but for me it just made all the dynamics too messy. Again, this maybe wasn't FOR me. The group is in their early to mid 20s and sometimes that's just too messy for this old queer. It did feel like this was a set up for a series about this group of friends, and I normally love a short series about the same community, but I'm not sure if I would continue with this one.

Spicy, spicy, spicy! Loved this book and everything about it. A must read for sapphic romance fans. Will be reading this author again!

Thank you to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley, for the opportunity to receive an eArc in exchange for an honest review

Whew! This was an engaging and steamy read that was hard to put down. It was my first M.K. England read and I hope to read more of their work because wow- it just hit different.

I did especially enjoy the dynamic between the characters- I felt like I got an opportunity to get to know each one and that their relationships were well established.

There did feel like a shift from the 1st half to the 2nd half which at first felt a little rushed but overall I enjoyed and would recommend especially as we are in the heat of the summer!

Nicole Wells has been away from Seattle for the last two years, earning her master’s in fire dynamics; now she is back and ready to confess her feelings to her best friend Skylar Clark. However, Skylar has a bombshell of her own – she is quitting her job in and moving to Fiji in a couple of months. Nic is certain this is another Skylar disaster in the making, and the only other person who seems to agree is Kira McKinney. Kira, struggling to be taken seriously in her career as a Seattle firefighter, has also become best friends with Skylar in the time Nic has been gone. When the Nic and Kira can’t talk Skylar into scrapping her plans for Fiji, the two decide to team up and cause some shenanigans to get Skylar to see the light. As the two team up, their chemistry becomes undeniable, but each has their own issues to work through if they want a chance at making it last.

This was a cute queer romcom story with a full friend group of interesting characters. I would love to see the other friends featured in future stories so that we can get to know them better. I appreciated the communication in this story and felt that the character growth was natural, not forced for the story. Angel Pean and Kristen DiMercurio did an excellent job narrating the audiobook. This would make an excellent beach read!

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this audiobook.

A fire-starting scientist and a firefighter fall in love in this steamy romance novel about friendship, found family, and growing together. Nic has been in love with her best friend Skylar for years, and she's finally returned to Seattle after her master's program to admit her feelings. At least that's the plan until Skylar reveals that she's moving to Fiji--permanently. In the years Nic has been away, Skylar has made a new friend, Kira. She's a firefighter fighting for her place in the Seattle Fire Department, and she's just as reluctant to lose Skylar as Nic is. When the two team up to convince their friend to stay in Seattle, things start to heat up in a big way.

This was a steamy romance with a fun premise: a fire-starter and a firefighter, the unlikeliest of duos, falling for each other.

A big thank you to NetGalley and MK England for this eArc!

(3.75 stars rounded up to 4)

As soon as I saw the premise of this book, I was intrigued. What could be better than a sapphic, fire-based romance? I am happy to report that this book is as good as it sounds. All Fired Up is a queer, romance book set in Seattle that follows Kira, a firefighter, and Nic, a fire dynamics researcher as they try to prevent their mutual best friend from ruining her life. As they work to help their friend, they grow closer as hijinks and meaningful moments pull them together (not to mention the absolute fire of tension and lust between them). Both Kira and Nic are dealing with family, identity, and career issues that underscore the growth that they make throughout the book. In addition to these characters, there is a fun and supportive friend group that serves as the backbone of the plot, helping each other along the way.

I found the issues they are dealing with realistic and relatable, especially for fellow women in STEM. My only hesitation is that some of the bettering yourself dialogue and emphasis on therapy felt somewhat forced in some situations. However, (somewhat) this makes sense as the best friend they are trying to save is a therapist. Overall, I enjoyed this book and hope that England will write spin-off books about the other characters in the friend group because they are all complex characters that I know have an interesting story surrounding them.

This was a super fun time! I was already excited for a sapphic firefighter book, and I was even more excited when I found out it was set in Seattle!! This was a bit corny in a way that I don't think will land for every reader, but I really enjoyed. I was annoyed with how hung up with Skylar Nicole was but I was happy with how that resolved and I thought the supporting cast was super strong!

this filled the 9-1-1 shape hole in my heart during the hiatus!

Nic was probably my favorite character, a badass scientist, she just can't bake 🤣

Kira was one of my favorite firefighters that I've read about unless you count Buck or Eddie in fanfics.

they were so cute together especially when they were scheming on trying to keep their friend home. definitely cried when nics apartment went up in flames and Kira panicked a little

I appreciate the opportunity to read this title, but unfortunately it didn’t quite capture my interest. While the premise was promising, I found it difficult to stay engaged. That said, I’m sure it will find its audience with readers who connect more strongly with the writing style or pacing.

Loved this cover, had to get this FF romance.

Nicole Wells returns to Seattle after grad school, ready to reconnect with friends and finally make a move on her longtime crush, Skylar. But when Skylar announces she's moving to Fiji, Nic teams up with Kira, a charming firefighter and new addition to their friend group, to stop her. Their plan quickly spirals into chaos, and while the mission to save Skylar falters, Nic finds herself drawn to Kira in unexpected ways. What starts as a rescue mission turns into something much more.

This was a cute, low-stakes read. I always love reading FF novels and seeing myself represented in these diverse friend groups. I thought the whole plot and things that drew our MCs together was great, and it felt like a nice one-off standalone palate cleanser.

Thank you NetGalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing, and Canary Street Press for this ARC!

First and foremost, thank you to Netgalley as well as Harlequin and Harlequin Aduio/Canary Press for providing this ARC copy in exchange for my honest review

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⚝ Rating ⚝: 4.75✩ / 5✩’s

⚝ Review ⚝: THEM. THEM. THEM! And not just the two FMCs who I adored, but every single character in this book (minus the fire chief because absolutely not). Admittedly, I didn't know how I would feel about Skylar in the beginning, but I found I adored her as much as everyone else.

All Fired Up follows the 'misadventures' of Nic, who has just returned to Seattle from getting her Masters across the country, and Kira, a firefighter who, while Nic was away, was folded into the little friend group while Nic was away. Now the two are in the same city, with the same best friend (Skylar) the bombshell to end all bombshells: Skylar Clark, the social media influencer with a PhD, is dropping all social media and moving to Fiji indefinitely. Knowing all of Skylar's outlandish plans inevitably end in disaster, Nic and Kira team up to try and convince Skylar that leaving Seattle, giving up her career, and turning off the social media permanently, is a bad idea. Though Nic has ulterior motives: She has been in love with Skylar for years and is hoping this is her chance to finally have a shot at a relationship with her best friend.

But while Nic and Kira are (not so subtly) trying to deter Skylar from the move, sparks start flying between the two and Nic starts to realize that there may be more to her feelings about Skylar than she ever wanted to admit to herself.

Personally, I found this one of the most realistic and relatable RomComs I've ever read. All the characters melded so well together. There was the right amount of chemistry between everyone. Nic's lack of identity, while at times frustrating, was actually incredibly relatable. Most people do not enter adulthood with a complete understanding of who they are as an individual, on top of Nic never having a form of stable support until college, the need to fit a perceived set of ideations for what she should be for those around her to accept or be proud of her makes total sense. In contrast, Kira had a stable support system, and has always known what she wants: to make her (late) father proud as she does everything she can to climb the ranks within the Seattle Fire Department, only to have her requests for promotion be denied every time--exactly what her father told her would happen.

I loved how everything in this book was handled, from the delicate relationships, to the reality of moving back home, and especially the positive discussions about mental health and the importance of therapy. This was just such a fun and engaging read and I've spent the past *several* days still obsessing over Nic and Kira. This is one of the few RomComs that I would actually love to see work into a series, not necessarily following Nic and Kira, but any of the characters from their group of friends (no, seriously, this is me begging for stories about Skylar, Ian and Marco, Grace, or Willow. Really, I'm...I'm begging here.)

There is honestly only one thing I wish was explored more and that is the chemistry side of what Nic did, particularly, the material she showed Kira as a possible, more flame retardant material for firefighter uniforms. I felt like that had so much potential for adding to their relationship, but it was mentioned I believe only once and then dropped. Instead, it felt like the remainder of commentary on Nic's career was just her setting anything and everything on fire.

⚝ Audio/Narrator⚝: The two narrators for All Fired Up, Angel Pean and Kristen DiMercurio, were *perfect*. 10/10, no notes. But seriously, these two matched each other's energies so well that there were times they were narrating for characters other than the two FMCs where they genuinely sounded exactly the same, in the best way as the two voices for the FMCs themselves were so distinct and easy to tell apart. I can't believe I haven't heard from these two before (but I have several books they have narrated on my TBR).

⚝ Representation ⚝: Bisexual, Lesbian, Nonbinary, Queer, Gay, 'confused straight' (yes, this is an important designation in this book)

⚝ TWs ⚝: Fire/Burning building, Misogyny, Sexism, Death of parent, Alcohol

My monthly reading breakdown for May will be posted to TikTok, IG, and Threads the first week of June.

I loved absolutely everything about this book! The sapphic women-in-STEM romance was fantastic, and Skye's chaos scattered throughout made it a total "I need to know where this is going!" vibe.

I love when MCs in books have interesting backgrounds, and All Fired Up delivered strongly in this regard. A hot firefighter could be trope-y, but paired with another MC who works in fire science? Now we're talking! The found family aspect was comforting, and it was so great to read about queer MCs and SCs who are thriving and enjoying their lives.. even if they're struggling a bit. The mental health representation and conversations were well done, and provided a lot of heart and depth to the story.

I'm absolutely looking forward to more of M.K. England's work!

M.K. England's adult debut was a delightful friends to lovers romance between two new besties trying to save their BFF from herself. The plot was much different from what I thought would be a STEM set romance. Aside from this, it was cute quarte life crisis love story. Thoroughly enjoyed.

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing | Canary Street Press and NetGalley for providing an eARC for a honest review.

This one was fun, but not very memorable for me.

I usually love a dual POV story, but I had a hard time differentiating between Nic and Kira, and had to flip back frequently to remember who was the firefighter and who was the scientist, etc. They didn't have distinguishing "voices."

It was a sweet friends-to-lovers plot, with them both coming together to convince their mutual friend Skylar to not move seemingly randomly to Fiji. It'll be a good read for people who like Ashley Herring Blake.

I was intrigued by the premise of this book: a firefighter and a fire scientist pairing sounded like such a cool idea! However, the book didn’t delve into either of those aspects enough for me. Instead they were background details for lots of friendship drama, a love triangle, and a wild plan to stop their mutual friend from moving to Fiji.

At times, it felt like the book was trying to be too many things at once. The main characters go from strangers to friends, to friends with benefits, to a couple, all within a very short book, so no element of their relationship had time to breathe. The third act fight before everything was resolved felt a little forced as the reason for the fight wasn’t satisfying.

That being said, the friendship group sounded like a lot of fun, the spicy scenes were very spicy, and the breezy writing style made it easy to read.

If you’re looking for a lighthearted sapphic romance with a host of interesting supporting characters (who I would expect to see more of in spin-off sequels), and a focus on preserving long-distance friendships, then this could be for you.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Unique and cute premise - easy and quick to read. I enjoyed Kira’s character the most, but didn’t feel quite attached to anyone else. I was relieved to experience Nic’s drastic character growth & developments because if she stayed as dumb as she started I was going to start throwing hands. Some of the dialogue, both inner dialogue and conversational was redundant and/or repetitive which slowed things down significantly for me. Ultimately, this is a good friends to lovers palette cleanser romance with some good spicy scenes but it didn’t blow my mind. 💕