Love it. This author is always a must read for me. If you love slow burn, enemies to lovers tropes and great chemistry between the main characters, then this book is for you!

This whole book is set out to prove that the saying THERE IS FINE LINE BETWEEN LOVE AND HATE. It was so fun to read how much they wanted to avoid each other but ended up spending more time together. And all this bonding leads them to realize why they were attracted to each other before "the incident".

All in all I really liked this story but I'm not sure what is up with blue hair...but that's personal opinion and has nothing to do with my rating 👍

***Review copy requested and reviewed on behalf of OMGReads Blog***

Title: Up in Flames
Author: Jennifer Blackwood
Format: ebook
Genre: romance, firefighter, best friend’s brother, comedy, suspense
Standalone: yes - mostly. A storyline was started but not really finished
Part of a Series: Flirting with Fire book 2
POV: Reese, Sloane
Steam Level: slow burn to steamy
4/5

Up in Flames is the second book in the Flirting with Fire series We met both Reece and Sloane in the first book (along with Reece’s team) but didn’t know what happened to start their rift. In Up in Flames we find out what happened see them work through their issues. Up in Flames is both funny and suspenseful. Reece is having a not so great month at his job: first he’s shot, then his boss makes him do a bachelor charity auction where Sloane purchases him for the month. Four tasks in four weeks. Revenge is sweet but love is sweeter. I love Peaches, Blake Shelton and coming out of your comfort zone. This is a fun book and a great series.

I received an advanced copy of this book through NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I really enjoyed the relationship and banter between the two main characters in this book. It was a fun and enjoyable read and I look forward to reading other books in the series and by this author in the future.

I really wanted to like this book, I tried starting this book numerous of times but I just couldn't get into it. I kept trying and trying and in the end I Gave up because I just couldn't get on with the story.

This is book 2 in the Flirting with Fire Series. In this one, Reese and Slone have known each other since they were kids. When Sloane wins Reese in the annual firefighters auction, he has to fulfill 4 wishes in 4 weeks. Will their past come back to haunt them, or will they give in to the flames?

This was my first read of Jennifer Blackwood, and she does write some intense love stories!

You'll love Sloan Garcia and Reese Jenkins butting heads and trying very hard not fall in love with each other!!! This is book two of the Flirting With Fire series, and had me captivated enough to go and buy the first book in the series.

A definite worthy read!

UP IN FLAMES is a nice continuation of the FLIRTING WITH FIRE Series. We’re reunited with characters we’ve met before, and it was nice to catch up with them. This is Reece and Sloane’s story, and it’s hot, hot, hot—and not only because of the fires being fought by Reece and his crew of firefighters. Sloane just happens to be one of the ER nurses on duty most of the time when there have been injuries needing treatment, and she’s not as immune to Reece as she may think. Although they’ve known each other for years, since she’s best friends with Reece’s sister, Erin, they have a relationship that’s filled with animosity and barbs meant to hurt. Things change when Sloane bids on Reece at an auction and wins his services for a month. He has to complete four chores for her at her request, and things take an interesting turn.

Meet Peaches, the rescue dog that he has to foster until she’s adopted. She is not a man’s dog at all and elicited a lot of laughs at Reece’s expense! There are happy and sad moments as Reece and Sloane take one step forward and two or three steps back. Others see their chemistry, but Sloane and Reece are so burned by past relationships that they’ve isolated themselves.

The story is filled with family and friends and an emotionally rich romance.The characters have a depth to them, and there’s a nice happily ever after. The last chapter, which takes place one year later, gave me some of the closure I was looking for but didn’t go far enough. There are definitely more stories to tell, and I can’t wait to read them!

Ms. Blackwood is a fairly new-to-me author, only having read BURNING UP, the first book in the series. I look forward to reading more of her books, and not only those in this series.

Jennifer Blackwood’s second book in her Flirting With Fire series was surely a pleasant read for me. Just like the first book of the series, BURNING UP, UP IN FLAMES was most fun at the misfortune of the two protagonists. Well, mostly the hero, Reece, because he had to volunteer in a firefighter for charity, and his long time friend/recent arch enemy-for reasons relayed to us at the beginning- buys his time for a good amount of money. You know, for charity. Not at all to torture him for the duration of one month that’s supposed to take for him to complete four chores in total for whoever pays the highest.


I don’t know about anyone else, but I truly enjoyed this book. Since Sloane and Reece have known each other for a long while, they already had an easygoing relationship that was just waiting to be rekindled. And I’m not talking about the romance yet, I mean that comfortable state you can only achieve with someone who’s seen you at your teens because let’s face it, those times are your best and your worst wrapped up in a nice little package.

Before they jumped into their lust and then their romance, they became friends. The easy banter between them was quite fun and sweet, and the jump from what they had to something more was very smoothly done. I was sold.

Throw in a cute little attitude filled dog in the mix, and you got yourself a story that makes you laugh and happy-sigh at the same time. I loved those scenes with Reece and his tiny foster dog.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and I am voluntarily reviewing it.

This is the second book of the series but the first one that I have read. I really didn't need to read the first one to enjoy this. Sloane and Reece have known each other since they were children. Sloane is Erin's BBF (Reece's sister). A year ago, Sloane broke up with her decade long boyfriend. She and Reece had a little to much to drink one night when she made a pass at Reece. Reece never would have taken advantage of a woman while under the influence. Unfortunately though he told Sloane that she wasn't his type. Since then, Sloane and Reece have been enemies. To make matters worse, Reece has dated all of Sloane's nurses friends at the hospital where she works in ER. Reece only believes in one night stands since his high school sweetheart left him while he was away at training. This story shows the journey of these two people and their journey to their HEA.

This story has a believable plot and characters. It flows smoothly and is very enjoyable. It is written in a dual POV format. That helps me as a reader to understand the character so much better.

I loved the first book. This book was just as good. I have a thing for all things fire and this just made it better. If you're looking for a quick, hot and interesting read - then this will keep your interest long after your relaxing after a hard days worl!!

Another good read from Jennifer Blackwood.

When I saw that Jennifer was releasing a book about Reece, I knew I was going to have to read it. After I read the first book, Burning Up, I wanted to know more about Reece. I loved his small parts in book 1, and was desperate for him to get his own book.

Reece and Sloane fit together very well. You could tell that the feelings they had for one another went way beyond hatred, and instead was one of love, concern and passion. They were there for each other in ways that no one else in their lives had been before. They certainly did not always agree with one another, or their actions, but were able to overlook some things to get to the real relationship and connection.

Although I did highly enjoy this novel and the characters, a part of me wanted more. Some of the scenes were intended to be funny; however, I just rolled my eyes at them and wanted to keep moving forward. I found these scenes unnecessary, and would have rather had more of a deeper connection between the characters being developed, instead of these rather uneventful scenes.

Despite the fact that I would change things about this book, I did enjoy it generally. I absolutely LOVED the first book in the series, and don't regret reading this one either.

3.5/5 Stars!

Angst 3
Tears 1
Storyline 5
Value 4
Panty Scorching 3
Overall Rating 4

I love love love this story. I giggled so much throughout the entire book. I swooned as well. There was tons of stuff going on and lots of ups and downs. I couldn’t get enough. First time read by Jennifer and it will most definitely not be the last. I will now be going on a one click binge. This is for sure a feel good read. One you can just set back with a blanket, cup of coffee and enjoy. Will definitely bring some smiles to your face. Overall I loved it. I just wished there was MORE!

This was ok. Both characters annoyed me at various parts in the book. Everything just seemed so predictable, I'm guessing if there is a book 3 it will be about the last girl in the group and the last guy in the group getting together.

Up in Flames in the second novel in the Flirting with Fire series, and the second book I've read by this author, the first one being Burning Up, the first novel in this series, and I found that I liked this novel even less than the preceding one, and am giving it 2 stars.

I've only recently started reading books about firefighters, a natural progression of my addiction to the TV series, Chicago Fire. I'm also a fan of the enemies-to-lovers trope in general, and expect a certain degree of snarky dialogue between the hero and heroine, some degree of romance (beyond sex), and when it comes to firefighters, some suspense. Having said that, there also needs to be some originality to the plot, but having just read and reviewed Taming Fire by Leora Gonzalez, this book seemed like a bare bones, carbon copy of it. No, I'm not suggesting plagiarism, but plot-wise, we have another sexy hero firefighter (in this case, Reese) who only does one-night stands, a woman not looking for love or even dating (in this case, Sloane), a mystery arsonist (who is virtually ignored), and some degree of danger.

The problem with the enemies to lovers trope is that if you don't like the main characters, you really don't much care whether they get together in the end or not, and I wasn't a fan of either Reese or Sloane. While I expected Reese to be a dominant alpha, and Sloane to push hard to also suit her dominant personality, I felt that too much of their time was spent trying to out-snark each other, and get revenge for imagined offenses--Sloane's problem with Reese, who's know her for years, being that one year prior to the opening of this novel, Sloane was seriously drunk at a bar and came on to Reese, who didn't want her driving home drunk. Since he also didn't want her to have regrets the next day, not only did he repel her advances, he made a rude noise, called her undatable, and his rejection of her was pretty harsh and humiliating, and she's been looking for a way to take her revenge ever since. It hasn't helped that she's not dated anyone else in over a year, or that her best friend, Erin, who is Reese's sister, is engaged to Reese's best friend and fellow firefighter, Jake, repeatedly putting them in the same place at the same time, where their constant one-upsmanship in snarky remarks is wearing thin among their friends, as well as t his reader.

When Sloane buys Reese at a charity auction, she's supposed to give him four tasks to complete in four weeks, and, as it turns out, Reese is on the outs with the new fire chief, who expects a full report from Sloane on Reese's performance of those tasks. Admittedly, there's a bit of humor when the first task is that Sloane forces Reese to foster a quirky little dog that chooses it's own frilly wardrobe for the day, and is terrified of pictures of country singer, Blake Shelton, but that joke gets old after a while. Actually, I felt that Reese's growing acceptance of the weird little dog was going better than any kind of romantic involvement with Sloane. There's lots of physical attraction--both characters, who've known each other for years, have both been burned in previous relationships, but a developing romance? Not so much. Somehow, I just couldn't buy into their move from open animosity to love over the course of several weeks. Beyond their basic horniness, they really had little in common other than attending the same school and sharing memories of those early days.

Then there's my main issue with this novel, and it's the same issue I had with Taming Fire--what about the arsonist? Both Reese and another firefighter are called in to fight suspicious fires, they find women with head injuries inside, they rescue the women, and are also injured themselves by a masked mystery villain, but none of the other firefighters seem to notice a masked man leaving the scene, nor to the firefighters ever check up on the women they've rescued. I wasn't too surprised the first time it happened, but by the second call in just a few days, you'd think they'd be smart enough to keep an eye out for the arsonist fleeing the scene, but they don't. Is anyone trying to piece together the arsonist's pattern or motive? Nope. He fades into the background, and since this is billed as book 2 of 2, will we ever find out who he is or why he's setting the fires--I don't think so, and even if there is another another book coming in this series, frankly, since I wasn't terribly fond of Reese, Sloane or how shallow both of them seemed to be, I probably won't be reading it.

In short, I prefer some romance and suspense in a romantic suspense novel, I want to like at least one of the main characters, and I want to see some character development, some backstory, and some growth in their romantic relationship beyond the hot sex, and sadly, in my opinion, that just wasn't the case with this novel.

I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this novel. The opinions expressed are my own.

Reece Jenkins had always crushed on his sisters best friend Sloane Garcia, but he had never pursued anything and one fateful night he ended up hurting Sloane trying to do the right thing and Sloane has yet to forgive him. There is a part of Reece that enjoys getting Sloane riled up but there are times that he doesn't want to be around her waspish tongue. When Reece is on the auction block for a fundraiser, the last person he expects to bid on him is Sloane. Now Sloane has Reece for the next four weeks and in that time they find themselves fighting the attraction between them. Will they both be willing to give what they have a try?

Very fun read. You feel like you are part of the story as everything unfolds. I liked Reece and enjoyed the fact that he was not perfect, he had flaws and so did Sloane. Highly entertaining and one to put your feet up to and read over a weekend.

I love this book. It’s funny, it’s sweet. I absolutely love the back and forth between Reece and Sloane.

But, I am going to need a Hollywood and Madison book. Together or separate, I just want them to get their HEA too.

This story had so much potential, but sadly for me it lacked the upkeep. The first half of the story really dragged for me, but then the second half went way too quickly!!! I loved the banter between Sloane and Reece, and their chemistry was I tense. But it lacked that certain spark books of this steaminess have. Will definitely read the author again though as it was written well and I liked the characters.

Reese is a big bear of a man who takes his physical fitness seriously and though he’s dedicated to his job as a firefighter he sometimes gets himself into trouble because he doesn’t always follow regulations. He’s a good guy to his friends, enjoys volunteering at the local soup kitchen and he’s always ready with a willing ear when his younger sister needs advice. Unfortunately, he’s also a one and done with the women he “dates” and though he’s honest and up front about not wanting to be in a relationship he’s left a lot of ticked off women in his wake, including his sister’s best friend Sloane. When Erin and Sloane come up with a hair-brained scheme to put Reece in his place they have no idea that what they set in motion is going to get so out of hand. I read a complimentary copy of this book provided by Montlake Romance through NetGalley and all opinions expressed in my voluntary review are completely my own.

I really liked this one! The writing flowed well from the start, and I knew from the first book that Reece and Sloane's fighting was really just their way of dealing with their feelings for each other. I think Reece got a bad rap for his "womanizing ways". If you tell the other person up front that you don't want anything more than a hook up, and they proceed to catch feelings, how is that your fault? Woman or man? Sloane held his past against him up until like 90% of the story. That was a little too long for my tastes. Reece had his issues too. He was still holding himself back because he was afraid of getting hurt again. I really did like them together though. It was nice getting updates on Erin and Jake from the first story. Although if you haven't read it, you won't feel left out. I can't wait to find out what happens with Madison!
I voluntarliy reviewed an advanced readers copy of this book.