One page in and I’m fighting tears.

Not happy tears. Jenn just managed to make me really emotional about Iksander again. No big deal. I really want to reread the Not Dead Series as well but because of that I didn’t yet dare to. It’s a happy kind of suffering though.

But I really, really love how I immediately was back into that universe – even if that meant dealing with the hurt again. And I really, really love how that hurt is still present in Evan, not that I want him to suffer.

I wasn’t sure if I would be able to root for this new relationship, but I don’t know why I was worried. I got sucked right into Evan and Colin and I especially enjoyed Colin’s backstory and how he he was forced to deal with it.

The magic is still strong in this universe, in more ways than one, and delving back into it felt a little bit like coming home.

This paranormal found family is one of the most beautiful things because the characters are just so different from each other and they’re so authentic and loveable, even if they are stupid stubborn idiots from time to time. Maybe because of that. And I can’t even tell you who is the worst idiot – strangely enough it’s not Wes though and that is surprising.

I’m just so excited for the new developments and how everything will work out in the next books. Maybe I’ll even dare to reread that crushing thing in the Not Dead Yet series soon, to tide me over until I can read more about Ashes & Dust.

I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review. Thank you.

*4.5 stars*

I love these books so much, and I'm beyond excited that Jenn Burke delivered again with another excellent addition to her Not Dead Yet series. Fans of these books, get ready for a whirlwind of emotions!

Yes, I know this is supposed to be the final installment of the series, but I'm so not ready to say goodbye! I think there is so much potential for an offshoot series here... (hint, hint!!)

Graveyard Shift is a book that must be read after Give Up the Ghost and Not Dead Yet, so you can't just jump into the series at this point, I'm afraid. However, the first two books are so good that I'm really doing you a favor by telling you to read them all.

Graveyard Shift has it all. We get BIG emotions: love, sadness (oh, the pain!), joy, and heartache, and just a really compelling story. All of the characters, even the side ones, were well nuanced and just really expertly crafted. I felt immersed in the story, which is the biggest complement I can give an author.

Graveyard Shift is Jenn Burke in her groove, doing what she does best. Fans of the first two books in the series will also love this installment, guaranteed. I adored it, and I still want more. I'm not ready to let go just yet.

*Copy provided in exchange for an honest review*

I enjoyed the Not Dead Yet series, but it isn't one I would return to. It was entertaining, and some of the romantic bits made me swoony, but ultimately - for me - it wasn't all that memorable. In fact, when I started this new off-shoot series I had a hard time remembering who was who in the series. And my friends, therein lies the problem.

All Fired Up returns to the Not Dead Yet universe; unfortunately, by the end of Graveyard Shift, I felt like Jenn Burke's world-building included way too many pivotal IMPORTANT secondary characters. TBH, it felt super obvious the author planned to revisit this world in a spin-off series featuring one or more of these characters. Witches, shifters, Gods, vampires - basically if you exist in the paranormal world you make an appearance - and a complex, overarching plot featuring our principal characters, made for sometimes confusing reading; it was all a bit exhausting. While I liked the principal characters (Wes and Hudson), I always felt cheated when the story pivoted away from them to one of these other, less compelling, secondary characters. A lot of the time I just felt like it was all too, too much.

When All Fired Up kicks off, readers need to know right away who our narrator, Evan Fournier, is. And in case you don't (which means you’re going to be confused for some of this story), he's the baby vamp created by Hudson in the first Not Dead Yet novel. You also need to know (and remember) his friends from that series: Wes and Hudson; Lexi, Sam and Priya; his fellow baby vamps; and the circumstances that led to the death of the man/shifter he loved for a short time. All of them helped make him the man/vampire he is when this story begins, and all of them eventually play pivotal roles in this story. So, if you don't remember a lot about these characters (me), you will flail a bit because the author doesn't revisit their backstories.

Anyway, when the story begins, Wes (now a God) and Hudson (a vampire and Evan's sire), are headed to London to visit Hudson's sick brother (also Priya's dad). Before they leave Evan in charge of their detective agency, Hudson warns him to stay away from paranormal investigations when they're gone. Apparently, those investigations are trash fires and only Wes and Hudson (le sigh) have the power to keep them from becoming total shitshows.

Well, obviously, Evan takes on a paranormal case. Because, duh.

At the behest of his therapist, he winds up at a retreat where it appears paranormals are losing their magical souls. Once there, he meets his soul mate when the guy tries to suck his soul out of him. Hold up. Let me backtrack a bit.

Evan is undercover when a guy nicknamed "Red" (because of the red tips on his hair) tries to suck his magical soul out. And since Red is the only Asian in this story and the cover features a male model of Asian descent (where are the tips??!!) savvy romance readers already know Red/cover model guy must somehow wind up in a relationship with Evan (the other guy on the cover). I mean, he’s on the cover! Again, WHERE ARE THE TIPS??!! IT’S HIS FREAKING NICKNAME!!!

Anywho, Red ultimately fails at the soul sucking thing, and then flails because Oh, Snap! Apparently he died 30 years ago? And didn’t know it? And he smells like fire and cinnamon?! and only his new bond with Evan snaps him out of the time warp. But why is he a soul sucker? Why doesn't he remember becoming a soul sucker? Why hasn't he aged? Who's running this soul sucking enterprise? So many questions! Fortunately, Evan takes him home to the village/fairytale paranormal home he shares with all the paranormals who populate this story so they can figure out what the hell is going on. Just go with it.

So anyway, that's the premise of the story in a nutshell.

Along the way we get all the friends bonding over their shared attempts to find out why and how Colin (the not-so-Red tipped dude on the cover) started sucking out magical souls. Evan struggles with his depression and its genesis (that he thinks he ruins everything and nobody wants him), and Colin sorta struggles with the how and why of his magic and coping with the loss of 30 years and his sexuality. I say sorta, because Colin doesn't actually seem to struggle very much at all. But Evan does. Burke does a deep dive into depression and its origins with her characterization of Evan, and it’s a powerful representation of this oftentimes debilitating mental illness. {Burke's depiction of depression and its effects on Evan's life are the strongest parts of this novel.} There is a lot of self-reflection, short cameos from Wes and Hudson, Lexi being a badass nearly all of the time and convenient plot twists and revelations.

Honestly, why is this story about Evan? When is it Lexi’s turn?

I don't want you to think I didn't enjoy this novel. I did. Fans of Ms. Burke will probably love it. I just wasn't a super fan of the Not Dead Yet series, and this one is...erm....kinda too slow? I didn't find the thrills and chills all that thrilling or chilling, and the romance is meh - which for me is the very biggest problem. Evan and Colin barely spend any time together and I had a hard time buying into their soul mate love story. It's all a bit too instalust WITHOUT NEARLY ENOUGH LUSTING. I mean, if the sex was crazy good, that would be one thing...But this story doesn't even really have that. Hmmm. I just wasn't feeling the love this time out and the novel isn’t very romantic. Or suspensey, TBH.

Okay, and back to the cover. I mean where are the freaking RED tips? Burke’s cover images feature the principal characters front and center; they never seem to match up with the men of my imagination. And then nicknaming a character after the red tips of his hair and featuring a cover model without the tips is a MAJOR COVER FAIL. He’s asian. That’s about all this person and this character have in common.

Also. I don't remember Sam. Who is she?

Recommended with reservations and one of the biggest is that you need to read the (better so far) Not Dead Yet series first.

I received a free copy of this book through Netgalley and voluntarily reviewed it.

All Fired Up is the first book in the Ashes and Dust series. This is a spin-off series of the Not Dead Yet series. All Fired Up follows the point of view of Evan, who was an important side character in the Not Yet Dead series. I was excited to dive into this new series and it has the perfect mix of familiar with fresh.

It's great returning to the familiar world and characters, but it also feels fresh with Evan now being the main characters, new side characters and a new paranormal mystery.

It took me a bit of time to get into the story, not quite sure why. Evan is a bit older than the last time we saw him and has changed a bit, but is still the same person. I like how he is quite different from Wes, the main characters from the previous series. There are also characters we see more of now than in the first series or see a different side of now. I would recommend to pick up the Not Yet Dead series first just so you know a bit of the background and know the characters, but besides that this one can be read as a standalone.

All Fired Up is a great start to this new series. While Wes and Hudson are away visiting a relative, Evan gets pulled into a new paranormal mystery. Someone is draining paranormals of their magic and he is determined to find out who is behind it. It starts with a bit of undercover investigating and there's quite the twist, before it settles into trying to find out more about the culprit and how to catch them. The mystery has a wrap up in a sense, but also feels like the start of more, which makes me look forward to the next book.

I liked Evan in the previous series and I am glad he gets his own story. He's kind and helpful and I like how much he cares about his newfound made family. He has been through a lot and this book touches upon some of his mental health struggles. It was handled well and while it doesn't take the foreground, it's also clear this is something he will always struggle with.

The romance is still a very tentative start, but so far I like it. Colin is a great person and I liked Colin and Evan together. I look forward to seeing how their relationship progresses over the course of the series. Colin has his own struggles and has been through some big things as well. They both have their own struggles to deal with and I liked how they slowly start to lean a bit on the other and get comfort form the other. The slow build up felt fitting given what they're both dealing with.

To summarize: This was a great start to this new series. It's a spin-off from the Not Dead Yet series, but follows a character who was previously a side character, while the main couple from the previous series is more on the sidelines. I liked spending more time in this world and with these characters and this book felt both fresh and familiar. There is a paranormal mystery that Evan has to solve and some bad things are going down. I like Evan as main character and the slowly blossoming romance between him and Colin is great to see. While this book has a satisfying ending it leaves a lot of questions open and sets the stage for book 2, making me curious to see what happens next.

All Fired Up is a suspenseful paranormal romance. It’s also a spin-off which is very apparent in some of the interactions between characters. I hadn’t read the earlier books but all in all it didn’t hurt this story. Evan is a unique character and I really felt for him. The romance is definitely a slow build. I felt for Colin and when they agree to try I thought my heart would burst. I will go read the Not Dead Yet books because the characters were compelling and added to this story. A feel good escape.

Note: There are spoilers for the Not Dead Yet series in this review.

I really enjoyed Jenn Burke’s Not Dead Yet series of paranormal romances and was delighted when I learned she was planning a follow-up series which would focus on ‘baby vamp’ Evan Fournier. Evan was a troubled young man living with depression (and not doing so well) when we first met him and circumstances led to his becoming the one of the members of the found family formed by Wes and Hudson over the course of the trilogy. All Fired Up – book one in the Ashes & Dust series – opens around five years later and finds Evan – older, wiser and more confident in himself – in a much better place, having worked hard to get his life on track and learned to ask for and accept help when he needs it.

Evan works as a private investigator for Caballero Investigations, the firm set up by Wes and Hudson in Give Up the Ghost. Although all the employees are paranormals, the firm takes ‘regular’ cases as well as ones involving the supernatural, but when Wes and Hudson have to travel to London at short notice due to a family emergency, Hud makes it very clear to Evan that under no circumstances is he to take on any paranormal investigations while they’re gone. Not because he doesn’t trust Evan to handle them, but because those are the cases that tend to go sideways quickly – and Hud is a bit (!) of a control freak and very protective of those he cares about.

But when Dr. Anika Kozlow – a witch and Evan’s doctor and therapist – comes to see him, clearly very upset, and talking about a patient who recently died under suspicious circumstances, Evan knows he won’t be able to sit this one out. Called to visit a patient who had recently returned from a retreat for paranormals, Dr. Kozlow was shocked to see a literal shell of the woman she’d known.

“When I saw her, she wasn’t there. I mean, her body was. She was sitting in the recliner, breathing, he eyes open, but they were… empty.”

A diagnostic spell confirmed Anika’s suspicions:

“When I said she was empty, I wasn’t exaggerating. Her magic – her soul – was gone.”

And she’s since discovered that several of the patients she referred to the retreat have died in the same way.

Evan decides to check himself into the Rising Sun Retreat to see what he can find out. Everything seems above board at first; the location is great, the staff are kind and he falls in with a group of friendly fellow patients who show him the ropes. But there’s one staff member who makes him feel uneasy, a man known only as Red – because of the red tips in his hair (which, incidentally, are nowhere to be seen on the front cover!) – a member of staff so quiet, controlled and emotionless that he’s almost robotic. He’s pretty creepy and Evan is suspicious – but before he can find out much more, he comes dangerously close to becoming the soul-sucker’s next victim.

Firefighter Colin Zhang has absolutely no idea why he just tried to kill Evan; the last thing he remembers is heading into a burning building to rescue someone who’d been trapped inside, and he’d rather be anywhere other than with a bunch of crazy people talking about magic and vampires and telling him it’s 2024. It can’t be – the fire was just yesterday. In March 1990.

All Fired Up gets this new trilogy off to a great start. The mystery is fast-paced, with plenty of unexpected twists and turns, and it hooked me in right from the beginning; but the big draw was getting to spend some more time with the characters I’d come to know and love from the earlier series, and to see Evan start down the road towards a well-earned HEA – he’s been through some serious shit, and deserves to be happy. Evan is a complex, well-rounded character and I liked his insightful and wryly down-to-earth narrative voice – a very clear contrast to Wes’ mercurial personality and deadpan snark. Evan’s depression is realistically and sensitively portrayed; he’s fairly stable now, and although the old insecurities break through and threaten to throw him off balance from time to time, he’s very self-aware and determined not to fall back into the sort of downward spiral that almost broke him when he was younger.

I liked Colin and the way he’s already starting to fit in with Evan and his found family of supernatural beings – and an actual god – although he (Colin) isn’t particularly well fleshed-out as a character. Still, this is only the first book of three, so there’s room for more development there – and perhaps the fact that I’ve got to know Evan already via the previous series makes for an unfair comparison. I enjoyed the book very much, although a couple of issues brought my final grade down a bit. One is that Colin doesn’t freak out very much when he finds out he’s lost thirty-four years of his life – and not only that, but that he’s been used to – at the very least – do serious harm to a number of people throughout that time. He seems to accept both those things too easily, which was a bit odd. And in addition to having to come to terms with what he’d been forced to do and the fact that his old life is gone, Colin has to reconsider his sexual identity. Growing up at a time when AIDS was ravaging the gay community, he chose to deny the part of him that was attracted to men, but the realisation that things have changed considerably enables him to own the truth (that he’s attracted to men and women) and act on his attraction to Evan. I appreciated the way this realisation is brought about – but it’s something else Colin seemed to adjust to a tad too quickly.

That said, however, they make a good couple and there’s some very real chemistry between them. Both of them have suffered the loss of loved ones and will have to find ways to move forward if they’re going to be together in any real sense, and I’m looking forward to seeing their relationship develop as the series progresses.

As in Not Dead Yet, Ms. Burke sets an overarching plot in motion in this series opener. The villain of All Fired Up gets their just desserts, but the Big Bad – the brains behind the plot to steal magic and souls from members of the paranormal community –is still out there, and will no doubt be back to cause more trouble in the following instalments. With a sweet HFN for Colin and Evan – and the promise of more to come – All Fired Up is a terrific combination of page-turning mystery and tender romance, and is strongly recommended.

Grade - B+/4.5 stars

There’s always a bit of fear that a spin-off series won’t quite live up to the original. Given how much I loved the Not Dead Yet series, this was certainly the case for me when I began All Fired Up. My concerns as to how All Fire Up could possibly compare proved unnecessary because it ended up being all I could have hoped for and left me utterly stoked for the Ashes and Dust series.

For those readers new to the author or who haven’t read the Not Dead Yet series, All Fired Up can absolutely be a standalone. The author does a great job providing enough details about the paranormal world, secondary characters, and connections, and Evan’s background to be able to jump right in and enjoy. For fans of the Not Dead Yet series, I’m going to hazard a guess that Evan is a character you’ve grown very fond of as well. I loved seeing him thrust into the starring role in All Fired Up. I also loved that he’s the same character I’ve loved all along—sweet, sensitive, and quietly courageous.

The story driving All Fired Up was fantastic with plenty of action, interesting secondary characters, and of course a good amount of snarky humor that makes this author so much fun to read. I hadn’t anticipated Evan’s love interest in the least, but I love Colin and all the surprises he held. The connection between the two men was sweet and gentle in many ways, and I’m very eager to see where their relationship goes next. And as usual, the ending was spectacular.

I went into All Fired Up cautiously optimistic, but it delivered in spades and I came out more than ready for more from the series. If you enjoy paranormal fantasy, fast-paced and interesting plots, and wonderful characters you want to spend more time with, this is an easy pick.

Readers of Burke’s “Not Dead Yet” series were heartbroken when a certain protagonist perished at the finale and left Evan Fournier grieving over the lost and what might have been. “Ashes & Dust” is the spin-off series that centered on Evan (and his friends) as he took on a new villain and their nefarious agenda; starting with ALL FIRED UP that opened with the return of all the usual suspects and the reason why youngling vampire Evan left to man the fort.

ALL FIRED UP is a fast-paced, riveting chronicles of Evan and Colin - the later a new character and enigma, introduced in early chapters of the book - as they grappled with what life thrown at them. The story was told in first person from Evan’s POV. This allowed readers the front seat into Evan’s trauma and heartbreak as well as the love he felt for his made-up family. Personally, it brought on a number of sniffling as to his memory of Iskander and their doomed relationship. The glimpses into Colin’s backstory was no less heart-rending. Even seen through Evan’s eyes the pain and suffering Colin went through was excruciating. Clearly, Burke didn’t pull any punches when it came to handing in the hardship to her characters before granting them happy ending.

As the first to the spin-off series, ALL FIRED UP broached the new path the motley crew took on in their AU Canada world, both personally and professionally. With each members having their own crisis, it was a roller coaster journey and emotions were all over the place. I felt for Evan and Colin while also wanting to smack them for (what I perceived as) their recklessness on more than one occasions.

It would be interesting to find out what shenanigans would follow (the gang) after the whole shebang. On another note, given the illustration of how mighty the bad guy in this installment, I wasn’t too pleased with the way it ended. I guess I expected more. Here’s hoping the next books in the series would gratify me better in the fighting department.


Copy of this book is kindly given by the author/publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

If you're like me and you read the series that this is a spin off of, you might still be heartbroken by the death of a character that we came to love. Poor Evan is also still devastated, understandably so. But he's moved on to the best of his ability and is trying to live his best life as a paranormal detective. So even though he's explicitly told to wait before investigating this case, he jumps forward with both feet and ends up in a sticky situation. In that Colin is now magically bound to him and they can't get too far away from each other without experiencing excruciating pain.

Evan suffers from depression and that can make his first person pov kind of sad to read so I would recommend that readers prepare themselves before going in. Because this installment wasn't the happiest, I hope the follow up will have more happy moments for the couple. Colin is definitely an interesting pair up for Evan and I'm interested to see where their romance goes because they are only just getting started out by the end of this story.

I would recommend this to readers that enjoyed the first series but wouldn't quite say that it completely stands alone. All references to previous plotlines are explained but there are so many references that I worry that completely fresh readers might feel lost. I'm excited for the followup to this story because we got hints that the big bad might show up again and I think that it will be cool to have the villain get plenty of time to develop, instead of the one and done villains of the first series.

Great new series by Jenn Burke and Evan and Colin are great together. The book is mysterious, funny, angst, romantic, and great seeing the previous characters. Colin's situation will make you feel sorry for him but he's a sweet and gentleman. Trouble always seems to follow Evan no matter how many times he's been warned not to do something he does the opposite of what he's been told. I'm looking forward to the next book in this series.

When Jenn Burke announced plans for Evan's story, an undignified squeal was heard around the world. Well, not really, but I was beyond excited.

I was surprised by how much time had passed between Graveyard Shift (the last book of the Not Dead yet series where Evan was a major side character) and All Fired Up, but it made sense as the story progressed. I was glad to see Evan in a better place, mentally, from where we last left him. Major props to Burke for the excellent depression rep. Evan still has his low moments, but now he has to the tools to better manage his depression. I was satisfied with how The Big Upset from Graveyard Shift was addressed. I don't want to risk any spoilers, but not making the aftermath of The Big Upset the sole focus of Ethan's character felt very genuine to this spinoff.

It was interesting to see Wes and Hudson and their group of friends through Evan's eyes. His perspective makes me want to reread (for the fourth or fifth time) the Not Dead Yet series. I enjoyed Colin's backstory and am ready for more of him. While I wouldn't have necessarily chosen him as Evan's love interest and wanted more chemistry between the two, I have faith that my feelings will change as the series progresses.

***Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.***

It has been sometimes since I listened to the series so some info was hazy and a bit lost to me (like Sam and her story) but major things I could remember (what Wes was, who Jet was, Iskander etc) but Jenn is very good at what she does so the story was easy to follow.

I have to say that in reading in the first book in this new series revolving around Evan and Colin, instead of listening as I did with Wes and Hudson's story, it was all the more stark how Jenn made her paranormal characters like every day people with just a touch of a particular kind of magic. There are the toned bodies and possessive attitudes but there are also paranormals with mental illnesses like anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder and any kind of exercise and/or gym was a form of torture, so that was delightfully fresh.

If you are looking for a hot and heavy read this is not the book for you. Evan and Colin are just beginning their journey into slow burn and they have a lot of baggage with them to untangle.

Loved the mystery, loved how Evan fought with his depression, how some times it took hold nevertheless, how he still fought his way out of it.

I really liked Colin, his humor even with everything that was dumped in his lap that he has to wade through, his set backs and his perseverance to try and find his footing (jeez it's hard to write this with no spoilers xD).

I hope that at some point we'll get Colin's POV as well.

Can't wait for the next one =D

** I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher and this is my honest review. **

All Fired Up is another fun read from Jenn Burke.

Admittedly, this book didn’t grab my imagination like the Not Dead Yet series did. Evan just isn’t quite as entertaining as Wes as a character, for one thing. Wes’s story also had the added attraction of him being an unusual type of paranormal being, while Evan is just a vampire, although one with some extra abilities due to Wes’s influence.

That said, I still enjoyed Evan’s story. With Wes and Hudson off to London because of a family emergency, Evan gets a chance to show that he can take on a major case when he’s asked to figure out who is killing paranormal creatures by removing their magic. It doesn’t go smoothly because he doesn’t have Hudson’s investigative knowledge or Wes’s powers, but Evan does succeed in taking down the murderer in the end. However, he doesn’t uncover who was pulling the bad guy’s strings, setting up the mystery arc for the new series.

Evan is still grieving what his relationship with Iskander could have been when he meets his new love interest, Colin, as a part of his investigation. I had some trouble buying into the budding romance between them, since it seems as much a matter of proximity as anything else, given that they literally can’t be apart for too long without the malformed magical bond between them going haywire. That may change as the series develops, though, because this isn’t written as a case of instalove. Instead, Evan and Colin agree at the end of the book that they both want to explore the feelings between them without committing to anything more.

I’m hooked, and I can’t wait to see what happens next. Too bad it will be months before House on Fire is here!

A copy of this book was provided through NetGalley for review; all opinions expressed are my own.

Jenn Burke’s UF is basically, “ANGEL, but make it queer and Canadian.” This spinoff from her Not Dead Yet series picks up five years on and features vampire detective Evan. The mystery is compelling and I appreciate how personal it becomes for Evan as it pushes on his depression, but the romantic component didn’t land for me. There are some great moments as Colin sorts out his sexuality (and grapples with the modern world), but I felt the relationship began too quickly to feel organic. The abrupt start took something away from their later interactions, good as they are.

Despite that, I enjoyed seeing everyone again and I’ll look forward to Burke’s next book.

This spinoff of Jenn Burke’s Not Dead Yet trilogy was one of my most anticipated book releases coming into the second quarter of this year. The great news is that All Fired Up didn’t just meet my expectations, it exceeded them, delivering some lovely romantic suspense and taking vampire Evan Fournier a few years into the future—along with Wes, Hud, Lexi, Sam, Priya, and some other familiar faces—and also candidly addressing such topics as grief and depression with a deep sense of understanding and compassion.

Though Wes and Hudson do make an appearance in All Fired Up, there is never a question of whether this is fully Evan’s story. It is. In fact, Wes and Hud are in London for the lion’s share of the time due to a health scare with Hudson’s estranged brother, which leaves Evan in charge of Caballero Investigations with one stipulation: absolutely no taking on any paranormal cases while they’re out of the country, because aren’t they the ones that always end up going sideways? So of course the first case Evan takes on is a paranormal mystery offered up by his therapist, Dr. Anika Kozlow, involving a series of inexplicable illnesses that have resulted in several deaths. The one thing they all have in common is the Rising Sun Retreat.

And this is where the story gets really, really good.

I absolutely loved the twists and surprises Burke threw at Colin Zhang’s character, and that’s all I’m going to say because I do not want to spoil his story in any way. Suffice it to say it’s got some poignance to it that adds to his adversarial relationship with Evan, not to mention some crazy-fun paranormal stuff. I also loved how she turned the forced proximity trope up to ELEVEN with the unintentional soul bond that formed between Colin and Evan in one of the most harrowing and intense moments in the story. This is not at all an insta-love sort of soul bond, though; it’s more of a slow-burn (no pun intended, I guess) with lots of work left to do and feelings to explore before these guys have what could be deemed anything like a long-term relationship. Evan’s depression and his grief and his inner voice, the one that tells him he’s unworthy and that he’s an imposter, all hit in ways that only serve to make him such a sympathetic character, and I grew to love him even more now than I did already.

If you loved the Not Dead Yet trilogy, I can’t in any way fathom this first book in the Ashes and Dust series isn’t going to give you lots to look forward to, not only in the mysteries I’m sure are yet to come for the Caballero Investigations gang but with Evan and Colin forging their way ahead and discovering something beautiful with each other. The important thing right now is that I’m totally invested in them growing together and have no doubt the author will get them to their forever right on time.

I've been looking forward to Evan's story since I read the Not Dead Yet series.
While you don't have to read that series to enjoy this spin off, being familiar with the setting and the characters was a great advantage in my opinion.

(Not so) baby vamp Evan is running his Wes and Hud's PI firm while they're out of the country. Under strict instructions not to take on any new paranormal cases, Evan does the exact opposite when a friend asks for help.

From my first meeting with him Evan was so easy to care about. I was so happy when I heard he was getting his own shot at his HEA.

Now as for Colin... I don't know if it's the lack of dual POV, but seeing things from just Evan's perspective made it kind of hard to forgive him for some stuff that went down. I'd love to see a more well rounded take on their relationship to really that will really solidify and strengthen this series.

An excellent spin-off from the Not Yet Dead series, with more tale than romance Blush

[At the start of the tale, I did get a bit confused, as I've read the excellent Magic in Manhattan series by Allie Therin, also a Carina author, who has a character called Zhang in her series, which is also PNR, and for a while I thought that she'd allowed Jenn Burke to 'borrow' Colin - that's not the case as it turns out (and I'd recommend that series, too)]

Book 1 in this series can be read as a standalone, but I'd recommend reading the excellent NYD series, which is one of the best debuts I've read in years. The leads from that book, Evan's 'parents' (playing very loose with in loco parentis), make brief appearances here, as do some supporting characters who actually get more page time in this series than in the other, so to avoid confusion (as there's no glossary of any kind), it might be best to read the books in order.

Evan, the 'baby vamp', is now a paranormal investigator and is called in by his psychiatrist/counsellor to investigate why paranormals are losing their 'essence' and dying, the only common theme being a stay at a retreat of sorts. It leads to discoveries of possibly one of their own kind working against others of their kind - that's not a given, merely an impression I got from the tale and where it leaves off - and ends on a cliffhanger, which for once I didn't mind, as it felt organic and held my interest til the end. Yes, it seems as if there'll be a bit of a wait til books 2 and 3 (yes, I nosed, because this book was decent enough to make me want more) but if Jenn Burke produces more of the same quality, which is a given, it'll be worth the wait.

In terms of the romance here, thankfully it felt organic and not of the 'it's all going down around us, but hey, let's find an abandoned shack/wardrobe/cupboard/hole and get it on' type. Colin, the co-lead, has a heartbreaking reveal thrust on him, which was handled well. I felt very sad for him and also sad for others we learned about (trying not to spoiler an excellent arc here), though they've gone on to have a great life, by the sounds of it. I suspect we'll find out more about his past and what caused him to come into the powers he manifests, and I'm intrigued as to how JB will mesh his past and present. I think there's scope for something really emotional and really satisfying, but also sad-sweet, though if she does it, it'll be a first. The romance is a slow burn and tied in well with Colin's past and with his discoveries, with just the tiniest hint of didacticism about sexuality and its variances. I've seen this done in a far more heavy-handed way in other tales, but it gets a pass here because of... Colin's past and present.

All in all this is a really good start to another decent series from this author.

ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Harlequin Carina Press, for my reading pleasure.

4.5 Stars!

Yes to this book! Okay, first if you haven't read the Not Dead Yet series stop what you're doing and do that, it's not one hundred percent necessary but you will definitely enjoy this more and feel so many more emotions if you do so. Then pick up this absolutely wonderful book and get to see Evan heal and grow and love and meet the super interesting Colin! This book takes place 5 years after the events of the last book in the NDY series, which again, if you read that series you know was necessary for Evan to be in a place to have a story at all; and once again Burke delivers on a clever mystery, an intriguing world, and a growing romance. This ends with a shaky HFN, a promise that they will see where it goes, but it only makes me hunger for the rest of the series more! There's new big bads, the same old amazing found family (although more Wes and Hudson would always be appreciated), and such an intriguing story. Definitely one you wont want to miss!

What a great start to the new Ashes & Dust series by Jenn Burke. I adored Evan in the Not Dead Yet series, and I'm thrilled that he's finally getting his own HEA.

All Fired Up is written with Jenn's trademark humour and fun with more than one mystery thrown in that all get tied together by the end. Jenn has a writing style that I really click with. But not only that, Jenn has added a new mythological creature and added diversity rep in the form Colin's questioning sexuality and Evan's depression. Every piece of the story fit so well together. The only thing that didn't quite work for me was the chemistry between Evan and Colin, but I think that's because this is the first in a series, and Evan and Colin don't "meet" until quite a ways into the book, so there wasn't time to develop it fully. It's something I think will be rectified in future books when Evan and Colin are (hopefully) given more page time together.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.

Note: There are spoilers for the Not Dead Yet series in this review.

I really enjoyed Jenn Burke’s Not Dead Yet series of paranormal romances and was delighted when I learned she was planning a follow-up series which would focus on ‘baby vamp’ Evan Fournier.  Evan was a troubled young man living with depression (and not doing so well) when we first met him and circumstances led to his becoming  the one of the members of the found family formed by Wes and Hudson over the course of the trilogy.  All Fired Up – book one in the Ashes & Dust series – opens around five years later and finds Evan – older, wiser and more confident in himself - in a much better place, having worked hard to get his life on track and learned to ask for and accept help when he needs it.

Evan works as a private investigator for Caballero Investigations, the firm set up by Wes and Hudson in Give Up the Ghost.  Although all the employees are paranormals, the firm takes ‘regular’ cases as well as ones involving the supernatural, but when Wes and Hudson have to travel to London at short notice due to a family emergency, Hud makes it very clear to Evan that under no circumstances is he to take on any paranormal investigations while they’re gone.  Not because he doesn’t trust Evan or to handle them, but because those are the cases that tend to go sideways quickly – and Hud is a bit (!) of a control freak and very protective of those he cares about.

But when Dr. Anika Kozlow - a witch and Evan’s doctor and therapist – comes to see him, clearly very upset, and talking about a patient who recently died under suspicious circumstances, Evan knows he won’t be able to sit this one out.  Called to visit a patient who had recently returned from a retreat for paranormals, Dr. Kozlow was shocked to see a literal shell of the woman she’d known.

“When I saw her, she wasn’t there.  I mean, her body was.  She was sitting in the recliner, breathing, he eyes open, but they were… empty.”

A diagnostic spell confirmed Anika’s suspicions:

“When I said she was empty, I wasn’t exaggerating.  Her magic – her soul – was gone.”

And she’s since discovered that several of the patients she referred to the retreat have died in the same way.

Evan decides to check himself into the Rising Sun Retreat to see what he can find out.  Everything seems above board at first; the location is great, the staff are kind and he falls in with a group of friendly fellow patients who show him the ropes.  But there’s one staff member who makes him feel uneasy, a man known only as Red – because of the red tips in his hair (which, incidentally, are nowhere to be seen on the front cover!) – a member of staff so quiet, controlled and emotionless that he’s almost robotic.  He’s pretty creepy and Evan is suspicious - but before he can find out much more, he comes dangerously close to becoming the soul-sucker’s next victim.

Firefighter Colin Zhang has absolutely no idea why he just tried to kill Evan;  the last thing he remembers is heading into a burning building to rescue someone who’d been trapped inside, and he’d rather be anywhere other than with a bunch of crazy people talking about magic and vampires and telling him it’s 2024.  It can’t be – the fire was just yesterday. In March 1990.

All Fired Up gets this new trilogy off to a great start.  The mystery is fast-paced, with plenty of unexpected twists and turns, and it hooked me in right from the beginning; but the big draw was getting to spend some more time with the characters I’d come to know and love from the earlier series, and to see Evan start down the road towards a well-earned HEA  - he’s been through some serious shit, and deserves to be happy.  Evan is a complex, well-rounded character and I liked his insightful and wryly down-to-earth narrative voice – a very clear contrast to Wes’ mercurial personality and deadpan snark.  Evan’s depression is realistically and sensitively portrayed; he’s fairly stable now, and although the old insecurities break through and threaten to throw him off balance from time to time, he’s very self-aware and determined not to fall back into the sort of downward spiral that almost broke him when he was younger.

I liked Colin and the way he’s already starting to fit in with Evan and his found family of supernatural beings – and an actual god - although he (Colin) isn’t particularly well fleshed-out as a character.  Still, this is only the first book of three, so there’s room for more development there – and perhaps the fact that I’ve got to know Evan already via the previous series makes for an unfair comparison.  I enjoyed the book very much, although a couple of issues brought my final grade down a bit. One is that Colin doesn’t freak out very much when he finds out he’s lost thirty-four years of his life – and not only that, but that he’s been used to - at the very least - do serious harm to a number of people throughout that time.  He seems to accept both those things too easily, which was a bit odd.  And in addition to having to come to terms with what he’d been forced to do and the fact that his old life is gone, Colin has to reconsider his sexual identity. Growing up at a time when AIDS was ravaging the gay community, he chose to deny the part of him that was attracted to men, but the realisation that things have changed considerably enables him to own the truth (that he’s attracted to men and women) and act on his attraction to Evan.  I appreciated the way this realisation is brought about – but it’s something else Colin seemed to adjust to a tad too quickly.

That said, however, they make a good couple and there’s some very real chemistry between them. Both of them have suffered the loss of loved ones and will have to find ways to more forward if they’re going to be together in any real sense, and I’m looking forward to seeing their relationship develop as the series progresses.

As in Not Dead Yet, Ms. Burke sets an overarching plot in motion in this series opener.  The villain of All Fired Up gets their just desserts, but the Big Bad – the brains behind the plot to steal magic and souls from members of the paranormal community –is still out there, and will no doubt be back to cause more trouble in the following instalments.  With a sweet HFN for Colin and Evan – and the promise of more to come - All Fired Up is a terrific combination of page-turning mystery and tender romance, and is strongly recommended.

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