One night stand
Second chances
Dancing, hot air balloons, and mean parrots 🦜

Imani and Zander have a one night stand at her best friends/ his brothers wedding. A year later, they still have each other on the brain but for many reasons Imani does not think this relationship could work, but Zander has other plans.

This story was amazing. So many topics are covered and could possibly need a trigger warning for anxiety, ptsd, war hero injuries, death of a parent, and delivery complications. All of that aside, the story was very well written to cover these topics. Add laugh out loud humor and some steamy scenes and I may just have added a new book to my top favorite stories for this year. The audio was great, both narrators put their hearts into reading this story which made it very enjoyable. Bonus points for the recipe, and game instructions at the end! I will definitely recommend this to others.

Special thanks to netgalley and Forever publishing for providing an audio arc in return for an honest review.

I had the opportunity to read this book as well as listen to the audiobook. I always love when there are two narrators that capture each POV, and the narrators did a great job depicting the characters !

Premise: Last summer, Imani Lewis and Zander Matthews had a two-night-stand at her best friend and his brother’s wedding. When Imani agrees to take care of her grandma, Gigi, for the summer while she recovers from surgery, it did not hit her that she’ll be running into Zander in the small town of Wellsville until she was off the plane and in her best friend’s car. While the attraction is still there, Imani is determined to keep their relationship in the “friend zone” while Zander, in turn, is determined to show Imani how much more he wants and how great the two can be together.

This was a great small-town romance and opposites attract story. Zander is a man who knows what he wants. I loved watching him fight for Imani through all these random acts of kindness while also waiting for her to take the next steps romantically. His light-hearted and caring attitude complimented her type-A and guarded personality perfectly. Gigi, Imani’s grandma, was an AMAZING supporting character. She was honest, funny and wise, and her character brought such great comedic relief to the story.

The resolution did happen quickly and left some questions unanswered, particularly around Imani’s mental health, but this was still a great read I’d recommend!

Read if you like:
-Small-town romance
-One night stand to friends to lovers
-Grandma/ granddaughter relationship
-Hungarian culture
-Parrots as pets
-Hot air balloon rides
-A book series centering around 3 brothers

I loved this book. In synopisis is written that is perfect for Henry and Jimenez fans. And I recently discovered both authors and I had to read this and then I have got an ALC from Netgalley and Hachette Audio. Thank you so much for trusting me.

A romance with serious problems and real expectations and just human. I also laugh and at least smile a lot while listening to this arc. It is always nice to return to your home home we say. And here there was always something there even there was not. About friendship and about attraction. How to resist or not to. And how to be there one for each other.

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced listening copy! This was the kind of soft but thoughtful romance I was looking for, and it did not disappoint. Imani and Zander had shared a one night stand at Kate’s wedding, but will the chemistry between them last or be rekindled when Imani comes back into town? Imani is a book agent that moves home to her smaller town from New York City to take care of her grandmother, Gigi. Imani loves order, planning, and spreadsheets, similar to her pregnant best friend Kate, who also lives in this small town and needs help prepping for the baby. In the midst of all this planning and caregiving, Imani is also dealing with her feelings for Zander, a ceramist, veteran, who likes to take each day as it comes.

This book is laugh out loud hilarious, with a very funny parrot for great comedic relief and many great mishaps throughout the small town. But this comedy balances serious topics that the author handles well and with empathy: PTSD, survivors guilt, and panic attacks. Zander is a great support system for Imani and she figures out her future, and the nice thing about this book is that Zander also learns about himself from Imani through listening and growing as a person. Another thing I appreciate about this book is that the friendships and family relationships are also handled well, balancing out and giving Imani and Zander support systems to help them figure out how to fall in love, while growing as people. The author also uses a dual point of view, which I think works well as Imani and Zander figure out how they balance their chemistry with a relationship. This was my first book by Dylan Newton, and she’s a great and fun writer! I’ll definitely be reading or listening to her again. I recommend this book for fans of romantic comedy, mental health representation, and steamy chemistry between the main leads.

When Imani Lewis goes to stay with her grandmother in a small town for the summer, she's relieved for the break from her workaholic schedule in publishing. She's not so relieved that she runs into Zander Matthews, a man she had a one-night stand with at her best friend's wedding.

I didn't read How Sweet It Is before diving into All Fired Up, and this worked really well as a standalone novel. Imani and Zander have great banter and balance in their relationship, and I loved that they had adult conversations and dealt with mental health, opposing outlooks, and the big life events of their close relatives. The setting was fun in a small town (close to where I live!) in NY with a hot air balloon festival. We also got to meet a hilarious, foul-mouthed parrot and Gigi, Imani's grandmother, who both provided some great comedic relief. I loved the dual perspective narrated by Emma Love and Max Lloyd-Zander and think audio is the way to go for this book!

Thanks to Forever for the ARC and to Hachette Audio for the ALC!