3.5 ⭐️

okay guys this had a lot going on. there’s a love triangle-esque vibe, other person drama, and messy, complicated fmc’s just trying to figure out love together. honestly i thought they were pretty cute and the steam was quite excellent if i do say so myself 🙂‍↕️

I really enjoyed this book! A well written romantic comedy that had me invested and engaged the whole time. I loved the firefighter/scientist troupe and thought that the main characters were well developed. I could see this book being the first in a series where we follow the story lines of other characters. I know that I would read the sequel!

I was really surprised by how much I liked this book. The flow was good, the pace was right, the banter is light but true. I literally just kept on reading and not realizing I was at the end.

The book is about Nic, who is a scientist for fire, and Kira, a firefighter. As Skylar, their mutual best friend introduced the two, she realized that Nic & Kira is the ying and the yang. Nic was pining for Skylar forever, Nic had sever attachment issue basically because of her own parents abandon and emotionally abused her, and she crave a connection so bad that she takes even the negative ones. Kira has the ghost of her dad to deal with, which she channels it to be her career goals.

I like how they got together by scheming on their best friend, Skylar. It brought them together, it shows how much alike and how smart they both are. I appreciated how they both have insecurities of their own, but it's about themselves not necessary about each other. The relationship, chemistry grew very organically, and it's lovely to see. Often times, for bi-characters, the queer person would have insecurities of what-ifs... none of that here. It just shows how true to themselves these characters are, and how loyal they are to their partners, which is nice to see illustrated and not blown up to be characterized. Also love their group of friends, though they seem aloof, but they are there to support.

Like I said, this is lovelier than I had anticipated, and a quick read. Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the ARC.

All Fired Up is the first book I've read by MK England & it definitely put them on my authors-to-watch list. England writes fantastic fiction for queer nerds & I am absolutely that demographic. And if you're also a queer nerd who loves reading about friends to lovers, messy sapphics, and found family then All Fired Up is the book for you.

Kira, the firefighter, is not here for your stereotypes or misogyny. She's strong, capable, & committed to the people in her life.

Nic, the pyro scientist, is in love with her best friend & struggling to find her place within her friend group after coming home from grad school.

The two make a duo of self-appointed saviors for a friend they are both certain is about to make a horrible decision with her life. I'd be more frustrated with the characters determination to avoid an honest conversation on the subject if they were more competent in their mission. But as it stands, they're so busy trying not to be attracted to each other that they miss the mark entirely. It makes for a pretty funny rom-com that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Also, there is a fantastic scene with a tarot card reading that I absolutely loved. I am a tarot reader myself & often find fictional depictions to be a bit hokey but this one felt exactly how I would read cards for people. Like a mini therapy session. It was awesome to find this bit of whimsy in a book with characters that are very much about science.

This one comes out April 28th, pre-order it now!

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing for this ARC.

M.K. England’s All Fired Up is a thrilling and heartfelt blend of action, humor, and personal growth. Following a group of misfit heroes navigating a high-stakes quest, the story delivers fast-paced adventure alongside themes of friendship, redemption, and finding one’s purpose. England’s witty prose and diverse, lovable characters shine, making this an engaging and uplifting read. A perfect pick for fans of adventurous tales with a lot of heart.

Before I get into my review I would like to thank NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the ARC of “All Fired Up”! A fire dynamics scientist and a firefighter become friends through a mutual friend, Skylar. Skylar, an irresponsible influencer announces she’s packing up her things and moving to Fiji.

Kira and Nic decide they cannot let this happen. The duo becomes very close as they try to find ways to keep Skylar in Seattle.

I absolutely loved Kira’s and Nic’s chemistry and energy. The quirky humor and the steamy romance were an amazing combination!

I had an absolutely amazing time reading this book and read it in one sitting! I cannot wait to check out more of M.K. England’s books!

Again, thank you NetGalley and HTP for this arc!

All Fired Up was a fun, sexy, romantic comedy with a cast of extremely lovable and unique characters. I enjoyed the dual POVs through the story as the two main characters dealt with the impending departure of their best friend, developed feelings, and struggled with their own futures.

The author really nailed the chemistry between Kira and Nic and I was convinced early on just how compatible and good together they would be.

I can’t wait to read more from M.K. England!

4/5 ⭐
3/5 🌶️

Tropes
- WLW
- Women in STEM
- Found family
- Out and joyful

My Thoughts
I thought this book was a sweet story of a found family where not everyone has it all together. These are younger adults who are still trying to figure out what life is. If one thing I would say, the focus was one of the character's insecurities and mentioning it too many times about how bad she's going to mess up, although I can completely understand it is close to what happens in real life. She had anxiety over her student loans, and it was mentioned a little too much. To the point that I felt the character should've spent more time working on healing the anxiety before the resolution of the story. The author did spend quite a bit of time building the story and not getting to the essence until later. Other than that, this is a delightful read of real people with real issues. I will read this author again. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Triggers
Fires
Fire injury
Love triangle

LGBTQ+ representation
Author and main characters are LGBTQ+.

Nic and Kira don’t know each other, but they are friends with Skylar, and anyone who is friends with Skylar must be great. In fact, Skylar practically pushes them together, as they both learn that Skylar is planning to leave Seattle for Fiji, if not forever, for at least the foreseeable future.

Nic had planned to get together with Skylar, romantically, because she is her anchor. Neither Nic or Kira wants to lose her, so they try to find ways to make her stay, coming up with things that might make hr change her mind, and growing closer as they do. Nic sets things on fire and Kira puts fires out. How could they be compatible, and yet, they are.

This is such a cute romance. Of course, as with all romances, there are misunderstandings, and times you want to take the main characters and shake them until they see the light.

I liked that the reasons for Nic feeling the way she did made sense. And I also liked the Skylar, whom everyone thought of as cookey, was far less than that, and actually was thinking things through.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review. This book is coming out the 29th of April 2025.

Totally fun queer (lesbian) rom com. I read so many of these and most are sort of meh but this was FUN and creative. I loved the friend group and how much they all obviously cared about each other. This would be a good series with other books focusing on the other characters. Like Ian and Marco! Or maybe Willow? And I want to hear about Skylar’s future adventures.
I grew to really care about these characters even if the original trope about their connection was so silly (the firefighter and the fire-starter!). I got to read an e-arc of this for free through NetGalley but I’d recommend it for everyone to read when it comes out. I might even buy my own copy just to have. It’s really great.

This was an enjoyable, easy/low-angst read. Once I started reading, I think I read the entire novel in just a few days (my to-do list was sorely neglected). I loved the dichotomy of a firefighter and a (legal/sanctioned) fire starter; while firefighters are common, this was the first time I recall seeing a non-arsonist fire starter paired with a firefighter. The two lead characters are in the same friend group, by virtue of sharing a best friend, and it was fun to see how the characters interacted with each of them together and independently, in very realistic and relatable ways.

I’d recommend this book to anyone looking for a light read featuring characters finding their place in life, love, and their careers.

M. K. England does a fantastic job in writing the romance between the characters and worked well overall. I was invested in what was happening and enjoyed the element of this story. I was engaged with what was happening and thought the romance worked well.

Summary: Nic, a scientist specializing in fire dynamics and behavior, has just moved back to Seattle after 2 years completing grad school, ready to start a new job and finally confess her feelings for her bff, Skylar. However, Skylar soon announces she's moving to Fiji, which is a big problem as Skylar is kind of a human disaster and definitely going to crash and burn. Nic has to team up with Kira, a firefighter who has newly joined the friend group, to convince Skylar to stay. Only problem? Kira and Nic have some sizzling chemistry...

I would recommend this book if you:
- are looking for hot sapphic spice!
- looking for a book about people in their late twenties who feel like they should have their lives together and need help realizing it's okay to not know what you're doing yet
- looking for a book about adults who have jobs and worry about things like paying rent (as opposed to YA/books about teens)
- like alternating first person points of view

My biggest critique would be that I felt like Nic needed a little more therapy before she was in a good place for a relationship, and it moved a little fast for my tastes.

I was pleasantly surprised by this one. For some reason, I was expecting there to be some animosity between the two MC's due to them sharing a best friend. I figured they'd only begrudgingly agree to work together for their shared friend. However, that's not what this was at all. Almost immediately the two main characters hit it off and become great friends. You get to see a lot of scenes with them together, and an altogether very sweet (and also spicy) romance enfold between them. Another positive with this book is that I really like the other members of the friend group too and appreciate how they all mesh together.

Though there was a lot I liked, there was a couple things I wasn't as big a fan of. Mainly, I think that Nic overcomes her feelings for Skylar way too fast. So much of the start of the book is heavily focused on Nic being super into Skylar, but after Skylar talks to her it feels like she moves on almost immediately with practically no anger, or denial, or heartbreak in sight. That part felt a little unrealistic to me for someone who had supposedly been pining for over a decade. Also, though Nic and Kira are cute together, I felt their relationship sometimes moved too fast. Namely, near the end of the book the progession there felt a little accelerated.

Overall though, this book is a cute easy read and it contains fun characters, a sweet romance, and a good bit of spice. 4.2/5 stars.

Such a cute and quick read!

Romance, as well as first person, is usually not my forte but I decided to give All Fired Up a chance and I’m glad I did! The connection between the two female leads, Nic a fire scientist, and Kira, a firefighter, felt natural and not too forced.

There was an ease to reading this book in comparison to some others where the chemistry between the characters feels too forced. It was heartwarming and I loved to see queer joy as well as the exploration of romantic versus platonic bonds.

But I found the authorial voice got muddled a little bit between the shifting POV’s in the chapters. Nic and Kira had very distinct personalities but parts of their POV’s were very similar to each other, more in the way they were written and not in the development of their characters. I wish there had been a clearer distinction between the two in some way, outside of the context and content of the chapters.

If you like sapphic books and are yearning for a sweet (yet spicy) romance I’d give All Fired Up a chance.

3.5/5 stars rounded up, for opening me up to reading more romance-focused books!

"All Fired Up" is a very fitting title for a book filled with sparks and heat! While an adorable and enjoyable romance, it has its fair share of spice. It’s short enough to enjoy in one evening, which is both good and bad because I wanted more!
Nic and Kira have great chemistry, and it is simply adorable to put a fire-starting scientist and a firefighter together. I enjoyed the double entendre with the title and the chemistry between the characters.
Usually, I avoid first person and present tense out of personal preference but I decided to go for it anyway. Despite my preference, I enjoyed the author’s voice and found myself forgetting the perspective. I also found the touch of humor to be well done, especially with the quippy remarks from the characters just for the reader.
As someone who has lived in the setting of the book, Seattle, I enjoyed the little pieces of familiarity. I do wish that the city itself was more present in the setting and locations more fully fleshed out.
Overall "All Fired Up" is a great read and a fun feel-good queer romcom that I would recommend to any romance reader regardless of sexuality.

It is so rare for me to finish a book in one sitting, but I could not put down All Fired Up! This fiery, sapphic story was exactly what I needed today.

Nic is a scientist that studies how fires behave and researches new materials with fire resistant properties. She’s an academic that just finished grad school and moved back to Seattle working at UW on a one year, grant funded contract. She’s back in Seattle trying to spark a relationship with her best friend, Skylar, but she soon finds out that Skylar is moving to Fiji at the end of the summer.

Kira stepped into Skylar’s life during Nic’s absence and they became fast friends. Kira is a firefighter at the Seattle Fire Department, desperately working towards a promotion to Lieutenant. She’s hoping to follow in her father’s footsteps and become Fire chief but she’s faced several setbacks along the way.

After finding out that Kira is also unhappy about Skylar’s departure, Nic teams up with her to hatch a plan to change Skylar’s mind about moving to Fiji. They soon find that they work well together and do their best to stop Skylar from leaving. We follow their adventures in learning about their friendships, their past traumas, and their mutual respect of fire.

This story was engaging from start to finish. I highly recommend for anyone wanting a spicy, sapphic romance to brighten their day!

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for access to the eARC!

Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

This was a short, sweet, and spicy book. The main couple was a little bit opposites attract with one FMC being a firefighter and the other being a fire scientist whose job is to set fires. There was found family dynamics, trauma processing, and soul searching. The only thing I would’ve changed/added would’ve been to have more background story on the history of the friend group. Otherwise I enjoyed it.

Literal sapphic romcom perfection. Super cute and easy to read and really enjoyed this one. And the banter had me rolling!

This was a cute read i liked the fire aspect and how opposites both fmc were. One of the fmc works to put out fires and the other one makes fires for a living. This book seemed to be a new adult romance with lots of friendship drama and a bit of a love triangle in which one of the fmc was trying to figure out what she wanted. Both characters are real and complex and their actions show that lol. This was a slow burn with so cute moments and good banter, I liked both characters together. There are a couple of steamy scenes and overall this is a fun contemporary romance that celebrates queer joy and characters. Thanks to HTP for this arc!