Review: All Fired Up by Kate Meader

Title: All Fired Up (Love In The Kitchen #2)
Author: Kate Meader
Publisher: Forever
Publication Date: November 5th, 2013
Genre: Romance, Contemporary Romance,
Rating: Four out of Five Stars

Summary: Her sweetest mistake . . .

Cool as a Chicago winter, private events planner Cara DeLuca is a model of self-control . . . until she meets the one temptation she can't resist: Shane Doyle. The sexy, Irish pastry chef is too hot, too sure, too young, and after a crazy night in Vegas - her new husband. While at first Cara wants nothing more than a way out of her sham marriage to Shane, she soon finds that beneath his farm boy demeanor lies a man who can match her drive, both in and out of the bedroom. How can the wrong guy feel so deliciously right?

. . . Tastes so, so good

Shane has carefully structured his career and life around one goal: connecting with the family that doesn't know he exists. Marrying a woman with more issues than a magazine stand wasn't part of the plan, but melting Cara's icy exterior is so worth the detour. Now as the annulment date nears and long-buried secrets are revealed, Shane will have to fight for the one thing guaranteeing the perfect life he craves . . . the current Mrs. Shane Doyle.

Review: What do you get when you combine a hot, sexy Irish man with a cold, reserved events planner?

Sparks and tension, that's what!

I really enjoyed this book. It's hot, well paced, and it's got heart to it as well, which I appreciate.

I've read a lot of romance novels over the years, I'll be honest - they're easy, they're sweet and sexy. But not every romance novel does it for me, simply because you can't just throw two characters together, make them lust for each other, have them screw and then kapow, instant successful romance story!

A good romance has more than that. It'll have the tension and the sparks, the heated looks and longing - but it'll also have real tension and show that the characters have real worries and vulnerabilities, things that make them tick. It'll show things that might make one character a bit of an ass, and the other one a bit mean, and that's what makes it all coalesce together.

All Fired Up has all of this. Cara is our reserved heroine, running from a slip of her control, battling her demons and trying to hold temptation at bay. Shane is our sexy cowboy, gorgeous, Irish - and with a history of his own, and a weakness for Cara.

Put it all together and you have a story that was engaging and made me care about the main couple. Learning about Shane and Cara throughout the book, I came to understand and empathise with both of them - at times I wanted to shake them, but I still knew why and how they were making their decisions.

The sex is damn hot, too! (Had to mention that, right?) There are some moments where the dialogue made me roll my eyes, which is why I'm not giving it the full five stars, but it wasn't enough to seriously detract from the story.

Definitely a good read for romance lovers. I should note that this book is the second in a series, but as is so common with romance novels, you don't have to read one to understand the other, as far as I can tell - though I'll be picking up the first to check it out, too!

Disclosure: An ARC was provided through Netgalley in return for an honest review.