Fired Up

By: Anna Durand

Narrated by: Mackenzie Cartwright, Teddy Hamilton

Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

He sets women ablaze, but the only one he needs may be fireproof.

Humiliated by her cheating ex, control freak Mel Thompson has resolved to avoid sex and romance. But her plans skid off the rails on her birthday, when she overindulges in champagne and tries to seduce her best friend, Adam Caras, exposing her long-repressed attraction to him. She's determined to remain just friends, but her erotic fantasies have other ideas....

Firefighter Adam Caras has seduced more women than he'd ever admit to, earning the nickname "the Arsonist", thanks to his explosive sensuality. Unfortunately, he realized he's in love with his best friend, Mel, five minutes after she hooked up with her sleazebag ex. For two years, he's kept his true feelings a secret. His libido, on the other hand...not so easy to rein in. Now that she's free, he has a plan of his own. He'll win her heart the only way he knows how - in bed - by employing every weapon in his lady-killer arsenal.

As best friends become lovers, they must risk everything for a chance at happiness. If they can overcome their past mistakes before it tears them apart....

Fired Up is an award-winning, best-selling contemporary romance from Anna Durand, author of the Hot Scots series.

©2017 Lisa A. Shiel (P)2021 Jacobsville Books

Great Friends to Lovers Romance!

Mel and Adam's best friends to lovers romance is fun, sweet, steamy, and heartwarming. Mel is sassy, and smart. Adam, a handsome firefighter, is sexy, and charming. They are opposites attract. They share an undeniable and sizzling hot chemistry. The supporting characters are great. Mackenzie Cartwright and Teddy Hamilton did an amazing job with the narration. This is a great best friends to lovers romance, and I enjoyed it.

Friends to lovers worth the risk!

I listened to this book with the previous narrator last year and gave it 4 stars. Mel has been burned and is very hesitant to embrace her feelings and risk losing her best friend. She is confused and afraid. The story is well written and I was engaged in the outcome. I identified more with Adam, who is an excellent book boyfriend - Who doesn’t love a sexy fireman who is attentive, fun, funny, head over heels in love, and determined to satisfy his best friend! Friends to lovers is a favorite trope. Once again I enjoyed the story.

While the previous narrator was definitely not bad at all, Teddy and Mackenzie are simply amazing! It was like listening to a whole new book this time! In fact, I forgot I had listened to it before until I referenced my #faveylist & Goodreads. This refresh has elevated the book to 5 stars - I really enjoyed their performances and found I was much more immersed in the story. I am definitely #NarratorMotivated!

I received an #AdvancedListenerCopy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Great Story

Not sure why storylines include a female who reacts poorly to dumb stuff; that said, this is a pretty good book. I enjoyed listening to Teddy and Mackenzie’s narration of characters; they are both talented narrators and are two of my favorite. Personal thoughts of both characters were hilarious.

Love those firefighters!

Firefighters make the best book boyfriends, and Adam is swoony! Mel and Adam are best friends. After being burned by her cheating ex, she has sworn off men. But Adam has had feelings for her for a while and has different plans for their future. This friends to lovers romance is everything I love. Adam is nothing short of persistent in his mission to win Mel’s heart. With his playboy reputation who needs mount the obstacles Mel has put in their way, and I love their romantic journey. Anna Durand’s style of writing always keeps me captivated and wins my heart. Adam and Mel’s blazing story is found it’s place immediately and I couldn’t wait to see how long it would take to finally win her over!

Durand always finds the perfect fit for her narrations and her picks of Teddy Hamilton and Mackenzie Cartwright were spot on! Hamilton has a warm, conversational style that always has me falling for his characters. He knows exactly how to win me over with inflections and emotions. Cartwright is a favorite of mine, and she plays Mel to a tee! A little angst, a lot of passion and incredible love, she knows exactly how to make her characters come alive. It’s a fabulous performance!

Adam just steals this story!

Such an enjoyable story! I loved what this author did this story. Best friends to lovers is one of my favorite tropes. These two characters are the best of besties! They have a deep history. When we meet Adam he has already realized his love for her. He just isn't sure how to go about telling her. I really loved Adam. He is so persistent and kind to her and I love that he never gives up. He does some crazy things but that makes him adorable!

I did listen to this on audio. Mackenzie Cartwright and Teddy Hamilton did a great job on this treat.

not her best writing

I don't like YA romance for the same reason I didn't like this story-immature people trying to find a HEA is sooo tiresome. If you are near 30, you should be a bit aware and consider other people. This story lacked a cohesiveness to the plot; why wasn't the other friend pulled in more? what made Mel such a workaholic? etc. It seemed a formula designed to frame the sex - which wasn't bad to be fair.

Mel & Adam deserve 5 stars!!

Best friends to lovers romance. So damn good!
Probably my favorite book of Anna's right now. I absolutely loved Mel and Adam's friendship. I loved how much they care for each other so much that they are afraid to take that leap and screw up their friendship even though they want each other so desperately. Adam is very protective of Mel and that shows in the very beginning of this book after Mel's birthday celebration. Oh man, when the walls come down, the heat level is off the charts! I loved this book so much I listened twice!
Mackenzie Cartwright and Teddy Hamilton were perfect for Mel and Adam!

Good story bad narrative

This book is read in 3rd party, I like it better when it is read in 1st person.

Good storyline

I wish I could give this book zero stars

Teddy Hamilton and Mackenzie Cartwright are the best of the best, I love them and they are the reason I bought this book. I listened to it for about 40 minutes and hated it, but it had been too long since I’d bought it that by the time I listened to it the return window had lapsed. So I listened to the rest of the book thinking I might as well because I couldn’t return it. And I regret the time I wasted and the annoyance I felt while enduring this audiobook.

This was the first (and definitely the last) book I’ve listened to by Anna Durand. And while I tend not to judge authors based on one book experience, the impression I have of Anna Durand is that she is far more closed-minded, less inclusive and less educated about the world than I would prefer in an author.

Spoilers to follow.

My biggest pet peeve with romance novels is when there is no real story or reason for the tension. It feels like nonsense. When done right, romance novels make you feel everything, and I love a hot, steamy sex scene. However, if the book had opened with an honest conversation that went like this: “Mel, I’m in love with you, and I want to be with you” then there would be no book. It’s basically just two people both not telling each other things. And instead saying things like “You want me to fuck you.” And “No. I’m celibate.” So lame.

This book had some glaring issues, among them the repetitive mentions about what constitutes as sex and what doesn’t. Heteronormative penis-inside-the-vagina penetrative sex is apparently the only sex that counts to the author, whose exclusion of other sexual acts as sex sends a message that other physical acts are less than. The annoying female character decides to become celibate for no reason other than the author is a terrible author and this is what she could come up with, and then even when the characters are performing other sexual acts on one another, they say over and over that it isn’t actual sex, not really, and it doesn’t count. She is still celibate. ::eye roll::

Let’s address the mask stunt. On her 30th birthday, they go to a club and he wears a mask that covers his face except his mouth and eyes. And, of course, she doesn’t recognize him. ::another eye roll::

Best friend since childhood, but if you cover his forehead, cheeks and nose, he’s a new man?! Seriously? The way he moved, smelled, his hair, mouth. She stared into his eyes and didn’t recognize them? It’s all so far-fetched.

They share an erotic dance and he kisses her face and nibbles her ear. And then leaves. It happens so fast and is so disjointed from the rest of the book that I honestly forgot that was in the book until the male character starts stewing over how he feels like he is keeping something from her. But he won’t tell her because he is convinced she will never forgive him. Forgive him for what? Dancing with her to half a song at a club? I really don’t get what the fuss is about, and this is a forced plot inclusion because the author is desperately trying to make a story out of a non-story. He agonizes over this, saying he will spend the rest of the night atoning for it. Seriously? It’s really bad.

Then, when she, at the end of the book finds the mask, her reaction is ridiculous. Is horrified and tells him she doesn’t know what to think. WHAT?! This could just as easily gone that she is like, “ooh, awesome. Put that mask on now, let’s do this!” Instead, she cries and tells him that he deceived her. “I don’t know if I can even trust you anymore.” Then she doesn’t think she can be with him anymore because of it, essentially breaking off their engagement. Because he danced with her once and wore a mask and she didn’t recognize him. Yeah, okay.

Next, the unbelievable nonsense about how a woman decides, at 30, to become celibate. I found this to be such a lame plot inclusion because I don’t think any woman is jaded enough at 30 to consciously make that decision unless it’s for a religious dedication or something. It seemed forced and like the author really wanted to push this. So bad and awkward.

Oh, here’s another laughable gem from this book: the dude’s 33, and such a womanizer that he gets a reputation for it among his friends, and he has never had a blowjob. I mean, what 33-year-old womanizer has never had a blowjob? Also, this author has made it seem that the decibels of screaming is directly proportional to the intensity of the climax. Maybe true, but also, the fact that he has never screamed during sex in his previous sexual trysts and then suddenly is like a loud screamer because he says he has to is really another stupid, naive portrayal of sex and expectations. Some people scream, some people don’t. This is the kind of crap that perpetuates false and unhealthy ideas about sex.

Anna Durand’s other horrible missteps include misogynistic comments that jokingly compare women to cats, or say that a “woman in your condition” referring to a pregnant woman should stay home. And vice-versa, stereotypical comments women make saying men are helpless and lost. I just can’t get on board with crappy writing like this garbage.

Another glaring and offensive error is when the pregnant woman, mentioned above, responds to the aforementioned comment with, “I’m not disabled.” So insensitive. Not using updated and preferred terminology, and also implying that people with disabilities are or should be confined to their homes is offensive.

There was also a casual use of the term Nazi in reference to her daily schedule. Saying she is a Nazi about her calendar. There is a way to write a book and move about the world in a way that is open minded and inclusive, and that means not tossing out off-putting language so freely. Anna Durand, again, presents as someone with immense ignorance at best, underlying prejudices at worst.

I don’t know how I’ve made it this far without mentioning her ex-boyfriend (especially because she mentions him every five minutes). Here are the highlights:
- He cheats on her and uses her phone to record his sexual encounters with other women. This one is a head-scratcher. These encounters would happen when he claimed to be out of town for business, and why would she, a self-employed workaholic small-business owner, give her phone to her boyfriend to borrow? And then, why would he record sex with other women on it? The dumbest of Anna Duran’s plot inclusions thus far. This could have been written more believably if they had a shared cloud or something and she found the videos. But seriously, so so dumb.
- He proposes TWICE in her office, ridiculously lame proposals. Over-the top, embarrassing proposals. When a woman says no in front of her entire office of employees, don’t come back and humiliate yourself and ask again. No man would do this. It’s an attempt at forced-jealousy that does not work here.
- Predictably, he wants her back (because Anna Duran has to invent tension in a book without a story) and when he shows up at her house, the main male character punches the ex-boyfriend out. I feel like sometimes this kind of thing could be satisfying, but it was immature. And the way she responded was to swoon.
- At the end of the book, she finds him waiting for her outside her apartment. She goes into her house and locks him out, only to find her stun gun, open the door, invite him in and taser him. Wtf? Men who display stalking behavior shouldn’t be invited into your home for you to shoot with a taser. She was safely in her apartment with a locked door between them and she invited danger in.


I was put off by the female character’s insensitivity during a time of stress and anxiety for the male character. She thought to herself “If I don’t relieve his stress, he is going to have a panic attack.” That’s okay, panic attacks are a part of extremely stressful situations, not invitations to sex. Instead of doing her best to help him by offering comfort, helping him breathe, etc, she takes an anxious man from the waiting room of a hospital where his father is undergoing an hours-long cancer procedure so she can walk across the street to a motel to have sex. Immature and insensitive. Suffering and sadness are part of the human condition. And the author’s reasons for writing that she HAD to ALLEVIATE his stress the only one way that would work was just so gross and misplaced.

I consume a lot of romantic and erotic novels, and it’s pretty typical of the genre that a man can basically wave a wand and bring a woman to orgasm. But this was sort of over the top. At one point, he threatens to kiss her to climax. Kiss her mouth. To the point of orgasm. Between that and the description of her pubic hair on her mons glistening from arousal, I am concerned that Anna Durand is unfamiliar with human sexuality and also basic human anatomy.

The fire puns. ::shakes head::
The author works way too hard to put fire-related lingo into the dialogue and narration. Some of it is EMBARRASSINGLY terrible. Aside from multiple uses of “I’m fired up,” there are talks or smolders, embers, infernos, etc. Some of the especially terrible ones:
“Detonate me.”
“You’re the only woman I want to set on fire anymore.”
“I love the way you burn me.”

Jesus Christ.

Omg. The proposal. From the passenger side of the car while she is driving. And then she says she has to think about it and then says, “OF COURSE.” How do you go from one to the other? This book is all over the place.