Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  All Fired Up

SERIES:  Ashes & Dust

AUTHOR:  Jenn Burke

NARRATOR:  Tim Paige

PUBLISHER:  Tantor Audio

LENGTH:  7 hours and 41 minutes

RELEASE DATE:  May 18, 2021

BLURB:  

Once bitten. Twice burned. Forever bonded.

Don’t miss this riveting and romantic spin-off series from Jenn Burke, author of Not Dead Yet.

Paranormals are dying. All over the city, with no explanation and only one thing in common: their magic is missing.

Vampire and private investigator Evan Fournier isn’t supposed to be taking on paranormal cases, but when the murderer hits close to home, he agrees to look into it. The last thing he expects is to become a target himself—and then to become irrevocably bonded to the man who just tried to kill him.

With his memory gone and his soul bonded to a stranger, former firefighter Colin Zhang wants to be anywhere else. He doesn’t have a damn clue why he just tried to kill Evan, and he didn’t even know about magic until just now. The sooner he can get back to his real life, the better.

But every time either of them tries to leave, pure agony stops them short. Forced to work with Evan or suffer the consequences, Colin must excavate the secrets buried in his missing memories while battling two rising threats: the conspiracy behind the murder, and his mutual attraction to the bond mate he never wanted.

REVIEW:

Evan Fournier is a vampire and PI who works with his found family at Caballero Investigations.  While his bosses and best friends Wes and Hudson are out of town on a case, Evan is told specifically not to take on any paranormal cases.  Of course this goes awry and he’s asked by his doctor to help with a case that involves paranormals.  Of course once he hears the particulars, he can’t say no.

Evan goes undercover at a retreat that seems to be the common thread for these paranormal deaths.  Each victim has lost his/her soul and magic sometime after being at this center and Evan is determined to find out what happened.  He feels uncomfortable from the start, but he’s determined to figure out what’s going on.  But then he finds himself in danger and thankfully he’s is able to walk away from the retreat center, but the man behind the mystery seems to be gone and Colin Zhang, a Toronto firefighter is left holding the bag.  But Colin isn’t what he seems either and even more confusing, he’s somehow bonded to Evan.

Colin has a lot to overcome – like a big memory gap.  And getting up to speed with his lack of knowledge of the paranormal world.  He does want to get to the bottom of whatever is happening and who is stealing from paranormals, because now he really does have a vested interest.  And then there is his surprising attachment to Evan 😉

Oooooh what a great start to this spinoff series form Jenn Burke’s Not Dead Yet paranormal series.  It takes place a few years after that series, and the regulars from those books make appearances here, but this is definitely Evan’s story.  I don’t want to spoil the plot, but there is a good mystery here, along with the simmering relationship that is growing between Evan and Colin.  Evan comes into his own a lot in this story and we have a lot of empathy for Evan in dealing with rejection, betrayal, grief, loss and ultimately depression.  I loved his relationship with his doctor.  However, if you haven’t read the previous series, I think this book is still really enjoyable without the prior knowledge of how this found family was built.  I loved Colin and his introduction to 2024 🙂  Boy have things changed! I also liked the way Evan and Colin’s relationship builds on trust and friendship after a VERY rocky start.  Colin is a bit of a surprise, but you’ll have to listen to find out just in how many ways 😉  Speaking of listening, Tim Paige is quickly becoming a favorite narrator.  He has narrated quite a few MM series at this point – both as solo narrator and with a narrating partner, and I continue to be impressed by his voice selection, his empathetic portrayal of the characters he voices and his really first rate job of bringing the story to life.  Highly recommend this author, this book and this narrator!

BUY LINKS: 

Amazon

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