All Fired Up

Meader returns to Chicago and the boisterous DeLuca family (familiar from Feel the Heat) in this enjoyable contemporary romance. Cara DeLuca has always felt like an outsider. After her sister, Lili, gets engaged to Cara’s boss, Jack Kilroy, and he moves his base of operations from New York City to Chicago, Cara comes back with him. Enter Shane Doyle, a sexy Irish pastry chef who just started working for Jack. During a drunken Las Vegas trip, the normally tightly controlled Cara throws caution to the wind and proposes to Shane—and he accepts, leading to an immediate ceremony. Once they sober up, neither one wants to tell anyone about the marriage. In addition, Cara’s a recovering anorexic, and Shane’s hiding a huge secret about his parentage. Can their wild night turn into lasting love? Meader skillfully creates achingly imperfect and wonderful characters with Cara and Shane—two damaged souls who want nothing but love, but are afraid to believe in its promise—and her plotting rings true. This first-rate tale will draw laughter, tears, and anticipation for the next book in the series. (Oct.)