Driving Force is a first book from a newbie author. It shows promise, but...I had issues.
So many things just didn't make sense. I fully admit that some of them are fairly nit-picky. Like why a college student of today is using a One Tree Hill reference as something "everyone" knows. I have a college student, and she has no idea what OTH even is. I read her (my college student) some of the dialogue that that Tinley used, both to her friends and to her love interest, and no, that didn't ring true for my daughter either. Tinley knows *nothing* about NASCAR, but throws terms like "hauler" out there on her first time on the track. I truly know nothing about NASCAR, and I finally ended up looking it up.
Why is Tinley the girl that makes Ryan change his whole life for her? The whole story was one giant cliche to the next, without giving us actual reasons for anything. He was fascinated with her the moment he saw her, but again, why? The whole they're-your-perfect-match and love at first sight and when you meet the right one, you'll know bit is all well and good, but in a 200-page book, I want some substance behind the instalove. Make me see what the characters see in each other. Make me believe. I didn't. It was a book full of cliches and one well-worn trope after another, with very little real storytelling holding it all together and making me want to keep turning the pages. I *love* the quiet bookworm getting the hot guy trope, but I didn't feel it here. At all.
Absolutely OTT drama, and not in a good way. And most of the dialogue was just painful. Forget the college kids don't talk like that comment I made earlier, no one does IRL.
Finally, there are grammar and usage errors. Like--a lot of grammar and usage errors. And some continuity ones, just to keep you on your toes. Occasionally they even changed what was being said or was happening--but even when they didn't, they were very distracting. Especially since a good copy edit and a more reliable proofreader could have fixed them before release day. Given my issues with the story itself it probably wouldn't have resulted in a higher rating from me--I tried really hard not to let the mistakes affect that--but it would have made reading an easier chore.
I can appreciate that this was her first effort, and she truly has nowhere to go but up. But this really should have had a lot more editing and revisions before anyone outside of her close friends saw it.
Rating: 2 1/2 stars / C
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.