Track Limits

by M.A. Ford

Is motorsport ready for a gay driver?

As the opening race in the Global GT Challenge approaches, lead driver Mark Hunter struggles to regain his confidence after Randolph Racing’s last disastrous season. Mark hesitates when owner Randy says he’s found the perfect replacement for their arrogant previous teammate, Brad Wilkins. Former single-seater star Jordan Matthews is excited to join the crew and ready to put past troubles behind him.

Trust builds as Mark and Jordan become a fine-tuned team for the number 17 Saleen, earning a podium in Abu Dhabi at the season opener. Their friendship develops into more as they continue to earn prestige for Randolph Racing. But their success sparks jealousy, and people from their pasts threaten vengeance. Jordan is reluctant to ruin his fresh start in racing by exposing the secrets that almost cost him his career ten years ago. If he can’t take the risk, he’ll never realize his dream of kissing Mark on the winner’s podium.

Genres: M M Romance, Contemporary, Romance, Sports

220 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 27, 2013

About the author

M.A. Ford was trying to fulfill her ambition to write a book when a friend persuaded her to take over a reporting assignment at a local racetrack. But instead of gaining the background information necessary for her story, she found herself becoming immersed in the world of motorsport. For nearly twenty years, fiction writing was left to one side, replaced by press releases, race reports, and regulations. But dreams never totally die and finally she has come full circle.

When not at the racetrack, she loves reading, and is grateful that the invention of e-books has stopped her home gradually filling up with books. She lives in Europe and dreams of moving closer to the sea.

E-mail: melandraanne@gmail.com
Website: http://www.melandraanne.com/

Reviews

[Deja Dei · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I liked most about this book is everything that makes it different from your average romance novel. There are plenty of formulaic romance novels to choose from, and I am always really delighted to find something different and unique. The book made me uncertain at first, mostly because of the subject. I'm American, and for me auto racing means Nascar and rednecks (which seems different from European motorsport). I was intimidated by the glossary and a whole bunch of terms I didn't know and makes of cars I wasn't familiar with. I don't know that after reading this I'm any kind of an expert, but after a short time in it didn't bother me, because what shines through from under the technical terms is the motivation of the characters to strive and excel in their field, the same as any athlete who wants to be their best, so it's easy to understand them and want to see them succeed on that level.

The book has a lot to offer. I liked the exotic locations where the races took place, and I could really feel how driven the characters were and how much winning meant to them. I was rooting for them before long! Even though I didn't understand everything that was happening with scoring and podiums and stuff, the races themselves are well done and read like the action scenes they should. I got (good) anxiety reading them and hoping the characters I had come to root for would win and very disappointed for and with them when they fell short. I liked the progression of their relationship, from them being wary of each other, wondering if they were right for Randall Racing, to becoming friends and teammates, and then to slowly progressing into more. Like any good sports story, the first and maybe strongest bond between them is as teammates, which is realistic in the context. Both characters have very good reasons for proceeding cautiously, and they have a lot on their plates beyond the relationship, which I also enjoyed. I'm not a fan of relationships developing in a vaccuum, or of pages and pages of internal monologue. I prefer to see through actions how the characters are developing, and I got that from this book. There's no doubt by the end how these men feel about each other, and I love that it is expressed through action.

In essence this is a sports book and a buddies book where the characters form a deeper connection. Not that they're circumstances diminish the relationship. If anything I felt like their mutual goals made for a very strong foundation for a relationship. In honesty, the way their progressed from teammates to friends to lovers felt more believable to me. I won't lie and say I would have minded seeing these guys get busy at least once, but there was enough meat to other aspects of the story (oh, go ahead and make a joke at my expense) that I didn't mind. I have a good imagination :)

Now if you want: two guys meet, fall in love, sex scene, sex scene, sex scene, no surprises, the end, this book will not be what you expect. The story is more complex than that, and it involves all the layers of these guy's lives, from their careers, their passions for their sport, their relationships with their friends, and their desire to succeed and be the best they can that all great athletes have, how they want to be seen by the world, and what they'll sacrifice to meet their goals. They sometimes have a hard time balancing all this, and doesn't everybody. Along the way they meet, become friends, then lovers, and have to decide how they'll fit into each other's lives.

The truth is I'm having a hard time expressing my thoughts about this book. I feel like it is better than I'm making it sound. I guess I felt like what I had the privelege to see was a complete picture of the lives of these guys, how all the aspects of their lives tangled together and could get messy but ended up kind of great. I SO appreciate the chance to read something different, and the author has a unique voice, understated, like I said, and letting the character's actions speak for them instead of explaining everything. I like that. I don't need everything spelled out, especially when an author does a good job of showing me.

So, don't let the subject matter intimidate you. I know JACK about racing or sports in general. You'll know how the characters feel about it, and that's what matters. Again not a trope or formulaic romance, but the romance is satisfying, but so are all the other facets of the characters and their lives. I haven't read anything like this in a long time, and I'm so glad I took a chance on it. One of the best books I have read in a while. And not one of the best romances--one of the best books all around.

[AngelFire · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF @ 25%

I was really excited to read this because non-hockey MM sports romances are rare anyway and motorsport is a topic I haven't seen done in MM romance before. Unfortunately, the writing is so amateur that it's making it impossible for me to enjoy the story.

The only positive aspect of the story is that the author really does know motorsports very well. She was a racetrack reporter for a long time so everything regarding the motorsports activities was done really well and I found the story interesting. Unfortunately, the writing killed my desire to continue.

Info-Dumping:

The first problem is that the story starts out with a massive glossary of motorsports terminology and it's followed by a lengthy 'welcome to the new season' report/newsletter written from the perspective of racing officials to prospective racers, listing out details regarding specific procedures and policies.

I usually skim through these type of things but I took the time to actually read through the whole thing because I wanted to educate myself. Thank goodness I did because the author makes zero effort at explaining any of the terminology in the text. I get it - the writer spent many years being a racetrack reporter so these terms are second nature to her, but that's not how to write a good story. Many of the terms weren't even overly complicated so it would have been possible to slip an explanation into the text. Some phrases were so easy to understand that I don't even understand why they were included in the glossary (ex. 'driver's briefing' or 'lap time'). But for many terms and phrases, they were impossible to understand without studying the glossary. For example, the introducing racing newsletter/briefing helpfully explains that a HANS is a Head And Neck Support device. In the actual story, there's a line about a character putting on his HANS. If you had skipped over all of the introductory non-story stuff at the start, you would have no idea what the hell HANS could possible be referring to.

I hate it when authors do this. Readers shouldn't have to study and memorize pages of information before starting a story. A good storyteller weaves the explanations for certain things into the narrative. This takes more time and effort than just being lazy and dumping an entire glossary at the start so I refuse to give credit to authors who take the lazy way out.

Amateur Writing Style:

My main issue with the story was that the writing was very amateur.

+ The dialog and narrative was often overly dramatic with way too many exclamation points being used.
+ Character names were used in the dialog way too much.
+ Nearly every line of dialog was followed by a dialog tag and the author went to a lot of trouble (unfortunately) of using different dialog tags all the time.

One of the biggest issues which impacted the romance aspects of the story was that only character actions were described with very few emotions being described. This meant there was zero chemistry between the MCs and when they would randomly hug each other, it just came across as really awkward because we weren't told how they feel prior/during those situations. It was the equivalent of a random stranger coming up to hug you (in a non creepy way). It made me go WTF instead of being happy that the MCs were hugging each other.

In general, the writing was also very...odd. I don't really know how to describe it but it's the type of writing I see beginner writers use a lot. Mostly it involved many sentences being phrased in awkward ways. They were grammatically correct but it reminded me of how a non-native English speaker spoke. In fact, I assumed Mark was a non-native English speaker and that was why his dialog and his narration sounded so odd. But no - he is a native English speaker and everybody talks in this strange way. There were a few very British-y sentences that were good, but the majority of the story consisted of awkward phrases that didn't resemble how somebody actually talks or thinks. I'll never understand why authors don't take the time to read their own dialog outloud to themselves because this would easily show them that what they wrote isn't natural sounding. This was by far my biggest problem because I couldn't get immersed in the story due to this amateur writing style.

Mark's Girlfriend:

This book unfortunately has the good old 'MC-has-girlfriend-but-MC-is-secretly-gay-so-he-treats-girlfriend-like-crap' trope. Mark has suspected he's gay for a long time but he's settled for having relationships with girls for his entire life. That's fine.

What's not fine is that he's been stringing along his current girlfriend for several years, making her believe that he sees a long term future with her, while he actually can barely stand being around her and has no desire to spend the rest of his life with her. He makes excuses about why they can't move in together, he ignores her when he's at home and he gets angry when she tries spending time with him. In fact, he gets really annoyed with her when she gets angry with him when Mark comes home from winning a race and he'd rather spend his evening texting with Jordan than celebrating with her.

I understand that Mark didn't actually love her. My problem was that he's been leading her on and he didn't have the balls to just tell her that she's wasting her time on him. When she finally leaves him, he doesn't care. He's sure that she'll come back to him once she's 'calmed down' and he's acting like he expects her to go back to doing things the way they had been because having a beautiful girlfriend is advantageous to him and he doesn't care how she feels about the situation. I hate stuff like this and I'm so glad that MM romance authors are moving away from having men treating female characters poorly and using their sexual orientation as an excuse for their misogyny. It's a pet peeve of mine and sadly, this book was written in 2013 when many authors were still fully on board the old 'it's-okay-to-hate-women' MM romance train.

Conclusion:

Overall, I really wish this story had been written by a better writer because the premise was solid, the characters were interesting and I would love to have more motorsports MM romances out there because it's the type of sport that actually works very well for MM romance pairings.

[Stevie Carroll · Rating 5 out of 5]

Previously reviewed on The Good, The Bad, & The Unread:

I’ve been saying for a while now that more books need to be written with motorsport as a backdrop. I’ve found a few romances set around the various US-based series, but generally found that they either concentrate on the central relationship to the exclusion of everything that makes that world exciting and fresh, or they’re written from an outsider’s point of view and don’t quite catch the atmosphere, camaraderie and in-jokes of the world I grew up around. Now, however, my prayers seem to have finally been answered by MA Ford, an industry insider writing about a fictitious international racing series that takes place across some very real (and often historic) European circuits.

Mark Hunter is lead driver and team manager for Randolph Racing, competing in the Global GT Challenge series (think Le Mans but with less of the glamour and with one hour sprint races instead of 24-hour endurance races). In the team’s first season, they struggled due to inexperience (two of Mark’s team mates were completely new to GT cars) and also due to Mark’s co-driver being an unlikable drama queen. This year the team owner, the astoundingly rich Randy Randolph, has promised that his surprise signing will make all the difference. Not that he’s going to tell them who he’s hired until the very last minute, much to Mark’s annoyance.

The new driver, when he finally arrives at the start of pre-season testing, turns out to be Mark’s hero from his early days of motor racing: Jordan Matthews, who rose meteorically through the lower series to have one reasonably successful season in Formula 1 before disappearing from European motorsport entirely. Mark has heard rumours that Jordan left after a row with his team and has been racing less successfully in the US and South America for more than a decade, but can’t understand how anyone could fall out with a guy who sets everyone at their ease.

Then, after the first race, and a few celebratory drinks, Jordan tells him the real story. Jordan is gay and had been having a relationship with the lead driver in his team. The team’s management couldn’t handle the idea and sent him away in the hope that he’d start behaving more in the way that they wanted. Mark doesn’t see a problem: Jordan’s an excellent driver, and what he does away from the track shouldn’t come into it. Then he starts thinking back to his early days in the sport and the guy he fell for back then – memories he’s been suppressing ever since – a driver he still sees around from time to time, even though they aren’t currently competing against each other, who encouraged and then rejected Mark, much to his confusion.

Since that first encounter, Mark has had a few casual relationships with women and then a long-term girlfriend, whom he doesn’t live with, preferring to stay in his tiny flat over the racing car garages. The relationship is obviously continuing through inertia rather than through anything more meaningful, and when she breaks up with him because she feels that she’s a distant third in his priorities – compared to the team and then his shiny new friendship with Jordan – Mark can’t understand why he isn’t more upset. His friendship with Jordan is blossoming, though, and the team becomes ever more successful.

Even before their friendship develops into a romance, threats start to appear on the horizon, with first Mark’s former team mate and then his ex-boyfriend showing up to drive for rival teams. Both men have reasons for wanting revenge on Mark, and when they apparently become friends, it’s only a matter of time before they start spreading rumours about Mark and Jordan’s off-track activities. Then the boys are forced to make a potentially career-changing decision over whether or not they come out.

Written before Tom Daley’s recent coming out, the dilemmas the characters face in this book as gay sportsmen feel very real. The reactions from fellow drivers, from fans and the press, as well as from motorsport officials mirror those seen before and after Tom’s YouTube declaration, and the handling of the whole situation by the drivers and the team covers a lot of issues that are going to come up whenever two drivers have more than a working relationship – whether they’re closely related, best friends, or life-partners. The sex scenes are very understated in this book, but the excitement of the race descriptions more than makes up for that.

For those readers unfamiliar with motorsport in general, or with GT racing in particular, the book opens with a handy briefing on the terms used in the story, followed by a couple of press releases that set the scene – yes, it’s that innovative storytelling that I love once again – then each chapter is headed with the location where the action is set, along with an excerpt from the rules of the racing series that sets up the main theme of the chapter or explains a plot point. All very clever stuff, not to mention those edge-of-your-seat action sequences. I can’t wait to see what Ford gives us next – I hear she has at least two more books planned about these guys.

[Caroline Brand · Rating 4 out of 5]

REVIEWED FOR PRISM BOOK ALLIANCE

A gay racing driver! Now there’s a thought! Come on sports.....catch up!

This is a new author for me and one I will be keeping an eye on. This is a book filled with a lot of knowledge and technical detail and has obviously been written by someone who has a clear love and passion for racing. The small details really give you a sense of what it is like to be in the garages, pits or even out on the tracks.
I wouldn’t call it a romance, more of a sweet love story that slowly bubbles in the background before being forced out into the open. There are lots of sweet kisses but everything else is off the page.
The glossary at the beginning is a little intimidating but don’t worry about it as you don’t need to read it for the story.
Mark Hunter kissed a man once and it was everything he wished it could be. The man he kissed told him later it could never happen again as it would ruin their racing careers. As racing is all that Mark loved and cared about in life he never did it again and currently has a girlfriend.
Marks previous year of racing had not gone as planned. His partner had been trouble from the start and upset everyone on the team. As a result his confidence has taken a dent and he nervously awaits the arrival of yet another partner at the start of the season.
Jordan Matthews was an up and coming future star of formula one ten years ago until he was found in bed with his teammate...another man. The team quickly got rid of him and spends his time out of the spot light now.
When Mark and Jordan first meet just before the season starts they immediately hit it off and a strong friendship quickly forms. They work well together in all the different aspects of racing and are very quickly on the podium.
As in any sport there is jealousy. Mark hasn’t seen the man he kissed all those years ago but suddenly he is everywhere he looks. Add to that the partner from hell from last year and going out on the track starts to get dangerous.
Jordan recognises his feelings for Mark very quickly but for Mark it takes a little longer as there is still fear in the back of his mind. When his relationship fails with his current girlfriend he ends up in the arms of his racing partner and from there the relationship changes.
When both men come under a threat of blackmail they must decide what is most important to them and whether they are strong enough to declare their love for each other and take that final step.
The one good thing about reviewing is that you get to read books that you may not have otherwise. This probably wouldn’t have been something I would have picked up normally and I would have missed out on a good read!

[Fenriz Angelo · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I was looking at my library on the kindle and I found this book. In the beginning I was quite excited to read it because I have always liked motorsports specially indie car racing. Anyways...the book was entertaining enough for me to enjoy but I felt disappointed about the develop of the relationship, I expected not more focus on it but instead another approach to it, you get me? Like...i think the pairing was a bit forced and I didn't feel the chemistry between the MCs. A bit slow would have been better or showing more affection. But it comes down to the writing style, the way this book is written is in a more tell than show way and while it worked with everything related to the races it faltered in the relationship part of the book.

I would recommend this book only to people who really enjoy the sport and wants a easy going story about how two men meet, fall in love and go out of the closet to show the public that gays can be in sports too. Which is a good message (though i side-eyed some comments about gays not wanting to leave the closet) and while this book is set on 2012 I recall back to 2013-2014 some racers on interviews said that it's really not a problem to be gay or a female in the racing sport since everybody is supportive and you just need to be good to be in the field. And yeah...after years while NASCAR seems still a bit *conservative* indie racing like the le mans, GT, monster jam and others I don't remember rn are pretty open to accept anyone who's good, the main problem is the fans who still think either your gender or sexuality influences your driving skills.

[Feliz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Big kudos for knowledgeable writing about a world most people only know from afar, GT car racing. And another bonus point for the writing itself- good pace, great action.
This book is only for those who don't cringe at the thought of motorsports, for that's what it's mainly about, with the story of a friendship-turned -romance thrown in. I found it worth reading for the message alone, but again,only pick this up if you're not put off by motorsport tales.

[Nic · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I read MA Ford's bio, I wasn't surprised to see she has a background in the world of motorsport. It sure comes across in her writing. There is a real sense of the life in the sport and what being part of GT racing is all about. At first I was very nervous, the story stating with a glossary of motorsport terminology - and there was a lot! - and then a brief history of GT racing in Europe. I almost lost my desire to read the book before it has really even started. Luckily I kept going!

After the glossary and the history, the story starts and it starts in a quite unique way. First a press release and then a internal note to the teams and drivers, welcoming them to the season and issuing instructions. Different but interesting.

This is the story of the team leader Mark and his new co-driver Jordan. Mark made a choice, many years ago, to deny his true sexuality and choose a path which includes girlfriend Sally. Jordan is closeted and had a Formula 1 career cut short by a sexual relationship with another driver that went wrong.

A strong friendship develops between the men. For Jordan it is instant attraction and even more, for Mark it takes a little longer to admit it is more than friendship.

Lots of drama with race scenes, and rage on the track, as the budding relationship between Jordan and Mark is tested. This is a story of facing the truth about a relationship and taking steps to not live in fear or allow others to dictate how you live your life.

I liked the way Sally wasn't written to be a complete bitch, I liked the fulfillment of Jordan's podium dream (although I think the coming out climax of the story could have been enhanced and had more dramatic effect by not occurring at the press conference but happening on the podium itself - yes, I'm a softy for big, elaborate public declarations of love and coming out scenes) and I liked the characters of both Jordan and Matt. They are just all round nice guys.

The main down side of the story was the lack of on page sex.
"Come on." Jordan muttered as they quickly removed their clothes. It was all so new, so unfamiliar, and yet seemed so absolutely right.
Afterward, Mark stretched out on one of the narrow beds......."
The guys sort of started and then there was fade to black. I definitely wanted more on-page action! It felt like a real tease!

I publish all my m/m reviews on my blog so if you want to see all my m/m reviews in one place come visit at Because Two Men Are Better Than One!

[Shelby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well this author clearly knows a lot about race cars and the circuit. The rich details in this story were fascinating. I've always thought all forms of car racing were boring and monotonous. While I don't think I'll run out and watch a race I was entranced by the driving/pit details in this story. There was a lot more to it than I would have expected.

Mark and Jordan were a good couple. I liked how they came together. It just didn't feel like there was a lot of depth in how things developed. It was all a little easy for someone who has denied their sexuality for too long. But together they were a great couple.

So Brad was a total douche-nozzle and awaiting his downfall was highly entertaining. You know there's no way he can win in the end, but I was eagerly anticipating his final failure. Mark and Jordan deserved their happy ending.

[Marge · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found the racing events very interesting and not overwhelming at all. I love main characters who are professionals who are competent and good at their jobs, who come to respect each other as teammates and then fall in love. Since that's exactly what we got here, I really enjoyed it. Most of the sex was fade to black, which was fine by me, since I felt the love and caring were still evident.

The villains were perhaps a touch too villainy, but not too over the top. The general acceptance of the guys' relationship when they came out was nicely done. I fear it might not go quite as easily in real life, but we all hope it would be so.

I was surprised at how suspenseful the last race felt as I was reading it. I could almost see the scene playing out as it would on a movie screen or in real life. And the final podium scene was definitely worth the the leadup. A great book!

[Pjm12 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This author clearly knows her motor-sports. The race details were all authentic and detailed. If you aren't interested in car racing you might want to give this one a miss.

Also it's a true romance. There's no graphic smexy times. Although Jordan & Mark do eventually start a physical relationship, we only hear about the kisses.

The messages about gay athletes are both positive and not too preachy. The villains are a little evil. Really? Would they get away with all the stunts they pull? It always comes down to the heroes to take the higher ground and not sink to the low level. I hate that sort of unfairness.

Fast paced with a nice bit of tension built in and around the racing.

I guess this is my last book of 2013.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to say, the best part about writing reviews for a blog is reading books I never would have considered choosing otherwise. Okay, sometimes it’s not such a success story but I started reading Track Limits thinking I was taking one for the team (motorsports? no thanks) and was completely shocked when not only did I not suffer through it, I absolutely loved it.

My full review is posted on the Blog of Sid Love
http://sidlove.com/2014/02/21/book-re...

[Sali · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story!
I love it. The focus is more on the racing than the relationship. But it's not too much, just enough information to understand and not get bored.
We see them struggle as human being, see them getting friend, then more, it's fade to black.
I wouldn't mind reading more on this world!

[Secretly Reading · Rating 2 out of 5]

Originally reviewed for The Book Vixen

In a Nutshell: This is more a story of how two men come out to the racing community than two men falling in love. The relationship was much less the focus than the plot and that’s not why I read romance.

Why I Read this Book: I love gay athlete stories so the synopsis had me at that.

What I Liked: This is a great story about the world of racing, from the courses to the cars to the drivers and mechanics. I liked that the entire team, not just Mark and Jordan, were important parts of the story. I know nothing about racing but this author successfully made me feel the community of a racing team and how they relate to all the other teams racing against them. The exotic locations like Southern France and Abu Dhabi are great backdrops to these harrowing races.

The plot focuses on Mark and Jordan coming out in GT racing, and that’s an interesting plot which kept my attention. I really like how the novel included Mark’s ex-girlfriend, as well as Mark and Jordan’s teammates in this coming out story. The villains are as expected but provide the right catalyst for the big coming out reveal.

What I Didn’t Like: I thought this would be a romance and it’s really not. Sure, Mark and Jordan fall in love but their romance isn’t the book’s focus. The men talk and text as friends and teammates and then suddenly one night they “get lost in sensations”. There is very little inner dialogue on either man’s part as they become boyfriends and the emotional intimacy is verbal only. The sexual intimacy is G rated and doesn’t offer any more relationship insight than the emotional intimacy so it was all a miss for me. I read romance to watch how two characters fall in love, not just be told that they do.

IMO: If racing is your thing then maybe Track Limits will interest you but for pure romance fans I wouldn’t recommend this.
*review copy provided by publisher*

[Annika · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found this book to be incredibly dull to be honest. I had to force myself to keep reading, and if I hadn’t needed the book for a challenge I would’ve DNF’d it at 20%.

Nothing about this book drew me in. The plot and the characters were cardboard flat, no world building or character development to speak of. For me there was no chemistry between the MC’s and I found their relationship to be lacking to say the least. I also found that this book read more as a report of events and not like a novel.

It is very obvious that the author knows a lot about racing and the racing world, but I my opinion she spends too much time trying to educate the reader rather than developing her story. It’s just a miss-match of short snippets in time put together to form something trying to resemble a book and story line.

[The Novel Approach · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although this isn’t real life, the author portrays a very positive scenario. Mark and Jordan received a pretty good response from their peers. I truly don’t believe it would’ve gone very well had they been in America and were involved with NASCAR. I’m almost 100% sure a gay race car driver just wouldn’t be tolerated here. Maybe one day, hopefully soon, it just won’t be an issue.



See the entire review at The Novel Approach: http://thenovelapproachreviews.com/20...

[George · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just grabbed this book because I love F1 GT Rally and cars and sports in general, the story line flowed along much better than I was expecting, It surprised me!

[Shayla Mist · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review at Read the Rainbow

[Marinieves · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to say this book is different from what I have been expecting.
The story is more based in the racing than the relationship of the characters.
Even though it rather interesting.

[*Nan* · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Icesumly · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars