Downforce

Pit Lane #1

by Hannah Lily

When Jonah Scott signed for Durand Racing four years ago, everyone thought he’d take them back to their glory days, like his dad and grandpa did before him. Now he’s going into his fourth year in Formula 1 without a world championship under his belt, and everyone is starting to question if he has what it takes, himself included.

As the team’s mistakes and race losses stack up, and the media won’t let him ignore his shortcomings, he does everything he can to avoid media obligations, branding them as enemy number one. Until Olivia Fraser turns up in the paddock and demands his attention.

Despite being told her interest in Formula 1 is nothing more than fancying hot drivers, Olivia Fraser doesn’t let that stop her from claiming her dream job as a Formula 1 presenter. She’s used to being told she doesn’t deserve a place on The Formula Way team, and her knowledge of the sport is constantly called into question. She’s usually able to keep her cool, but when she clashes with Jonah Scott, she finds it harder to bite her tongue than usual.

Rumours spiral, and the two of them are forced on a road trip across Europe to try and put out the fires of the clashes they’ve had in the paddock. Many hours spent in Jonah’s car, a few shared hotel rooms, and a dangerous bet later, they discover they have more in common than they thought and learn that maybe first impressions aren’t always the best.

Genres: Romance, Sports Romance, Sports, Enemies To Lovers, Forced Proximity, Contemporary, Racing

494 pages, ebook

First published February 22, 2024

About the author

Hannah Lily is a UK-based author with a love for both romance books and formula 1. With dreams of writing a book since she was younger, she’s combined her dream with her love for the sport and romance books to bring The Pit Lane series to life.

Reviews

[Chloë · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have a lot to say about this book. I feel like the strong messages about women in a traditionally sexist and male space are completely overshadowed by so many silly elements. I just could not take the FMC seriously. The constant lip/cheek nibbling, crashing into the chest of the main character, and her total lack or professionalism was just so off-putting.

One of my main issues is that this book is so contradictory. She doesn’t like conflict, yet literally fights with the MMC non stop. She preaches about how they as presenters need to be objective…but goes on a road trip with one specific driver and gives him loads of great press…but then does an entire monologue on LIVE TV about how she’s got her own opinions and nobody takes them seriously??

I didn’t believe the connection between the two characters. They were so childish and the entire relationship felt sexually charged more than anything. They just didn’t match up as a couple.

SO many grown adult characters in this book are so wildly unprofessional it’s actually scary. They should all be unemployed. That’s not just the FMC. Men too. But just because she’s making a point about it also being a space for women, it doesn’t absolve her from criticism.

What I personally got from the end of this book was that the only meaningful change for women in f1 came from the MMC. Totally fine if people think otherwise but, that’s just me.

This book wasn’t totally unenjoyable, the found family was really sweet and a very strong unit for the MMC & FMC. There was a lot of accurate, technical F1 jargon which shows that the author is a fan who loves the sport. The vibes were also really great, race atmospheres were captured really well. Also, no third act breakup which is always a win.

So, unfortunately not for me - but I know it’s a favourite for many people so don’t let this discourage you from giving it a try yourself.

[Zoë · Rating 2 out of 5]

“ugh i want everyone to take me seriously” - she says, while letting everyone rile her up on live TV with literally one comment, being biased in her journalism by covering only one driver over everyone else over the summer break, only getting her job because her dead dad’s best friend was her boss, and saying she didn’t want anyone to know that they were dating before publicly, kissing him multiple times

[thea. (aaron warner’s version)]

₊˚⊹🏎️ dnf 55%

This was looking very promising - f1 romance, enemies to lovers, close proximity… and it was okay from the start. But as story goes on and on? I’m TIRED from our two mc (no depth, no emotion connection just pure sexual attraction and definitely not relatable characters) and i’m TIRED of their interactions (it was likeee 85% sexual and i just can’t do this anymore), i’m simply so fed up with it I can’t - and this book is five.hundred.pages.LONG 😭 is this length necessary? Nope. Definitely no.

”Funny how you couldn’t keep your hands off me in the hallway, and now I’m inviting you to do so, you’re just standing there. Performance issues?” she teased. I knew she was trying to get a rise out of me, and it was working. “You know I only have those in the car.”
- what more to say…😭

———♡———
That’s something new…. maybe i’ll become f1 fan after this, who knows🤷‍♀️😂

[Jess · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF but i’m counting it bc i spent so much time in this damn book

[Kaity · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love these two idiots <3

[Em (semi-hiatus) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ik one could make bulshitting around a profession, but not like this

[Kim Charlotte · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book mentions five (5) times that our female lead is drinking a Peroni. The amount of Peroni's girlie drank varied, but wild product placement.

Fun statistic aside, this book was not as horrendous as other F1 romances I read previously (I have read horrendous shit so the bar wasn't too high in the first place), but it was not good either.
Be aware of spoilers in this review.

A lot of its shortcomings are coming back to the writing style and how the author portrays F1 beyond the racing.

I have to admit, Hannah Lily did her research on the sport. The explanations in the book would be helpful for someone that hasn't watched F1 that much. However, most of this information is generally quite basic and is something that you might pick up on while watching a race as well, so as a long-time viewer, most of it did feel redundant.

It was comprised of motorhomes that teams built specifically for a race weekend to house their meeting rooms and hospitality areas for the team, invited guests and sponsors. While they were called motorhomes, they looked more like miniature skyscrapers.

Whatever, not going to punish her for it.

Although she did a good job on explaining the F1 as a sport, everything beyond it was pretty juvenile, excessive and sensationalist (hello? hoards of fans in front of a hotel?? This is not 1D)

Once again, people are too chronically obsessed with the drivers on social media and the journalists are acting like a bunch of unprofessional paparazzi. I have said it before and I will say it again: the F1 journalists are not like Twitter or Tumblr for that matter. For some context, the scene described here is for a press conference which is usually held on a Thursday before a race (?). I tried to read the whole passage several times since the pacing was incredibly confusing.

I knew the producers would eat this up, and social media would have a field day with it. The cracks were finally starting to show on Formula 1's Golden Boy, and I didn't have it in me to fully care. Even the image of Kelly's furious face wasn't enough to deter me today. However, when I glanced up and spotted the disappointment plastered over Olivia's face, I found myself swallowing the guilty lump in my throat.

Which producers? This isn't Netflix.

This F1 analyst program our female main character is part of should have their accreditation revoked and all people – including our female main character - should get fired. Olivia starts to show extreme bias towards MMC, but then starts acting shocked why she is not being taken seriously like ma’am?? Her colleague sucks because man is just a sexist weirdo, while also blasting out personal information like it is nothing and seems to have personal beef with MMC. It is insane. It is all so much it honestly starts to become quite cartoonish. In conclusion: get them all off the paddock.

Also, every F1 driver is - once again - a little manwhore. It genuinely makes me wonder whether authors of these books know that over half of the 2024 grid is in a stable relationship, single and not there to mingle or - you know - MARRIED? Is that such a foreign concept in these books?

“Don't you have some random girl to make out with?” I snapped back,
and the crooked smile he shot back told me he knew he was getting a rise out of me.
“Maybe I'll go and see if Liv's game."

I have given a bit of a vent already, but yeah. I also need to establish the main characters.

First and foremost, I have absolutely no idea how old either of them are and I don’t remember their ages ever being mentioned in the book. So visualise the ages how much you want, they both act like horny sixteen year old teenagers anyway.
Edit: it took them up to page 291 to mention any age of the characters whatsoever. Jonah is 28 and Olivia is 26.

The characters
Jonah Scott (don't care about this man don't care about his family name whatever just find a therapist and talk things out properly)

Ok. Jonah Scott (Wattpad ass name btw. A friend said they felt it was a Sims generated name which felt close enough). He is Canadian. Lance Stroll land. He talks in MILES. This pissed me off already because according to my Canadian friend they most often use kilometers And man, he does act like a prick. But no it is not a Lance Stroll fanfiction or anything.

His chestnut-brown hair was perfectly messy, sun-kissed skin shining with a layer of sweat from the heat, corded arms on display just to piss me off even more. The way the sun was shining through the garage caught his eyes in a way that made them shine the brightest shade of green I’d ever seen.

Do not try to convince me that is supposed to not be a description of Lando Norris lmao.

Furthermore, and more importantly, he is a legacy kid. By that I mean both his father and grandfather won a WDC in their rookie season and then won 7 and 5 world championships respectively (or vice versa, I don't care, point still stands).
Why is this so exaggerated??? Like nobody in F1 history has won a world championship in their rookie season?? let alone two of the SAME FAMILY??? Lewis Hamilton got close enough I guess but this really felt wildly exaggerating just for the sake of lame storytelling.

The main plot point of him in this story is that he is in his fourth (?) season stuck in a team in which he is acting like a second driver. Not looking good for a kid whose family has built up quite the legacy on this F1 grid. So yeah, he is getting quite the snide remarks and commentary of the F1 presenters on the grid [insert quote if I am not too lazy to find].

And that shit is getting to him quite a bit and he starts lashing out. So yeah, F1's Golden Boy (self-proclaimed to me because man has not shown anything to me to warrant that title) to someone that is gradually falling from grace. And who are the media?

Introducing our female main character.

Olivia
Our girlboss Olivia is a presenter for the Formula Way, one of the F1 analysis programs that are available on the grid. Ever since she was young, she has been passionate about F1. This is mainly caused by her dad who kind of got her addicted to the sport. At the time this book is taking place, he has passed away since. She has to prove herself in the man’s world that is the Formula One grid and so far, it is going….meh.
She has a hard time proving herself as worthy to be an F1 presenter, especially with a colleague that is quite sexist and degrades her constantly. As I mentioned before, this is done in such a cartoon-ish way because everybody is so bloody unprofessional that I literally cannot take it seriously for the life of me. In addition to that, due to Jonah’s previously mentioned insecurities, he is very wary of any type of F1 media. And he particularly has it out for Olivia. Not great. As a consequence, she has been bickering with Jonah for a large chunk of the story, however it is pretty obvious from early on that they still have the obvious hots for each other.

So that is the setting that we find her in at the time of writing.

Regarding Olivia, it is the small things about her that I remember about her, because honestly when you look at the bigger picture she is as bland as unseasoned chicken up to a point at which I don’t really have much to say about her. The way she constantly orders a Peroni. The way she nibbles on her lip or the inside of her cheek. The way she just keeps bumping face first into Jonah’s chest constantly. It are those little things that come up so often that I just feel Pavlov’ed to eyeroll every time I read it.

So when Jonah’s team forces him to clean up his act and redeem his reputation, they ask the Formula Way to help them out. Basically, go on a roadtrip together at the beginning of the F1 summer break, make some cute vlogs (sigh) and make Jonah look approachable and nice to the fans again.

Dynamic
I was left uninterested and so bored. The best way for me to describe their dynamic is simply insta horny. Not even insta-love. Insta horny. For what?

Both of them were ridiculously on/off with one another. In one chapter Jonah is talking shit about her because ‘oh she is one of those presenters that is just here to talk shit about him and critize him left and right’ and from the other moment he is just like ‘I am gonna kill this man that just touches her platonically.’

Olivia isn’t much better honestly. I think she is actually worse than Jonah in that regard. From one moment she is like ‘man can fuck off towards Antarctica or something because he is a dickhead’ and then she is like ‘I envision his hands touching me ********”. Literally.

Yeah.

Katy Perry is a seer because Hot n Cold was literally about them. It is either as hot as Death Valley or as cold as like Siberia with those two. And I don't mean it in a romantic way.

Beyond the insta horny….absolutely nothing. There were scenes in the book that I think were supposed to evoke some emotion in me (their supposed deep talk sessions) but most of them left me indifferent at best and cringing at worst, due to their weird and erratic behaviour as I described above. At no stage of reading this book was I rooting for them to get together. Beyond the whole physical stuff there was absolutely nothing that warranted such strong attraction towards one another. I would rather watch paint dry than read about them again.

And the whole reason of them bonding is a bloody ROADTRIP FOR PR TO RESTORE ML’S REPUTATION??? JUST BEFORE THE SUMMER BREAK??? LIKE THE SHEER BIAS OF THE PRESENTERS??? The fact that this was a concoction of an F1 TEAM??????? Fucking dumb. I get there is only so much forced proximity ideas you can come up with in an F1 romance but this? Wild. It felt like a really cheap set-up particularly when it came to the places they visited (A gondola ride in Venice sounds okay, but the Museum of Broken Relationships and Juliet’s house in Verona? A Setup.). When Jonah said that they’d somehow ‘turned this whole trip into foreplay’ says enough about how that whole trip went. Fun.

I am not going to lie, when I noticed they were finally going to fuck I was relieved. And not in a ‘thank god my bbies got together way’ but in a ‘thank god this stupid hot n cold is finally over way’. I did not read the smut nor will I bother to ever do so. Reading their horny jail worthy thoughts was painful enough.

Because I never really liked the characters that much, it was difficult to ever sympathise with Olivia in particular. Her experiencing a bunch of sexism in the story is a valid thing and is present in the sport and this could have been well-executed. However due to her characterization and the characterization of everyone around her it made it difficult to root for her.

The third act was relatively predictable, but also in some facets so fucking stupid and overall too much. The conflict arising between Olivia and Jonah was coming from miles away, centred mainly around the fact that Olivia is not keen on hard-launching the relationship (understandable). Olivia thinks they are subtle though (which they absolutely are not because even an F3 driver actively called her out on it LMAO). Anyways they have some conflicts about that and other things I am too lazy to discuss about.

What took the cake though was probably the last 5-7 (?) chapters, I genuinely wanted to gauge my eyes out at that point. The male lead becomes world champion. Of course. Quick, pretend to be shocked. This was definitely something I saw coming from like kilometers away (he is Canadian so I will speak in kilometers). Bit cliché and corny but ok. What made it take the cake tho was the fact that his team boss actively sabotaged him?? Like not even Ferrari style giving everyone equally shit treatment but was actively out for him? Fucking insane.

Final rating
Over half of the time I was left bored and uninterested in their dynamic. Points given for semi-decent F1 explanation, because god knows the bar for Booktok is so low. Everyone on that paddock should get fired (1.5 stars).

No beta-review we die like men.

[Elinor. · Rating 3 out of 5]

- ★ ★ . 5

The chemistry between the protagonists is undeniable, and their banter is witty and engaging. I appreciated the slow-burn romance and how the characters' personal growth felt authentic and earned. The side characters also added a nice touch, making the story feel more layered and dynamic.

That said, the book isn't without its flaws. While the plot kept me hooked, there were moments that felt slightly repetitive, and I couldn’t ignore the glaring typo in the text. It wasn’t a dealbreaker, but it did momentarily pull me out of the immersive experience. A bit more careful editing would have polished this gem further.

Overall, this book is an enjoyable read for fans of sports romance and strong female leads. Despite its minor imperfections, it’s a story that will leave you rooting for love both on and off the track!

[Jade · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars!! I was seriously addicted to this book, I read it so fast. It had a little bit of pacing issues throughout the whole book but overall I loved it. The relationship, the friendships, the parental relationships—everything was just so sweet and well written. I am a sucker for haters to lovers through forced proximity. For my first f1 romance it was such an amazing one!

[Kimberlyyyreads · Rating 2 out of 5]

Damn, this book almost drove me into a wall. I literally could not decide whether I liked the characters or not.

Jonah and Liv both were so confusing, they would fawn over each other and the next second they would be bickering over the stupidest stuff.

Some would consider the fighting a form of banter but i found it straight up annoying and immature.

This felt too long of a book tbh 🥲

There were a couple of sweet scenes between them but it wasn’t enough for me to fully be invested

[gudtanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5⭐️

ARC Review

I like that now there are more and more books about Formula 1. Everyone can find the story that will sink into his soul. Unfortunately, this book did not sink into my soul.

It was fun and sweet. I had a great time reading this book, but it was like something was missing. It's hard to explain what exactly. Maybe this story didn't fit my mood, or maybe the book didn't seem particularly realistic to me. I wanted more details about racing, because most of the book is devoted to the summer break in racing.

This story is really atmospheric and interesting. It was fascinating for me to watch the development of the relationship between Olivia and Jonah, although they did not start on the right note, but they were able to build a healthy and empathetic relationship.

[Eva Ruiten · Rating 5 out of 5]

"People either accept you as you are or they don't. That's their problem, not mine."

I’ve been eyeing Downforce for quite a while now but kept seeing mixed reviews about it so never really got around to actually picking it up. When I saw a mutual on Instagram loving it, I decided that now was the time and started reading it almost immediately - and then I couldn’t stop. Besides sleeping for 4 hours, I finished this book in one sitting and it lowkey hurt as I just didn’t want this story to finish.


As a woman that loves Formula 1 and works in a male dominated field, seeing Olivia get treated like that really hurts and hit a little too close to home. I was on the verge of tears too many times, but she was an actual rockstar. The way she and the people around her dealt with it made my heart burst and made me feel so, so proud of her. She was a badass!

Although I absolutely adored both Olivia and Jonah, I’m obsessed with the side characters in this book and feel like it really made the whole thing so much better. Dylan and Olivia’s friendship had me smiling so much throughout the story and just felt so natural, I really feel like they’re platonic soulmates. 

And last but not least: Jonah Scott. The man that you are. At first I couldn’t stand him (naturally lol) but seeing him slowly becoming his most authentic self again really did things to me - even made me tear up at times. He’s really just the sweetest, purest soul out there that genuinely deserves the world. 

The most important thing about this book might be how incredibly it’s written. Hannah Lily really, and I mean REALLY, perfected the actual Formula 1 parts and it made me super happy. Thank you for that.
❤️

Read if you like:
🏎️ f1 romance
🏎️ workplace romance
🏎️ found family
🏎️ forced proximity
🏎️ he falls first

[rach⭑]

a new f1 romance? sign me up🔥

[Anso · Rating 5 out of 5]

i loved this!! i needed a little break from reading so much fantasy and i haven‘t read a sports romance book in a while. this was sooooo good, the story & the writing were both addictive and i just never wanted to put it down. it‘s so nice to see the discourse around women in f1 be presented in such a serious light because i cannot even imagine the scrutiny they receive on an hourly basis. LET WOMEN BE PASSIONATE ABOUT WHAT THEY WANT AND STOP REDUCING THEM TO NAIVE LITTLE PLAYTHINGS!!!! anyways, their chemistry was off the charts, the banter was so fun, the tension excruciating! definitely one of the better sport romances i‘ve read!

[Toka Ahmed · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just love silly cliche easy cute romcom vibes books binge read it in nearly one seating 😗

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 ⭐️ another day another F1 romance but woahhh this one is actually good! Loved the play into empowering women in F1 and making that a big piece of the storyline. Will say, it was LONG. Could have shortened it by a few hundred pages but it still was fun to go along the journey

[Norah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aj preto som to čítala par mesiacov, lebo to malo veľa ups and downs :D

[miranda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Downforce ARC Review

i was very fortunate to receive an ARC of Downforce by Hannah Lily, thank you so much!! ❤️‍🔥

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
🌶️🌶️.5/5

content warning: this book contains topics such as death of a parent (off-page, past event), dealing with grief, sexism and unpleasant comments towards women, implied eating disorder in a side character, low self esteem, sexual content (consensual), explicit language and alcohol use. this book is intended for an 18+ audience.

“i don’t know. for some reason, i can’t seem to say no to you and i like it when you smile and i like that i’m the reason you’re smiling. if that means i have to listen to shitty music and get my car valeted when i get home, then so be it.”

for this being a debut novel, hannah did such an amazing job!! her writing was seamless and made the reading experience super enjoyable! i was hooked from the start and did not want to stop reading!

olivia is the funniest, sassiest, most badass fmc and i absolutely love her. i am obsessed with her and want to be best friends with her!! my heart broke for her so many times though. despite her being a woman in a male dominated career field she handled everything with such grace and i was so glad to finally see her stand up for herself and speak out about the thing she truly cared about!

jonah is the sweetest this man fell head over heels for liv and never got up!! letting her eat in his car even though it’s against his rules, having coffee delivered to her when they aren’t together, ordering her second option when they out to eat in case she regrets her first option…SWOON. he cares so much about liv and always made sure she was taking care of herself. and the thing he did for liv for his last race…immediate sobbing 😭

liv and jonah are my new favorite book couple!! their chemistry was through the roof and i loved the banter and flirting between them. being forced to take a week long road trip together was the perfect setting for them to get to know each other better. seeing these two come into their own and realize their self-worth with the help and encouragement of each other was so heartwarming. the slow burn was definitely SLOW but so worth it in the end!!

this book took me through a rollercoaster of emotions but i loved it so much!! i cannot wait for the next book in this series! once again thank you so much to hannah lily for providing me with this arc ❤️‍🔥

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

not bad but literally why was the road trip at 40% and not 25%. would have been a much better book if all that had been shorter

[steffanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

arc reader

i adore this book! i laughed, i cried, i was angry. any emotion i was meant to feel while reading this book i felt in my bones!

jonah definitely falls harder than olivia and it was so fun to see! as a lover of slow burns, i was all for these two being dumb and in love making each other wait and work for what was inevitable! the way they were so flirty and loved riling the other up…LOVED!

and the side characters just added to my love for this story and i’m excited to see where the rest of the series takes us.

[Fiza Rana · Rating 4 out of 5]

𝙳𝚘𝚠𝚗𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚌𝚎 𝚋𝚢 𝙷𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚊𝚑 𝙻𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚢
⭐️: 𝟺.𝟸𝟻/𝟻
𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲: 𝙲𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚖𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚊𝚛𝚢/𝚂𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚜 𝚁𝚘𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎

Thank you to the author for the Arc! I had a lot of fun reading this!

Jonah and Olivia are THE couple of the paddock. For the formula 1 x romance girlies, lemme tell you, the vibes are immaculate. What happens when they are forced on a week-long trip together? From their fights to their banter to their romance, everything was amazing. The slow burn was something else. The emotional vulnerability showed in this book was written so perfectly because that is something that is not usually portrayed, specially from the mmc’s pov.

This book also covered some very important topics, such as women in motorsport and sexism. The way Olivia handles everything is just impressive. She’s fiery, she’s strong, she’s basically a badass. Jonah being the supportive man he is, is a man of acts of services. This man made sure Olivia was eating properly, from consistently buying her food to delivering her and buying her favourite coffee. The man basically spoils her (as he should...I am so jealous).

We also need to talk about all the secondary characters, they were all so supportive. Especially Dylan, my man. I LOVED HIM. I need a book for him!!!!

I definitely recommend this to everyone who’s an F1 fan (especially Ferrari) because the way the author covers the f1 aspects are so well written. For everyone new to the sport, everything is very well explained!

[Kenzie · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF @ 35%

Honestly this feels like the author took a bunch of cliche scenes and plot lines and just copy/pasted them together. The writing felt amateur & after the 6th time the FMC fell while just walking on a flat surface to get the MMC to touch her I decided to DNF because if the author is going to be THIS lazy then it's not worth finishing

Giving it 1 extra star because the author is clearly a fan of F1 or at least did a good job with her homework on making that aspect believable

[ellora · Rating 4 out of 5]

4⭐️

hands down one of the best debut romance novels i've ever read. the banter, the slow burn, the TENSION??? this book was marvelous, and i absolutely adored jonah and olivia

[Sara Jayne · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF ARC. I think it was too long for a fluffy romance but I did really enjoy what I read! The characters have chemistry which is always nice to read about!

[Beatriz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Achei um livro super fofinho 🥰
Eu 🤝🏼 romances de F1

[Jackie Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 ⭐️

[Tayla Parsons · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enemies to lovers x sports romance- need I say more ???

[Lena &#x1f90d;&#x1f4d6; · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute little F1 romance. Once every few reads I just need one of these. As someone who grew up within formula 1 and someone who got really into it again quite a while ago, this book was nice. Many F1 romances try to get appeal to readers who like F1 and have a certain knowledge about the sport, while simultaneously trying to be enjoyable for those who don’t have the knowledge but are still interested in the book as such. I think Downforce handled this balance well. It wasn’t too technical but had the right amount of F1 input to carry me through summer break (🥲)

I read many negative comments on Goodreads about this book, but I honestly think it’s alright. Might not be the best thing I have ever read, but I didn’t expect it to be.


I did collect a few quotes this time:

„There wasn’t a feeling that came close to what I felt watching those cars out on track. The way my heart gradually beat faster as I waited for the red lights to go out.”
-Downforce

“Growing up as a female Formula 1 fan, I’d been asked which driver I fancied ever since I was old enough to be interested in guys.”
-Downforce

“People either accept you as you are or they don’t. That’s their problem, not mine.”
-Downforce

[Simone ❤️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

We all know how much I love an F1 romance this one has been on my tbr for a while and I absolutely LOVED it! The tension, the banter, the characters everything was just phenomenal - I especially loved Olivia’s character development as well as the deeper meaning about women in motorsport as a female fan if I had a pound for every single time I was told that I just watch the sport because I find the drivers attractive or being asked if I know DRS stands for is crazy, so getting to watch Olivia fight for females in motorsport was so wonderful 🥹

I also absolutely adored the dynamics between all of the characters as whole as well as their individual bonds was so cute; my favourite duo had to be Liv & Dylan i’m sorry if anyone disagrees you are wrong and I won’t listen to you they have the sweetest friendship ever, I literally cannot wait to read Debrief to have more of Dylan & Liv as well as being able to learn more about Dylan as a person because he is just adorable!!

Overall, I really enjoyed this book I loved everything about it even the fact that it was a slow burn as I usually struggle with slow burns as I can be quite impatient (I just want to characters to be all cute & sappy asap) but the burn just worked sooo well in this book it just worked so well with Jonah & Olivia’s dynamic in the first half of the story I just couldn’t get enough of them and I didn’t want the book to end but the ending was perfect so I am very happy with that 🥰 I cannot wait to read book 2, Hannah you’ve got yourself a new fan!

[Alexa Assis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sleep deprivation rounded this up to 3 stars. Sleep deprived Alexa was giggling and kicking her feet.