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Formation 1 #3
Coming Second
Sam Campbell has suffered from an unrequited crush on his teammate for years. When they find each other at the club, his desire finally feels reciprocated. Only, it isn’t his teammate’s ass he’s grinding against—it’s his biggest rival’s. Thomas doesn’t seem particularly happy about the mix-up either, but he has a plan to satisfy both of their needs. As long as feelings aren’t involved, no one will get hurt.
For fans x DriverRivals to LoversForbidden LoversFuckboy Falls FirstDriver's Room BJ's
🏎️ 🏎️ 🏎️/5
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️/5
The Formation 1 Series is a collection of stand-alone short romance novels. Each season spans one year of the fictional single-seater racing sport, Formation 1. The books can be read in any order, but they are interconnected by events that occur both on and off the track.
For fans x DriverRivals to LoversForbidden LoversFuckboy Falls FirstDriver's Room BJ's
🏎️ 🏎️ 🏎️/5
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️/5
The Formation 1 Series is a collection of stand-alone short romance novels. Each season spans one year of the fictional single-seater racing sport, Formation 1. The books can be read in any order, but they are interconnected by events that occur both on and off the track.
172 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 25, 2025
About the author
Desiree Champagne
4 books14 followersDESIREE CHAMPAGNE is a Sparkling Author, produced and fermented on the west coast of the United States. She pairs well with her wife and cats, but keep her away from social obligations and out of direct sunlight.
She is passionate about single seat racing series and the characters who bring the sport to life. She can only hope that her Formation 1 series does them justice.
She is passionate about single seat racing series and the characters who bring the sport to life. She can only hope that her Formation 1 series does them justice.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
March 14, 2026
Story: 4 stars
Cover: 4 1/2 stars
This was the best of the first three books in this series. There was still a good amount of racing but the romance took center stage. Told entirely in Sam’s POV wasn’t as detrimental as the first two books were. I still had a very good hold on a Thomas’s feelings.
Lucas has now been prevalent in two books and I really want his story!!! I hope we get it.
This cover is perfect! Sam and Thomas with their first choices on either sides of them but almost as an afterthought, which is how the story unfolds.
Cover: 4 1/2 stars
This was the best of the first three books in this series. There was still a good amount of racing but the romance took center stage. Told entirely in Sam’s POV wasn’t as detrimental as the first two books were. I still had a very good hold on a Thomas’s feelings.
Lucas has now been prevalent in two books and I really want his story!!! I hope we get it.
This cover is perfect! Sam and Thomas with their first choices on either sides of them but almost as an afterthought, which is how the story unfolds.
November 2, 2025
This is a rivals to more racing sports romance, featuring Sam and Thomas, and is book three in the Formation 1 series.
Sam has suffered from an unrequited crush on his teammate for years. When they find each other at the club, his desire finally feels reciprocated. Only, it isn’t his teammate’s ass he’s grinding against, it’s his biggest rival. Thomas doesn’t seem particularly happy about the mix-up either, but he has a plan to satisfy both of their needs. As long as feelings aren’t involved, no one will get hurt.
This is a low angst, steamy rivals story with a great racing backdrop. The chemistry is great, and watching “no feelings” turn into all the feelings is fun to read.
Things to expect in this book are:
Book 3 in series
MM sports romance
Rivals to more
Driver x Driver
Rival teams
Mistaken identity
Secret hookups
Unrequited crushes
No feelings pact
Spicy times
Catching feelings
HEA hint
Sam has suffered from an unrequited crush on his teammate for years. When they find each other at the club, his desire finally feels reciprocated. Only, it isn’t his teammate’s ass he’s grinding against, it’s his biggest rival. Thomas doesn’t seem particularly happy about the mix-up either, but he has a plan to satisfy both of their needs. As long as feelings aren’t involved, no one will get hurt.
This is a low angst, steamy rivals story with a great racing backdrop. The chemistry is great, and watching “no feelings” turn into all the feelings is fun to read.
Things to expect in this book are:
Book 3 in series
MM sports romance
Rivals to more
Driver x Driver
Rival teams
Mistaken identity
Secret hookups
Unrequited crushes
No feelings pact
Spicy times
Catching feelings
HEA hint
December 31, 2025
how do they get even better?
what started as a way to forget other people…well damn now they’re in love!
the banter was sooo good. sam and thomas have this connection .. a place where they are themselves but as always it’s not always coming in second place.
the angst, the hurt. gahhh my heartstrings. i absolutely adored their relationship. i think they’re my favorite in the series.
what started as a way to forget other people…well damn now they’re in love!
the banter was sooo good. sam and thomas have this connection .. a place where they are themselves but as always it’s not always coming in second place.
the angst, the hurt. gahhh my heartstrings. i absolutely adored their relationship. i think they’re my favorite in the series.
August 26, 2025
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 rounded up to 4!
This was a fun, short, and super spicy F1 Romance! I loved that even though we were seeing the Romance unfold between Sam & Thomas, we also got to see soooo much racing and F1 action! You can definitely tell Desiree knows the racing world, because it was all portrayed so well!
If you’re looking for a new F1 Romance, definitely try this one yet! I’m also so excited bc this is only one of the books in the series, so now I’m excited to read the other two!
This was a fun, short, and super spicy F1 Romance! I loved that even though we were seeing the Romance unfold between Sam & Thomas, we also got to see soooo much racing and F1 action! You can definitely tell Desiree knows the racing world, because it was all portrayed so well!
If you’re looking for a new F1 Romance, definitely try this one yet! I’m also so excited bc this is only one of the books in the series, so now I’m excited to read the other two!
January 7, 2026
hoping next year is ferarro's year
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 6, 2026
😞
First, this author is a terrific writer, and don’t take this review as a reason not to read this book, because my beef with it clearly bothers few people, in fact, no one else to date. But, if I’d had a review like mine with enough info, I would have chosen to skip it. So here it is in case this level of info helps others.
People who can take reading on-page detailed OP action after MCs have been physically intimate for half a book or more, you also have no need to read this review; consider reading the book, because there’s a lot of unique, creative, and interesting emotional development here.
Two top-of-their-game “Formation 1” (F1) race car drivers, Sam and Thomas, agree to be F-buddy substitutes for each other for the men they want and can’t have. And even with Thomas calling Sam by his wish-you-were-him man’s name (Rafael) when he comes, and Sam thinking of his fantasy man, Lucas, the entire first two times they’re intimate and then getting disoriented when he realizes, oh right, I’m with Thomas, this probably would have been a 3-star read, because the emotional evolution is messy, nuanced, and riveting. And yes, Virginia, I did read the whole book.
But, there’s a gratuitous, on-page, detailed OW sex scene in the middle, long after these two have been intimate, that is not used to develop character or raise stakes and create tension, is never addressed at all by either hero, has no impact whatsoever on the plot, and for that? 1-star. Anyone who has my OP-action hang-ups, don’t go here. And yes, I was warned, I’m sorry @Olive you were so kind, you tried, it’s my fault I assumed the f-boy antics were all the mentions of being a f-boy up front, not mid-book. I stepped on that damn rake myself and have the bruised face and heart to prove it.
I am a fool, and a throwback, and yes, made an a-s-s of myself with the assumption that, based on the previous books, nothing like that would happen more than halfway through the book.
Silly me.
Anyone who wants to know, here’s the scoop. The MCs are circling each other resentfully but doggedly, have developed a messed-up F-buddies situation that’s leading to Feelings, but, they’re at different levels of not yet admitting it even to themselves and becoming inner messes because of it. Thomas cries off one night, so:
That same night, he goes back to Thomas’s hotel room with him and Thomas asks him to cuddle in bed with him all night. And Sam thinks
So I guess Sam has amnesia too, because…my dude, you DID just In the club. 🤢🤢🤢🤮
It was devastating.
Question though, what did the OP sex do for the plot that just including the horny body shots moment wouldn’t have accomplished? The MCs don’t even address it. I’m pretty sure Thomas doesn’t know it happened. So once again, OP action ruined a book for me, and the MCs don’t even care. Don’t even discuss it. It isn’t a setup for drama or anything. Just a gratuitous OP sex scene.
🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯😭
The writing remains stellar and nuanced, and the racing is terrific and authentic, with heart-wrenching twists rising tension right through the end. Clearly this author knows car racing. The romance also has a roller coaster of highs and lows and awws. Eventually.
Other reviewers love the story, and I understand why. On either side of that inexplicable moment, it is otherwise a mesmerizing train wreck that turns into a strong, conflicted intense situationship to a confusing morass of Feels and eventually love (though it’s another book that ends with I love yous, but racing comes first. So Coming Second is an accurate title; they come in second to each other’s careers. I’d call it a Happy For Now, because, I’m not sure they’d make it through major career challenges that put them at odds. And they spent half a book pretending and genuinely wishing each other was someone else, which, weird, because neither looks anything like the person the other was imagining. But. Okay. Unique setup.)
I hear book 4 is back to remaining focused on a main couple/does not include OP action, so, fragilely, warily, I’ll give it a chance. But right now, I’m just…crushed.
First, this author is a terrific writer, and don’t take this review as a reason not to read this book, because my beef with it clearly bothers few people, in fact, no one else to date. But, if I’d had a review like mine with enough info, I would have chosen to skip it. So here it is in case this level of info helps others.
People who can take reading on-page detailed OP action after MCs have been physically intimate for half a book or more, you also have no need to read this review; consider reading the book, because there’s a lot of unique, creative, and interesting emotional development here.
Two top-of-their-game “Formation 1” (F1) race car drivers, Sam and Thomas, agree to be F-buddy substitutes for each other for the men they want and can’t have. And even with Thomas calling Sam by his wish-you-were-him man’s name (Rafael) when he comes, and Sam thinking of his fantasy man, Lucas, the entire first two times they’re intimate and then getting disoriented when he realizes, oh right, I’m with Thomas, this probably would have been a 3-star read, because the emotional evolution is messy, nuanced, and riveting. And yes, Virginia, I did read the whole book.
But, there’s a gratuitous, on-page, detailed OW sex scene in the middle, long after these two have been intimate, that is not used to develop character or raise stakes and create tension, is never addressed at all by either hero, has no impact whatsoever on the plot, and for that? 1-star. Anyone who has my OP-action hang-ups, don’t go here. And yes, I was warned, I’m sorry @Olive you were so kind, you tried, it’s my fault I assumed the f-boy antics were all the mentions of being a f-boy up front, not mid-book. I stepped on that damn rake myself and have the bruised face and heart to prove it.
I am a fool, and a throwback, and yes, made an a-s-s of myself with the assumption that, based on the previous books, nothing like that would happen more than halfway through the book.
Silly me.
Anyone who wants to know, here’s the scoop. The MCs are circling each other resentfully but doggedly, have developed a messed-up F-buddies situation that’s leading to Feelings, but, they’re at different levels of not yet admitting it even to themselves and becoming inner messes because of it. Thomas cries off one night, so:
That same night, he goes back to Thomas’s hotel room with him and Thomas asks him to cuddle in bed with him all night. And Sam thinks
So I guess Sam has amnesia too, because…my dude, you DID just In the club. 🤢🤢🤢🤮
It was devastating.
Question though, what did the OP sex do for the plot that just including the horny body shots moment wouldn’t have accomplished? The MCs don’t even address it. I’m pretty sure Thomas doesn’t know it happened. So once again, OP action ruined a book for me, and the MCs don’t even care. Don’t even discuss it. It isn’t a setup for drama or anything. Just a gratuitous OP sex scene.
🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯😭
The writing remains stellar and nuanced, and the racing is terrific and authentic, with heart-wrenching twists rising tension right through the end. Clearly this author knows car racing. The romance also has a roller coaster of highs and lows and awws. Eventually.
Other reviewers love the story, and I understand why. On either side of that inexplicable moment, it is otherwise a mesmerizing train wreck that turns into a strong, conflicted intense situationship to a confusing morass of Feels and eventually love (though it’s another book that ends with I love yous, but racing comes first. So Coming Second is an accurate title; they come in second to each other’s careers. I’d call it a Happy For Now, because, I’m not sure they’d make it through major career challenges that put them at odds. And they spent half a book pretending and genuinely wishing each other was someone else, which, weird, because neither looks anything like the person the other was imagining. But. Okay. Unique setup.)
I hear book 4 is back to remaining focused on a main couple/does not include OP action, so, fragilely, warily, I’ll give it a chance. But right now, I’m just…crushed.
January 13, 2026
This is the third book in the Formation 1 series. This is also a forbidden romance between two rival drivers. Thomas and Sam both have feelings for their respective teammates, but it’s not reciprocated. The pair decides to hook up instead to blow off steam. What they don’t anticipate is catching feelings for one another. This book was so fun and fast paced. I loved have easy Thomas and Sam fell into a relationship. I especially loved the drivers rooms scene… ifykyk 🤭
September 7, 2025
I love me a good enemies to lovers, so this was *chef's kiss*
I have to admit, I do giggle every time I read the team names, I always imagine Charles in a ferrero rocher coloured race suit. Lowkey gives the Haas in the Rich energy era, which is.... a throwback.
I have to admit, I do giggle every time I read the team names, I always imagine Charles in a ferrero rocher coloured race suit. Lowkey gives the Haas in the Rich energy era, which is.... a throwback.
September 4, 2025
everything is about the WDC except the WDC which is about the sex you're not having with your teammate
October 21, 2025
This one was better than Switch Positions and equally as good as Dirty Air
January 30, 2026
I love this entire book series, and I read all 3 within 2 days.
Read
February 13, 2026This was my favourite out of the 3 so far.
February 18, 2026
OH THIS ONE HAS THE SAUCEEEEEE
February 27, 2026
3.25/5. After reading all three available right now, the first is by far and away the best one.
March 17, 2026
it gets two stars purely for the fact that it’s genuinely hilarious at parts and for the fact that it doesn’t drag on.
October 21, 2025
In the midst of one of the steamiest books I’ve ever read, Sam’s redemption arc gives this book heartwarming depth.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews