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Drive
Piper Pierson is on her way to becoming a NASCAR superstar driving for her family's team, Pierson Racing. But a terrible wreck nearly takes her father's life, so Piper trades her dreams of racing for a journalism degree. Writing for the famed NASCAR Weekly newspaper, Piper meets Colt Porter, Pierson Racing's hot-shot new driver and sparks fly. In a world filled with danger and crashes, Colt's mantra is that life is beautiful and must be lived as if every day is the last. He helps Piper realize all she has to live for in spite of the past. But when another senseless accident happens, someone she loves is taken from her, testing her new-found philosophy. Drive is the story of hard truths and disappointments, growing up, and embracing what matters most.
- GenresFiction
298 pages, Paperback
Published October 15, 2019
5 people are currently reading
755 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
October 13, 2019
drive: A NASCAR novel is an enjoyable read. The subject is dear to my heart as I grew up in North Carolina watching NASCAR. The main character, Piper is a princess of NASCAR whose father owns a racing team and was previously a stock car racer himself. Piper is scarred by an event that happened years before and will not drive a car at all. She meets up with Colt Porter, a new driver for her father's team who is basically a star in the world of racing. They go back and forth with trying to date because of her issues and his career. There are other complicating factors at play as well which keep throwing up roadblocks which prevent their relationship from developing the way it should be able to.
I found the storyline to be interesting with some original elements. I was drawn to it because of the topic and am glad to have read it. My only comment for improvement would be that I craved more of an emotional connection to the characters. Even though I liked both of them, I never truly felt their connection to one another which made it difficult for me to feel invested.
This book is the first that I've read by this author, but I'm glad to have discovered her and look forward to reading more of her work.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
I found the storyline to be interesting with some original elements. I was drawn to it because of the topic and am glad to have read it. My only comment for improvement would be that I craved more of an emotional connection to the characters. Even though I liked both of them, I never truly felt their connection to one another which made it difficult for me to feel invested.
This book is the first that I've read by this author, but I'm glad to have discovered her and look forward to reading more of her work.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
September 29, 2019
Predictable, easy-to-read, elusive, heartbreaking.
Drive was an interesting read, but boring for me. Quite predictable and I didn't like how the main character couldn't drive a race car because of her fathers accident. On a side note I found it irritating that Piper the main character kept calling her father "Daddy." It made me think I was reading a teen novel.
The writing style was interesting and that's the only reason why I finished the book. The romance was lacking emotional content. I would've liked more details about racing, and the character development lacked depth.
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the early e-read on Kindle, this is my honest review.
Drive was an interesting read, but boring for me. Quite predictable and I didn't like how the main character couldn't drive a race car because of her fathers accident. On a side note I found it irritating that Piper the main character kept calling her father "Daddy." It made me think I was reading a teen novel.
The writing style was interesting and that's the only reason why I finished the book. The romance was lacking emotional content. I would've liked more details about racing, and the character development lacked depth.
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the early e-read on Kindle, this is my honest review.
October 11, 2019
Susan Strecker brings an authentic voice to her third novel and its NASCAR setting, with her background in the motorsports business. I fell in love with all of her characters—not just the rock-star rookie racecar driver and his beautiful but wounded girlfriend. Even Strecker’s secondary characters are gently flawed, and we love them for their imperfections. Her storytelling drew me in from the beginning and never let me go. Strong themes of family loyalty and self-blame flow through this well-paced story of tragedy, forgiveness, fast cars, and the very human people who own them and drive them.
March 24, 2020
Loved the idea of racing, particularly for a young woman to face her deepest fears and compete at the one thing she is terrifically good at doing. However, was unable to read more than a few pages without becoming mired in decent-enough writing, awkward insertions of fact, and general tone of overexcited. The worst part of it was knowing that there was a terrific story beyond the actual words on the page. So sorry to give this a pass. Maybe the next lap around the track will go better?
September 27, 2020
This is a SUPER hard novel to review. I absolutely loved the plot & idea behind the book (even though it was heartbreaking), but there was a lot that came about within it that I strongly disagreed with. Some of that being: language, sexual references & relations outside of marriage, obsessive partying, etc. So overall, the story was really good, but there was a lot of unnecessary elements.
December 7, 2019
The ending is why I gave it 2 stars. The ending just ruined it for me.
December 7, 2019
Great story, great plot, fun character, likable heroine. Learned something about racing cars.
November 28, 2019
This book sucked me in from the very first paragraph.
There was a time, before my father's accident, when all I ever wanted was to be a race car driver.
Immediately I wondered what happened to her father and then I thought how cool it was that she wanted to do something that only guys do. Knowing nothing about regular cars, never mind race cars, I wondered if this book would be boring or hard to understand. But like I said, that first sentence sucked me right in and I loved the whole thing.
There was a time, before my father's accident, when all I ever wanted was to be a race car driver.
Immediately I wondered what happened to her father and then I thought how cool it was that she wanted to do something that only guys do. Knowing nothing about regular cars, never mind race cars, I wondered if this book would be boring or hard to understand. But like I said, that first sentence sucked me right in and I loved the whole thing.
November 22, 2019
I love ANYTHING by this author and her voice never fails to keep me reading all night long. Funny, accessible, page-turning plots with characters you want to have a drink with. LOVE Drive. Highly highly recommend!!!
October 4, 2019
This was a story that you could really sink into, one that takes you away and pulls you into the journey with the characters making you fell apart of the story. The characters felt real, what they were going through, you went through; I shed some tears while reading.
That being said, it felt like there were times in the story where months would pass with out you knowing it, but would be referenced by something along the lines of "Sasha and I joined the gym and played racket ball for weeks until I hit her in the face" and then the narrative would keep moving forward. It felt misplaced, if that much time was going to pass without much reference it had me question why a detail like that would be included (as it didn't feel necessary in the first place). The back and forth and sometimes childish behaviors of some of the characters got a little frustrating and felt misplaced; it was beneath the character the author had created and didn't seem cohesive to the story line.
Overall this book sucked me in, connected me to the characters and made me feel right along with them. If you want an easy to get into and read type of book, this would be it!
That being said, it felt like there were times in the story where months would pass with out you knowing it, but would be referenced by something along the lines of "Sasha and I joined the gym and played racket ball for weeks until I hit her in the face" and then the narrative would keep moving forward. It felt misplaced, if that much time was going to pass without much reference it had me question why a detail like that would be included (as it didn't feel necessary in the first place). The back and forth and sometimes childish behaviors of some of the characters got a little frustrating and felt misplaced; it was beneath the character the author had created and didn't seem cohesive to the story line.
Overall this book sucked me in, connected me to the characters and made me feel right along with them. If you want an easy to get into and read type of book, this would be it!
October 30, 2019
Language: R (121 swears, 12 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: PG
Piper is Planter Pierson’s daughter – and everyone knows it. Pierson Racing is a very successful NASCAR team, and Piper grew up knowing that driving and racing would be her life. Until that disaster in Tennessee. Now Piper is just trying to survive and stay as far away from that dangerous life as possible. What will it take for Piper to start living again?
The message of this story is great: living means taking risks. I also thought the ending came together very well in a way I wasn’t expecting. However, I didn’t enjoy my time reading this book as much as I wanted to because I couldn’t stand Piper – especially her self-centeredness which made it difficult to sympathize with her when things didn’t go her way. The timing was also difficult to follow, sometimes making the story feel choppy with Strecker recounting what happened to Piper rather than showing those scenes to readers. Mature Content rating for partial nudity and sex.
Reviewed for https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/
Piper is Planter Pierson’s daughter – and everyone knows it. Pierson Racing is a very successful NASCAR team, and Piper grew up knowing that driving and racing would be her life. Until that disaster in Tennessee. Now Piper is just trying to survive and stay as far away from that dangerous life as possible. What will it take for Piper to start living again?
The message of this story is great: living means taking risks. I also thought the ending came together very well in a way I wasn’t expecting. However, I didn’t enjoy my time reading this book as much as I wanted to because I couldn’t stand Piper – especially her self-centeredness which made it difficult to sympathize with her when things didn’t go her way. The timing was also difficult to follow, sometimes making the story feel choppy with Strecker recounting what happened to Piper rather than showing those scenes to readers. Mature Content rating for partial nudity and sex.
Reviewed for https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/
November 2, 2019
Having recently finished “d r i v e: A NASCAR novel” by Susan Strecker, I am happy to have had the chance for the preview; thank you NetGalley and Koeler Press!
Even though I have been a fan of NASCAR for several years and was initially drawn to the cover art of this book when I selected it, I was not able to enjoy “d r i v e: A NASCAR novel” as much as I had hoped. It was obvious that the author knew the subject of racing well and I loved all that information throughout the book. Although the emotions came across the pages strongly, the dialogue felt contrived and the character interaction jumped all over the place. It was such an emotional story, but too many “hot-head” moments from Piper to completely enjoy this book. I did love “Piper’s FS” ending… that was a smile as I finished this story.
Even though I have been a fan of NASCAR for several years and was initially drawn to the cover art of this book when I selected it, I was not able to enjoy “d r i v e: A NASCAR novel” as much as I had hoped. It was obvious that the author knew the subject of racing well and I loved all that information throughout the book. Although the emotions came across the pages strongly, the dialogue felt contrived and the character interaction jumped all over the place. It was such an emotional story, but too many “hot-head” moments from Piper to completely enjoy this book. I did love “Piper’s FS” ending… that was a smile as I finished this story.
October 30, 2019
In a weird way, this book reminded me of Mariah's Stewart's books. It too was easy and fun to read, but kept me moving throughout the book. I read books about women written by women becuase I love to identify with strong female heroines. This book is a great example of a lead female character I can look up to. Piper has had her share of crap in her life, but she works hard to gain control of her life and get back to the life that she is supposed to have. Easy, great read.
August 27, 2019
Love the story and the writing. I was a tad apprehensive to start it because I know nothing about cars and car racing. But, it was a great story and told well enough that the cars kinda faded in to the background. Highly recommend this one. Haven't read anything else by her, but am thinking about it now.
September 30, 2019
Obtained an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. Haven't read this author before, but will now go back and read her other books. Really well written. I wasn't sure I'd like a book about car racing. But the characters were so well developed and the technical terms were dumbed down. Great book!
August 27, 2019
Huge open wheel fan here. Now I'm switching to Nascar. I just hope it's an good as this writer made it out to be. I'm not usually one to read books that contain any kind of romance, but I was really rooting for Piper and Colt.
August 28, 2019
Thank you to netgalley for the free copy. My honest review of this book is that I loved it. Character driven stories are my favorite and this one was chock full of great characters. It made me cry a little more than I wanted, but I loved that it moved me.
September 9, 2019
I've waiting 3 years for Susan's next story and it was so good! I'm with her husband about the ending but the ending followed the theme of the entire story. It's better to live for a short time and love what you do and who you are with then to live for 103 years and never experience joy!
Want to read
September 9, 2019I've waiting 3 years for Susan's next story and it was so good! I'm with her husband about the ending but the ending followed the theme of the entire story. It's better to live for a short time and love what you do and who you are with then to live for 103 years and never experience joy!
October 2, 2019
So happy to have gotten a sneak peek at this book. Love advanced copies. Great writing, great ending. What I liked the most was the twist about 2/3 through the book. Broke my heart. Hope that's not a spoiler!
October 4, 2019
This is the second book I've read by this author and neither have disappointed. Loved how the story flowed and how much the MC grew within the story. I love it when the hero takes me on a journey. Great ending too.
October 15, 2019
Vroooom! This novel about NASCAR life is a quick, fun read, with quirky characters, and a storyline that draws the reader into the non-stop action. Life off the track can also be dangerous and unpredictable - so fasten your seatbelt and enjoy the DRIVE.
October 21, 2019
I was a big NASCAR fan back in the day. Don't love how they've changed the points system. So I was thrilled to see that this book is set in the 1980's. Factually accurate and told a good story. Good read.
November 2, 2019
The thing I love most about Susan’s books is the authenticity of her characters. They feel like people you could have a real conversation with and because of how genuine they are, everything else in the story also feels real and engaging. Drive is compelling and thought provoking.
October 9, 2019
Great story with a good twist. Really enjoyable read.
October 17, 2019
Review coming soon!
October 28, 2019
I love a good sports novel that also is kind of chicky. Great writing. Fun story. Reading her first book now.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews