Hairpin Curves didn't feel like Winters' other books. Maybe because of the heat level, but mostly I think it's a lack of conflict in the story. The two main characters were once very good friends and then there was a big betrayal (this turns out fine, you won't hate anyone) and they stopped talking for years. Now they're both going to the same wedding and end up in a car together for two weeks roadtripping from Florida to Quebec City. It was surreal to read about the traveling and when they crossed an international border I was holding my breath. COVID-19 has screwed me up, wow.


Both heroines are bisexual and the sex scenes are not what we usually get to read. Before these two former friends are ready to be together, they engage in multiple instances of mutual masturbation for "stress relief." Then when they are touching each other much later (that first kiss is at like 70%) they're using toys in addition to body parts.

As for the lack of conflict... it's not that I wanted them to be fighting, but they get their stuff sorted out pretty early on and there's no external conflict so there wasn't much to propel the narrative forward. It's a quiet book and the best parts were the parts that scared me most - exploring new places with a good friend. Normally I love a road trip romance, but I was unsettled for much of this one. Winters couldn't have known while writing this that we'd be in the throes of a global pandemic at pub time.


Content Warnings: crappy sibling who negs one MC, references to past homophobia, one MC has a learning disability and was made to feel stupid her entire life

Suzanne received a copy of this book for review but purchased her own.

Hairpin Curves follows former friends Megan and Scarlett, both in an in-between stage in their lives. They receive an invitation from their third former friend to attend their wedding in Canada. They decide to take the trip together, despite not speaking or hanging out for many years. Over their journey they realize there are many feelings that have been held back that have now begun to arise.

I really didn't enjoy this book, the beginning started fairly strong but fizzled out quickly. While the writing is decent, I disliked the focus of the book being only on the two main characters. Their chemistry was lacking, I found them very immature and not kind to one another. Further, I found their plans so flaky and unrealistic, it would've been cheaper to just fly to the wedding...so I couldn't get into the plot. I really didn't feel the connection between the two of them. Megan's brother was absolutely horrible, I was happy he was out of it fairly early on. The book was predictable. All in all, I found the book quite boring and basically skimmed through it.

I have been so excited about the Carina Adores line bringing us more f/f romance and was looking forward to this book. I have read Winters before and she really brings the heat. But I had to abandon this one early on. The two female leads are both 25. I’ve mentioned before that younger protagonists generally don’t work well for me. This is definitely a me and not the book DNF. I think if you aren’t a grumpy grump like me and like road trip romances, you would like this book.

DNF at 46%. I love the idea of a road trip romance - forced proximity is one of my favorite tropes and a long road trip from Florida to Canada has a lot of potential! However this story didn’t work for me. While Scarlett and Megan are in their mid-twenties, in many ways they felt more like 18 or 19 year old characters.

I also found it really condescending the way Scarlett would often think about Megan - passing judgement and making assumptions about her experiences or lack of experience.

Thank you to Carina Adores and Netgalley for the advance reading copy.

This was a sweet and sexy road trip romance featuring complex characters and a believable progression from "enemies"-to-lovers. Add a sprinkle of "and there was only one bed!" to the mix, and you're left with quite an entertaining read.

Scarlett and Megan were best friends all through childhood until they weren't. Now in their mid-20s, they haven't talked to each other in years. When a mutual friend invites them both to her wedding under the assumption that they're all still friends, Scarlett and Megan pool their limited resources and drive from Florida to Canada to attend the wedding. Canada. In February. Megan has never left Florida and wants to use this trip to visit parts of the country she's only ever seen in pictures, which means the trip will take more time than originally planned. Scarlett is completely on board with the plan: more time with Megan in a car or tiny hotel rooms means more time for Scarlett to try and mend some fences with her secret childhood crush.

The first few chapters felt a bit infodump-y, as if the author wanted to get all the background information out of the way asap so the real story could begin. But once they actually start their road trip, and more time is spent on these characters reconnecting and finding out new things about each other, they start to feel more real. And then the ending gets rushed again, as if the author couldn't wait to literally close the book on these two characters.

The chemistry between Scarlett and Megan grows steadily, and the heat factor increases the closer they get to cold and wintery Canada. The romance aspect of their relationship could definitely be classified as slow-burn, though the physical aspect of the relationship gets steamy quite early on.

firstly, huge thanks to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

this book is...very hard to rate! i’d be lying if i said that reading this book wasn’t one of the most enjoyable reading experiences i’ve had in a long time. it was addicting and fun and so freakin’ entertaining that i was stealing a couple pages of this book at a time between tasks if i had to.

you know when you’re craving pizza? like, really super seriously craving a slice of cheesy fluffy pizza? and then you get the pizza? and afterwards your satisfied and pleased and it was delicious and just what you wanted at the time, but your life isn’t radically changed forever? this book was my pizza. in all it’s gooey, cheesy glory.

however, for book so focused on connection and being vulnerable, i felt pretty distant from the characters most of the time. i loved them, and they were easy to root for, but i felt more like an observer than a participant. i think first person pov’s could have enhanced the emotions. the plot also felt to….unmessy. things fell into place pretty easily and the worst case scenario never happened at any point. that made the book so lighthearted and fun and cozy, and is also on my list of pro’s about this book, but it was something that made harpin curves fall slightly flat at times. (the ending is probably the biggest example of this.)

but honestly...blending sapphic enemies-to-lovers-ex-best-friends, road trip shenanigans, and themes of finding oneself into one story??? it truly couldn’t have gone wrong.

I had so much i was looking forward going into this book. So many themes featured here are high on my list of romance loves. Unfortunately for me, the characters translated as exceedingly immature. This one was a miss for me.

I will not be featuring this title in a full review outside of NetGalley.

Elia Winters takes us from Crystal, Florida to Quebec, Canada and some very cool stops in between in their love story Hairpin Curves. Megan takes after me as she has about a thousand mix cds of music for the trip (laugh). Megan is at a crossroads in her life as she has to make a choice that she has avoided since she graduated college: where in life is she going next? Is fear of the next step going to stop her?

Winters tackles this topic throughout the book and through both characters stories. What do we fear? Are the fears real to anyone but us? How do we work through a fear that to us seems very real? Failure? Not good enough? No one will want me? Looking stupid to the one who matters? Having yet another stamp in the passport to nowhere that everyone will talk about.

Winters approaches this topic through the two former best friends' relationship while driving to Quebec. We get both characters point of view and can see how they both are choosing to live or not live with their fears.

Winters then throws in chemistry for Scarlett and Megan and says let's complicate matters (laugh). This makes for snarky comments, apologies, and some very interesting romantic erotica.

I have to admit that I love Scarlett and would love to go on a road trip with her anytime. This is probably because I am more like Megan and I am actually in the process of making a music playlist (probably my hundredth). No matter who you end up crushing on more at the trip you will enjoy the Hairpin Curves along the way.

I received an ARC of this book and I am writing a review without prejudice and voluntarily.

I very much struggled with this story. I liked the author's writing style but I found it was too slow and I found the main characters were behaving younger than they should have .

A Road Trip Leads to Romance

Megan, Scarlett, and Juliet grew up together. Juliet moved away and Megan and Scarlett had a falling out. They haven’t spoken in years. Juliet knowing nothing about the rift invites both friends to her wedding in Quebec. Scarlett suggest they make the trip an adventure and drive to Quebec from Florida.

Megan isn’t sure she wants to spend that much time with her ex-friend, but she’s in a dead-end job and feels the need for something more. As the miles roll by, the friends begin to communicate. In fact, as the adventure progresses they become more intimate until Megan has to face her own sexuality. Scarlett had been aware of hers for years, but Megan had been trying to ignore her interest in women.

This is a romance, but it’s also a character study. As the characters get to know each other again and let their guard down, they become very real. I liked both characters, but Megan was my favorite. She had to figure out who she really was. I thought she did it bravely.

The trip is also interesting with rest stops at a variety of places that are well described. You almost feel you’re on the trip with them.

I received this book from Harlequin for this review.

Meghan and Scarlet have been friend for a long time. Right after high school, they had a falling out, but they haven't really spoken since. When one of their close friends is getting married in Quebec, they make a choice to drive there together. Meghan has never left Florida and Scarlet hasn't seen much of the country either, so this will be an adventure for them both. They will find out more about each other than ever before. But will they be able to rekindle their friendship?

Thank you to Carina Press/Harlequin for the opportunity to read and review this book.

When Scarlet didn't show up to be roommates with Meghan, Meghan was devastated. But Scarlet is hiding a few secrets about why she chose not to go with Meghan. To top that off, they both have more than friendly feelings for each other.

This isn't the typical type of romance that I normally read, but it kept me entertained. This is a LGQBT+ book.


When I was in college, I loved taking road trips with my friends. Going to school in Texas, it's not hard to drive all day and still be in the same state. Making tapes or CDs for the journey, and planning out snacks and stops. That part of this book I could relate too very much.

For those of you who are interested in a frenemies to lovers book that includes a Female/Female romance, I think you will enjoy this book.

This was cute.
Megan and Scarlett's story is complicated. They were very close friends (before Scarlett ditched Megan just when they were supposed to go to college) and now they're forced to spend a whole road trip together. They aren't very happy about it.

At the beginning of the book, I was very intrigued by these characters. They gave mixed signals and that hooked me, because I wanted to know what was really going on inside their heads.
This story had many clichés, but I enjoyed them because I cared about the characters. Megan and Scarlett were nice people (a little childish for their age, but whatever) and I was genuinely interested in knowing how their story was gonna be developed. The thing is, the road trip got really long... in the middle of it, I started drifting off... I cared, I just didn't care that much. Maybe if it was a shorter book it would have kept my interest until the end of it. I liked the characters, I just got bored of the trip. I would have loved seeing a little bit more about what they were doing in the epilogue in the actual final chapters, at least.

If you’re looking for a cute frenemies to lovers kind of book, this is for you! Overall I thought the story was sweet; I really loved the road trip as a setting for Megan and Scarlett to fall in love. It was heartwarming to see the two rebuild their friendship, and learn to trust one another again. I felt like I was living vicariously through them in their healing. However, there were a few things that kept it from being a great read in my opinion.

At first, I thought the characters were extremely cookie cutter. There’s a trope I am discovering, especially in LGBTQ romances, of one character being fun and lively and the other being boring and stuck in their routines. This book really went to the extremes of highlighting the “boringness” of Megan at the start, and it felt like she wasn’t even a real person; she fit the bland description too well. And even getting past that, it made no sense why Scarlett developed feelings for her with the way she was first described. She would make comments about how “everything about Megan was beige” and “the same hairstyle that didn’t do her any favors,” and then all of a sudden she was calling her cute? If it had been more of a “seeing someone in a different light” for the first time realization I could have bought it, or if she started falling for her after Megan came out of her shell about (over halfway into the book), but that wasn’t the way Scarlett’s feelings were portrayed.

However, when the characters finally felt more tangible, I fell in love with them. Megan began to have more personality traits than just how particular she was, and Scarlett started to open up about her past and feelings. If those developments had begun earlier in the book, or if there wasn’t such a stark contrast between their beginning and ending of book personalities, I would have enjoyed it more.

I really did enjoy their journey together. The idea of falling in love on a road trip was just so adorable, and I think Elia Winters really nailed the descriptions to make it feel like I was on the trip with them. There were little snippets, like the front desk man at one of the hotels who had no idea what he was doing, that made me chuckle and added to the feel of the unpredictability of an adventure. From the beach, to the mountains, to Tennessee, that’s what really made the book for me; I found myself wanting to jump in the car and go on a road trip of my own.

If the characters were a developed a little better earlier in the book this probably would have been a four star read for me, but I still really enjoyed it and am giving it a 3.5/5, rounded down to 3/5.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review! My Goodreads review will be posted within a month of the publication date.

This was my first F/F book and it didn't disappoint!
I loved the time they took to reconnect and talk about things such as their past mistakes, assumptions & how their lives have been since they had been friends. I also really loved the road trip and the various spots they stopped on the way.
One thing that I really liked was how each of them were strong in their own sexuality. That even though Megan was not as outgoing as Scarlett she was secure in her sexual experiences i.e. the sex shop.
This was also my first book by Elia Winters and will definitely be checking out her back list.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ “Scarlett broke up laughing, but something eased inside her chest. It wasn’t everything; it wasn’t dealing with whatever sexual tension seemed to ebb and flow between them. But it was something. It was a start.”
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If you enjoy:
✔️FF Romance
✔️Frenemies to Lovers
✔️Roadtrips
✔️Steamy Scenes
✔️Dual POV
Then this may be the one for you!
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Meghan and Scarlett haven’t spoken in years. When their longtime mutual friend is getting married in Quebec, they decide to take the road trip together and make the most of it. Intent on repairing their friendship. But along the way an intimacy forms. And when a snowstorm leaves them stranded in a tiny cabin, they have more to figure out then how to make it to the wedding on time.
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This was a sweet romance story. I loved the premise of mending an old friendship and doing it by taking a road trip together. I enjoyed the stops along the way and felt as though I was on the journey with them. Visiting places I haven’t been, and reminiscing in the ones I had. It did feel a bit young for the ages provided though. It moved a little slow for me, taking some time to get into the build up of it. But there is a little humour, banter and some steamy scenes to keep you turning the page. Overall a fun FF romance read!
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I received an ARC for an honest review.

"Hairpin Curves" by Elia Winters was a lighthearted and fun road trip/forced proximity romance featuring well-developed, likeable characters and a story that, while sweet, definitely had some heat to it.

When former childhood friends Megan and Scarlett set out on an epic road trip from Florida to Quebec to attend a third friend's wedding, there was quite a bit of awkwardness between them, but also an undercurrent of attraction that was tough to ignore. As they got further into the trip and began to understand more about why their friendship fell apart when they left for college, they finally started to open up and have fun with each other again. It soon became clear how well they complemented each other both as friends and as a couple; Scarlett was very outgoing and impulsive, while Megan was more thoughtful and methodical. They had a number of issues to work through but I thought that their relationship developed at just the right pace, and I appreciated how supportive they were of each other, particularly when it came to Scarlett's insecurities regarding her intelligence and Megan's insecurities about her appearance.

Overall, I enjoyed "Hairpin Curves" and recommend it for all fans of contemporary romance, especially my fellow road trip romance lovers. I would read more of this author's work in the future.

*ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are my own.

This book has so many of my favorite elements… a road trip, old friends who reunite, secret crushes, misunderstandings, romance, humor, and all the feels. I mean really, it’s a friends to enemies to friends to lovers kind of story.

From the first few chapters, I truly thought that Megan would be the character that I would identify with most. Megan is a bit of a loner, has never ventured outside of her comfort zone, doesn’t like change, and kind of feels like she is on the outside. But she is also incredibly strong, a little unforgiving, set in her ways, and has a few surprises up her sleeve. I like Megan, and I understand her.

Over the course of the story, and the road trip, Megan tries so many new things. She steps out of her comfort zone and really starts to grow and come into her own. She does still continue to battle self doubt, but starts to believe that more might be possible.

And then there’s Scarlett. Initially, I thought Scarlett was a bit wild, a little cold, and moderately self-centered. But boy was I wrong! Scarlett’s character and journey really hit me in the feels. Her insecurities that she hides behind bravado, her feelings of loneliness and longing for connection… I identified with them all. Scarlett’s perceptions of the divide between herself and Megan almost brought me to tears more than once.

As Megan and Scarlett get to know each other on this road trip, and fine their way back to friendship, I cheered them on. As they discovered deeper feelings for each other that they never expected to be returned, I had to fan myself from the heat. Their relationship is beautiful, the sex scenes are steamy, and all in all, I just really enjoyed this book!

Disclaimer: I received an eARC of this book through Net Galley on behalf of Harlequin Tours for Carina Adores for a promotional Blog Tour. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I'm gonna start this by saying that I thought this story was going to go in a different direction than it did. I expected ex-friends go on a road trip and become lovers. So sort of like a road trip friends to lovers trope. I had high expectations for this. I feel like this may have been marketed wrong. I read almost half the book and the two girls barely have a conversation without biting each others heads off. It got dull to read after about 25-30 percent through. I wanted more relationship development between the characters, even if it was just fixing the bad blood between them. That's another thing, there's a big reason these two aren't friends anymore and once it's revealed its kind of silly. I didn't see the story progressing much beyond what I'd already read.
I feel this should have been marketed as a young or new adult book. There's more conflict between the characters about their hurt feelings over their friendship ending than there is any romantic tension.
I did like the writing style. It was very easy to read and I got a good sense of the characters.
Otherwise, this did not meet my expectations unfortunately.

Heat Factor: It’s a slow and scorching burn
Character Chemistry: It comes on slow and then BAM
Plot: Megan and Scarlett were BEST friends but had a falling out. When their old friend begs them to attend her wedding in Quebec, they agree to pool resources in order to roadtrip there. And boom goes the dynamite.
Overall: This book had me up until 2 am and I wasn’t even mad about it.

Normally when I stay up too late reading a book, there’s at least a kidnapping or an old-fashioned terrible misunderstanding, but in this case I felt like I was walking along a path and the author was just dropping little treats as I read, and the treats were getting increasingly more mouth watering, and then I COULDN’T stop reading because what if the next treat was as good as I hoped it would be?

So basically our friends Megan and Scarlett have this huge mysterious falling out and probably wouldn’t have ever gotten into the same building let alone the same car, but their friend is getting married and neither Megan nor Scarlett can pull this trip off alone. So they plan out a trip and start out stepping on each other’s toes and being snarky, and gradually, SO gradually, they start to slip up and tenderly support one another. And then things get spicy, and surprising, and it’s so hard to tell how this whole thing is going to pan out.

I felt like both Megan and Scarlett were likeable and understandable, and so I found that the plot was a perfect unfolding of these two people trying to figure out who they were separately and together. I loved that there were these tiny heartfelt glimmers of “yes!” that just seemed to snowball until they kind of had to face facts.

There’s no real dramatic cliffhangers here and no dramatic shows of undying loyalty. But when you’re done you’ll think you just saw two of your real-life friends realize they were perfect for each other, and you’ll be sad it’s over.

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. We disclose this in accordance with 16 CFR §255.

This review is also available at The Smut Report.

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Ruthie – ☆☆☆
3.5 stars

This is a really sweet and surprisingly sexy read combining a road trip with childhood friends sorting out their now adult feelings for each other.

Scarlett is, in theory, the one who went off to glamorous private school, leaving Megan to go to college alone. Nine years later Megan has still not let it go, but suddenly circumstances mean that they go off on a road trip together. Now they have plenty of time to think about what happened to their friendship, crushes, and possibly even admit to each other how they feel. There is a lot of inner voice, but it works rather well – as did the playlist CDs, and definitely the unexpected trip to a sex shop.

I enjoyed the development of the relationship, and as the leads re-found themselves, as well as each other, they definitely became nicer people. The road trip element was great fun, and was a pretty impressive journey for a first out-of-state journey.