I admit I often judge a book by it's cover. This one caught my eye (as well as the title) and it did NOT disappoint.
I enjoyed the dual POW with a strong FMC - an F1 race engineer named Phaedra (loved the name) and a cocky, Romanian F1 racer, Cosmin. They had instant banter and enemies to lovers vibes. I loved how easily the author pieced in Romanian words and phrases (think audiobook with a good male narrator saying Draga Mea IYKYK!) - I feel it's safe to say there's a "he falls first" trope, which I wasn't mad about.
I enjoyed a sports romance that had a different style with F1 racing and going to different places to race. There were some bigger themes and even some TW at the beginning but overall I think it was a story that held its own and I simply just enjoyed.

Thanks to Netgalley, Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and Josie Juniper for an ARC - these opinions are my own.

This is the first book of a series and I'm hooked. I'll definitely be grabbing a copy on 10.08.2024 and reading the rest!
Overall: 4.75 out of 5 stars!
Spice 3 out of 5

This book was very interesting, and I really enjoyed it. There was one thing that I did not like about the book and it was the FMC. The female main character was written well enough for me to not like her. She didn’t make me like her character at all and I understand it is enemies to lovers, but I was turned off from her character around the middle the book, and it continues until the end. Cosmin is hilarious and I love him.

I was so excited for this since I am obsessed with f1 and reading is my favorite hobby. This book was truly a let down.

First of all, I strongly disliked the fMC, Phaedra. She is the race engineer for the MMC which I was so intrigued by because f1 is such a male dominated sport. Phaedra has one sided beef with Cosmin for being a “playboy” and treats him so poorly in the workplace, and even speaks to him so unprofessionally on team radio. I did not appreciate how she was letting her personal opinions of his lifestyle affect her job performance. Especially since her dad owns the team! So weird and unprofessional to me. She was also giving “pick me girl” talking poorly about women-only gyms and making a huge deal about dressing nicely. Don’t get me started on how badly she treated her only girlfriend to then try to get her friendship back only when she needed someone to talk to. Phaedra talks about how sexist the F1 community is but then makes sexist remarks herself, even to her friend!!

Cosmin and Phaedra’s dynamic flips so quickly once they are forced to spend time together to mend their working relationship. I found this so jarring and there was no real foundation for this fast development in feelings so I didn’t believe either of them actually liked one another. Phaedra continued to treat Cosmin like garbage even when she supposedly likes him (and at work too!).

Overall, I didn’t enjoy anything about this book. I felt for Phaedra as she lost her father but that doesn’t mean you can treat people who love you so poorly. Cosmin wasn’t the best love interest but he deserved better! And both need therapy to heal from their trauma instead of trying to be in a relationship.

I cannot even begin to describe how much I loved this book.

The banter from literally page one!? Their easygoing relationship once they started getting along. Ugh, their chemistry is unmatched.

Cosmin had me googling Romanian translations left and right. I cannot wait to do an audio reread because I need to HEAR this man 😮‍💨

I also really loved that I could see/read that Cosmin isn’t a native English speaker. The little ways in which his sentences were structured just differently enough were great!

What I did not expect were the deep emotions this book brought out towards the end. I was not expecting to cry like I did—both from feeling Phaedra's grief and from the sweet relationship between Cos and Phae.

I loved that this book didn’t follow a traditional romance timeline. It felt more natural and real. I appreciate a change of pace.

Overall, I am obsessed with this book. With Josie Juniper's writing. The way she tells the story and makes the characters feel so real and imperfect. I am looking forward to more books!

Thank you, NetGalley and Forever Pub, for the early review copy! 🩷

I enjoyed the writing of this book, as someone who isn't a F1 fan I don't know how accurate all the terms and descriptions were to the actual sport. I like that the female main character is smart and determined and the story line didn't have to progress through her changing that about her or making her hide her intelligence.

Do you believe in miracles? Because reading this story without me throwing my Kindle at the wall every five seconds was a miracle in itself.

I get the whole sports romance theme is a huge vibe right now in the world of books, so I was really excited to read Double Apex! Unfortunately, it did not go so well for me. While Double Apex checks all the boxes for a F1 read the whole story was lacking from character development to writing style. Juniper does a great job filling the book with banter between the two main characters, Phaedra and Cosmin, but she steers off track when they go from 0 to 100 speed on their relationship. Maybe it’s due to the nature of their work environment being an F1 racer? IDK it just didn’t land too well for me.
The main hill I will die on is my stance on the FMC, Phaedra Morgan, and her overall character. At first she seems intriguing to read about. She’s a female engineer in a dominated male sport, a math prodigy, and a team owner's daughter. She sounds like a badass version of Danica Patrick, but after the first couple of pages we soon discover she’s not all that great. She is extremely rude to her friend and is very judgmental towards others. My main beef with Phaedra is her lack of maturity in herself and towards others. She physically lashes out at Cosmin Ardelean and that is NEVER okay. Please change this scene or add a discretion if it’s too much to ask.

Also I didn’t understand the backstory with Cosmin and his sister. She went through an extremely traumatic experience at such a young age and I didn’t understand how that was supposed to fit in Cosmin’s character arc. There were many questionable experiences for me along the way in Double Apex and the ending definitely was abrupt, but I finished it!

Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Phaedra’s family owns Formula 1 team Emerald. Cosmin is the arrogant new driver for the team. Phaedra is his engineer and they clash a lot, until they get over their differences and fall for each other. Due to the non fraternization clause in their contracts, they can’t be together.

I am a huge F1 fan, so a Formula 1 romance really interested me. Unfortunately, this was just okay. The pacing of the romance felt very fast. Phaedra hated Cosmin so much, then all of a sudden they’re kissing and then it’s more.

Phaedra as a character wasn’t very likable. She’s a terrible friend (and her friend is also terrible!) and I kept wondering why Cosmin (who seemed like a nice guy minus the time HE HIT HER? then immediately profusely apologized) even liked her.

The most enjoyable parts for me were the Formula 1 parts. The spice was good, and there was a lot of it. Unsure I would continue if this was a series.

Are you in your Formula One reading era? That seems to be the question of the summer with so many new authors entering the sports racing genre. Double Apex happens to be the second Formula One romance novel that I’ve read this year and it has some serious competition. I’m a well versed Formula One watcher and I got my ARC around the same time that I visited Monaco! The F1 race capital was the perfect place for me to read. You really get to feel the energy of a Grand Prix.

While the novel does fit nicely into the sports genre, the pacing was a bit difficult. I think for me it was a lack of character set up. I’m going to say outright that I didn’t gel with our main female lead at all. I think there was a lack of maturity that I just couldn't get past and definitely pulled me out of the reading experience and love story. My interest was only piqued with quarter of the book left when I felt a certain plot line was finally explored. Without sharing spoilers, I’m more excited for Book Two which is teased throughout the novel.

The ending felt quite jarring and not quite wrapped up. However, If you’re looking for a F1 read definitely give this a read!

Thank you to #netgalley and #josiejuniper for an Advanced Reader Copy of #DoubleApex, the first in a planned series of F1 romances.

Some light spoilers below!

Double Apex sees Phaedra Morgan, race engineer (and team owner's daughter), butting heads with the team's new hotshot playboy driver, Cosmin Ardelean.

Juniper does a good job of setting up the tension between these two at the outset, but I found the changeover from 'enemies' to even 'possible partner' (let alone 'lover') was drastically fast (maybe because they work in F1??).

I also found the turnaround that Cosmin took from being the known player and different-woman-in-every-new-city guy to being the guy who has completely changed his ways because of a woman a little whiplashy.

I'm not going to touch some of Phaedra's really inappropriate behaviour that was glossed over as 'lashing out.' She's a grown, supposedly intelligent woman, and it was unbecoming.

Once the pair get together though, I'll say I was pleasantly surprised with how Juniper went with the "practice being people who are in love" scheme, though I wish this phase was longer. The fact that they also had to hide their relationship from everyone else took away from what the "practice" could've been, which is unfortunate but understandable considering the circumstances.

As I was reading, I also felt that perhaps I was reading a book that was later in a series, because I felt that there were characters I was supposed to know more about (for example, Owen, his girlfriend, and their 'friend' Peach?), but no - clarified that this is indeed book 1.

I liked the background and ongoing relationship development between Phaedra and her father. I wish there was a bit more time to delve into the repair in her relationship with her sister as well, but perhaps that may come in a future story.

Trigger warnings for an ill parent, cancer, parental death, and childhood abuse (prior to events of the novel).

Overall, this was a good romance if you're looking to dip into F1, can get passed some clunkiness, need a fun read for the summer, or want to learn a little Romanian ;)

3/5 stars

Review on Goodreads:
Review on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/C8Z6nfAOlrwRXVwokZr9ZE5OMUYHpKs3wLldJQ0/

Do you love romance? Are you F1 curious? Then you NEED to pre-order Double Apex. NEED. Take it from me, a woman who learned about and developed a consuming obsession with Formula 1 via romance novels just this year.

Double Apex is chock-full of information about Grand Prix courses, super cool sciencey car mechanics, and race week basics wrapped into a delightfully steamy bundle. You don’t even need to know a thing going in. You’re in good hands and will be talking about tire degradation and Carlos Sainz in no time even though you drive a Honda!

Our MCs are (Oh my lord. Sweet baby Jesus not) Phaedra Morgan, a badass feminist engineer and daughter of the team owner, and Romanian F1 driver Cosmin Ardelean, better known as F1 Dracula. Cos is the absolute thorn in Phaedra’s tire. He is a little bit of a goofy fuckboy, and she is an extreme nerd who just was not socialized very well. Their dynamic is impacting everybody in the paddock, and they’re ordered by the team principal to accompany each other on a short bonding trip to work on their communication abilities. They sort out all of their differences in the most effective manner of course. I’ll let you guess. Fraternization amongst team members is strictly prohibited (no for real—it’s in the contract), so they are forced to strike up a secret deal that will definitely for sure remain completely casual.

Their relationship is incredibly raw and messy as they navigate through their past (and current) traumas. Even though they could be intense at times, their banter is top notch and this couple is SMOKIN’ hot. Also what is it about MCs uttering sweet nothings in their native language that the other MC cannot understand?! Makes me swoony every single time. And when the other MC goes out of their way to learn a bit of said language!? I am a puddle of mush. They win the constructors championship of breaking and mending hearts. Josie Juniper the writer that you are!

Double Apex will be released on October 8, 2024! This gives you like nine Grand Prixs and ample time to binge watch six seasons of Drive to Survive on Netflix.

TWs: off-page SA, preparing for and death of a parent, grief, past abuse, posthumous emails that will make you weep

I won an ARC of this book from the author’s giveaway, but all ll opinions are my own 💕

I’m going to be honest, I did not love this one. The FMC annoyed me from the first few pages and that stuck with me for the rest of the book. The romance was rushed and the story just didn’t seem fully developed.

Thanks NetGalley for an ARC!

Closer to 3.5*
I wasn’t sure what to expect with an F1 romance since my knowledge of F1 is basically non existent, but this was a really fun read! Yes there were moments when stuff about racing went over my head and had me googling some things, but the romance was racy (HA!) and I loved the banter between Cos and Phae. My only criticisms were that the pacing felt a bit off with some scenes, and Phae’s way of talking took some time to adjust to, but I’m now mildly curious about the world of F1 and totally looking forward to the next book in the series.
Thank you to Forever for an arc of this book! All opinions are my own.

This was a great romance book with a wonderful storyline. It had depth and emotion that I wasn't expecting. Cosmin and Phaedra's story was a rollercoaster of emotions. There was more than your usual romance and lust for this couple to deal with. I recommend this story especially to those that enjoy a bit of emotional romance story.

I found this story to be very addicting and I read the book very quickly. A lot of sports romances don't feature enough of the sport, and I think that Juniper does that really well here. I am a casual fan of F1 who doesn't get into the mechanical aspect a whole lot, but I think there was just enough to be exciting for people who are fans of the sport. While also having explanation enough for people with no knowledge to be interested without going overboard.

The relationship development was a little fast, but I think it matched well to the high energy of both characters as well as the high-stakes environment they're in. The dual POV is definitely part of what makes this story, I love a down bad MMC. The pass from tension to benefits and benefits to relationship was pretty smooth. But there's a part where they move into love that I think the story would have better been served without.

This does read like a debut novel to me, I think it would have been a little better served to include less tropes and focus on giving more time to the ones that it did have. I'm very excited to read the author's future works.

A chore to read - the MFC is terrible, the dialogue is ridiculous, and life is too short to read books that don’t work for me. And this really didn’t work for me. Again, the MFC is absolutely horrible.

I can’t recommend this one.



Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for the DRC

Quick and entertaining read. It was alternating perspectives but the voices didn’t feel distinct enough. The story was interesting and good spice, but I probably won’t find myself thinking about it again in the future.
FMC was slightly unlikeable at times, and the romance progressed in a weirdly fast way that didn’t really fit with the persona of the MMC. There wasn’t enough explaining as to why the sudden shift.

DNF - While the concept seemed interesting, the actual story, and writing-craft, lacked.

I absolutely could not stand Phaedra. She read NLOG and for being in her 30s, acted like a 16 year old. She was mean to everyone for no reason and lacked character growth. With all of that, I never came to care for her, nor her HEA.

Cosmin was not it for me either as sexual-harassment in the workplace isn't sexy!!! I understand that this is a workplace romance, but those can be done by skirting the line of harassment and this was not it.

The book needs needs another pass over with an editor for flow and cringy dialogue.

This book was cute and easy to read. Honestly, I didn’t love the FMC but I did like the MMC. The women in stem/male dominated field is always a hit for me so that was great.

Double Apex came out swinging with the banter and I ate it up.
Cos had me giggling and kicking my feet from the very first page. He was so sweet and patient with Phae, it was so refreshing.
Phae had some struggles, and I’m glad it was talked about on the page because some conversations between Phae and every other character were rough.
Overall, this has only fueled my fire for a newfound love of Formula 1.

I wanted to like this book so badly.
Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What I liked

• The concept is so good! I love a good workplace rivals to lovers and women in STEM always get me.
• The cover is so cute I love this cover artist.
• The Male main character is adorable. He's kinda written as a womanizer but I really don't see it? His parts of the book are by far my favorite ones. And I do feel he has some growth as a character.
• The side characters! I found them to be interesting and fun.

What I didn't like
• The female main character. She's so mean for no reason. I felt like there was no growth with her. Everyone claims the MMC was a cocky playboy but I really think she was the one with an Ego on her. It was giving me "I'm too pretty and smart for these problems I keep having". It made it really hard to relate to her and I wasn't invested in her success. It really ruined this story for me. There was also a smidge of what could be viewed as domestic violence in this book perpetrated by her that was just absolutely foul.
• The writing was good at times but I definitely felt it could use a few more passes with an editor. There was some scenes that left me cringing. The bones were there, and the plot definitely flowed in a way that made sense. I just feel like it needed some more. And i also feel at times that there was nothing happening and then two chapters later there was too much happening. There was also a language barrier that kinda made things seem a bit awkward instead of charming "are you fertile" instead of "are you on birth control"

Overall a swing and a miss. I love F1 romances but this one just had too unlikeable a female character for me to be truly invested.