Double Apex by Josie Juniper was a great, fun read. I'm very much a fan of Formula 1 and I've been enjoying all these new F1 romances but I do find it kind of annoying when you can see that the authors don't know a lot about it and it takes me out BUT this one delivered. You can tell that Juniper is a fan of Formula 1 and knows what she's talking about. It felt real. The romance was spicy and lovely. It was definitely an enjoyable read. I cannot wait for everyone looking for a fun sports romance to pick this up!

Double Apex
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5
Pub Date: October 8th 2024

Hot, spicy and F1 racy (as someone who doesn’t know a lot about the racing world it felt very realistic) had me blushing and ready to cross the finish line.
Double Apex is a fast pace, banter from page 1 book about our FMC Phaedra who is a race engineer, but also happens to be the daughter of the team owner. Along comes newly hired flirty hot shot driver Cosmin who is in it to win, both on the track and off. What takes place when race engineer and driver need to improve their communication that actually turns into a sexy secret arrangement?

This was my first novel by Josie Juniper, but I really enjoyed it and would be interested in reading the next book in this series.

Tropes:

🏎️Workplace romance
🏎️He falls first
🏎️Grumpy/sunshine
🏎️Dual POV
🏎️Enemies to Lovers
🏎️Female STEM rep


Thank you net galley for the ARC

Women is stem will always be famous!
I just adored reading about our math genious Phaedra. She was such a fun character to read. And Cosmin was perfect match for her.
I just love the micro trope of the guy falling first and pining for the girl and this TOTALLY SERVED IT

Highly recommend!!

I love Formula 1, so I really enjoyed being immersed in that world. There was a lot of technical talk about the sport and you could tell that the author is also a fan and has done her research. This was a pro in my opinion, but if you go into this book solely for the romance, you might find the sports-talk boring.

The romance was not personally my favorite, as I was not attached to either of the main characters, and I found some of the side characters unlikable as well. However, I did think there were a lot of funny lines, and these kept pulling me back into the story. I was also more invested in the second half of the book, when the author starts addressing some heavier topics. This shift made the characters more likable and the story stronger.

Overall, I loved being in the F1 world and I laughed a lot, but I was not as invested in the characters or romance as I had hoped. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Workplace romance set in a racing world with a STEM FMC? I was so completely hooked with this premise, and excited to start this book. I really wanted to like it and I was ok with the cheesy language often used by the MC even though she's supposed to be a millenial in her 30s and using words like "whatevs" in a professional setting unironically, which kind of threw me out of the story, but then we got to the MMC.

If you're a fan of alpha-hole MMCs, then this book might be for you. But for me personally, sexual harassment is never cute, never funny and makes for a pretty irredeemable love interest. Add that to the cringe-worthy dialogue in the spicy scenes, I was fighting my way through to finish this book.

I appreciated the side plots that allowed the characters to have a little more depth (FMC's father's illness, and the more charitable & heart warming side of the MMC) but this just wasn't for me.

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for this ARC to review.

DNF at 44%
-
Thank you to Forever for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Unfortunately, this was not for me. I personally enjoy the start quite a bit. The story follows a woman in a male dominated field? SIGN ME UP. I love that sort of thing. The dynamic between the two main characters was enjoyable though I can see other readers not being able to overlook some of the comments being thrown by the MMC. The relationship was then thrown together pretty quickly after that and it felt like a lot of the initial bonding was off the page which I personally really don't enjoy when I am supposed to be invested in a couple. It got gradually less enjoyable after the first intimate scene was quite interesting in some of the word choices and overall descriptions. To be quite frank, some of the chosen sentences really took me out of the scene because it just felt so odd and unrealistic. Outside of that, the fmc is slightly "unlikeable" which again I tend to like but there were some elements I started to resent. It felt like a lot of her ongoing issues where supposed to excusable because of the things going on in her personal life but even still..she was very judgmental to her closest friend and then turns around begging her to come back. I had anticipated this release and ran when I saw it was on read now but not for me.

dnf @ 25% (page 92)

——

life is way too short for me to read more than a quarter of this book. i was so excited as well, i love sports romance! and a female engineer main character?! love that! but unfortunately the execution was not there.

phaedra is horrible. i really couldn’t stand her, she was whiny and mean and so inconsistent. she was also incredibly judgemental particularly about intelligence and yeah, not a fan. she also does not read like a 30-something year old woman. at all.

didn’t like cosmin either, the sexist comments weren’t it. admittedly he’s not the only male character being misogynistic (ugh), but as the hero of the book, what the hell?! and his backstory felt to me like it was basically added for the shock value, which i did not appreciate with a topic like that.

and then i did not believe in even the potential of a relationship between these two characters, i don’t see the chemistry and don’t understand how either of them could be liked by the other.

so much of the writing was just odd as well. in particular cosmin’s descriptions of phaedra were especially weird, they honestly just confused me. generally this writing style was really not a favourite for me - and clearly nor was any of the rest of this book.

🏎️ Double Apex by Josie Juniper 🏎️

Out on October 8 from Forever
Phaedra Morgan is set to inherit the Emerald Racing F1 team from her father after proving herself as a top notch race engineer. The team’s star driver, Cosmin Ardelean, is a Romanian racer with a bad reputation as an unrepentant ladies man. Cosmin and Phaedra deeply dislike each other but she’s unwilling to let anything stand in the way of getting race points for Emerald. When their boss sends them to Santorini to figure out a way to get along, Phaedra and Cosmin find out there’s more than what’s on the surface to each of them.

I started out really disliking Cosmin in his first pov chapter but he really grew on me. By the end I loved him and was really rooting for Phae to get her act together. I loved the slightly antagonistic banter between Cosmin and Phae, but I loved it even more when they moved on to seeet talking each other in Romanian.

The one thing I really would’ve enjoyed here that was missing to me was an epilogue. I would’ve been happy to have more of Cosmin and Phae’s reconciliation. The ending felt a little bit abrupt to me. Otherwise I really enjoyed this and recommend to romance readers, especially those interested in F1!

3.5 stars

This was my first foray into F1 romance and it was pretty decent! I enjoyed the dual POV between Phaedra and Cosmin - Cosmin was definitely my fave with his cute little Romanian phrases. Phaedra honestly wasn’t always the most likable of characters, but I did appreciate that she was a strong + intelligent woman working in a male-dominated field.

The romance was sort of a one sided hate to love + guy falls first which is always a favorite trope of mine. There was also some dealing with grief and past trauma which gave the story a more emotional feel. While I enjoyed this story, I wasn’t a huge fan of the characters the next book is about so I’m not sure I’ll continue.

Thank you to Forever for the ARC!

3.5 stars

As someone who has recently fallen in love with STEMinist lit - Double Apex by Josie Juniper was intriguing to me. I remember watching Formula 1 races with my high school boyfriend & thought it was so cool to have a female racing engineer in a male-dominated industry.

The father-daughter relationship in this book was heartwarming - I felt a pain in my heart as Phaedra witnessed the decline in her dad’s health. I’m a daddy’s girl for sure so this got me right in the feels.

I found myself favoring the MMC “Formula 1 Fuckboy” Cosmin over the FMC Phaedra. I appreciated having the dual POV and traveling from place to place with the two of them amidst the races. I think having a deeper back story and more time learning about the complexities of each character would have helped me. I think this book was a bit too instalove for an enemies to lovers trope….however, I will admit that my favorite parts of the book were the spicy bits & there were some moments that made me laugh out loud.

Thank you to NetGalley & Grand Central Publishing for the ARC in exchange for my review. I would check out more from Josie Juniper, but I’m not sure I’m invested in keeping up with the series.

from the start the dialogue is a little bit stilted (aside from cosmin speaking romanian), and i’m not really feeling the chemistry between the main characters. they went from antagonizing each other while he’s clearly cruising for women to some weird forbidden insta love hookup situation. there is a lot of telling vs. showing on top of all that. the story has potential, but i think it needs a not insignificant amount of work in the first 45% to get there.

after the 50% mark it seemed to get a bit better. by the last 25% i was enjoying the story a bit more, and was glad that i stuck with it. the ending seemed a bit abrupt and the thing cosmin alluded to was a little sudden considering they’d just reunited after several months apart. that may have been better in an epilogue or with a few more pages included.

overall, i’d give it ⭐️⭐️⭐️ and hope that it is more polished by the publication date.

Wow I am so in love with this Formula 1 romance! It not only dove into so many of the details behind F1, but the main characters were a driver and an engineer which was just perfect! I was invested in these characters from the very start and even though Phaedra had her issues with trust and commitment, it didn’t make me like her any less! and Cosmin was absolute perfection. Nothing about him ever needs to change 🫡🫶🏼 and I’m officially obsessed.

would 100% recommend for the F1 romance readers 🤌🏼📖

I DNfd this book. I couldn’t handle the MMC and the sex scene. It was beyond cringy and I couldn’t handle it.

This is what every F1 girlie needs to read asap. So good. Cosmin is such a solid MMC. I abolsutely loved that the chapters were named after the races!!
Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this arc ebook in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fun read. This was a book that I felt the plot wasn't the best but the vibes and the characters when reading it brought me through it. The fact that she calls him a Formula 1 Fuckboy, in the beginning had me laughing so hard. I think the book is a fun romance read. I read it while relaxing outside, and it was a great beach/picnic read or just a fun read if you are looking to distract yourself from the real world and want a fun time. I like the concept of her being a woman in a very male-dominated industry and how that affected the way she originally saw Cosmin. I also think Cosmin's use of Romanian in the book and how Phaedra grows to learn what he was saying was cute when he spoke it to her during arguments or when flirting. I like that the novel was broken up by the races because, as an F1 fan, I think it was a cute and good way to break up the chapters and where they are in the world. The beginning, I felt, was solid, and you can really feel the tension between them, but as the book went on, I did feel it was becoming a little repetitive. However, it was still an enjoyable read and one that went quickly.

3.5 Stars

This story is about Phaedra who is a racing engineer and Cosmin who is a Formula 1 racer. Phaedra wants to continue to prove her worth in a male dominated industry especially since she’s working for her father’s company. Cosmin, at first, comes across as womanizer who likes to irk Phaedra’s nerves. I loved their banter with one another and the tension it created but that just wasn’t enough for me. The pacing of the story felt off to me and it made it hard to follow at times. Sometimes the little time jumps between chapters felt a bit much and I wish we got more of the tension between Phaedra and Cosmin before the start of their relationship. I felt that things could’ve been developed a little bit better than they were. Phaedra was hard to like during some parts of the book and I gravitated towards Cosmin and his backstory which I wish we got more of.

Overall I wish we got more of each character’s backstory and more tension between them. I think if some of the scenes were fleshed out better it would have made for a better story.

Double Apex is the story of a race engineer and F1 driver who form a steamy connection. Phaedra is the head race engineer for team Emerald and is determined to make her father (the team owner) proud. Attraction to Cosmin, the new and cocky Romanian driver, is not in her plans. When Cosmin and Phaedra are forced to bond for PR purposes, a deeper relationship sparks. Can their connection be maintained when the heat is turned up at the track?

Double Apex is a spicy romance novel with a strong element of F1 racing. I enjoyed how the F1 racing was written- it felt accessible and realistic. My favorite part was the F1 drama and the exploration of power dynamics and romance between a race engineer and a driver. However, I did struggle with the romance at times, especially their more intimate encounters. I would have liked to see more of a bond between them first. Cosmin grew on me, though parts of his backstory felt a little contrived for the plot. Phaedra deals with a family health crisis in a way that feels realistic and thoughtful. Josie Juniper clearly has a deep love of F1 that shines through.

There was a mix of positives and negatives for me with this book. For example, I liked that there was poly rep in a side character, but it felt like it was inserted as a plot point. I enjoyed that Phaedra is a woman in STEM who occupies a position traditionally held by men and is incredible at her job. In contrast to this, at times she behaved very childishly in her personal relationships and this was frustrating. Overall though, I enjoyed this F1 romance and I will definitely be curious to read the next book in the series, which will follow Natalie and Klaus.

Thank you to Josie Juniper, Forever (Grand Central Publishing), and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For publisher: My review will be posted on Instagram, Goodreads, Amazon, Storygraph, and Barnes & Noble etc.

Actually truly phenomenal. My first F1 book but certainly not my last. Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for the advance copy.

📖 Double Apex
✍️ Josie Juniper
🗓️ Oct 08 2024
📝 Forever (Grand Central Publishing) | Forever

Genre:
Contemporary romance

Series or standalone:
Frontrunners #1
Tropes:
❤️ F1 🏁🏎️
❤️ female STEM rep
❤️ workplace romance
❤️ enemies to lovers
❤️ he falls first

⚠️: illness and death of a family member, child abuse (not detailed), explicit sexual content and profanity

POV
Dual POV, first person POV

💭 Summary 💭
In a male dominated world, Phaedra made a name for herself as a racing engineer. Socially awkward as she is, she clashed with the new flirty driver.
When thrown together to bond, things slowly start to shift between them.


Cover:
It’s cute and caught my attention even though I don’t like comic covers too much.

Heroine:
Phaedra Morgan (32?)

Hero:
Cosmin Ardelean
I love that he was Romanian! You felt that. I loved that his English was not perfect, it made him more realistic. I also enjoyed the bits of Romanian here and there!
I actually really liked him. Between his flirty banter he was hiding a difficult past, which got me thinking, which behaviour is more appropriate. Phaedra’s outright rudeness or his flirting?
I saw no harm in his behaviour, but maybe that’s just me.

Side cast:
I liked the look behind the scenes of the formula one world. I just finished Lauren Asher’s “Throttled”. While it had gaping holes, I found this here way more believable and real.

Diverse cast of characters?:
Different people, diversity and it felt not forced. Sometimes it gets messy when an author throws every ethnicity and every disability at you for the sake of being diverse. This here felt natural.

character development

Cosmin was described as cocky, but Phaedra was pretty rude at times. That turned me off pretty quickly. You can be witty and snarky, but I don’t like it when the FMC is downright rude. It didn’t sit well with me when she was mocking Cosmin for being sexist, but in the same breath mocks women herself. The same goes for every woman that is girly. She mocks them. She has this view that everyone has to be like her but admits that she is socially awkward. She did not make much sense as a character.

She was a walking contradiction. For someone so smart she acted very stupid. I wish her intelligence was shown in other ways other than just stating that she is smart.

I get why she was written the way she was, I really do. I even respect the author for it. But I still had trouble connecting with her.

Yes, she grows over the book and it makes her realistic, but for me, first impressions kind of count and set the tone in a novel. I guess I handle my fiction like my real life, if it feels off, it’s off. We don’t vibe with everyone because we’re not always right away presented with the backstory. This is on me, essentially. So I was on the fence with her at times, but she did grow on me. I wonder though if it was a little too late?


Location:
Starting in Melbourne, travelling with the F1 circuit all over the world, which I enjoyed.

Fluency/Writing:
This was a bit of a leap of faith for me. I love strong women, but I am moving into unknown territory when it comes to STEM and feminism (aka stem-inism?!). Both are awesome but it’s nothing I usually need in books. So I was a bit wary when I first requested this, but the premises sounded so good, I could not resist.

What irked me here was what I suppose is gen z speak. The heroine here is closer to 30 than 20 I think and she speaks like a teenager, especially with being the prodigy she claims she is. Not cute.

But I especially enjoyed Cosmin’s point of view. He made this book so much more enjoyable.

I am unsure about the pacing. Their relationship shifted at around 20 %, which felt too fast for me. The book had great potential. While I did not totally hate it, it fell flat on the aspects it was supposed to sell.

🌶️: 2/5
😱: 1/5
😭: 2,5/5
❤️: 2,5/5
⭐️: 3/5

Do I recommend:
Probably not. I did not totally hate it but. Was not convinced by the message either. In the end there were more positives than negatives for me.

⭐️Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my advanced copy. All opinions are my own, I was under no obligation to review.

Fans of Formula 1 will devour Double Apex by Josie Juniper! It is an absolute must read!

I am a massive F1 fan and I love romance books so this book was a perfect mix and Josie Juniper did an amazing job. Double Apex is one of my favorite books of 2024! She's an engineer and he's the cocky F1 Driver, which I loved and thought it was a refreshing and new dynamic within this motorsport lore. They bicker, they argue but they work well together. She's also the daughter of the team owner for the team he drives for and forced to work together on creating a less hostile relationship, they are forced to get along but one thing I loved about their dynamic was their banter and playful flirting. I loved how she got angry and it made him smile to get reactions out of her. I loved that she's a smart woman in STEM that loves math and engineering. I thought that the author did an amazing job with the accuracy of terminology without info-dumping but having a perfect balance of informing the reader and developing their relationship. I loved the world of F1 through her fictional world, getting to see the world traveling, the progression of their romance. I loved that Cos was such a playful character but he deeply loved and admired Phae and when it came to her, he was serious about her and fights for what loves and wants. The book was so steamy. Some parts had me blushing but I also loved that we get to see their deeper connection and bonding on a deeper level especially with the things they go through and you can see how deep and strong their connection is. It has hate to love, boy obsessed/he falls first and hard, banter, forced proximity, secret relationship. I cannot wait for more books by Josie Juniper in her new F1 series. I highly recommend this sport romance series for anyone that likes F1 or is curious about this motorsport