⭐⭐⭐💫

TROPES
🛞 Rivals to Lovers
🛞 Forbidden Workplace Romance
🛞 He Falls First

My in-laws watch a ton of Formula 1, so I am trying to get more into it, and I’m doing that through books. As someone who knows the bare minimum, this was a great read in that it gave me exactly what I needed to know and all the points and such made sense.

I had a lot of fun reading this book. It’s fast paced and because it followed the season, the characters were constantly in new places and having new experiences, which made for a quick read. I liked the dynamic between Phaedra and Cosmin, especially as they finally leaned into it. Both are going through some intense situations in their personal lives, and it’s nice that they let themselves have moments of happiness with each other.

That said, as much as I enjoyed reading this book, I think the needed character development was shafted to the end of the story. When something came up with 5% left, I was confused because it could’ve been utilized and addressed much earlier in the story. It could’ve made a real impact, and instead was more of a parting note, which I think was a detriment to the character. Honestly, considering the ideas he’s grappling with, it was a bummer not to see more growth in Cosmin.

F1 romance is a yes for me! Just struggled with the female main character. It took too long for me to understand her attitude. But I truly enjoyed the writing style and would read more in this series based on other characters!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a complicated one for me to write a review on. I liked it but certainly didn't love it and definitely didn't hate it. I think what I struggled with most was liking Phaedra's character. She just was not it for me. That being said, I did love Cosmin's character. His story intrigued me and I loved his chapters. I did not enjoy Phaedra's chapters until she FINALLY started to change after her dad passed. There are plenty of stories I've read where a parent dies for seemingly no reason; however, it needed to happen in this one. I loved her relationship with her dad and his ability to still help her even after he passed. I will say I am extremely curious about book two because I want to know what happens with Nat and Klaus. Like I said, I liked this one. Cosmin definitely saved the story for me on this one.

3.5/5 stars

This is a spicy sports forbidden romance about Formula One racing. This is the first book in the Frontrunners series. The next book will be about a different couple.

The book alternates between the male and female POVs. The Romanian hero (Cosmin) is a race car driver and the heroine (Phaedra) is a race engineer.

I really like sports romances. And I absolutely love the sport in this book. I think that this is the first race car driving/Formula One book that I’ve read. I also really liked that each group of chapters take place in a different location (following the Formula One season around the world).

I also really liked Phaedra's job. I love reading about women in STEM.

The book was a quick read. The characters were unlikeable at times, which made me not love the romance as much as I wanted to. However the forbidden aspect of the romance was so fun. There were definitely some darker subjects that made this book more serious than I was expecting. Overall, I think that this book has made me want to look for more Formula One sports romances.

Thanks, Forever, for the arc!

(3.5 stars) This book review is a two-fold review for me. I liked it, but it had a lot of problems. The two big things to take away from my review before you read it are to check your content warnings. And would I read this author again? Yes. And now on to the main event - the review:

I’ve read another Formula 1 romance book and kept thinking while reading DOUBLE APEX by Josie Juniper: "Why have I not read more?!?” Fast cars. Exotic locals. Sexy men. Intelligent and gorgeous women. Please tell me what more you could want? Plus, in this novel, Cosmin and Phaedra add a nice amount of witty banter and chemistry to all that.

First and foremost, I must say that I had a big issue with the book and almost DNF’d it right at the beginning. Cosmin calls Phaedra nicknames and makes sexual innuendos when they work together as driver/race engineer. When asked to stop, he doesn’t. He also doesn’t take no for an answer. And Phaedra is told, “That’s just how he is.” I can handle a jerk MMC, but not a douchecanoe who doesn’t understand consent. But everything wrong isn’t all his fault because Phaedra has issues, too: with consent, anger, and physical abuse. They have an interesting love story, but it’s not easy. So, please, again, check your triggers.

You’re probably wondering, “Katie, why did you finish this book when you are known to DNF?” When I read a sports romance, I like to learn about the sport, feel like I’m cheering for that team, and have a story with characters on the side. Juniper has written a story like with DOUBLE APEX. Also, I was on a plane and told myself I would wait until food service came by before I decided to quit. I reached a point where Phaedra and Cosmin talked - no sexy teasing, yelling about cars, or witty banter - they talked about life, and I realized there was more to the story, and it hooked me in.

Besides having a fantastic name, I liked Phaedra. She was smart, and seeing her do a typical man’s job was awesome. I don’t think Cosmin will ever be a book boyfriend for me, but he has his moments that I like. I also liked his Romanian representation. And the ending of the book does make me smile.

Check your triggers first, then follow your heart. Experience an F1 racing romance book.

Content warnings: (per author in the book) the illness and death of a main character’s family member during the story, moderated mentions of past child abuse, sexually explicit content, profanity; (from my reading observations) cancer, physical abuse, emotional abuse, gaslighting

I enjoyed this one a lot. It made me laugh and swoon. I don’t read many racing romances but this one knocked it out of the park! The cover drew me in and I loved the sweet story!

Wow, what a ride! We have Phaedra Morgan, powerhouse race engineer, and charming driver, Cosmin Ardelean. Who knew Romanian would be so sexy. Their chemistry is sizzling from the beginning. Their arrangement not only improves their communications, but opens up both of their hearts. I loved watching their relationship evolve from them barely able to tolerate each other to them finishing either other's thoughts in a race. This is a perfect steamy sports romance that will keep you turning the pages.

Instagram post will go live 30-Sep-2024.

Double Apex was unfortunately just not the book for me. While there were elements I enjoyed, the overall writing style and heroine were just not my favorite.

It’s dual POVs of the main characters: Phaedra, a racing engineer and Cosmin, an F1 driver.

There were some great tropes like enemies to lovers, close proximity, and a workplace and sports romance.

The premise was interesting and I did like the F1 and STEM elements. There were some amusing, sweet and spicy moments as well.

However, the writing style and all the time jumps made the story feel disjointed. There were certain subplots that also felt very underdeveloped and included some more darker themes than what I was expecting.

The heroine unfortunately was my biggest issue with the story. She was just very judgmental, obnoxious and honestly so mean.

The romance was also quite a letdown. I just didn’t feel the chemistry or romance between them. They got together so quickly without any buildup that their relationship just felt off. I’m honestly not sure how they went from enemies to lovers.

While this book wasn’t for me personally, I do believe other readers may enjoy the characters and story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Story: 4 ⭐
Spice: 3 🌶

I'm don't know much about Formula 1 racing; I however grew up in a family where NASCAR was huge. So, this was an educational experience to learn more about this type of racing.

The FMC is strong, fierce, and funny. All the traits to be able to work in a "man's" sport and she puts up a front when dealing with misogyny. She also learns a lot about herself and her flaws throughout this book, which it's nice to see a person wanting to better themselves. Also, I literally laughed out loud at all the picking teeth moments. IYKYK.

The MMC outwardly cocky, handsome, smooth talking, shameless flirt. He knows how to get what he wants but also secretly a teddy bear that's great with expressing his heart in words. This is probably my favorite type of man.

There are some triggers within this book, so make sure you check them out. I was balling a few times due to the nature of the triggers.

If you like a sport/racing romance, fun banter, great spice scenes full of passion, life lessons and trauma, sticking up for the women in a "men's sport", then you will want to read this!

You know what isn’t cute and should stop being made light of in books?
Men who can’t take a no.

Pet names in workplace isn’t cute. It’s actually harassment. Especially if they’ve asked you to stop.
Dirty jokes in the workplace isn’t cute. It’s once again harassment.

Being asked to stop and continuing isn’t cute and endearing. It’s not flirty. It’s not consensual.
It’s a man thinking that he’s above the rules of professionalism and not respecting the woman asking him to stop.

We need to stop making books like this the norm.
When does it become cute? When she’s all of a sudden into the man who is incapable of respecting her wish?

Yeah, pass.

Thanks to Forever Publishing for the free E-ARC of this book. Here are my honest thoughts!

Dnf at 6%

What the ever loving heck?? I read TWO chapters of this books and have never felt so icky about both of the main characters this quickly.

Phaedra is so rude to Cosmin because he simply wasn’t the person she wanted her dad to pick for their team?? So that means you need to seethe every time he speaks?? HUH?? I am normally one who enjoys unlikeable fmcs!! I want characters to be flawed, but this reaction seems so unwarranted so immediately. It feels like it’s trying to do an enemies to lovers thing, but he doesn’t even dislike her?? I’m just 🫣

Cosmin is like?? The worst?? He has an interview after his race and just immediately starts extremely sexualizing the woman interviewing him? He literally assumes that she’s subconsciously imagining his hand on her neck while she’s JUST FIXING HER EARRING?? When she asks him a question he doesn’t like, he says he’ll have to spank her for it later?? THIS WOMAN IS JUST DOING HER JOB?? ICKY ICKY BEHAVIOR

After reading some other reviews, it’s clear to me that this is not a book I will ever want to finish. I only read two chapters, but I don’t foresee it getting better from here, unfortunately.

I really enjoyed the book overall, but there were certain parts that just did not make sense.

I loved the Romanian representation and thought Cosmin was a well developed MMC, except for the few scenes where he came off as a little predatory (when she tells him to leave her alone and he then proceeds to press her erection against her). I would expect this behavior in a dark romance, but the vibes were just a little off for a steamy F1 sports romance.

The FMC was so emotionally stunted, and I'm all for character development and growth, but even in the end she seemed kind of cold and unfeeling towards Cos. She was also constantly talking about how she's so much smarter than everyone else, especially the MMC and that just rubbed me the wrong way. Even if it's true, it seemed like those statements were made to put Cosmin down, even if indirectly. For a woman in her 30s I expected a little more maturity, I guess.

The spice was good, the story was good. I would have liked the content warnings to be more detailed - the illness was not named in the warnings and since there was mention of rape in the book, I would have liked the warnings to reflect that.

Overall, a mention of the book having darker tones would have helped a lot!
I recommend this book to fans of F1 that also enjoy darker topics.

I am so sorry but this is a DNF for me, I just genuinely do not care for the fmc and it’s really hard for me to continue when I personally don’t have any stake in the character and their story. Thank you netgalley and forever for giving me the change to review this book.

The beginning was a little rough for me. I wasn’t expecting to like it so much. (It’s 💯 a me thing, I don’t like repetitiveness and I felt like the character kept saying the same thing over and over)

Besides that I really liked the story and the characters were likable. I felt their struggles and them overcoming them to be happy with their lives.

There is talk about Formula 1 racing (obviously). It wasn’t too technical so if you don’t know anything about racing it won’t be effect your enjoyment of the book.

I think a lot of people would enjoy this so I do recommend it. There are some trigger warnings that some people might be interested in (talk of past child abuse, parent death, death from cancer)

Thanks to Forever and Netgalley for a couple of Double Apex in exchange of an honest review

I was locked into this one the whole time, by chapter 4 I completely understood why everyone wanted cosimin (it was the casual reading of norwegian wood for me), my main issue was the beginning of their relationship, it felt a bit too rushed but that seemed to work itself out throughout the story so I truly can't be that upset with it

also I couldn't stop picturing phaedra parks from the real housewives of atlanta so I had to permanently call her phae in order to fix that

thank you net galley for an arc of this in exchange for my honest feedback!

I received both the audio and e-arc for Double Apex, below is the review I left based on listening to the audiobook. I'm not sure if I would have enjoyed the story more reading it as a book given my dislike of the narration, but I also know that I am more likely to finish an audiobook I'm not enjoying versus a physical/e-book I'm not enjoying and I feel like if I was not listening I would have DNF'd this.

I feel like this book was not for me, but I also struggle to say who this book may have been for... Phaedra is an extremely unlikable character imo. I get she is supposed to be portrayed as prickly/ a black cat but she is well past those categories and was extremely unpleasant. She's 32 years old and on multiple occasions she mentions wanting to hit someone when she's angry and on one instance she does get into a physical altercation with Cosmin that I was not really feeling. I feel like that scene got played off so casually and in a way that feeds into stereotype that "men don't hit/abused by their female partners." The only thing that "redeeming" for Phaedra is that we see the on page death from cancer of her father which using that as the only likeable/non negative description of a character doesn't say much about said character. Cosmin gave hardly anything of substance, his backstory with his sister was somewhat confusing at times and that's really all I can take away from him. This is like a poorly done version of "he's obsessed with her and she doesn't like him" and I guess maybe that's because Phaedra was such an unlikeable character I struggle to see how he could have been obsessed with her.

I listen to alot of audiobooks, but this was the first time I've heard these narrators and their performance contributed to my feelings of indifference and unenjoyment with the story. If someone would have told me that the female narrator was actually AI I would have believed. I'm not sure if she was trying to play off of Phaedra's indifference in a was but her delivery was so flat and came across bored that I couldn't help be bored too. I also feel like in previous books I've read where there is a ESOL MC the narrator will still give them a slight accent in their internal thoughts and then a stronger one in dialogue. That wasn't the case here and I felt myself getting lost in some of Cosmin's thoughts because the Romanian accent was so strong. On multiple occasions I had to go back and rewind where I had gotten lost in the plot.

I think that potentially another book from Josie I could be interested in at some point given the right storyline, but it wouldn't be at the top of my TBR (nor do I want to find other books in the narrators catalogs to listen to next)

**Thank you to @netgalley , Josie Juniper, @readforeverpub (@grandcentralpub), and @hachetteaudio for my free ebook and audiobook ARC copies in exchange for my unbiased review.

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Spicy Rating: 🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶

Phaedra Morgan is the mathematical prodigy daughter of Edward "Mo" Morgan, owner of Emerald Formula 1, a racing company. F1 recently signed the cocky, manwhore, Romanian driver: Cosmin Ardelean. Phaedra can't stand him, but she has just made assumptions about him and never got to know him...yet.

While this was such a spicy read, I found there was more to it than that. Cosmin is such a sweet guy, I'm a sucker for an enemies to lovers trope. This was the first book since I read "Marley and Me" over 15 years ago that made me ugly cry and bawl...not once but TWICE. I have seen that this will be a series and I'm hoping we get more of Cos and Phae!

I was lucky to receive both an audiobook and ebook ARC copy of this book, I highly recommend the audio because if not you'll be missing out greatly on the Romanian accent and language. If you love sexy accents, enemies to lovers and reverse grumpy vs. sunshine, this one is for you!

Unfortunately this book was definitely not for me and I DNFed at 40%.

The issue (s):
- The female main character is very judgy, especially towards other women. I was excited to read this story as it put a female MC at a top position in a male dominated sport. Unfortunately, there was so much woman/pick-me hate from this FMC that I could not read any further. I saw another review which mentioned that the author did a great job at depicting a realistically flawed FMC, however it did not read that way for me. Just a couple of things she did: disregarded her *only* friend’s insecurity about her body and basically told her she should be lucky because she herself doesn’t look/feel that way, judged a woman at the bar calling her “2012” and a “bimbo,” hated on women only gym areas because those were created by men, hated on the very talented F1 driver because she would have preferred a woman, was terrible to her *only* friend for making her own love life decisions, and was just an all over terrible seeming person. I understand that she is a hothead and maybe if I finished the book I would understand more, however these insults were often so thought through/detailed that it hardly seemed spur of the moment. She just seemed very very childish for a supposed genius.
- The male main character does not respect the boundaries of women. His inner monologue makes him seem as though he is a good enough guy, but outwardly he flirts with everyone and everything, though he claims he is not promiscuous. He also continues to make innuendos over the team radio, which is a professional setting, even after the FMC has asked him to stop and rumors about the two of them are occurring which could have undermined her place on the team, he also advances physically towards her while she is not providing consent and is telling him to stop. The backstory of this character is that he grew up in his Uncle’s abusive home and his sister was sold for sex, he and his sister now own an orphanage for children in Romania I believe. Knowing this about the MMC, his actions towards the FMC are not believable.
- The FMC goes from literally hating the MMC and wanting him off the team to hate-sex in the matter of a couple of chapters. After the two are told to do some “bonding” they are immediately attracted to each other and attached. The MMC claims to have wanted her since he met her but there is nothing other than his words to suggest that (and I cannot see why he would when she treats him like literal dirt).

Overall, both of these characters completely sucked and I truly do not understand/believe their dynamic.

Thank you NetGalley and Forever (Grand Publishing) for sending this book (eARC) in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own.

double apex had an exciting concept, mixing racing and romance, but it didn’t fully deliver for me. the characters felt one-dimensional, and the story moved too fast, leaving little room for real development. while there were a few fun moments, overall, it just lacked depth and left me wanting more. DNF at 40%.

I just started getting into watching F1 this year so I was excited for this one originally. I normally love when the FMC is in a male dominated field and doesn’t put up with any of their shit (this is one thing I can 100% relate to) but this one fell a little flat for me.

From the beginning I found Phaedra insufferable. She’s way too quick to judge someone and doesn’t seem to treat the people in her life very well. I had a little sympathy for her because of her dad but I really thought it was unnecessary for her to treat her friends that poorly most of the time. I also wasn’t a huge fan of Cosmin, he seemed like a okay guy but some of the things he said/thought were kind of creepy to me.

Romance-wise, it didn’t really hit for me. It felt a little rushed and I didn’t really care much for them.

This book definitely discusses some tough topics so I recommend checking TW first!