Very cute. Love the F1 of it all. He falls first and falls so hard, while she’s a terrified mess. Loved it, and looking forward to the next in the series.

Unfortunately, this book was not for me. As an avid fan of F1, mostly because of my husband, I was looking forward to this book. It had an incredible amount of potential. It had the STEM girl who is one of the only females working in F1. You've got the handsome, flirty F1 rookie. You've got enemies to lovers vibes. All of this should have been right up my alley. However, there were a lot of issues with this book which made me basically sigh through it rather than fully enjoy it.

The largest issues I have with this book are the characters and the writing. which sometimes overlap. The writer had a really awesome idea here and could have showcased what it would be like for a woman in F1, especially in the paddock. And while the author tries to do that, the characters she created, especially the FMC, end up being lackluster and actually a bit unlikeable. Phaedra, the FMC, is actually quite mean and judgmental. She's rude to others. She handles everything so poorly and problematically. Instead of a girl boss, we get a caricature of that. It was hard to read her POV because of it.

This takes me to the writing. Almost all parts of this story are clunky. From the boys will be boys attitudes, to the cringey spicy scenes, to the rushed interactions and storylines, to the stunted and weird dialogue, almost all parts of this book were lackluster. I'm sure the author had a lot of ideas, but almost none of them were well executed.

Overall, this might be up your alley if you like enemies to lovers, forced proximity, forbidden romance, and F1 romances. But, if you are like me and want at least some likeable characters and some decent writing, this might be one you wait to read.

Thank you to Forever Publishing and NetGalley for a copy of this review in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve been really enjoying F1 and F1 romances this year so when I saw this book was announced, I was so excited to read it. I loved the idea of having a story around a female racing engineer. The problem for me, she was just so unlikeable. Phaedra goes through some pretty difficult situations through out the book but handles them in the worst possible way every time. There was a lot of points where she was putting down other women and their choices which just didn’t leave me feeling great. The actual relationship went from enemies to lovers so quickly? I felt like it really lacked a lot of emotional depth and made it hard to invest in. Cosmin has such an intense up bringing that it feels like we really don’t get much into. Overall, I do thing there was some character development but I feel like it would have helped me to see more or have gotten more insight into the backstory of all of the characters.

Thank you to Forever and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book will appeal to fans and non-fans of Formula One! While the novel includes FormulaOne-specific terminology and references, you don't need a beginner's course to engage with the book. Phaedra is a strong main character, standing her ground in a sport that is male dominated. The evolution of her relationship with Cosmin is full of banter, heat, and alllllll the hightlightable spice.

Tropes:
Workplace romance
Dual POV
Enemies to lovers

This was not really for me. As an F1 fan I was really excited to read this and there were elements I really enjoyed, like the complexity of Phaedra and Cosmin's relationship and the forced proximity but forbidden romance. However, there were a lot of scenes that left me feeling uncomfortable like when Phaedra was physically hitting Cosmin or verbally abusing him and Cosmin just seemed to accept it and still want to be with Phaedra without expecting any change or growth. Ultimately, I think that was the hardest part of reading this was that it didn't feel Phaedra really grew or changed or made amends for the wrongs against her best friend or Cosmin.

This book is for F1 fans - like, if you're not super familiar with F1 other than there's a race in Monaco and they spray expensive champagne around, you may lose some of your focus while reading and start thinking about how much you'd enjoy drinking the expensive champagne instead. The book centers on Phaedra, the chief engineer on a Formula 1 team that is also owned by her dad. I will say that the book does accurately capture a lot of the sexism that women in STEM experience and also addresses perceived nepotism very early on. Cosmin, our F1 driver that Phaedra affectionately refers to as F1 Dracula (presumably based on his Romanian roots?) has a insta-spark towards Phaedra that she desperately tries to avoid. Honestly, I wasn't blown away. The book was fine and there were definitely some heartwarming parts, especially with Mo, but it just didn't really suit for me. I didn't resonate with the characters and found myself frustrated with Phaedra, shaking my head at Cosmin for apologizing so quickly all the time, and very confused by the final situation with his sister. I don't think I'll continue the series, but I would say that if you do enjoy F1, it may be something to check out especially based on the large amount of technical information included about racing.

Did not finish book. Stopped at 34%.
I’m a big F1 fan so I was really excited for this book.

However, right off the bat, I immediately did not like our FMC Phaedra, She’s headstrong to the point where she’s like verbally abusive? Like she’s so strong that she’s a smart female has to shove it down and be rude to others?? I don’t know. I’m not a big fan. The way she treats her friend is just like red flag material.
Additionally, kicks the MMC (cosmin) around verbally, and is constantly belittling him for this assumption that he sleeps around with everyone.

Cosmin explains how her blatant dislike for him makes him only want her more - she has said multiple times don’t touch me and then all the sudden he proceeds to touch her and she thinks it hot and enticing? I cant follow that, considering how strong her opinions are made out to be in the book.
I feel like their relationship jumped from zero to now she’s falling for him, but we don’t get the in between or the why? I feel like the development of the relationship jumped.

Anyway, I feel like I can’t really get behind the individual characters, but also their relationship with each other. Additionally, I feel like the plot is very weak. We know that she’s an engineer for his racing team, he’s the driver, her dad owns the team and he’s also sick and deteriorating but other than that I don’t really know where it’s going.
At the 34% mark, I realized that I had too many grievances with the plot that I just couldn’t move forward.

Thanks to NetGalley and Forever Publishing for an ARC of this book in exchange of an honest review.

At first glance, Double Apex seems like your typical sports romance, set in the world of Formula 1. However, it didn’t deliver the romantic vibe I expected. For me, well-written main characters are crucial in this genre, and I found it hard to connect with the protagonists. Their story didn’t feel romantic, and I was actually hoping they wouldn’t end up together. While the racing element was exciting, the lack of chemistry made the story fall flat.

DNF @ 18%. I was super excited to do a buddy read of this book with some friends and booyyyyyyy did I not love it. The MC's both needed therapy and to not be together and work on themselves individually.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to be an early reader. All thoughts are my own.

I was so excited to read a racing romance. I'm a huge auto racing fan, and I loved the concept of this book. However, the execution was just not there. There were some things that happened in the book (I won't give spoilers), but I was really uncomfortable with the violence that occurred. I was really upset and I couldn't continue after that.

I love F1 and I love romance but unfortunately this book really did not work for me. The MMC was unbearable, his cocky egotistical attitude was a bit much for me and his character was pretty much unredeemable to me even after hearing his backstory. I also found the spicy scenes in this one to be super cringey and the word choice was just not for me. I wish I had enjoyed this one more than I did but I think its a case of wrong book for me personally.

haven’t loved a sports romance in so long but I didn’t want to put this down. Cosmin and Phaedra captured my heart. I love a brash heroine who doesn’t always make the right choices and is sometimes too quick to anger and that was Phaedra 100%. Cosmin’s sweetness blew me away—it was so well done that it didn’t feel cheesy or unrealistic but it truly felt like a man who was head over heels but knew he had a love interest that had to be handled with caution. The flirting and banter was so engaging and I wanted to keep reading to get to the next interaction.

The sex scenes were so good and the most I’ve read in a traditionally published book in a while but they didn’t feel like they were overwhelming the story.

Phaedra’s father’s storyline absolutely crushed me. I thought it was handled with care and Phaedra’s emotions felt so real and raw and I cried probably four or five times during this book.

Now—what made it not quite five stars for me. The past child abuse plotline with Cosmin’s sister and her abuser getting married gave me a really hard time. I had trouble understanding this choice just like Cosmin did and I felt like it was a bit of a loose thread and needed more explaining for me to accept why that choice was made. I would preferred the book without it. The second reason it wasn’t five stars were some of the side characters. I felt like Owen, Brooklyn and Peach kind of came out of nowhere and they were all quirky for quirkiness’ sake. It felt like they had their own book before this one and this was a fun oh here are the characters you loved from my last book but because Double Apex was the first in this series it threw me off a bit.

Klaus and Nat—I’m desperate for their story!! I am so excited that they will be the next book because as soon as they appeared on the page together I knew this was a story I wanted told.

Overall, I loved it! The things I disliked were so heavily outweighed by what I love and I cannot wait to read everything this author puts out.

I wanted to love this one but couldn’t get past 20%. I thought it needed another round of edits… Also, the story was a bit clunky. The relationship growth between the characters didn’t feel natural - they were at each others throats and 10 pages later they were attracted to each other and kissing? Sadly, this one just missed the mark for me.

Thank you for giving me the chance to read this arc ! I enjoyed reading it but the female main character was unbearable. She was giving “pick me “ vibes all throughout the book and it just didn’t like that . I did however learn about f1 in the book !

DNF at 6% for the MMC being incredibly cocky and making unwanted sexual comments over the radio to the FMC and this really truly just being glossed over as being okay and "boys will be boys". Not okay, not cool. I'm sure this cockiness and verbal assault is explained away through some *traumatic back story* but I wasn't waiting around to find out.

I did read a few other reviews to decide whether or not to DNF and I gotta say, it sounds like I won't regret my decision at all.

Thank you NetGalley and Forever Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this book!

Phaedra Morgan is great at her job as a race engineer, using her phenomenal math skills and years of finely tuned experience. However, her team’s new driver is not easy to work with. Cosmin Ardelean is on the verge of becoming a star, known for his impressive driving and frequent romantic-exploits. When the two teammates try a new strategy of getting along for the benefit of their team, a thrilling and forbidden attraction ignites! The stakes are high for Phaedra and Cosmin personally and professionally, and with all eyes on the racing community, no secret stays hidden for long.

I’m a very casual F1 fan (Drive to Survive is amazing television) but you don’t need to know the sport at all to enjoy this book! Phaedra is highly intelligent if sometimes a little tactless, and Cosmin is charming with a lighthearted attitude that hides a troubled past. These two have a ton of chemistry and the book is pretty steamy! I loved the setting of the book, chapters follow the race season and they move all around the world, but I found myself craving a tiny bit more of the racing! I will definitely be reading the next book in this new series!

I needed a couple of days to digest the book before writing my review of Double Apex. I really struggled through the first 60% of this book. Really struggled. The MMC showed his affection for the FMC by harassing her. The FMC gave off big Not Like Other Girls energy and was just mean. I can read unlikable characters but these two were a step beyond. After the 60%, the story seemed to coalesce, the characters were a bit more bearable, and they got back to racing. For an F1 romance, it was lacking on the racing.

There were good parts to the book. I found the MMC’s sister very interesting. I’ve not read a romance featuring a Romanian main character before. But I don’t plan to continue this series.

Pick this one up if you love:
- spice
- F1 (Formula 1 racing)
- FMC in STEM
- He falls first

I think my favorite part of this one was all the traveling for the different races. I personally know nothing about F1. I think this book will be a bigger hit with people who like F1.

I was incredibly excited for this book because the cover is stunning and an enemies to lovers sports romance sounded like just what I needed. But I…DNF’d this book at about 50% after the FMC physically attacked the MMC by hitting, kicking, slapping, and scratching him and when he accidentally slaps her leg because she’s, in her own words, “thrashing so much”, she proceeds to throw his childhood abuse (and his sister’s) at the hands of his uncle in his face and accuses him of being just like his uncle.

This wasn’t cute. It wasn’t funny. It wasn’t girl boss. It was horrifying to read in a book in 2024 that thought this was appropriate. I love unlikable FMC’s. Love them. But Phaedra was MEAN and she was abusive and I was deeply bothered by this entire scene.

Fun read. I’m not a huge car racing fan but this was a lot of fun and it was interesting to see the science and mechanics behind racing. The main characters were really good. Both had a lot of baggage to sort out. The side characters were hit or miss for me. I am looking forward to the next book.

I received an arc from Netgalley and the publisher.