Listening to this audiobook made it for me! I did immersive reading by pairing it with the book. Truly it elevated the book and experience. I will be recommending!

I love the elements of enemies to lovers in the atmosphere of F1. It was wonderful! I thought the sports elements and rivalry felt natural and accurate. I wish there was a bit more f1 involvement overall but I understand it’s a romance books, but it’s advertised as a f1 romance.

Definite tones and vibes to red, white, royal blue! Which is also super fun and iconic.

In this spicy enemies-to-lovers romance, Kian Walker is a veteran Formula 1 driver with 4 championship wins under his belt. When his racing partner gets injured the team brings in the young hotshot Harper James to fill in. Kian already hates Harper because of his reputation as a partier, who isn’t serious about his driving. Harper has idolized Kian for years. He decides to tease Kian relentlessly and tries to get him to loosen up.

I love the build up to these two getting together. There’s so much tension and snarky back and forth. I appreciated the dual points of view giving the reader both sides of the story. There’s a lot of emotional baggage they both carry from their difficult pasts, and they have to work through this. Primarily due to forced proximity, they start to learn more about each other and fall for each other. I also thought the ending was amazing!

This was just ok for me. It was an F1 romance between two drivers that felt fairly accurate (at least from the F1 point of view). I didn’t love Harper, and I felt like there were too many commitment issues throughout the whole book. The romance wasn’t quite believable enough, and the conflicts between Harper and Kian felt too repetitive.

I struggled a little bit with the audiobook because sometimes the narrators would talk really quietly, and sometimes they talk really loudly. I had a hard time listening to it on a consistent volume.

I received a free audiobook from NetGalley.

I loved the story but didn’t love the narrators for the audiobook. The book took me a little bit to get into partially because I had trouble hearing the difference between the two male narrators. These narrators also annoyed me with their tendency to go back and forth between whispering and shouting. I would turn my volume up during the quieter parts and then suddenly they would be yelling in my ear. Some points of the book were a constant battle with my volume button.

I liked how the author created several LGBT characters in an industry that is typically very “manly” aka straight. I also appreciated how each guy had a backstory of family trauma that felt realistic and it was woven into the story quite well. I loved the strong relationship that one man had with his twin sister and her children.

Enemies to lovers is one of my favorite romance tropes and the author did well with the transition. It didn’t feel too sudden and the proximity was logical given the travel in their line of work.

📖 𝐏𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐲 𝐑𝐞𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐜𝐚 𝐉. 𝐂𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐲
🎧 𝐍𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐉𝐨𝐬𝐡𝐮𝐚 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞 & 𝐉𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐉𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐩𝐡

“𝘏𝘦’𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺, 𝘢 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘰𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭.”

I really enjoyed this F1 romance! There was plenty of spicy angst and tension between our two leading men, Kian & Harper. The audiobook was really enjoyable! I LOVED the accents for both Kian and Harper.

Kian is nearing the end of his career and all he can focus on is his mother who is sick with Parkinson’s. He likes to be in control on and off the track but everything begins to fall into disarray when rookie Harper James becomes his new teammate.

Harper is a free spirit who has always idolized Kian and his famous family. Harper had a traumatic childhood and is still dealing with the aftermath of that. He has always crushed on F1 legend, Kian Walker, but their first encounter does not go as planned.

They get off to a rough start but once they got past their hold ups they were so good together! This was a spicy slow burn romance.

“𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘣𝘰𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴?” 🤭❤️‍🔥

If you love F1 romances between two talented drivers, go add, 𝐏𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐲 𝐑𝐞𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐜𝐚 𝐉. 𝐂𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐲, to your TBR today! The audiobook was really well done!

𝘛𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘴:
🏎️ 𝘍1 𝘙𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦
🥇 𝘙𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴
🔥 𝘔/𝘔 𝘙𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦
💞 𝘖𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘈𝘵𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵
🫶🏼 𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘹𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘺
🍷 𝘈𝘨𝘦 𝘎𝘢𝘱 (8𝘺𝘳𝘴)
❤️‍🔥 𝘚𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘺 𝘚𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘉𝘶𝘳𝘯

Listening to this on audiobook made the experience for me! The two narrators were lovely and were excellent at conveying the appropriate brooding and overall emotion for both Kian and Harper. Both characters developed nicely throughout the story and I enjoyed the secondary characters just as much as Kian and Harper (especially Kian's sister!)

Read if you like
🏎️ F1 / sports romance (honestly the F1 component came secondary to the personal lives of the MCs in my eyes, but it was still great for the plot and setting)
🏎️ Enemies to lovers
🏎️ Rookie vs Veteran
🏎️ Banter and sarcasm in a British accent

Listen to this on audio if you get the opportunity, I don't think I would have liked the book as much had I physically read it.

The narrators did a good job! The had a lot of potential but fell a little flat for me. I found the level of miscommunication extremely frustrating, The main characters came across at way younger than they actually were and that was such a turn off for me. I do no think it was a bad story at all. It just wasn't for me. I loved the f1 factor. Such a fun setting to dive into. I would try this author again!

I absolutely loved this audiobook!! The narrators did a phenomenal job! The plot and characters were amazing! By chapter 2 I was completely hooked! The two main characters are everything!

A cute, queer romance for all fans of motorsport! If you like the Dirty Air Series by Lauren Asher or Cross the Line by Simone Soltani, this book is for you!

Finally, a rivals-to-lovers romance that I enjoyed. The story was pretty engaging and the tension between the two mcs was palpable in almost every scene, so I just went along for the ride (ha) and had a good time. The writing needed further editing to tighten it up, but apart from that, this was fun.

Here’s the rewritten review:

I started Pole Position feeling intrigued, grew to love it, but ultimately found the over-the-top drama and rushed relationship development a bit much for me.

I went into this blind and was quickly hooked by the intense dynamic between Kian and Harper. Their love-hate, rivals-to-teammates tension reminded me immediately of Heated Rivalry with the way they despised each other yet couldn’t help but be intrigued. As Formula 1 teammates, they’re forced to work together and present a united front for the media, which set the stage for some excellent banter and tension.

What completely won me over was the hurt-comfort moment when Kian selflessly cared for Harper after he fell ill. That scene became a turning point—I was fully invested in their relationship and rooting for them. But as the story progressed, the constant back-and-forth drama between them started to wear on me.

It felt like their relationship took so long to actually start, and then once it did, we didn’t get to see it develop meaningfully. A lot of key emotional topics—like Kian’s complicated relationship with his famous father, his childhood, or Harper being a fan of Kian’s early career—were introduced but never explored deeply. Similarly, other threads like therapy, Kian’s family dynamics, or Harper’s friend acting distant were brought up only to be dropped or wrapped up too quickly.

I also struggled with the portrayal of their intimacy. The insistence on a heteronormative idea of “real sex” (equating it solely with anal) felt off, especially since they’d previously referred to other moments as having “sex.” It seemed inconsistent with the story’s tone and didn’t reflect the diversity of queer experiences. On top of that, the kink elements were mentioned briefly and then abandoned, adding to the sense that some ideas weren’t fully fleshed out.

That said, there were parts I really enjoyed. Kian’s “grandpa” vibe, as a veteran F1 driver longing to spend more time with his family, contrasted beautifully with Harper’s wild, scandal-prone rookie energy. Their personalities clashed in the best way, creating sparks and a lot of fun moments.

From an F1 fan perspective, though, I found the mix of real and fictional teams confusing—it felt messy and took me out of the story. The use of vague terms like “championship racing” instead of referring directly to F1 also threw me off.

All in all, Pole Position reminded me of Red, White, & Royal Blue in tone, so if you’re a fan of that kind of rivals-to-lovers romance with some emotional depth, you’ll probably enjoy this. While it wasn’t a standout for me due to the unresolved plot points and relationship pacing, it was still an entertaining read with some memorable moments.

1⭐️ I really wanted to love Pole Position, but it just didn’t click for me. The premise had so much potential—a golden boy and a cocky rookie forced to team up in the high-stakes world of motorsport. Kian and Harper’s dynamic seemed like it would be full of tension and excitement, but instead, it felt flat.

The pacing was slow, and I struggled to connect with the characters. Kian’s internal conflict about not wanting to be like his dad was interesting at first but didn’t feel fully explored. Harper, on the other hand, came off more obnoxious than intriguing, making it hard to root for him.

I honestly couldn’t finish the book because it just wasn’t holding my attention. While some readers might enjoy the motorsport setting and enemies-to-lovers setup, it wasn’t for me.

Red white and royal blue meets formula one. It’s a cute lgbtq sports romance book. No formula one knowledge needed.
Enemies to lovers
Grumpy x sunshine
Two male audiobook narrators with perfect British accents.

This audiobook was fantastic. The narrators of this book - swoon! They did such a good job bringing these characters to life.

There is so much to love about this book - the F1 setting, delicious tropes, dual POV, and amazing chemistry. There were times I was literally shouting ”noooooo” when the characters weren’t communicating well or were misunderstanding one another. I did feel like there were points where the story dragged a little, but I can see why the growth was slow.

I loved the narration on this audiobook but the book just felt very clunky and formulaic. I really wanted to love this one but it fell really flat

Audiobook ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Narrated by Joshua Chase; James Joseph
Performance Review:
Great job Joshua and James! Tone, pacing, and reading style were spot on! This was my first MM romance read so it only made sense to get an ARC for the audio. I was worried I would struggle with the accents and British catchphrases, but they too were spot on.

Book Review:
3.75/5 ⭐
2/5 🌶️

A cute Formula 1 MM Romance! You don't see this storyline often and it was a fun one. I enjoyed their banter, slow burn, and their spice. I would have loved to pull a bit more depth out of them, but overall enjoyed the story

Tropes:
Enemies to lovers
Grumpy x sunshine
Forced Proximity
Spicy 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Sports romance 🏎️

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to Pole Position.

I absolutely loved Pole Position. From the duet narration to a nuanced sports and love story with instant fireworks (I loveddddd the sunshine vs grumpy characters). This is serious fun. I know nothing about Formula 1 and am not a fan and still wildly enjoyed listening. 4.5 stars!

This was a fun, gay romance read! The two main characters were pretty likable(For the most part). Harper's character came with frustrations from time to time, but overall not a super infuriating POV to follow. The story itself was cute, but felt a little too slow for my liking. I feel like I didn't really get to see the characters happy for that long either for all of that build up, but the spice was well-written and you still find yourself rooting for the MCs to get together. It seems like the author maybe set up the ending for a second book, which I would be interested to read, so overall recommend.

So this is my first MM read and I cannot express how much I loved it. It gave me so many feels as it bounced between Kian and Harper’s POV. I may have ended up a little too invested and hoped that I got an epilogue that gave me the additional bits I NEEDED (it did!). It was also my introduction to F1 racing. So a I would highly recommend this enemies to lovers, grump x sunshine and one of my personal faves… forced proximity with a nice amount of spice.

I wanted to love this but I was not my favorite at all. I was really hopefully but it was a bit disappointing.