I was very excited to pick this one up, I love RWRB (Red, White, and Royal Blue) and I’m always a sucker for a sports romance! Overall this was fun with just enough spice, it fell a bit flat but the audio was fantastic and I enjoyed listening to it.

Kian is 34 and facing the potential last season of his career, he’s hardworking and disciplined, everything his racing legend father wasn’t. Harper is the quintessential handsome party boy, ready for his shot at the big leagues. When these two are forced together on the same team sparks fly in more ways than one. Can Harper live up to Kian’s expectations on and off the track?

While the romance was solid it didn’t grip me, it was spicy but I wasn’t rooting for them. Most of the book felt like Harper living up to Kian’s expectations and growing, while Kian didn’t really have any growth. While it had similar vibes and plot points to RWRB it lacked the overall charm and chemistry.

I recommend this one for romance lovers who like a sports romance and the enemies to friends to lovers vibes you got from RWRB. Thank you to NetGalley, One More Chapter, and Harper Audio for the audio ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Kian, the four-time Championship winner, got racing in his blood—his dad was a legend on the track—but he’s determined to be his own man and not just live in his father's shadow.

And then there's Harper James, the rookie who's totally the opposite of Kian. He’s cocky, hotheaded, and known for breaking hearts as much as track records. Their chemistry is electric, and you can feel the tension as they navigate the crazy world of motorsport together.

What I love most is how the book dives into Kian's struggles. Racing at 220mph seems easier for him than dealing with his feelings for Harper! It’s such a rollercoaster of emotions and action. At first the constant back and forth between enemies to lovers was giving me so much whiplash that I was borderline sea-sick, but such a cute pay off !

This story is a Formula 1 racing rivalry, MM, enemies to lovers romance. Rookie, Harper James, is called up to the big leagues when there is an injury to a top racer. He is called up to race on the team of his racing idol and the ‘Golden Boy’ of racing, Kian Walker.

Kian Walker does not like change and he does not handle it well when his racing partner/best friend gets injured and Harper James gets pulled up to take his place. These two are explosive and opposites in every right and it does not help that Harper reminds Kian of his estranged father, who was also a Formula 1 driver, in a bad way.

The chemistry/banter is definitely there with these two, but they are both in very different places in their lives. Harper does a lot of growing up throughout the book but I feel like more emphasis should have been put on his therapy appointments. Even if the author would have us into one appointment in depth it could connect the dots more clearly for the readers.

Personally, I do not know much about Formula 1 racing and I am not sure if all those details are factually accurate, but the story made sense to me and was very easy to follow for someone that does not know much about the sport.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and basically binged it. I would recommend this to anyone that is interested in MM sports romance because it was a really great time!

I listened to this book as an audiobook and really enjoyed the narrator's voices and found their accents very appealing and easy to understand.

Lastly, I want to thank NetGalley, Rebecca J. Caffery, and HarperCollins Audio for making it possible for me to read the ARC for this book.

Book Tropes:
-Enemies to Lovers
-Grumpy/Sunshine
-Forced Proximity
-Age Gap
-Sports Romance

3⭐️
It was okay.
There were no building blocks to this romance (it was strictly physical attraction until suddenly it wasn't), but when they did speak about or act on those romantic feelings, I really did enjoy it. Both characters were relatively unlikable, but they grew on me over the 10hrs I spent with them.

I found that the book skipped through a lot of time. I'm sure the author cut out the majority of the racing scenes because that would've been very repetitive and boring, but somehow, the way it was done had me super confused on the timeline throughout the story.

Also, don't loveeeeeeee the barely consensual smut scene. That wasn't very cool. Maybe let's not take advantage of drunk people. I found the smut in this book overall to be a little off. Didn't love it, but I'm not a big smut reader, so take that with a grain of salt.

Lastly, I can't recommend the audiobook. The narrators themselves weren't the problem. However, they were at totally different volumes the whole time. One of them was speaking at a normal volume, and the other was always ALWAYS whispering. Please, please STOP WHISPERING, I cannot hear a word you're saying! Someone needed to sort that out during recording or at least fixed the volumes after it was finished. It made it very frustrating to listen to as I was constantly adjusting the volumes or missing large chunks of the book.

Thank you to Netgalley for the Audio Arc.

Guess I’m a F1 trope fan now.
WOW was this steamy and tense!🌶️🌶️🌶️
MM enemies to lovers, sports romance, forced proximity grumpyxsunshine tropes

I loved this so much. Kian’s broody, clean cut, and a type-A top contender. Harper is a messy party boy rookie looking to make it to the top. When an accident puts Kians teammate out of the running, he’s teamed up with Harper and the tension is HOT. Both on the track and off.

Kian comes from celebrity parents; his father who was famous for also setting records and placing top spot, only to be fired in the midst of his career and his mother who also leaves the spotlight when she diagnosed with Parkinson’s. While Kian’s touring, chasing his own dreams, he does his best to separate his own name and accomplishments from his estranged father’s and yet he internally struggles with his absence from his mother due to her illness. While Kian feels close to ready to retire, he’s still got his goals set on winning the top spot before he does so. He likes order and routine, or rather he needs it in order to stay focused on the goal, so when Harper enters his like, chaos ensues.

Harper was a fan of Kian’s father growing up and when Kian took center stage he became his biggest inspiration to move up in the rankings himself. So when Harper and Kian are not only teamed up together but are also paired to share rooms and travel arrangements while on tour, he couldn’t be more excited to be close to his idol, that is until Kian makes it very clear that he does not like Harper AT ALL. Can the two learn to work together to bring their team to the top? Not to mention an accidental kiss that completely derails Kian’s focus. I also really enjoyed Harper’s growth journey in general as there’s an emphasis on trauma and therapy work in his character that I found so well depicted. Both our leads are dealing with internal struggles and the way they help each other evolve was very compatible, you didn’t need to convince me they had chemistry.

I am a huge F1 fan and this was my first book in an F1 setting. I loved it. I thought it was so fun. You had the demands of a Formula 1 season on two new teammates with a romance brewing. The rivalry leading to chemistry was chefs kiss 💋

I also really enjoyed the found family and side characters! I hope there’s a next book!

3.5/3.75 stars? Sure.

I must have consumed a different book because I thought this was okay for an F1 romance. Maybe I've just read so many bad ones that I'm extra excited about it. Maybe it was the quality of the audiobook but I thought it was pretty good. Is it an F1 biography? No. Are there some weak points in the F1 "world"? Yeah. I even would have liked more spicy scenes but over all I thought it was a decent rivals to lovers, age gap, MM sports romance. (And the cover art is super cute).

Thank you to the author, Netgalley and HarperAudio for the audio ARC. I am reviewing this title honestly and voluntarily.

I LOVED this one! It was my first Formula 1 read and I definitely went and started requesting more. The character development was so so good. I'm usually not one to like accents in narrators (I received the audiobook), but this one wasn't too much and didn't take away from the story. Definitely pick this one up!

This was an incredibly entertaining f1 mm romance. The tension and chemistry between Kian and Harper was palpable as it transitioned from dislike/rivals to secret lovers.

I really enjoyed how much Caffery brought the sport to life through this book. There were many moments where I felt like I was inside the cockpit along side Kian and I have an appreciation for the accuracy in how the sport was portrayed.

There were times where I found both characters - Harper in particular - to be acting immaturely, however I have seen many real life f1 drivers behave like babies, so I suppose that checks out.

Once Harper began working on himself and going to therapy, while Kian supported him while also settling into the major changes in his life, I truly loved how these two loved and showed up for one another.

Joshua Chase and James Joseph did a wonderful job narrating this story. I wish that rather than the opening credits on audiobooks saying "read by joshua chase and james Joseph" they indicated which narrator portrayed which character. I love when MM romances have two narrators for dual pov, because it helps me track who's pov I'm listening from. However I did noticed that whichever of the narrators was performing Harper's pov was a little softer spoken.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Harper Audio and Rebecca J Caffery for the audiobook.

A fun little listen (I listened to the audiobook)! While I enjoyed getting to know Kian and watching Harper grow, I fear that the narrators' accents were possibly my favorite part of this book. There were a lot of aspects that felt unbalanced in this story -- stakes aren't high enough, then they're too high. Not enough relationship development, then all that's happening is Kian and Harper are having sex and fighting. Neither character ever really felt fully fleshed out to me, and when I put the book down, I didn't particularly look forward to picking it back up. However, there were a lot of precious moments and overall the story was certainly written better than some of the other sports romances that I've read.

2.5 stars, rounded up.

*4.5

I am a huge, huge fan of formula 1 so I was waiting for this book so much! And it lived up my expectations. It’s a good book. It’s funny and unpretentious and good. I liked it a lot. Love it! And I fell in love with the romance.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Love this book. Love that it took place as part of the F1 sport background. You don’t get to many books in that era. Love the enemies to lovers in the sport they loved 🥰 it was very heartwarming and cute.

i'm hesitant with sports romances because i've been burned in the past. (i like the sports parts! so many of them don't have the sports parts!) but i took a chance on pole position, and i'm glad i did. first, there was a great balance of sports and romance. definitely helped by the fact that they're both athletes.

i found the dynamic between the two leads to be very fun! i felt like it was getting too be a bit much that both characters kept going back to like "why did i ever think he was different" when both of them showed a lot of growth over the story, but it was v v small. i loved harper and kian! they were both so complex, but they made it work. they felt very organic and human. i also liked that the progression of their relationship felt very natural. personally, i think harper should have groveled a bit more, but that's just me 💅🏻 they are both sweethearts and they are perfect.

the audiobook was fantastic! both narrators were so good at each voice, and it was so easy to listen to them. if anybody wants to read this book, i would recommend picking up the audiobook.

This was so so good much better then I was expecting this narrator was so great I hope everyone listens to this

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperAudio Adult for providing the audiobook of Pole Position by Rebecca J. Caffery.

I found the audiobook quite enjoyable, especially Kian’s POVs, as I preferred the narrator for his chapters. The book itself has potential; I liked the premise, and the characters have great, fun banter. However, it falls a little flat beyond that. The pacing is inconsistent, with too many abrupt jumps in the way the characters and their relationship evolve. While I enjoy some miscommunication in my romances, this story leaned a bit too heavily on that trope.

There are a few simple adjustments that could have made this a more enjoyable read: reducing the excessive use of the word “twink,” avoiding long discussions about Harper going to therapy only for him to disregard any progress he claimed to have made, and ensuring consistency by not mixing real F1 teams with fictional ones.

With a few tweaks, this could easily have been a 4-star read—especially in audiobook format.

This is the first time I've read this author or listened to either narrator and I am extremely impressed. Both narrators did a fantastic job bringing their characters to life and expressing their emotions. I was nearly in tears by the end of the book and for once from happiness. Usually I only cry when something tragic happens in a well written story.

This book combines some of my favorite tropes in a magical way that had me immersive reading it nearly straight through.
- Enemies to Friends to Lovers
- Teammates & Sports
- Age Gap
- Falling for Your Hero
- Grumpy/Sunshine
- Wild/Responsible
- Hurt/Comfort
- Banter & Pranks
- Tension & Chemistry
- HEA w/no Cliffhanger
- No External Drama

The story starts with veteran racer Kian receiving the news that his best friend & teammate will be out for the whole season. Harper is excited to finally get his chance in the big leagues & is overly excited to be doing so with his ideal. Unfortunately, Harpers nervous enthusiasm comes across as arrogance and puts Kian off right from the start.

I saw someone compare the two to Jamie & Roy from Ted Lasso and it is the best way to describe their dynamic. Kian is constantly trying to get Harper to be more responsible, usually by pointing out his faults. Harper is constantly calling Kian boring and old and trying to get him to go out and have some fun. It makes for great chemistry that has you wondering why no one else can see them falling for each other.

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves romance books, especially MM sports. I can see myself rereading it regularly as a sweet pick me up.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ of 5 overall
🌶🌶.5 of 5 for spice
🧁🧁🧁🧁 of 5 for sweetness
☕☕☕ of 5 for coziness

I’ll say it: this is better than Red, White, and Royal Blue. Why? Because it’s steamier, sexier, and pulse-racing, like the twenty F1 cars (soon to be twenty-two) firing up their engines and taking off at the green light. That vibration you’re feeling? Yeah, that’s not the cars—it’s the sheer angst radiating off this book. MM Romance plus racing is hotter than an F1 Paddock Club pass.


There is something about an F1 or any racing novel, for that matter, that really gets me going when it's an MM romance. The banter within these pages had me cackling aloud at times. I did enjoy that we had more races within this novel. It gave the forced proximity trope more angst since they are both racers on the same team. They both are revving up each other's engines in angst. Lol. Other novels usually focus more on the relationship, which, yes, is the main plot, but it was nice to read/listen to more races, standings, struggles, etc.


Thank you, NetGalley and Rebecca J. Caffery, for the opportunity to review the audiobook for Pole Position! Every word within this review is my own personal thoughts and opinions.



Story: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5)
Audiobook: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5) Joshua Chase, James Joseph
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ (3/5) MM Romance and so much Angst!

I really enjoyed this sports romance set the world of car racing. The interactions between the two main characters were humorous and fun, yet also dealt with some serious topics too. I loved learning more about the sport and the behind the scenes peek at how the magic of making it look effortless happens. The audiobook is a great way to enjoy this story and the narration is perfection.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperAudio Adult for the audiobook of Pole Position by Rebecca J. Caffery!

We love a good F1 romance and this definitely did not disappoint in a lot of ways — however, there is one thing that almost made me stop listening, especially in the beginning. I loved the narrator who voiced Kian, he had the perfect tone and accent. When the narration switched to who voiced Harper, I had to up the volume so much because it sounded like he was whispering, and it made it so difficult to understand at times. I really enjoyed the story itself and would be giving it a higher rating if I had read the book physically or as an ebook.

Outside of this narration, I probably would have given this book 4 stars, but it was unfortunately docked a star due to this.

I do recommend this book, but I think you might be better off with the ebook or a physical copy!

As a fan of F1, I was intrigued by this book.
The dual narrators helped with dual males. I can see why some would really like this book - especially if they are mildly into F1 or just beginning to be into the sport and looking for this storyline. There are a lot of plot holes and jumps in character development. The premise of someone in foster care being able to afford one of the most expensive sports in the world could use some editing. It could have had potential but needs a lot of work.