Obviously I loved this book-it hit me in all the feels and I just couldn’t put it down!

Set in the F1 racing world, we dive straight in and watch Travis realize his partner, who he’s been with for over a year and secret, has had a devastating crash. This is a very strong start and by the end of chapter one I was hooked. There were several high emotions running and once the storm settled, all I could feel was Travis’s anxiety and growing hope that Jacob would be ok.
I think my only issue with this story was how the narrative was broken up. By the time I had finished Travis’ half, I didn’t much like Jacob and was surprised with the sudden change in POV.
However I did end up enjoying Jacob’s half of the story, albeit shorter and glossing over his physical rehabilitation and largely focusing on his mental health. I appreciate how reflective he was and how it made him grow into a better person. Jacob’s very young and at age 23, I found it realistic enough for him to have made mistakes and pushed away the person he loved from fear of losing them. Love is a huge feeling and a monumental change to both people’s lives, so add F1 into it and it’s definitely a messy path to navigate.

Being set in the F1 world was well done. I am not familiar with many sports, but felt that I understood the basic terms and concept in racing. It’s definitely more than I realized, but the story focused less on the details of F1 and more on Travis and Jacob, which made it easier.

The whole book is a third act break up while we watch these idiots in love, heal and grow without each other after such a traumatic event. While we saw a lot of their healing separately, I feel that it wasn’t really discussed as much when the two were united. They just missed each other so much that they (Travis) quickly moved on from the actions that Jacob made and hurt With. I feel like after 10 months, a conversation lasting more than one apology was well deserved. Communication is very much necessary for these two losers in love.

I think my favorite thing was the support both Travis and Jacob received from very different groups of people. Travis seemed to be a loner prior to the crash, but found himself surrounded by people who truly cared and loved him. Heather was a steady presence and Hunter made me laugh with his strange ways. Amanda was truly the best therapist, working on trying to get through to Jacob with different methods, and finally being able to get through to him. Kelsie was also a fresh breath of air especially since she was from where Jacob grew up. Shows him that not everyone like his family, will react the way they did (in a sucky unsupportive manner).

Overall I enjoyed this story and the characters. There were many emotions hit and I felt like the characters had some real growth, even though it wasn’t shown very well to each other. I also wanted to note that the blurb claims that this is for fans of RWaRB and while I agree it’s only due to the secret relationship and the queer representation we are given. There’s not much else similar to either novels, but both explore the realities of a secret/hidden relationship with both members being in the public eye and being queer. I found Crash Test to be a little more angsty and less flashy despite being an F1 sports romance.

3.5⭐️
0.25🫑

I honestly don’t know how to rate Crash Test. Like, I enjoyed it, but at the same time, the way it was written was just weird. The biggest issue for me was the storytelling structure—it’s framed as a recollection of Travis and Jacob’s relationship, which took away so much of the depth and intimacy. Instead of actually experiencing their moments together, we’re told about them. It felt like a summary rather than letting us live in those moments. There’s even a part where Travis says something like, “Later, I would’ve done this or that,” which made everything feel even more distant. The way flashbacks were written made it feel disjointed rather than immersive, which frustrated me.

The whole “telling instead of showing” thing was frustrating. I wanted real emotional moments, not quick recaps. I wanted to actually see how their relationship grew, not just be told it happened. Instead, we get rushed dialogue, scenes focusing on side characters (who I didn’t care about), and no real deep dive into their emotions. Like, we find out that Jacob was Travis’s first kiss and first time, but it’s just kind of mentioned in passing?? That should’ve been a moment!!

And the ending… UGH. After a year apart, instead of Jacob actually working for forgiveness, they just immediately jump back into each other’s arms like nothing happened. Travis forgave him way too easily. Jacob says he’ll be better, but honestly? Feels kinda sus. The ending wrapped up so fast that I didn’t even get a chance to enjoy their happy ending. I needed more closure, more conversations, something.

Also, side note—why do we get zero description of what Travis looks like? Like, not a single thing. It was so weird not having any visual on him.

That said, what I did love was how the book opened with the big crash instead of saving it for later like so many MM sports romances do. It was a really smart choice to start with that intense moment and then explore the fallout, rather than making the accident some third-act drama. Seeing how it affected their racing careers and their relationship was definitely the best part of the book.

The plot itself was solid. The chemistry was definitely there, and the characters had distinct personalities. The racing aspect was accurate, but I just wish there was more of it.

Overall, it’s not perfect (not enough groveling!), and the way the story was told didn’t fully work for me, but I still liked the emotional fallout from the crash and how that played out. If you like MM racing romances, it’s worth checking out—just be prepared for a rushed ending and a bit of frustration along the way.

I really enjoyed this book. I am always down for a sports romance with a bit of extra depth. I really liked both characters and enjoyed getting to see their love story progress.

Crash Test - 4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Arc received by @avonbooks and @harpercollins

I really enjoyed this book specifically due to the subjects of accepting your queerness, and advocating for mental health. I genuinely cried at the first half of this story relating to the heartache of someone not loving you and not accepting the relationship you've built because of their own ego. I really adored Travis's character.

However some of the character traits I didn't love.
We were supposed to be rooting for Jacob, but after what he has done to Travis I genuinely could careless about him. I did enjoy his character development alone after his life changing event. Such as seeking help, coming to terms with his queerness and embracing who he is and not who everyone wants him to be. But as much as I love a romance story I wish Jacob did more and Travis let him show how much work he has put into himself instead of giving in.

Overall I really liked how deep this book was and didn't sugarcoat the ugly side of your family not accepting you for who you are.

(The picture is from drifting and not F1 obviously. Perfect excuse to use it though lol)

#amyjames #romance #avonbooks #harperbooks #harpercollins #arcreview #crashtest #netgalley #netgalleyreviewer

This is one of those books where you will get absolutely hooked and pulled in in the very first chapter. I read the first chapter and went… woah. I already wanted to cry. I absolutely looooved this book with my whole chest. I am not at all educated on F1 or any other type of racing and that did not take away from my enjoyment of the story. It was so good! One of my new favorite romances.

I enjoyed this read, and I couldn't put it down. This is a queer romance, one of the mmc is bi and the other is gay and they start a secret relatiomnship after doing an interview together. They are both F1 and F2 racers, and it was interesting getting into that world. I loved the meet-cute between the mmcs and the instant attraction and opposites attract. I wasn't sure how I would like the past chapters, but I loved how both the past and present and dual povs were woven into the story in an organic way that made me enjoy the story. I enjoyed seeing how they got together and the struggles James, one of the mmc's had when it came to being in the relationship and navigating it.

It was emotional watching the other mmc, Travis, go through trying to grieve and be there for Jacob, even when no one was aware of their relationship. The dynamics were interesting to read, and the romance was also cute, spicy, and heartfelt. Overall, a good read. Thank you, Avon, for this arc for an honest review.

Amy James always delivers for me! This book was no exception. As one who spends her summers at the racetrack, it’s often hard for me to read racing related books. Crash Test changed that trend for me. I really enjoyed this one. It had suspense, realistic scenarios and hit all the beats. Great job, Ms. James!

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley.

Let's get into this.

Obviously, this book starts off with a bang. You're thinking F1, a crash, secret relationship, the tension is going to be INSANE! But it got rather repetitive and stale pretty quick. I think some of my disappointment in this has to do with the use of Red, White, and Royal Blue as a comp title. Aside from the secret relationship aspect and them being in the public eye, this wasn't anything like RWRB. It lacked charm, to be honest, the characters didn't feel tangible. The writing felt very mechanical and was very telling and relied heavily on what was going on in the characters' heads rather than giving us actual descriptions. The structure for most of the beginning (and most of the story tbh) made you feel like you were constantly at the end of the story. It was an odd feeling while reading.

When it comes to the intimate scenes, the parts where the story could have benefited from having the moment on page it wasn't there, but then random moments were on the page later on, as if the text was afraid of the character's intimacy with each other. By this I mean, like having their first night together and understanding their dynamic, given what we know about Travis's lack of experience and Jacob's need for control, this would have been a prime opportunity to touch on that and give the reader a glimpse into their emotional scars that were going to be worked on throughout the story.

There were some nice moments of this book. The moment where Jacob confesses to Amanda, his therapist about his need for control in his relationship with Travis was great. But it almost felt one sided because we didn't really witness it much in the flashbacks of their relationship and once they were back together it was glossed over.

And their rekindling...ugh. Oh are you here to get back together? okay! (I'm happy they talked more later but the initial scene was awkward, it's okay for characters to talk things out without mouthing each other first) Emotional intimacy makes the physical intimacy better.

Also, I really love sports romances because of the high tension, but I think because of the lack of detail in the writing the F1 aspect of this book was a bit bleh. There was nothing thrilling about the races or them driving. I couldn't feel it. I also just wanted more of the racing. The whole story just felt like it was flying through moments without getting to sit with them.

I did like the friendships the two leads made. That was one of the more fun aspects. I think they had more chemistry with their friends than each other. Travis and Jacob...I had a hard time rooting for them as a couple because I just didn't feel the spark between them. The closest I felt to them was the scene when Jacob initially woke up and clung to Travis.

I really wanted to like this book. I LOVE sports romances and RWRB was such a good time but this just fell so short of expectations. It wasn't BAD is just wasn't it.

The structure of this book is so uniquely different from any other romance books I’ve read and certainly all the queer ones I’ve read. I was expecting to go into this with a very typical boy meets boy story and they’d go through some issues, but I was pleasantly surprised when it hit the ground running so early.

This book is sectioned into 3 parts. So, I’ll be using those as references.

In part 1, I was absolutely hooked. I thought the opening was so incredibly strong, and then I was once again pleasantly surprised that even though this ended up being a second chance romance, we still got to see how Travis and Jacob fell in love and all the significant moments of their relationship. I really like Travis as a character. I found him pretty human and humble, even in his famous circumstances. Most of Jacob is told in flashbacks for part 1, and he seemed very sweet, very flirty, and the perfect person to break Travis out of his shell. Though we don’t get a real definitive timeline of their relationship, it’s clear to see how they fell in love and how they got to the present. How they got to the “end.”

In part 2, it started going downhill for me. Everything I thought I knew about Jacob’s character was suddenly gone, and now he was really insufferable to read as. I was really missing Travis, and begging him to have POV’s again. It was probably 3 chapters, maybe, where I was decently miserable and Jacob was just a prick of an individual. It did get better though with explaining how therapy, his sexuality, and his family were so hard for him, and those were all very interesting character aspects. And then he was just in Travis pine era, and I was locked in once again.

In part 3, it was just miscommunication central. It was very much the very last episode of “Friends” where Ross and Rachel are both trying to get back to one another, and it’s very cheesy and romcom-y. Normally, I’d hate that much miscommunication, but I think it was all right in this circumstance. Once, Jacob started reverting back to his original personality I liked the story much better. I really enjoyed the ending, and I appreciated that there was a takeaway with the second chance romance where the characters progressed. I felt like Travis and Jacob deserved to have their happy ending together.

On another note, I do appreciate that this book deals with the sense of homophobia in a more subtle, not aggressive way, and could be chopped up into a heteronormative way as well—and what I mean by that is, I don’t necessarily think all the homophobia in the book is just the genders of the two protagonists, and could easily have been a straight story. I mean this as a very high compliment because it means that queer fiction is normalized and they can just be romcoms. That’s very important, and this book does that.

A big thank you to HarperCollinsPublishers and Avon and Netgalley for letting me read this early, I’m so honored.

This was such an easy book to fall in to! I stayed up way too late and basically inhaled it in two sittings. The writing has this unpolished and fun tone and the structure is really engaging. It starts with a major event and then unfolds backward in each main characters first person point of view in two sections.

There’s strong hurt/comfort energy here and a really solid found family thread that made me wish we had even more time with the characters. I especially would’ve loved more from Travis’s POV becuase there’s so much there I wanted to dig into. Honestly, I would’ve happily read another 100 pages of this. The a story telling itself felt rushed without spending too much time on individual events, which I would’ve liked to see. It is a HEA, even if it keeps you unsure for a while.

There are heavy hospital scenes, so definitely worth knowing going in.

Thank you to Avon & Harper Voyager and NetGalley for this E-Arc. All opinions are my own.

To start this is my first exposure to formula racing ans i don't follow the sport, that being said there isn't a lot of racing so i was able to follow along just fine. I really enjoyed this book, it was my first time reading form Ms. James and her writing style flows so easily I devoured this book within the day.

We start off this emotional roller coaster of a book with Jacob Nichols being in a F2 Car crash, what the world doesn't know is that Travis Keeping a F1 driver was dating him for a year. Yeah- already start the waterworks. I found this book to be beautifully written for the first 85%. We start off with Travis' POV and have scenes set in the present and past as we get to know the characters and how it led them to where they were at the crash. I will fully admit I cried during a certain hospital scene. I was also so happy to see Travis find his family and cultivate relationships during their time apart. We then later get to see Jacob's POV and put some of the pieces together. It was satisfying reading Jacob's character development and him coming to terms with so many things that were affecting him mentally.

Like I said, loved this book, but I am slightly disappointed with the last 15%. I think everything was just resolved so quickly after so much tension and building to get to such a quick- OK! If this book would have gone further into the rebuilding portion of their relationship and maybe showing their new life together down the road I think it would have been absolutely perfect five stars.

I highly recommend this book for someone looking for a sports romance, with some angst, frustration and closed door-ish romance. I know I will probably reread this somewhere down the line!

Crash Test follows a dual timeline of the present, where Jacob Nichols has been in a massive crash in F2, and the past, the build of the relationship between Jacob and Travis Keeping. In both timelines, Jacob and Travis are working to succeed in racing while balancing a secret relationship.

Hello, yes. I need to have words with Amy James because WHY did this book hurt so much?? I cried multiple times while reading Crash Test because I genuinely felt connected to what they were going through. The high emotions of the tense situations the MC's were getting into was stressful in the best way possible. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a queer contemporary romance with some angst but a satisfying ending. I sped through this book in one day and I know others will love it just as much as I did.

WOWOWOWOW! What can I say? I love formula one and usually I love formula romances and I thought that this would be no exception, but wow, I didn’t know how right I was. I loved Travis and I loved the way the author writes! The writing style might not be for everyone, but it sure is for me! This story was so heartbreaking and so emotional and I ate it up! I read the first 16% without moving and I was HOOKED! I loved everything about this book!

Thank you for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book. I finished this book in one day, I couldn't put it down. The story flow was great from every moment. I loved seeing how Travis grew throughout the book, going from someone who was a loner to a person who would speak up about what he wants and how he feels and having people who truly care for him. Jacob, I can feel the pain he went through with going through the crash and the aftermath. I do not agree with how Jacob handled everything, but it was realistic on how someone would react. I am glad that Jacob stood up against his parents on how he felt and went to make things right. There was a thing that I found in chapter 35 when Travis is introducing his friends to Jacob. He introduced Matty as the guy that cornered him in the Crosswires motorhome. However, Jacob had gone to see Travis, so it should have been the Harper's motor home. I know this is an unedited copy of the book. I can't wait to see what else this author can write for us.

I think this book single-handedly got me into F1 racing, which is crazy cause i grew up around nascar in the finger lakes area. I absolutely adored this story and was hooked by chapter 2. I will urge everyone to read this book! 5/5 stars

I read this book in one sitting AFTER working a 12 hour overnight shift. Suuuuuch an easy read! This book mad me feel every single emotion. It had moments where I kicked my feet and giggled, moments where I was just pissed off, and moments that were heartbreaking. It was definitely a rollercoaster and I feel like it could have even been a little longer just to explore their relationship more. 4 strong stars and I definitely recommend especially to the ones who want a cozy MM romance with no spice! So good!

I loved this book. I really liked the accuracy of the Formula 1 references.

We love the therapy representation. The character growth is really good. Plus, the side characters are so great!

Jacob and Travis are opposites attracting, and the secrecy of their relationship leads to some misunderstandings, which makes this a heartbreaking story at times. But they also have the sweetest moments. I highly recommend it.

This was a super fast and engaging read. I could not put it down, and wanted to love it, but it missed the mark.

I enjoyed the beginning and liked the F1 setting, though this too fizzled out. Things took a turn after the accident and it was hard to read about the Jacob's injuries and hospitalization. The descriptions were quite graphic and I would not recommend it to those who are sensitive to that sort of subject.

It was interesting reading about an already established relationship, as we don't see that much in romance books. I loved how sweet the flashbacks we get about the relationship were. As things begin to unravel though, it became hard to root for them to end up together. Jacob's perspective only soured things further and some of the sentiments he expressed were incredibly toxic. Though he admitted that he often self sabotaged and purposely hurt Travis, the latter seemed to write off the bad behavior quite quickly.

I appreciate that this may be realistic, but it does not make for the most romantic of stories and that is what I am looking for when I pick up a romance book.

Although things technically come together at the end, I would have preferred to have an extended epilogue a few years down the line, as we don't get to spend more than a few days with the newly reunited couple.

If you want a slightly complex, messy romance I would recommend this one, but if you want a lighthearted, cute romance set in F1 I would find another book.

I was pretty invested in this story considering there wasn’t as much character development as I would have liked. I think it was a good story and I liked the plot idea, I just wanted more of it, so that’s not really a terrible flaw. It was spicier than I expected it to be but not too much for me to handle. I’d read something else by this author in the future!

F2 driver Jacob is in a horrible accident. F1 driver Travis tries to process and handle this news as best he can while trying to keep their relationship secret.

This book was an emotional rollercoaster. We immediately start with the accident and Travis’ POV as he navigates trying to see his lover in critical condition while Jacob’s parents know nothing of their relationship, his emotional grief and terror, all while still trying to maintain his F1 ranking. About halfway through POV shifts to Jacob and we see how he’s having to deal with things. Not just physically but mentally. Especially dealing with the conflict and consequences of his decisions.

What I loved most about this book was the emotional depth. I enjoyed the therapy sessions with Jacob as he finally wants to face his issues and deal with them. And I think some of the thoughts and conflicting feelings both characters have, everyone has experienced at some point. I also enjoyed Travis coming into himself more. There are a couple things I wished more of but I won’t say just b/c…spoilers. ;)