This was a great read! I love F-1 romance. Queer romance. Heart-wrenching romance. This ticked all my boxes! Plus a happily ever after. Five stars!

"If I’m honest, I think I fell in love with him that week. It sounds stupid, I know. But being with Jacob . . . it was like coming alive."

Y'all this book had me bawling my eyes out from the first chapter and I absolutely loved it! We're dropped right into one of the most heartbreaking moments of Travis and Jacob's lives and it's all high emotions from page one. Almost the entire first half of the book is like that and I was constantly tearing up. But in between all that heartbreak, we got to see the little moments that built up their relationship and got them to the present. I feel like my emotions were yo-yoing from smiling because of how sweet they were to immediately crying because of how things were going right now.

After the halfway point, we finally get Jacob's POV and what things are like after the accident. I loved that we saw him tackle his mental health and find a way forward. His therapist was pretty cool and I loved how supportive she was while also giving him some tough love when he needed it. And the moment when he finally takes a stand for himself against his parents was really great. His growth throughout this book was pretty amazing and I loved how he took ownership of all the mistakes he made in the past.

There was one thing that I wanted that would have pushed this from a 4.75 to a 5 and that was seeing Jacob grovel and work harder for forgiveness before getting that HEA. It made the ending feel a bit rushed and made it feel like all that work he did was for nothing. But I did like that he showed through his actions how things were different now rather than just saying it.

I also loved Travis's little family that he built for himself. The way he went from being a reclusive loner to opening up and accepting the love around him was so beautiful. Heather, Matty and everyone else were amazing and I loved everything about them. I also appreciated how having that support system gave Travis the courage to stand up for himself with Jacob and their relationship.

This book went by so fast. I feel like I just sat down to read but it's already over. This opposites attract, racing romance is great into to this world and I'd love to see more books from it!

"I don’t know how I’d ever tried to convince myself this was a casual thing. It wasn’t casual, the way that he looked at me. It wasn’t casual, the way I felt when he looked at me."

Wow! This book absolutely blew me out of the water. Once I started it I couldn't put it down and if I didn't have obligations like "family" and "work", I would have definitely finished this in one sitting.

The very first chapter throws you into the middle of pure chaos. We first meet Travis, a very successful F1 driver who has just found out that Jacob, his boyfriend of the past year, has been involved in an extremely dangerous car crash in his F2 race and is in critical condition. The absolute worst part of it all though? Nobody knows the two have been dating or that either of them are queer. And to compound it all, Travis hasn't worked up the courage to tell Jacob he's in love and now he doesn't know if he ever will.

The rest of this story is told in both present day and flashback across their entire relationship, and every second was just tugging at my heartstrings. Seeing Travis discover his relationship may not have been everything he thought it was had me about to go after Jacob for every bit of hurt he caused. Then Amy had to go and switch up the POV and oh how I felt for Jacob. His growth throughout this book was so beautiful.

I have to say it is rare that a book will make me cry, but holy moly, were the tears FLOWING throughout this book. I was just so invested in their story and was rooting for them so hard. I felt their love, felt their pain, and I honestly just wanted to hold them both.

Also, can we talk about how well the F1 was written in this book? I don't know if Amy is a fan, but she at least did her research and I really appreciate that! Just give me all the Amy James romance! I'm a fan!

This seems to be the general consensus but I loved the first part, liked the second, and was disappointed with the third. The concept of this story isn’t a unique one, but this book is for the fact that it started after the injury occurred.

I really enjoyed part one, and seeing Travis struggle in so many ways with so many things, then figure out what he was missing in life and get it were all very satisfying and a wonderful arc to read.

Jacob’s arc was interesting as well, specifically seeing therapy depicted in a book, and I enjoyed his personal growth. His family was almost caricature-like but honestly I have met people like them so it worked for me.

What didn’t was their relationship overall. Most importantly, there was nowhere near enough time spent of getting them back together. It was instant. And even though they backtracked a little bit, people change a lot in a year, especially a stressful year like they had. And there were no growing pains. I wanted to see routines clashing and new habits and new favorite items of clothes. But mostly I wanted them to talk. And then do something and find friction and talk again. And they didn’t. I didn’t dislike the overall ending, it just felt like something was missing.

The foundation of the relationship was also, in my opinion, lacking. There was some time spent looking back, but I don’t think it did enough to make me understand why it was a relationship they felt like they need to go back to.

I did enjoy all of the side characters though. They were pretty well fleshed out and very individual, which was absolutely a treat.

One of the little things I was missing was physical details about the guys. We got a decent amount of the side character descriptions, but I have no idea what the main characters looked like.

Overall I enjoyed most of it, but the ending tanked it so hard for me. I was enraptured by the first half and disappointed by the end.

I initially liked this book, but just found it to be somewhat depressing overall and not very uplifting. When I read romance, I want to feel good and this didn't make me feel that. I will admit the writing was good and the story is told well but this one was not my cup of tea. I am most likely an outlier on this one so take my review with a grain of salt. Giving this one 3 stars because I can see the appeal and know others will enjoy this one.

Thank you NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager | Avon for access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I did not know very much about racing before reading this book, but you don't have to in order to enjoy the romance Amy James has written! It was a gripping, emotional love story and I am excited to see what this author does next.

I really enjoyed this storyline! I didn’t lovee the all Travis then all Jacob pov, wished it was more back and forth each chapter maybe but it wasn’t a deal breaker! The perfect amount of spice without it being too much and unrealistic. I would totally read a sequel if there ever was one. Maybe Jacob can resolve things with his awful parents. I’d love to see his F1 career grow as well!

What a phenomenal read, Crash Test pulled me immediately into the story and the grip it has on my nerve loosened!

I loved that we got each main characters POV first, before then getting both of them together. Learning about Travis and the emotional devastating grief and fear he went through as we learned about Jacob’s crash was intense, and I felt like I was feeling his feelings right along with him. And seeing Jacob’s POV, in his growth with his therapist and standing up to his family and his own fears was beautiful to read about it.

The side characters were SO well written too - I loved Heather and Matty, and the family they chose to create themselves for Travis!

Such a phenomenally well done novel!

I knew very little about racecar driving going into this, but it was a lot of fun! For fans of The Pairing by Casey McQueston and If This Gets Out by Sophie Gonzales and Cale Dietrich.

Mein Leseerlebnis

Auch wenn ich persönlich mit so etwas wie Formel 1 nichts anfangen kann, so konnte mich die Liebesgeschichte um zwei professionelle Rennfahrer und ihre 2. Chance doch gut unterhalten und auch berühren.

Das Buch startet mit dem schweren Unfall eines der beiden Helden. Dieses Ereignis und die daraus resultierenden emotionalen Folgen für die Hauptcharaktere konnten mich mitreißen.

Beide Helden wirkten auf mich interessant und vielschichtig. Ich habe sie ihm Verlauf des Liebesromans ins Herz geschlossen und ihnen ihre Happy End wirklich gegönnt.

Ich fand es sehr schön, dass man die Helden im Verlauf der Liebesgeschichte dabei begleiten konnte, wie sie an sich gearbeitet haben und sich verändert haben. Dadurch fiel es mir am Ende leicht, an eine gute, glückliche Beziehung für sie in der Zukunft zu glauben.

Die Mischung aus den unterhaltsamen und den vielen emotionalen Szenen hat für mich gut gepasst. Auch finde ich, dass man im Vergleich zum ersten Roman der Autorin (siehe weiter unten) eine Weiterentwicklung sehen kann, was ich natürlich begrüße.

Das Buch gehört zu meinen bisherigen Lieblingsromanen des Jahres und ich hoffe, dass die sports romance vielen anderen Leser:innen auch so gut gefallen wird. Buchempfehlung!

🖤🖤🖤🖤 1/4 (mit Tendenz nach oben)

Für wen?

Wer frische Liebesgeschichten mag in denen die beiden Helden eine 2. Chance für eine gemeinsame Zukunft bekommen, dem kann ich das Buch ans Herz legen.

Ich habe in den letzten Monaten mit ein paar neuen sports romance Büchern gehadert, die andere Leser:innen lieben. Da war es für mich eine große Erleichterung, dass eine Neuerscheinung aus diesem Subgenre mich mal wieder richtig gut unterhalten konnte. Lesetipp!

This book was so heartbreaking from the start. Jacob and Travis are so cute together and I hate that this book started with a heartbreaking beginning, even if we do still get our HEA. Every time I started reading this book I would get this sense of anxiety because all I wanted was for Travis and Jacob to be together and to get the little snippets of their life before the crash and to watching Travis fall apart when Jacob was in the coma was just hard to read. This book was written beautifully and really yanks at your heart strings. It shows personal growth between both characters and how love will always find a way. I love a good F1 love story, and I especially love them when the main characters are gay and bi. This book was amazing and I had an extremely hard time putting it down. I would highly recommend reading this book if you’re into F1 romances and love will conquer all stories. Happy reading!

This is a book about grief and therapy. It’s told in three parts. The first part has chapters switching between past and present as Travis deals with being in a secret relationship while his boyfriend gets into a terrible crash. The second part is from Jacob’s POV and the third switches between the two men. The third act breakup needed to happen for them to mature but missing each other (like phone tag but with planes) soured the overall book for me a bit even though there was plot developments that were better explored when they were single.

Read this in a day.
Could NOT put it down.
Travis? Precious.
Jacob? Work in progress but we love it.

The book is not laid out like a regular romance novel - rather - they are together for a year when something tragic happens and we are left with them picking up the pieces.

I think the only thing that could push this over the top would be an epilogue. Maybe revisit an intimate scene to drive home how much Jacob has changed?

Travis y Jacob estaban en una relación secreta, ya que nadie sabía que Jacob era bisexual. Durante un año vivieron su relación a escondidas, hasta que Jacob sufrió un accidente y terminó en coma.

La primera mitad del libro se divide entre el pasado y el presente: Travis cuenta cómo se conocieron, mientras que en el presente Jacob está en el hospital y nadie sabe de su relación. Algunas cosas que Jacob le hizo a Travis me parecieron terribles, como lo del regalo, su actitud en el día de su cumpleaños y lo de la cita. En esta parte, sinceramente, no quería que terminaran juntos.
Pero luego llega la segunda parte, donde Jacob comienza su recuperación y todo en su vida se derrumba. Sabe que necesita ayuda profesional y empieza a ir al psicólogo, donde su doctora lo ayuda mucho. Durante sus sesiones, se abordan sus malos comportamientos y las razones detrás de ellos. Gracias a estas escenas, logré comprenderlo mejor, aunque eso no significa que mi enojo desapareciera por completo.
La tercera parte es narrada por ambos.
No puede ser que ese sea el final, ¡quiero más! Por favor, agrégale un epílogo.


Mi calificación es por Travis. Y, por cierto, cómo disfruté el capítulo donde Jacob lo ve en una cita con otro. Gocé su sufrimiento.




Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

Second chances.

This book reminds the reader of why giving them is important.

It’s an underlying concept in this book and one that have for this author. Unlike a prior book of hers, felt she took the time to explain a character’s ( here, Jacob) actions as the story progresses. It’s all from Travis’ perspective at first. How his feelings evolve as he invests more and more of himself while Jacob almost seems to keep him at a guarded distance. The reader will see both Travis and Jacob change during their breakup in healthy ways .

#CrashTest #NetGalley

This ARC was provided by the publisher, Avon and Harper Voyage, via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Huge thank you to Avon and HarperVoyager and NetGalley for this eArcI thoroughly enjoyed this title. It got me out of a reading slump, which I appreciate.

One of the things that I really liked was the pacing and split sections for this book. You begin in Travis' POV (oh sweet mean, how I want to protect you). I really enjoyed seeing his growth and how he approaches different aspect of his life. I loved how he used his relationship with Jacob to change his perspective on friendships in general and creating that support system around him.

I loved getting to see Jacob's POV, as well. Even though he made me angry and frustrated, I could understand why he made the decisions that he made. It was refreshing to see him evolve through therapy and understanding the whys behind who he is and how he navigates his familial and romantic relationships.

Side characters were EVERYTHING. They really had me laughing and chuckling to myself. Travis' support system: Heather, Hunter, Matty, Erin - I loved how they protected him and lifted him up in both his career and personal life. Amanda, Jacob's therapist, pure gold. I just loved all of them.

SPOILER WARNING BELOW:

The ONLY reason this is getting 4 stars instead of 5 is that I didn't enjoy how quickly Travis just forgave Jacob for how he had treated him in the past. And yes, they reconciled and Jacob grew so much, but I felt like it was too easy? I wanted Jacob to FIGHT for Travis and to truly prove that he was sorry and worthy of Travis' love.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one. Also, I know ANSOLUTELY NOTHING about racing or Formula 1, but I DO NOT care because this book has all the vibes

This book hooks you from the very first chapter with the accident. I really enjoyed the alternating chapters going between present day and the couples history, it's such a nice way to show how their relationship grew without it becoming boring.

I definitely felt the angst in this book, I love the growth both of the men go through and seeing Travis make friends really melted my heart.

Overall I would give this book a 4.5 ❤️ it is an extremely good read, my only fault in the book is what I feel is a quick closure for the story.

* I was kindly given an ARC for an honest review of the book*

I haven’t finished a book in a day in ages, but Crash Test pulled me in from the very first page. This emotional rollercoaster unfolds in three parts, each with a distinct point of view that keeps the story fresh and unpredictable. The first two sections were especially compelling, though the third didn’t quite land with the same emotional impact.

Without giving too much away, I felt that Travis and Jacob needed more time to talk and process everything—their dynamic deserved more closure. While the ending could have gone deeper, the book as a whole was gripping and innovative. If you’re looking for an emotional and thought-provoking read, Crash Test is worth picking up.

4.5 ⭐

thank you avon and harper voyger + netgalley for the arc!!!

OH. MY. GOD! i absolutely adored this book! from the very first chapter i was hooked, i’m talking completely invested in jacob and travis’s story- how they got here, who they are as people, what they are currently going through, and where they were headed. when i received the arc the description immediately had me interested and i started it pretty much right away. not going to lie, as excited as i was i had pretty low expectations going in and was shocked when i got so connected to the story, so fast. i mean i seriously had to take a two-day break from reading this after the first sector because emotions were too high. i mean i was livid with one character in particular, and just couldn’t wrap my head around things. obviously this mini boycott didn’t last very long, because i NEEDED to know what was going to happen. that being said, i was so far gone for this book from page one.

i found Crash Test extremely refreshing in the sense that it wasn’t a perfect love story where everything was easy and light hearted. that’s not to say that i don’t enjoy those books too, because we all know i do, but reading about how both jacob and travis had to reflect and grow, together and separately, before they could be the healthiest versions of themselves for each other was so moving. they really had to put in the work to better themselves in order to be together, and take accountability for their actions, which isn’t always represented in the romance genre. i especially enjoyed following jacob through therapy and physio, the challenges he faced and internal struggles he had to navigate. i feel like it is very uncommon for books to highlight and explore the mental health of male athletes, which honestly was one of favorite parts of the book. i loved of the sports setting of the racing world, and both the found family and dual point of views added a lot of additional depth to the story.

all in all, this one caught me completely off guard and swept me right off my feet. i can NOT wait to have this in my hands in July, and would 100% recommend for lovers of mm sports romance novels that are filled with angst, longing, growth, and movie moments. amy james if you are listening i need more of travis and jacob STAT !!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for this ARC e-copy of Crash Test by Amy James.

The theming of the way this book is organized—in three “sectors”—is genius. Other than that, everything sort of fell short for me.

I was excited to witness the growing or instant chemistry between the two main characters… only, there wasn’t any. Travis had no personality, and the only way the reader could even try to get to know Jacob for at least the first third of the book was through half-baked sex scenes. Speaking of, there are more random sex scenes in this book than there is actual driving. And aside from Heather, who was basically just a plot device herself, along with the rest of the female characters, there were no other characters developed enough for me to even try to care about. At least Heather had a personality and a point of view.

I was also excited to read an intriguing plot set in the world of Formula 1, as I have in other novels. In Crash Test, the plot largely surrounds a major crash in an F2 race that ends up claiming several young lives, and to me, it felt like I was almost reading trauma porn for the first half. Given that there have been multiple F2 deaths in recent years, the whole idea of reading about fictional ones for entertainment just felt disrespectful. I could tell that the author had done a lot of research on hospital procedures and treatment, but I’m not sure this passed my sensitivity test.

I’m disappointed, because I was really looking forward to this one. The writing isn’t terrible, but it was a struggle to get through this book for a variety of reasons. I finished it, but it took more stamina than it would for me to finish a real Grand Prix—again, an event which is barely explored in detail in this book purportedly about F1.

☆ ☆ - OKAY

CW: hospitals, descriptions of medical procedures, death(s), homophobia (particularly in the family), car crash