I was gifted this book as an ARC by Simon & Schuster and I honestly had no idea what to expect as I had never read a Formula 1 romance before. Well, now I’m a convert to the genre! Madge Maril did such a wonderful job bringing these characters to life. I loved how real the FMC was and the tension and build up of the romance was really fun to read. And the declaration of love from both characters?
Swoon worthy. Definitely recommend giving slipstream a read!

Slipstream was an exciting, drama-filled ride through the glamorous world of Formula 1. Lilah was a sharp, determined protagonist, and I loved how she refused to let betrayal define her. Her reluctant partnership with Arthur Bianco was full of tension, wit, and undeniable chemistry, making their fake-dating scheme as entertaining as it was emotionally charged.
The high-speed setting added so much energy to the story, and the behind-the-scenes look at racing was fascinating. Arthur’s journey from backup driver to potential star was compelling, and his dynamic with Lilah had just the right balance of angst and charm. Their revenge plot kept things engaging, but it was their slow-burn connection that really made this book shine.
While the pacing felt a bit rushed at times, the romance and tension kept me hooked until the very end. Slipstream blended passion, ambition, and high-stakes drama into a thrilling read that left me wanting more!
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I loved this story so much! The neurodivergent queen that Lilah was, the downbad man Arthur was. I loved the struggles and inner dialogue of Lilah, of the longing to connect, to be “normal.” The romance felt perfectly paced, and by the time we as readers get any sort of release, it was so well deserved.
At times the story felt like it dragged on a teensy bit too long, but the writing was captivating enough that I wanted to keep going.
I’m excited to see future books from this author!

Story was good, as an F1 fan was fun to see it translated into a romantic setting. I thought the set-up could have been done better, the MMC suddenly being crazy into her kind of threw me off. There was almost too much going on with trying to stretch the plot in a dramatic way.

As a F1 fan, I appreciate the nods and real aspects of racing life and technical facts. Outside of that, I was kind of confused about the characters' motivations, and I felt they were inconsistent or believable. I also feel like the main plot, outside of the romance, was an afterthought and wasn't really flushed out all the way.

Lilah and her boyfriend Max are documentarians who are hired by Ignition Energy Drink to showcase their Formula 1 team. As soon as Lilah and Max sign the contract, everything begins to fall apart. But that's also when Lilah is assigned to the F1 reserve driver Arthur Bianco. Despite initially hating each other, the two begin to scheme on how to use the footage to get what they both want.

The most exposition-laden romance novel I've ever read (complementary). While I know a little about F1, I don't know enough to know if the nitty gritty details are correct (for instance, I think slipstream might be an outdated term but honestly it works for the book and it's fun and who cares!). These are pretty multifacted characters too (for example: while Lilah has insecurities about her ADHD and adopted status , but is portrayed as very confident, intelligent, outgoing extroverted MC). The book didn't really come together at the end, but everything up until the ending was great.

This was such a cute premise and had a lot of potential. Even as someone who doesn't know anything about Formula 1 racing, I was intrigued and looked forward to learning about it. However, this book lost me over and over again -- not from the racing but from the scheming and trying to figure out what the characters were doing and trying to do. So many times it felt like the characters went from zero to one hundred with no direction. They'd decide on something and I was so confused as to why they were doing things and their reasoning. It made it really hard to follow along throughout the book. There were also certain parts that felt unresolved or finished towards the end, which only added to my confusion.

Can we just start by saying the neurodivergent representation was so good (!!!). I absolutely loved Lilah's development throughout the story. The way she became more accepting of herself, giving herself the accommodations she needed to live well and maintaining boundaries felt so good to me (someone who could do a better job of creating that space for myself!). The way both MCs supported each other in their mental health struggles was also really impactful, and progressed in a way that made sense alongside their romantic relationship.

On to the romance: Lilah and Arthur's story was also SO CUTTTTEEEE. Not all romances are created equal, but these two characters melted my heart. Their banter was precious, and I loved the way they saw each other – like saw and came to deeply know – one another. There is some spice (eventually) and it's gooooood.

Solid 4-4.5 ⭐️ for me – I'll definitely be recommending!

I LOVED this book! It was so so much fun and the chemistry was to die for. Lilah and Arthur have my whole heart and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, heart racing, dying for them to get their HEA.

I want to start by saying that I liked this book, and I'm rooting for it! I've never read an F1 romance before, and I loved how accessible it was for someone like me who doesn't have much knowledge about the sport. I'm now genuinely interested in something that I didn't give a hoot about before reading this book. Arthur is the best character in this book, and I loved every second with him. That being said, Lilah was not for me. I found her to be annoying pretty much from the jump. As someone who has ADHD, Lilah felt like an insulting caricaturization of neurodivergence that came off more like a "random" millennial toddler with self-esteem issues. My issues with Lilah aside, the vibes were outstanding throughout, and if it hadn't been for a couple of other problems, I think I could have rated this book higher.

The bones of this story are good, and it has so much potential, but the scheming wasn't scheming for me. It didn't make sense. As Lilah and Arthur plotted, I kept feeling like I was missing something. Obviously, the goal was to get them to a point where they were fake dating, but I wanted a more solid justification than what we had.

Finally, this book's typos and formatting errors were enough to drive me bananas. Usually, I wouldn't comment on this when reviewing an ARC, but the errors were so numerous that it was jarring. The use of chat bubbles to represent text messages and conversations is excellent, but the implementation in this book was inconsistent. Several times I came across bits of text messages that were left out of the bubble format midconversation and narration placed in bubbles that should have been in the regular body. I understand that I received this book as an ARC, but it was apparent that no one had even read this iteration before sending it out for review. Upon release, I will gladly increase my rating if I can confirm that this has been corrected.

Slipstream is a great debut novel from Madge Maril. After reading this book, I think I have found my new favorite sub genre, F1 sports romance. Slipstream follows the main characters Lilah and Arthur as they navigate the F1 season. Lilah a documentarian who is looking for revenge after her business/romantic partner dumps her teams up with race car driver Arthur who is looking for redemption after a crash cost him a spot on his dream team. One of the strengths of this story was the character development; the characters didn’t feel 1D, which made them relatable. I appreciated that the author showed how Lilahs ADHD influenced her life and how Arthurs panic attacks affected him. Since Arthur is one of my new book boyfriends I do wish that we had a chapter or two of Arthurs POV. Overall SlipStream is a great debut novel and I can’t wait to read her next book. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for a honest review.

It takes a lot for me to give a romance book five stars but this book deserved it. Lilah is me in another font, a different home and family life but the same in every other way. D.C. transplants from Kentucky who have ADHD and thank it for their creative fuel but struggle with it in other ways as well. Arthur is an incredibly real and compelling male main character, and together, they’re unstoppable. Every problem in their relationship was one with real validity and depth, and the way they overcame them was also real. At no point did their love or growth feel unrealistic, and I cannot wait for this book to release and others to fall in love with it just like I have.

this book was SO CUTE. my first foray into F1 and it was SO MUCH FUN.

The whole concept of revenge against her cheating ex by ruining the documentary they’re meant to film while simultaneously scheming to stick it to Arthur’s uncle by making people think they’re dating was just TOO delicious. I love a good revenge plot, and I love a good fake dating plot.

Arthur is well and truly one of the best contemp romance MMCs I’ve read. I love him so dearly, that beautiful, beautiful simp. He is so down bad for this girl it’s insane. The bar is now set to Arthur Bianco. Not to mention he’s just incredibly sexy.

I had a harder time with Lilah at first. I absolutely understand the intent with her character and the points that were being made, and I related to a lot of it, but it felt like it was all very exaggerated for a while. Like she was caricaturized. I do think that that improved over time, and it’s why the book ended up with a 4 rating for me because prior to that it was probably looking at a 3.75.

I genuinely loved the plot of this book though and will now have to hyperfixate on F1 for the foreseeable future.

Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for this arc in exchange for an honest review!

I really wanted to like this book because I think it had potential in the premise of the book. I'm an avid romance reader and was yet to read an F1 romance. I found the culture interesting and enjoyed learning about the sport. However, I think the characters fell flat. I want to be rooting for the characters and their romance, and I was not doing this. I did not have an affinity for either of the main characters and thought their romance was somewhat underwhelming. It felt like it went from nothing to everything in a couple chapters, and was quite confusing.

I will say that the author does a great job at creating a villain, because Max bothers me to my core!

I’ll start this review by first and foremost saying that I know nothing of F1 racing much like the FMC Lilah, but regardless of that fact I feel like this book did a good enough job of explaining the fascination of the races and the industry. I absolutely loved the MMC Arthur, despite him coming off as standoffish in the beginning he was absolutely enamored by Lilah. I love how they grew together to get over their issues that were holding back. There were times when I was not the biggest fan of the FMC but it had some of my favorite tropes: forced proximity and fake dating.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

F1 romance book for all your race fans. While I’m not big on racing I do like a good fake romance/get revenge on your ex. Taking charge of your career and life goals is a major plus for me and seeing the main character not want to back down from her ex trying to take over was great.

I am new to the F1 world and this was such a great introduction!!! Don’t we all love a man who falls first and falls hard?! Couldn’t put it down!

this book makes me want to fly to the next F1 race and force one of them to be the Arthur to my Lilah. i’m literally doing cartwheels of joy right now. the only thing you really need to know about this book is that the MMC is Italian and an F1 driver and that obviously means he is the definition of perfection


(thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for this ARC :)

This was a great F1 romance. If you are new to them you should definitely start with this one. It makes it easy to understand.

Get in girlie, we’re reading formula 1 romances this season 🏁

Thank you @simonbooks for an eARC 🤍

Slipstream is a debut F1 romance between a documentarian and driver!! It all starts with the unlikely duo teaming up to exact revenge on their enemies, only to (obviously) accidentally fall in love while doing it.

“But when Arthur looks at me like this, I realize maybe being unique isn’t a tragedy if it’s the reason he keeps smiling at me.”

Lilah is our female lead who is an accomplished documentarian passionate about staying firmly behind the camera filming serious things. She’s a little awkward, but she knows who she is and isn’t afraid of what she wants. In this case, she knows she wants nothing to do with the F1 documentary she’s been roped into.

Meanwhile, Arthur Bianco is F1 royalty currently being punished in the reserve driver spot on his uncles team. All he wants is out of his contract and he’s ready to do whatever it takes. He’s your classic British-italian playboy driver but it turns out he has a soft spot for Lilah.

Slipstream was fast-paced, easy to consume, and quirky in all the right ways. The characters were complex and the romance was swoon worthy. I hope to read more from Madge in the future!!