ARC Review: Drive Me Crazy by Lizzy Dent

 

“I love, love, love Lizzy Dent.” —Emily Henry, #1 New York Times bestselling author

Sparks fly when an up-and-coming team principle and her new hot-shot driver—and former childhood crush—are forced to work together to save their careers and team in this deliciously winning Formula 1 romance.

Can they navigate the twists and turns of love without crashing and burning?

As one of the first female team principles in Formula 1, Chloe Coleman is determined to prove herself and transform her failing team from underdogs to champions. Nothing can ruin her strategy—except maybe the surprising new addition of a cocky, top-tier driver who’s lost his edge. And he just so happens to be her estranged childhood crush who still sends her heart racing.

Matt Warner needs a comeback. A former champion, he hasn’t won a race since the disastrous crash that landed his best friend and teammate in the hospital. If there’s a silver lining to this scandalous demotion, it’s his fierce and familiar new boss, Chloe. But as the competition heats up, so does an unexpected spark that turns dangerously and passionately hot. With the world watching and pressures of the season mounting, will their chemistry lead them to victory, or spin them out of control?

Title: Drive Me Crazy

Author: Lizzy Dent

Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons

Expected Publication Date: January 6, 2026

Review:

Thank you to Putnam/G.P. Putnam's Sons and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this title to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

I love sports romance. Make that sports romance that revolves around F1 and you've got me hooked. I've had a hard time finding stories in this world that I truly like. Usually I find there are two things that I have a hard time with. First the romance usually doesn't make sense. Second, the author doesn't portray the sport in a believable fashion. But I always hold out hope when I read a new to me author. Hope that they will get it write. But more times than not I'm disappointed. Unfortunately, this book fell into the disappointing category.

The one plus I felt with this story is the author did some research in the F1 world. Even if how she portrayed it didn't truly make sense, you can see she knew teams, drivers, and a bit about how the world worked. But the accuracy of how she used this information was poor.

Chloe is a young woman who has become a team principal for an F1 team. Matt, a childhood friend turned "enemy", is her new driver. The story follows them as they navigate their new situations and their growing attraction.

I'll start with the background. While the story alludes to the FMC and MMC having grown up together on the karting circuit, and to Choloe's long time crush on Matt, we don't really get much of this background. I would have loved to see the author do some flashbacks or even alternating chapters to show us how the past relationship lead to their distain for each other. But rather than doing that, the author tells us about it. I'm a stickler for being shown things and was disappointed in how this past relationship was portrayed. On top of the lack of background with the FMC and MMC and their relationship, I really didn't see the progression of the FMC to her spot as team principal. There was so much wrong with how it was portrayed. There is no world in which Chloe jumped from F3 to F1 without us knowing how that possibly happened.

Next is the actual chemistry between the two characters. They are "enemies", though I never truly feel this between them. And they quickly go from hating each other to being romantic. But I didn't feel that chemistry grow between them at all. Their entire relationship was super shallow. Not only is their relationship shallow, but I did not believe one bit that a team principal fighting to be taken seriously in a world full of men would allow herself to have a romantic relationship with a driver. It just made zero sense to me.

Put aside the romance and go back to Chloe and her position as principal of the team. The book portrays the own making all the decisions for the team. Nope. I don't care if she's a woman and he doesn't trust her, it's just not how it works. Everything went over her head and she got to make no decisions. Do I understand why the author wanted this in the story? Sure I do. To show how the misogyny abounds within this particular sport. But if they brought  Choloe in to the position, then they had to have some trust in her to make decisions. She would never be in that position if they weren't going to give her some power over the team.

The pacing of this book was scattered. Sometimes it moved fast while other times it drags. What I will say is there was not much plot. This story revolved itself around the non-existent romance/chemistry. If the plot makes no sense and doesn't move along, the pacing will surely be off.

Clearly, this book was not for me. I do see it has many good reviews but for me, as an F1 sports lover and someone who understands how things work, it just did not work for me.  Plus the characters were mot relatable and had zero personality or development. I contemplated DNFing this book at many points but really wanted to give it a chance in case it turned around for me. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

Author:

Lizzy Dent (miss)spent her early twenties working in Scotland in hospitality, in a hotel not unlike the one in this novel. She somehow ended up in a glamourous job travelling the world creating content for various TV companies, including MTV, Channel 4, Cartoon Network, the BBC and ITV. But she always knew that writing was the thing she wanted to do, if only she could find the confidence. After publishing three young adult novels, she decided to write a novel that reflected the real women she knew, who don't always know where they're going in life, but who always have fun doing it. The Summer Job is that novel.