ARC Review: Pole Position by Rebecca J. Caffrey

 

Red, White and Royal Blue meets Formula 1!

Kian Walker has always been the golden boy of motor sport. The four-time Championship winner has racing in his DNA – his father was a legend on the track, just don’t let him catch you comparing the two. As reckless and unreliable at home as he was behind the wheel, there’s nothing Kian wants less than to be just like his dad.

Enter Harper James. This year’s rookie called up to compete with the big boys – and Kian’s new teammate. Cocky, hot-headed and with a reputation for breaking as many hearts as he does new track records, Harper’s the opposite of Kian in every way. But when the season starts, there’s no getting away from him.

This might be one of the most dangerous sports in the world, so why then does Kian’s heart feel safer flying around the track at 220mph than when he's anywhere near his teammate?

Title: Pole Position

Author: Rebecca J. Caffery

Publisher: Harper 360/Harper Adult Audio/One More Chapter

Review:

Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Adult Audio/One More Chapter, and Harper 30 for providing  me with an egalley an audio arc of this book to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

I've been looking for a good F1 book. I'm a huge fan and follow pretty closely so I know a lot about the sport, the teams, some of the technology and engineering, even. This is not my first F1 book and so far they have all let me down in one way or another. I picked this one as it made sense to me to read a book in a male dominant field with the main characters as two males. Sadly, this book did not live up to my expectations, either.

Let's start with the audio part of the book. I'm unsurprised the narrators use British voices but I will say Joshua Chase and James Joseph were similar enough that it was sometimes hard to tell them apart. This was annoying if I missed the title of the chapter saying who it was. I could usually pick it out once it got going as the narrators did make the voices of the characters unique enough with tone and inflection, plus the author definitely showed each personality of the characters. The narrator that did Harper's voice had a very low quality of his voice. Almost a whisper at times and I found myself having to rewind to hear what he said.

If the narrators not being to my liking wasn't enough, the entire story and plot line just fell short. I feel like the author needed to do a lot more research into F1. You can see some if it there, while at other times it's severely lacking. It's not believable that two F1 drivers would share a trailer for weeks on end while touring. It's not believable that a reserve driver is brought up and has zero understanding about how to talk to the media; he's getting his first trainings now? Seems highly unlikely. Finally, F1 is an expensive sport. You don't really see poor, orphaned kids who have zero support racing. Where is the money coming from? it just makes zero sense.

As I said above, the author did a good job making the two characters distinct. Kian as the stuck up, regimented driver who doesn't want to deviate from his schedule or be friends and Harper who is carefree and not caring who thinks what of him. He does as he pleases and has no inkling of how his actions hurt or injure others. This was truly the only part of the story that might be believable.

Did I feel the chemistry between these two? Not at all. Was their relationship (love/hate, I guess?) believable? Not really because the attraction they talk about (what the author tells us, rather than shows us) just didn't feel like it was really there. And, since this was the entire premise of the book, the growth of the characters felt stunted and overall underdeveloped. I felt zero connection or empathy for either of these characters. Even when the author gave us a bone and look into the background of the characters, which I would hope would help me connect, I just didn't care enough to feel badly for them in any way.

And the pacing was so slow! I just kept waiting for something to happen by even by 60%, when the characters have finally gotten together in some capacity, it was still just stunted. It dragged and I had to push and push and push to even care to finish it. Once I got annoyed enough with the narrators, I switched to Kindle version. But it did nothing to improve the story.

Overall, I'm completely underwhelmed with this title. There is a lot wrong and I feel like it needs another round of edits to point out where pacing could be picked up, characters could be developed, and story line could use some tweaks.

Author:

Rebecca Caffery is a BA Politics graduate and enthusiast, who can always be found curled up reading somewhere when she isn’t working on a new novel idea. She grew up in Birmingham, UK, where she’s been writing since the age of fourteen. It wasn’t, however, until she moved to Canada for a year that she found her voice and passion writing again and was inspired to write her first book.

As an author, Rebecca started her writing career in the Young Adult (YA) section. She is the author of the Contemporary YA Cherrington duology which features the two titles – Cherrington Academy and Coming Home.

Since then, she has completely stepped away from writing YA and her focus is now solely on writing Contemporary Adult Romance. She is the author of the soon-to-be-released Olympic Enemies (Feb 6th 2023)

She always has one too many ideas and often finds herself jotting them down in the middle of the night.

When she’s not writing you’ll find her either reading all the Sports/Adult Contemporary Romance or binge-watching (read: constantly rewatching) her Netflix faves such as Brooklyn 99, The Good Place, New Girl, and Lucifer. Outside of this, She is a BA Politics graduate and despite my degree being over I still have a vested political interest and am always keeping up to date with current affairs.

Where else to find her?

Twitter – @BeckaWrites
Instagram - @RJCafferyAuthor
Author Website - RebeccaJCaffery.com

ARC Review: The Five Stages of Courting Dalisay Ramos by Melissa de la Cruz

 

A sweet and spicy multicultural romantic comedy that that blends the rich tapestry of Filipino courtship rituals with the modern complexities of love, family, and cultural expectations, written by #1 New York Times bestselling author Melissa de la Cruz.

Evan Saatchi can’t keep his eyes off his new co-worker, Dalisay Ramos.

Newly arrived from Manila to lead their travel app’s Asia division, nothing matters more to Dalisay than tradition and family. When Evan asks her out, she soundly rejects him for his cheek.

Evan learns from his Filipino friends that Dalisay expects more from potential suitors. If he wants a chance with her, he’s going to have to go through the Five Stages: the courtship ritual that lovers in the Philippines have performed for generations.

At first, Evan is skeptical—what, exactly, does “servitude” entail? And he has to sing?! But when Dalisay bets Evan that he doesn’t have the nerve to make it through the stages, the game is on.

As Evan attempts to prove to Dalisay that he can win her heart—and the bet—Dalisay is driven to distraction by Evan’s sexy labors, and soon their “courtship” turns into a sizzling secret.

But when modern love and family expectations collide, Dalisay and Evan must find a way to carry a rich history into a shared future.

Featuring a memorable cast of characters navigating the intersection of cultural traditions, workplace dynamics, and the magic of true love, this heart-warming Asian American romance is perfect for fans of Kevin Kwan books, Red String Theory, and other voicey Asian American authors. Melissa de la Cruz thoughtfully explores the push and pull of contemporary desires and deep-rooted familial expectations, all set against the backdrop of a will-they-won’t-they workplace romance that will leave readers swooning.

Title: The Five Stages of Courting Dalisay Ramos

Author: Melissa de la Cruz

Publisher: Union Square

Expected Publication Date: July 9, 2024

Review:

Thank you to Union Square & Co. and NetGalley for providing me with an audio galley of this title to listen to and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

Evan can't keep his eyes off his new Filipino coworker Dailsay. When he asks her out and she rejects him, he learns from his Filipino friends there's more to dating in Filipino tradition than what American's know. On a bet, Dalisay encourages Evan to do The Five Stages of Courting traditional for her people. But along the way, things get blurry and Evan and Dalisay fall for one another. When Dalisay's world is turned upside down, she realizes going back to her traditions is best. But can she stay away from Evan? and most of all, does she want to?

I'm a nurse and have been immersed in a bit of Filipino culture since I started in the industry. I was anxious to read this book and learn some new information about the culture. And it was fun!

I really liked watching Evan learn about the Filipino courtship ritual. It was a testament to opening yourself up to new culture and realizing your way is not always the right way. But it was also interesting to watch Dalisay adapt to American culture and realize the same thing. Sometimes when we are so set in our ways, it can cause us to miss out on new things we may love.

The Filipino representation in the book was great. It absolutely sealed what I know of my friends and coworkers. It also made me want to learn more. Cruz captured what it means to be Filipino in America. How holding on to traditions is just as important as opening yourself up to new things.

The romance was nice, though a bit forced in the beginning for me. It was insta-love and I'm not really a fan of that. I understand attraction but it just seemed like more than that and I wanted more of a progression given the idea that the five stages were meant to take you through it. 

This is not my first de la Cruz book and I can see her writing style does not change even with a change in genre. It's quite choppy. Her choice of third person narrative often took me out of the story. With romances I really like to hear the voice of the characters and the third person didn't convey this for me. This also made the pacing very slow for me and I felt myself having to push to pick the story back up once I set it down.

Overall I found the book a bit of a struggle but it's worth it for the cultural aspect if you're wanting to learn a bit about Filipino culture and tradition.

Author:

Melissa de la Cruz is the New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of many critically acclaimed and award-winning novels for teens including The Au Pairs series, the Blue Bloods series, the Ashleys series, the Angels on Sunset Boulevard series and the semi-autobiographical novel Fresh off the Boat.

Her books for adults include the novel Cat’s Meow, the anthology Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys and the tongue-in-chic handbooks How to Become Famous in Two Weeks or Less and The Fashionista Files: Adventures in Four-inch heels and Faux-Pas.

She has worked as a fashion and beauty editor and has written for many publications including The New York Times, Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Allure, The San Francisco Chronicle, McSweeney’s, Teen Vogue, CosmoGirl! and Seventeen. She has also appeared as an expert on fashion, trends and fame for CNN, E! and FoxNews.

Melissa grew up in Manila and moved to San Francisco with her family, where she graduated high school salutatorian from The Convent of the Sacred Heart. She majored in art history and English at Columbia University (and minored in nightclubs and shopping!).

She now divides her time between New York and Los Angeles, where she lives in the Hollywood Hills with her husband and daughter. 

Audio ARC Review: Fiasco (Uncharted Hearts #2) by Constance Fay

Equal parts steamy interstellar romance and sci-fi adventure, Constance Fay's FIASCO is a perfect wild romp amidst the stars.


Cynbelline Khaw is a woman of many names. She’s Generosity, a cultist who never quite fit in. She’s Bella, the daughter who failed to save her cousin’s life. And then there’s Cyn, the notorious bounty hunter who spaced a ship of slavers.

She’s exhausted, lonely, and on her very last legs―but then a new client offers her a job she can’t refuse: a bounty on the kidnapper who killed her cousin. All Cyn has to do is partner with the crew of the Calamity, a scouting vessel she encountered when she was living under a previous alias. One tiny little issue, she’s been given an additional deliver the oh-so-compelling medic, Micah Arora, to the treacherous Pierce Family or all her identities will be revealed, putting her estranged family in danger.

Hunting a kidnapper doesn’t usually mean accidentally taking your sexy new target to dinner at your parent’s house, a local mystic predicting you’ll have an increasingly large number of children, or being accompanied by a small flying lizard with a penchant for eating metal, but, as they field investigative hurdles both dangerous and preposterous, Cyn and Micah grow ever closer. When a violent confrontation reveals that everything Cyn thought about her past is wrong, she realizes that she has the power to change her future. The first part of that is making sure that Micah Arora is around to be a part of it.

Title: Fiasco (Uncharted Hearts #2)

Author: Constance Fay

Publication Date: June 4, 2024

Publisher: Tor Bramble

Review:

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Bramble Books for providing me with an audio galley of this book to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

In this follow up to Calamity, we are reacquainted with Cyn Khaw: a bounty hunter who goes by many names disguising herself as a private investigator who has spent her life hunting her cousin's killer. When she gets a chance to hunt the killer down, she's paired with the crew of the Calamity. But she's given an ultimatum by one of the family's: save her family and herself by turning in Micah, the ship's medic, or lose everything.

If you have not read the first book in this series, stop and go read it. Not only was it fabulous, but you will not understand many of the relationships in this book if you do not read that one first. This is definitely not a stand alone.

This is the first book I have reviewed in the audio format. I will saw I was skeptical at first; worried the narrator would be computer generated and I would have a hard time getting into the story. I was pleasantly surprised to be hearing Paige Reisenfeld's voice. This is my first audio by this narrator and I thoroughly enjoyed her. Her tone was perfect and she helped me to love the female main character and all her quirks.

Cynbaelline Khaw, aka Bella, aka Cyn goes by all the names trying to keep her true identity a secret. I remember her being introduced to us in the first book, though I didn't know it was her at the time. And once this was revealed, the story of her and Michah began to make much more sense. She's sassy and smart and is no stranger to being alone. She has spent her life in her own bubble, keeping her family at arms length and not allowing herself to be involved with anyone more than is necessary to her job. Cyn, to me, doesn't know her worth. And her character certainly develops around this in the book. She doesn't think she deserves to be loved or to have friends. She had to make some truly tough decisions in this book. And, while you initially believe she will only do what is good for herself, you find that's really not who she truly is. She has a big heart and that shines through as the book progresses.

Michah Arora is a character I know well from the first book in this series. I loved his character. He's smart and has a great head on his shoulders. He cares a lot about his crew; they are his friends and his found family since his exile.  He's super protective of those he loves. And he's got a sense of humor to him that shined for me in this book. He makes light of some more tense situations which helped to ease some of the more tense scenes in the book. I do wish I'd had more from him.

Speaking of romance, it's in the book, but it was not the main thing that drove the book. What drives this book is the off planet wonder of a different world, the challenge of finding people in such a large area of space, and the fight that ensues to ensure people are safe. The universe of this series is so large, reminding me of Star Trek or even Star Wars and all the planets and places that are visited in those worlds. The shining point of this book is the action and adventure it brings. Did I like the romance, sure, but it was definitely a very slow burn. And if you are looking for closed door, this is not that. The intimacy scenes are definitely a bit descriptive. But I enjoy that in my romances!

And the comedy aspect of this series is really what had me coming back and wanting to read this installment. Fay works it in so well to the story, just as she did with Calamity. Can I just say the ingenuity of creating a lizard that eats metal is genius! I absolutely adored that character and hope to see more of them in future books in this series.

Now, the ending has me a little worried as I would love to see more of Cyn and Micah in future books and the ending has me thinking that may not be possible. Though with Cyn's background, I think she could weasel her way into the next book (if there is one). 

If you're looking for a sci-fi space chases with mystery, romance, fight scenes, and found family, pick up this series and watch is unfold. As my second foray into the space romance genre, I can see it as one of my new favorites. I hope Fay continues the series as I'd love to see more of these space relationships unfurl.

Author:

Constance Fay writes space romance novels and genre fiction short stories. Her short fiction can be found in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Catscast podcast, and other publications. She has a background in medical device R&D and lives in Colorado with a cat who edits all her work first.

 

Review: Love Her or Lose Her (Hot & Hammered #2) by Tessa Bailey

Rosie and Dominic Vega are the perfect couple: high school sweethearts, best friends, madly in love. Well, they used to be, anyway. Now, Rosie's lucky to get a caveman grunt from the ex-soldier every time she walks in the door. Dom is faithful and a great provider, but the man she fell in love with 10 years ago is nowhere to be found. When her girlfriends encourage Rosie to demand more out of life and pursue her dream of opening a restaurant, she decides to demand more out of love, too. Three words: marriage boot camp.

Never in a million years did Rosie believe her stoic, too-manly-to emote husband would actually agree to relationship rehab with a weed-smoking hippie. Dom talking about feelings? Sitting on pillows? Communing with nature? Learning love languages? Nope. But to her surprise, he's all in, and it forces her to admit her own role in their cracked foundation. As they complete one ridiculous - yet surprisingly helpful - assignment after another, their remodeled relationship gets stronger than ever. Except just as they're getting back on track, Rosie discovers Dom has a secret... and it could demolish everything.

Title: Love Her or Lose Her (Hot & Hammered #2)
Author: Tessa Bailey

Publisher: Avon

Publication Date: January 14, 2020

Review:

Another fun Tessa Bailey romcom added to my pile!

To be honest, I wasn't sure I was going to like this one. I read the first book in this series and met the MMC, Dominic, and I just wasn't a fan. Now, I knew he had some baggage from serving in the military, so I chocked his standoffishness up to that and didn't pay it much mind. But then I saw this book was about him and knew Bailey would do him justice and show me exactly why he is that way. She didn't disappoint.

Rose and Dominic have been together forever. But it seems their marriage is only holding on by a string. Dominic is closed off to Rosie's sparkling personality and she can't take it anymore. Her fix? Relationship rehab with a weed smoking therapist. But will this marriage bootcamp finally bring the two back together or will it show them they are better off apart?

My favorite part of this story were the meetings Rosie and Dominic had with their therapist! He's not only funny, but he knows just the right things to say and just the right tasks to give the couple to lead them back to each other. Were there bumps along the way, of course there were! Rosie wants more from Dominic and he's having a hard time giving it. But, in the end, the relationship is so much stronger than either of them imagined, and this helps them pull through.

Rosie is strong and imaginative. She wants more out of life than just being a housewife who cooks well. She wants to share that passion for cooking with the world. She truly takes the bull by the horns in this story and goes for what she needs. Does she have fear it will leave Dominica behind, she does. But she also knows she cannot go on living a life where she is unhappy with what she does.

Dominic just wants to provide for Rosie. His love for her is very deep but he has a super hard time showing it. He believes giving her a roof over her head and nice things will keep her around. He's a bit pig headed and a lot damaged from his time in the military. He's super rough around the edges.

Let me tell you, these two have super hot sexy chemistry. The scenes Bailey wrote had me swooning and sweating all in one foul swoop (where is my fan???). Their attraction is top notch. But I love how Bailey doesn't use the sex to make up for the other things the relationship lacks. She really makes these characters work hard for each other.

I really enjoyed this wasn't your typical romcom, where the characters pine, then slow burn, then crash together only to fall apart and crash again. Rosie and Dominic's story is a bit more complex given Dominic's background and the fact the two have been together for so long. They both make active choices to better themselves and their relationship and take it to the next level.

Bailey brings a fun and entertaining read leaving me wanting more, more, more!

Author:

New York Times Bestselling author Tessa Bailey can solve all problems except for her own, so she focuses those efforts on stubborn, fictional blue collar men and loyal, lovable heroines. She lives on Long Island avoiding the sun and social interactions, then wonders why no one has called. Dubbed the “Michelangelo of dirty talk,” by Entertainment Weekly, Tessa writes with spice, spirit, swoon and a guaranteed happily ever after. Catch her on TikTok at @authortessabailey or check out tessabailey.com for a complete list of books.