Double Apex
by Josie Juniper
Frontrunners - Book 1
Publisher: Forever
Release Date: October 8, 2024
Reviewed by PJ
Phaedra Morgan is one of the best race engineers in Formula 1. She’s a math prodigy with dazzling skill, cutting wit, and no patience for matters of the heart. Of course, her job would be a lot easier if she didn’t keep butting heads with their team’s cocky and infuriatingly hot new driver.
Cosmin Ardelean is intense and committed, but as famous for his off-track romantic exploits as his on-track wizardry. Yet his devil-may-care façade conceals a haunted past. When the pair strikes up a secret—and thrillingly forbidden—“arrangement” to improve their communication and bond of trust, the heat of their attraction turns to something more . . .
But no secret stays hidden for long in the racing world, and soon things are spinning out of control. With everything on the line, will they be able to strip away all their defenses and go full throttle for a chance at love?
PJ's Thoughts:
I'm an avid Formula 1 race fan so you can imagine how excited I was to discover Josie Juniper was writing a series set in that wealthy, high-stakes, fast-paced world. Matching a new, hot shot, Romanian, playboy driver with his blunt, math-prodigy, socially-awkward, American team owner's daughter, race engineer? I couldn't wait to get my hands on this one.
With this first book in her Frontrunners series, Juniper brings an intriguing, behind the scenes look at the world of F1 racing. I enjoyed the fact that the book takes place during the course of one season, with chapters set at different locations on the international circuit. It was also entertaining to watch team politics, adversarial relationships between drivers, the intense competitive nature of the sport, and Phaedra's role as a woman engineer in a predominantly male environment play out on the page.
The romance is an enemies-to-lovers trope with plenty of friction between Cosmin and Phaedra that morphs into a singe-your-fingers, sizzling physical relationship before deepening into more. What I didn't expect was the incredible depth of emotion as well as the hidden layers within both main characters. I had some difficulties with both during the first part of the book - they were flat-out unlikable in spots - but that slowly begins to change with significant growth arcs over the course of the book. There's so much more to these two than is visible on the surface, with dysfunctional family dynamics, emotional baggage, and other issues contributing.
Juniper tackles some difficult topics through her characters including child abuse (in the past), sexual assault (not on the page), parental death, and grief. If those are triggers, this may not be the book for you.
While Cosmin - and Phaedra - both said and did things that I took issue with, those flaws made the evolution of their characters that much more satisfying for me. In the end, I was able to get on board with their relationship and cheer them on individually and as a couple. I'm looking forward to what Juniper has on tap for the next book in the series. There are some intriguing - also flawed - side characters I'm eager to learn more about.
I am not a racing fan, but I do know how it is to love a sport and find a book about that sport. Glad you found your book, P J . Thanks for the review.
ReplyDeleteI have noticed what is seemingly a trend in romance books to deal with deeper and important societal issues. It may be that I just hadn't noticed it before. Sometimes that can be a trigger and sometimes that can help people see something in their life and maybe help them see that it can be dealt with. Thank you for the review.
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