DNF. Nothing about this book was keeping me hooked in. After forcing myself to continue on, I decided to call it quits. I didn't really care for the main characters. I was hoping there would have been more chemistry between Dev and Willow. I also thought the whole "I can't date you because of Oakley" was dramatic. Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the ARC.

It's the era for Formula 1 romances and I'm here for it. And we're kicking it off with Cross the Line.

I definitely liked the first half more than the second half. There was definitely a ton of push or pull and it became a little redundant for me. I did love their friendship and thought that shone through very clearly. But got really frustrated when they tried to keep things a secret from her brother. That's probably my biggest pet peeve with dating the sibling's best friend. They're all adults and everyone just needs to deal.

I really loved the F1 aspect! With being a fan myself, I was pretty happy how the sport was written in.

Overall, not too bad of a read, it went a little slow for me and took some time for me to get into. But I enjoyed the author's writing and looking forward to more.

DNF at 35%…I couldn’t continue on with this book. Both mani characters are extremely immature. Also can’t see the chemistry between them. This barely contains any F1. Writing is extremely bland and boring.

3.5, rounding up to 4 Stars!

The "Cross the Line" book cover is what immediately drew me in to wanting to read it! I honestly didn't know much about F1 racing and this book inspired me to want to learn more about the sport. Dev is our leading man. He's an F1 racer and needs to fix his social image. He hires his best friend's little sister, Willow, to complete the task. They are both attracted to each other, but they don't want her brother, Oakley, to find out due to a previous bad shakeup in Dev and Oakley's friend group.

This book will take you on a journey all over. - from Monaco, to San Diego, to New York, and to several other places. I *LOVED* the character diversity and learning about Dev's culture (his mom is from India and his dad is white). I also really enjoyed reading from both of their perspectives and seeing them grow individually as they both overcame big issues in their professions.

One of my favorite parts of the story is an interaction with Willow and Mark (Dev and Oakley's friend). Without spilling the tea about what exactly happened, all I want to comment about it is that the moment felt heartfelt and genuine.

A few things I didn't like-
1. At first I wasn't really feeling Dev. There were parts towards the beginning of the book written in his POV where he kept talking about how easy it was to get laid. The part where he said he could find relief for his "needs" by paying a high class escort was a turnoff. The way his character was portrayed in the beginning of the book just didn't seem to match who he really was.
2. At 416 pages it was way too long, some parts felt like they dragged on.

1.5-2 Spice Level
Sports Romance
Brother's Best Friend
Childhood Friends
Happily Ever After

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Cute fun and flirty, it had some drama and some romance. Everything I love in a summer read! Seeing Willow and Dev fight their attraction for each other and losing in the end was delicious!

Cross the Line was a sweet love story that had a lot of fun plays on common tropes like "the brother's best friend" trope. I enjoyed the subversions to common interpretations of certain tropes, which helped tailor the story to the particular characters and their circumstances. There is a reason that Willow's brother might be wary of one of his friend's dating his sister, namely her past relationship with his now former friend that ended badly. Both Willow and Dev are personally aware of that and that makes them both hesitant to pursue a romantic relationship. On top of that, they have a new professional relationship, in that Willow is Dev's new social media manager. That position is arguably more precarious than the fact that Dev is her brother's best friend.

This leaves the narrative open for them to develop their relationship as friends outside of just knowing each other through Willow's brother and them growing up together. Their relationship is very sweet, though I feel like it feels more friendly and despite the "forbidden" aspect I felt like their relationship was comfortable and their tension was resolved pretty neatly. I am glad that the narrative keeps going with that tone and doesn't have them be driven apart in a third act breakup, as that wouldn't fit their characters in my opinion.

I also enjoyed how Willow's disability was integrated into the story. I felt it was worked into her character in an authentic and relatable way, and I liked how it also affected her relationships with other characters and not just herself. Overall I enjoyed Cross the Line very much, found it very cohesive and enjoyed the characters, though at times the way that the narrative jumped around because of the nature of Dev and Willow's jobs sometimes made it hard to keep track of everything.

4.25⭐️
This was so good!! The best combination of two of my fav things: romance and F1! This book was so sweet and cute bc who doesn’t love a man down bad!! It had a dash of forbiddances with brother’s best friend!

I loved how Willow and Dev’s relationship started out as friends from childhood and as she started working with him and getting closer with him it developed into something more and a mutual love between the both of them!! I was giggling and swooning!! I also loved all the F1 references because I understood them all haha so it made it that much more enjoyable but overall I loved them and this book!

Cross The Line was a solid F1 romance and really everything I expected! As a big Formula 1 fan, I appreciated the smaller details that could be picked up throughout the story relating to the sport and I feel like Simone Soltani did a great job not making the sports element feel less important than the romance. I also enjoyed the characters and the diversity included! They felt lovable for the most part but slightly annoying at times. For me, this didn’t seem like a major stand out book but more of what a typical romance is. I liked that the couple didn’t break up near the end of the book, but the whole “keeping a relationship a secret from her brother” plot line felt dragged out and frustrating. Overall, I felt like this was a solid book with some great moments that made up for the more predicable ones!

Fantastic debut!! I'm so happy this got picked up to be traditionally published right as it was originally releasing.
I had so much damn fun reading about Willow and Dev. The give and take of their relationship. All around an absolutely fantastic read.

All the F1 girlies are going to love this one!!

Newly graduated Willow needs a job and her brother’s best friend, Dev, needs to rebrand his image after his social media manager spreads a rumor on his socials. Seems like it would be easy to work together right? But after a kiss that turns Dev’s world upside down, he can’t take his mind off Willow.

The way that Dev will do anything for Willow melts my heart!! These sunshiney characters are just so sweet, but don’t worry there’s also spice 🥵

🩷Brother’s best friend
🖤Forced proximity
🩷Boss X employee
🖤 Diverse characters
🩷F1 romance
🖤Disability rep

Overall rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

This was cute but not one of my fave sports romances. I’ll admit I know NOTHING about Formula 1 so I don’t know if that affected my opinion. I think this book was too long! I like my romances to be under 400 pages and there were definitely sections that could’ve been cut down. There was so much back and forth about Dev being tortured that he liked Willow so much, it got tiring. And then once they did admit to their feelings, it still took awhile for anything to actually happen.

I will applaud the lack of a third act breakup though yayyyy! But also the ending kinda dragged, I never thought I’d be sick of extra fluff at the end but again, definitely a part that could’ve been trimmed.

I struggled with the characters in this one and just generally with the F1 aspect (that part is a me issue for sure!) It felt very long to me.

I did enjoy the brothers best friend trope and banter though!

I thought this was really cute! It was my first F1 romance and it def will not be my last. Good spice, fun characters and no third act breakup.

Def recommend for a fun Summer read

this was really cute but unfortunately fell a little flat for me. i really liked the characters and how close they all were but this felt way too quick to be realistic or believable. they were immediately in love and all over each other. from page one you basically know they have feelings for each other, which is fine, but they got together pretty much immediately and then i felt a little bored for a good chunk of the book. i did really appreciate that there was no 3rd act break up, that would have honestly just ruined this book entirely for me. i do think id continue reading these as i liked some of the other characters a lot more and im hoping the insta love trope won’t be as prevalent in the next book! all in all, the writing in this was good and i see so much potential for future books by this author. the tropes just didn’t work out for me in this one!

I had so much fun reading this book! I'm a huge F1 fan and it was so fun seeing little tidbits of inspiration from real life F1 drivers. I also loved the romance and the disability rep present in the book. It's always a huge win in my book to see that. Much love for Cross the Line, I hope we see more from the rest of the grid!

I love sports romances and I appreciate seeing books written in other sports besides hockey!!! I do not know much about F1 racing so it was cool getting some insight into the sport. From research I have done it seems that aspects in this story are very accurate. This book reminded me of Throttled by Lauren Asher so if you liked that story I think you will enjoy this book. This overall was cute, I was having a hard time buying into the romance between the two characters. I felt a bit bored honestly and could not get attached to the dialogue between the two. Overall this was a cute book, and I appreciated the representation in the story!. 3.5 stars!

Arc read: 4.3 ⭐️
Ok *cute*
Brothers best friend trope, but add it into the f1 racing world? Sold. I especially loved the diversity in the characters and overall friend group- diving a little more into Dev’s culture was so much fun!
In the beginning there was a touch too much emphasis on Willow wanting to get “permission” from her brother for things- but thankfully she grows out of that! I think it made sense for her age and history though. It was good to see her stand more confidently as an adult and be treated as such- so that’s was a nice development through the book!
I appreciated the chronic condition rep- it rang true to my lived experiences.

3.75 stars rounded up!! This book was so cute!

Cross the Line is a sports romance following F1 driver, Dev, and his best friends little sister, Willow. Willow is a recent graduate looking for a role in sports management and Dev needs a social media manager to help clean up his bad reputation. They agree to work together professionally but it’s hard for them to ignore their growing feelings and the kids they shared the year prior.

I really love a sports romance and f1 romances are always so much fun! Fictional sports have me on the edge of my seat all the time lol. I loved the disability rep and cultural diversity in this book. Dev and Willow honestly deserve the world. There were so many cute moments in this book.

I had some issues with the pacing. It felt slow at points. Sometimes it felt like the dual POV chapters would just recap what we already saw in the previous chapter which didn’t move the story forward.

Overall, I’d recommend to someone looking for a fun F1 summer romance!

I'm a sucker for a sport romance book but even more for a F1 romance book. I found the book at the beginning a little hard to get into, the way the pace flowed at the beginning was slow. Not necessarily an original plot, but with very original characters it made it very refreshing. I love the representation in the book. Makes the whole story relatable. A solid book overall I would love to see the next book. A solid 3.5 stars from me.

Though not the greatest fit for my store, Simone Soltani's Cross the Line is a wild ride! I've been foaming at the mouth for traditionally published Formula 1 romances, and this takes the cake. What a fun and steamy read!