I found this book really enjoyable and refreshing! I'm a casual watcher of F1, but it was nice to see a sports romance actually put value in the sport itself rather than just using the sport as a trope. The inclusion of the racing felt important to both the plot and the characters, not just put in to fill a quota.

The relationship between these two characters was also very sweet. To see a male love interest have a healthy interest in the main character and healthy ideals of relationships was nice. I would've loved to see more of the history of their friendship, since it was hinted at so heavily. It would've added so much to what we did get to see.

I love dual pov in romance novels, but tend to prefer when it's not completely split dual povs. I like a glimpse every once in a while into another pov, but it was nice to watch the relationship develop from both character's povs.

I did find the book a little long and found it seemed a bit drawn out. There were a few scenes I thought weren't entirely necessary and maybe could've been skipped, but overall I enjoyed this book and the relationship between the two main characters and their side characters!

I had a range of feelings when it comes to this book but I'll start with my favorite parts. The F1 details in this was great. I felt like I really got a feel for what F1 is really like. Getting to see the inner workings of this sport was the best part, in my opinion. I got really invested in Dev's career and the turns that it took in this book. You could feel his frustration through the pages and you felt the same right alongside him. The romance between Willow and Dev was very cute and I like how they navigated their relationship.

I'm not a fan of brother's best friend and unfortunately this book displays the reasons why. No grown women should have her brother have that much influence on her dating life regardless if she chooses to date one of his friends. The constant inner dialogue surrounding this brother character was a bit much for me. Outside of that part of the book, I liked the rest.

This book pulled me out of a massive slump. It was fast paced, engaging, with lovable characters and sizzling chemistry. I simply could not put it down. I am not usually a fan of the "brother's best friend" trope, but I appreciated how it was handled in this book. The culmination went much smoother and more realistically than I expected it to.
This book ramps up the tension and chemistry between Willow and Dev masterfully, keeping you on the edge of year seat, desperate to see what will finally push them over the edge. However, this is well balanced with a deep friendship that evolves between the characters, and I also really appreciated how we got to see them connect on an emotional level as well as a physical one.
Willow, the FMC, has EDS, and I enjoyed the representation. It's not a major theme of the book, but it is a solid through-line and effects her and the story in a way that felt natural and well done.

Let's get the not so great stuff out of the way first. I think the dual timeline made the first half of this book drag. Nothing really happened that required that much setup. But if you're an F1 fan you might enjoy it.

Overall the book was maybe slightly too long but at around the 50% mark that's where things started moving. We got a little big of mystery is this sabotage or is the car bad? Who is coming for Dev? The STI "joke" turned a corner and had a really good message even though these 2 had unprotected sex 🫤. The ending while not a cliffhanger I'm ready for book 2.

Who doesn't like a forbidden romance? I know I do. This was a really cute read. It started off jumping right into the FMC (Willow) and MMC (Dev) having already shared a kiss and the MMC not being able to get her out of his head. And of course they aren't able to do anything about it because of the complicated nature of the friendship between the MMC and the FMC's brother.

After that the story fast forwards months later and they are forced to be in close proximity of one another and the feelings they shouldn't have for one another only grow stronger. Willow and Dev realize it's harder than they thought to fight what they've both been feeling for a really long time.

At times the banter could be a little awkward but overall it was such a cute story. I enjoyed the backstory of the relationship between the characters, the build up between the characters, the writing style, and the pacing of the writing. It was cute how they were both so invested in helping the other grow professionally. It wasn't just an attraction based on looks are wanting to be physical. As a reader I could really see their foundation.

I was very entertained and will be looking forward to other works from this author.

This book was such a fun read. The chemistry between Dev and Willow made me squeal! I was so giddy reading them not act on their true feelings. It made for great tension. More than that, Simone has written such realistic, nuanced, and lovable characters that it felt like I knew them. Even our side characters took up enough space that you wanted to keep getting to know them. I also learned a lot about Formula 1 and I think I might be an F1 girl now *gasp*. The banter was top notch and not cringey at all which I LOVED. the pacing was perfect and nothing felt rushed or too slow.

I loved that there wasn’t really any miscommunication. Dev and Willow were just trying to please everyone else around them by denying what they both felt for each other. Having both main characters be brown made this even better because I could actually relate to what they were going through in their separate journey’s as well. I love reading black and brown people fall in love. I’ll definitely be reading anything else that Simone writes as well. 5 ⭐️!

As a Formula 1 fan, this book was very well researched and the author's inclusion of pseudonyms made the reading experience so fun and close to home! The races and overall race weekends depicted in the book were both immersive and used the readers' prior knowledge to the author's advantage. That being said, if the reader has never watched Formula 1 or Drive to Survive, the narrators will still give enough information about the sport for the reader to follow along.
The romance aspect of this book was so sweet and I was rooting for the characters the entire way through! Childhood-friends-to-unrequited crush-to-lovers is one of my favorite romance tropes and Soltani did a great job with this one! I can't wait to read on to book 2!

This was such an adorable read! Willow and Dev were absolutely sweet and fun to follow, and their chemistry was just perfect. I especially loved that in Dev’s POV, you can actually see him falling for Willow beyond just physical attraction, which made the romance feel so much more genuine. The spice was great, too! Although it’s a brother’s best friend forbidden romance, the forbidden aspect felt a bit light since there weren’t many interactions between Dev and Willow’s brother, Oakley. If Oakley had been more involved, it would have added more tension to the romance. But overall, I really enjoyed it!

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

I would recommend if you're looking for (SPOILERS)

-m/f contemporary romance
-older brother's best friends
-F1 romance
-workplace romance
-childhood crush
-forbidden romance elements
-the one that got away
-mutual pining
-slow burn
-chronic illness rep

Have I ever watched a single F1 race? Nope. But gosh did I enjoy this so much, the right amount of action and explanation I could completely understand what was going on. Simone's writing has an effortlessness to it, it gave Hannah Grace slice of life vibes and I mean that as the biggest compliment. I adore brother's best friend and just ate this up.

Dev's career needs some saving and who better to save it than Willow who needs a social media job to start filling out her resume. The pining between these two as they tried to fight the attraction. Willow might have fallen first but gosh did Dev fall harder. Every time he spoiled her and just thought the world of her, jsut the softest cinnamon roll of a simp. You can't help but cheer these two on. I cannot wait for the next book in the series.

Reading this during the summer break really helped with the F1 sized hole in my heart I’ve been enduring. A delightful sports romance that gave me the warm fuzzies. A different take on the brother’s best friend and I loved it. I was genuinely worried when Oakley found out and how that was going to play out but I was pleas talk surprised that the toxic masculinity was no way to be found! My only drawback was how much them not being together *because of Oak* took away from them. I feel like he was lurking in a way that didn’t further the romance. Other than that I had so much fun in this adjacent F1 world and will absolutely be reading more of Simone’s book.

A cute, cozy formula 1 romance with great representation.

The way Dev cares for Willow and is always aware of what she needs/how to help ease her discomfort from her disability without treating her differently is so well written. I love an MMC that's just obsessed with the FMC which it's clear Dev is from the way he pays attention to her and thinks/talks about her constantly. Plus, he wants her to succeed and be happy even if the best way to do that means keeping some distance between them for the time being. Willow's character is so lovable; she's fun, smart, and super supportive. She's really good at what she does and she always has Dev's back. I like the genuine care the two have for each other as childhood friends and how it shows up in every interaction - even before anything romantic. The romance takes its time to develop which made me more invested. If you're looking for a quick sports romance read, then Cross the Line should be on your tbr.

*brother's best friend
*friends to lovers
*f1 racing
*disability rep
*second chance
*dual POV
*forbidden love (sort of)

Thank you Berkley for the digital ARC via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The author's passion shines through in this book. It's really a fun rom com. However, I didn’t connect with it or the characters like I wanted to. That's a reflection of me as a reader and not the book! It has great potential to appeal to other romance readers and I encourage others to try it out! Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book.

I LOVED this one. I had been waiting for this release since it was being indie published aand when it got picked up I was sad that I had to wait but glad for the author. This book was worth the wait.

Willow and Dev were the perfect couple. This was the perfect pacaing and the plot of the book was nice, especially because there was a good conflict which helped with the character development. I loved the POC rep as well as the disability rep in this one. I reccomend this to every romance lover.

First I want to say thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher/author for an ARC of this book! I loved this one so much.

Rating a 4/5 stars - such a cute read and my first time reading an F1 romance book. I don't know a lot about racing or F1, but I feel like if this is something you enjoy, you would truly LOVE this book. I thought it was so cute and and went in knowing nothing about F1.

Read if you love:

- sports romance
- brothers best friend love interest
- secret romance/dating
- childhood friends to lovers
- slow burn

Loved that this book had a dual point of view, especially because I didn't know much about F1 before reading this romance novel. It had a great plot line and I feel as if the story flowed at the perfect pace. Dev gave such golden retriever energy and was down so bad for Willow (love her name btw) and I enjoyed the included epilogue. If this ends up becoming a series, I would love to see more of them in future books!

I love a childhood crush, brothers best friend romance but add to it that he also has been interested and he's a F1 formula driver and then it gets even more interesting.
Love that the mcs have multiple cultures and races, they speak a lot to it as well. Dev is half Indian and white and his sister is getting married so there is an Indian wedding being planned. Those are always so elaborate and detailed and colorful.
Willow is half black and white and her brother is a retired driver and had been friends with Dev since they were kids.
Willow is just graduating college with a marketing degree and Dev wants to hire her to help his image which tanked. They tried to ignore their feelings but they couldn't. They had a forbidden love cause big bro had told him no when he had said something so they kept it quiet.
The international racing world is so fascinating and tight knit. And dangerous.
They had such great chemistry and great friendship to build from. All the racing friends were great too!

This was my first F1 romance and I am not familiar with the sport and politics, BUT it was a super cute. Dev is super sweet and very respectful of Willow's career. Dev needed to reform his image and Willow is a new grad in Marketing/PR, also Dev is Willow's brother best friend, so the crush she had for years, she is having to suppress. There is disability representation and their chemistry was undeniable. It was a slow burn, which is not the easiest to pull off. I enjoyed watching Dev fall in love and his love jumped out of the pages. Willow's need to save his career was cute. I enjoyed the family dynamics in this book as well. It is definitely worth the read.

I'm all for happily-ever-after's, but this one came together a little too tidily; I needed more conflict and less perfection. As a fan of racing, I did enjoy the F1 parts of the book and wondered how much of those scenarios could be based on real-life events. I also enjoyed the addition of different cultures and their celebrations. Overall, this was a good read.

I gave this one a fair shot but it fell short for me. The plot left a lot to be desired and I didn’t feel the love interests had great chemistry. Brothers best friend can be hot but this just wasn’t for me.

I really enjoyed learning more about F1 and the ins and outs. You can definitely tell that the author has done her due diligence in researching and learning the sport and I appreciate that as a reader. I’m def a sucker for the brother’s best friend trope and liked the added tension of a quasi workplace romance trope to elevate the stakes. The concept of the story was really cute. I’m not sure the writing style was my favorite and I found the mmc referencing his dick or how horny was to be repetitive enough to be distracting. However I still may read future books as there were other things I did enjoy.

Cross the Line by Simone Soltani is an intriguing Formula 1 romance between a driver in some hot water & the woman he hired to revamp his social media that just so happens to be his best friend’s little sister who may have had a longstanding crush on said driver, I really enjoyed the childhood friends reunited & the childhood crush being realized as adults, which is fun & adorable.

Cross the Line is great for fans of…
🏁 Formula 1 Racing
🏁 Forced Proximity
🏁 Brother’s Best Friend x Best Friend’s Little Sister
🏁 Chronic Illness Representation

I thought the Formula 1 aspect of it was super interesting. The behind the scenes drama was simultaneously heartbreaking at times but also fascinating to watch it unfold. I loved their bonds with their families & friends

I’m always grateful for chronic illness representation, especially find it neat as I have a relation to this illness. I love seeing romance stories with heroes that understand the chronic illness & treat their partner beautifully.

This was a little slower to start but I enjoyed it. If you are looking for a racing romance, check out Cross the Line!

Massive thanks to NetGalley & Berkley Publishing for the gifted copy, which I voluntarily read & reviewed.