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.

Yes absolutely.

My first F1 romance & I had a blast??? I know nothing about this sport! Suddenly I’m a fan!!

Immediately fell for both of these characters and loved watching their journey of getting together.

Brothers bestfriend
Workplace romance (HOT)
He falls harder
No 3rd act breakup

Cross the line may just be the sweetest sports romance there is because Simone Soltani has the number #1 formula. This is a brother's best friend, mutual pining, workplace romance with disability representation. To top it all off there is not third act breakup!

If you are approaching this for angst, tension or bad boy antics; you could walk away disappointed. Because our MMC, Dev, could easily be mistaken for the romantic love interest in a bollywood classic. He knows just the right words to say and has the perfect moves to woo our FMC Willow. In return she acts as his peace and gives him a soft landing spot when the racing world gets too rough. No matter who is against them, they are for each other!

While this is tooth achingly cute, there is one large content warning that I want to mention... The car accident scenes can be traumatic and occurs at the beginning and end of the book. Please read with caution.

This is for the F1 girlies! Omg what a fun time this book was. The tropes truly troped, I love the dual POV, Dev is the best kind of book boyfriend, and my girl Willow stole the show. I love the diversity of the characters, the forced proximity and the social media aspect of it all.

That being said, I just ended up feeling like overall it was a little superficial? The pacing also felt a little off and honestly by the 70% mark I was a little ready to be done with it. It also may be a case of me and not the book, but I just wanted a tiny bit MORE.

Overall this is a strong start to what could be a fun series! I do recommend as just a solid good time sports romance.

I went into this book with high expectations, and it mostly lived up to them. Dev and Willow were fantastic, and their witty communication had me grinning throughout. While I really liked the book, the pacing felt a bit off at times, and the ending seemed a little rushed.

As my first F1 romance, this was incredibly cute, and I enjoyed it a lot. The story follows Willow, who works as Dev’s social media manager to rehabilitate his F1 image. Willow has known Dev since childhood and has always had a soft spot for him, though she never acted on it until their awkward almost-kiss. As they travel together for F1 events, they grow closer and realize they have feelings for each other, despite Willow’s brother being a potential obstacle.

The characters and representation were well done, and I’m intrigued by the side characters—there’s potential for more stories there. Overall, this is a solid debut romance novel!

Thanks to the publisher for this ARC.

Read if you like:
- F1 sports romance
- BIPOC main characters
- Workplace romance
- Childhood friends to lovers

I loved this - racing may have to replace my hockey romance addiction!I would have never guessed this was a debut novel for this author. She Leeper me wrapped and dialed in the whole time.

The pulse in her neck is fluttering against my wrist, or maybe it's my racing. Because if she decides that this won't work, I don't know what I'll do. I can't let her go now that I know what it feels like to hold and kiss and touch her. How it feels to love her. To be loved by her.

Loved this F1 romance! It is so sweet, fun, and spicy with plenty of F1 action in it! Dev is a sweetheart and a great guy throughout the entire book and Willow is a smart independent woman who is working hard to make her dreams come true. I also appreciated the chronic illness and emotional illness reps this book gives!

Thank you to the author and the publisher for this arc!

I had the pleasure of reading this when it was indie specifically the arc because it never got independently published. I am so incredibly proud of Simone because this was so wonderfully done. it gave me the same vibes of Lauren Asher’s dirty air series which I feel like I have yet to find a Formula One romance book that compares. I think it’s the beginning of the story set the book off to a really good start, but as we started going through the book, it definitely felt a bit slow as well as the pacing being slightly off where it dragged it and then sometimes a little too much was happening His lover is literally unfathomable. Like he’s straight up obsessed. Dev And Willow are absolutely precious, especially going from brothers little sister to social media manager to lover absolutely loved the tropes.

Thank you so much Berkeley for providing me this arc incredibly grateful

This was a fun, really sweet, and steamy read. I absolutely loved seeing how Willow and Dev grew in their relationship with each other and how much they supported each other. I love how Dev doted on Willow and loves to take care of her- while also letting her do her own thing and not coddling her with her hypermobility. And it’s so easy to see how much Willow cares for Dev in how she helps him rehab his image ~ her feelings for him can be seen in all the posts and how she shows his personality to the world through his social media.

When Willow ends up working for her brothers best friend and long time crush- Dev. And Dev has been realizing he’s got some more than friendly feelings for Willow as well- we get a perfect storm of seeing two lovable characters trying to fight their feelings and remain professional with each other. When they finally give in and accept they are more than friends it’s beautiful seeing their relationship grow.

If I wasn’t already a Formula One fan, I think this book would have gotten me interested in checking out the sport on its own. I loved seeing the fun and fast paced world of Formula One in this book, and I think the author did a fantastic job of bringing the sport to life in the pages.

Cross The Line by Simone Soltani
F1 Romance. Stands alone for now.
Thank you NetGalley for an early copy of the book. All opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.
Click here for my complete list of F1 Romance books

"Her happiness is blinding, like staring into the sun. I don’t want to look away. I’d let her steal the sight from my eyes, the breath from my lungs. I’d let her do her worst and still be eternally grateful."

I was so excited to read Cross The Line by Simone Soltani . I am a HUGE F1 fan, I have a list of F1 romances on my blog, and it’s the only sport I seek out books about. When I started the book, it didn’t grab my attention right away so I put it aside and read something else. Then I went back to it and got more into it, but K. Bromberg’s latest F1 Book came out, so I put Cross The Line aside again to read that so I wouldn’t get confused.

I was able to put it aside too easily to say I was loving it, but I was still pretty early in the book. When I finally went back to it the third time, Cross The Line grabbed me and didn’t let go. My problem was I felt like I had read the story already. Granted, it’s hard to come up with very different F1 romances, but I feel like I read almost the same story before for many different sports.

Dev is an F1 driver on a midfield team. His teammate is a jerk and his daddy owns the team (sounds familiar to F1 fans, no?). After Dev had a squabble with his last publicist, she posted that he had STDs and trashed his reputation, making it even harder for him to get another team interested.

I absolutely LOVED that Willow Williams had a chronic connective tissue disorder JUST LIKE ME! Willow lived next to Dev growing up, and her brother (who used to race) was his best friend. She has had a crush on Dev her whole life. As a college graduation gift her brother invited her to Europe for a race, and Dev realizes that she is the perfect person to salvage his reputation and offers her a job as his social media manager.
“I don’t need to hide a single aspect of myself from him. He’s already seen it all. And yet, he’s still here, looking at me like I’m the center of his universe.”

This might not be a “he falls first” situation because she’s loved him since she was little, but he fell HARD. There was no doubting how much Dev loved her. He was a total romantic, and always thought of her health needs first.

Dev is Indian (or half-South Asian) and Willow is Black (or half-black). After one small line in chapter one, her race or appearance is never mentioned again. Dev, however, talks about his heritage and traditions a lot, especially because a big part of this book is about his sister’s wedding. If you know anything about Indian weddings, you’ll understand why it’s a big part of the book.

I LOVE to read about other cultures. But unfortunately, I felt like this was written for other South Asians. There were numerous words and expressions that I wasn’t familiar with, and every single one of them could have been explained or described easily with a few quick words inline. Since it was another language the look-up function of my Kindle never worked, so my choice was either to leave the story completely to look it up or make my best guess. This was such a missed opportunity to educate people just a little about the culture.
“I may not have won the race today, but having Willow in my arms feels better than winning ever could.”

Likes:
•I loved the F1 action, and the author knew what she was talking about.
•The FMC had a chronic autoimmune disease.
•A diverse cast.
•Good set-up for future books.
•He was SO in love with her and so romantic.
•Great side characters.
•No 3rd act breakup.

Dislikes:
•No explanations of all of the Indian words and traditions.
•I feel like I didn’t learn enough about her and her family and background. There was one tiny mention of hair that implied she was Black in chapter 1 then another mentioning her brother was half Black later in the book. I liked the diversity of the characters, especially because F1 is not very diverse, and I wish there was more mention of it.
•Seemed a little too similar to other F1 books in a general way (not a plagarized way). And similar to so many other sports romances.

The Down & Dirty:
As an F1 lover, once I finally got into it, I couldn’t put Cross The Line by Simone Soltani down. Dev is an amazing, romantic guy right from the start and Willow was very likable and real with a chronic autoimmune disease. They were definitely a couple to root for. With a diverse cast, there was a lot of South Asian customs, but I would have liked more about that and about her background. The F1 aspect was great, and you could tell the author knew her racing, but I don't think you need to be an F1 fan to enjoy Cross The Line.

Rating: 4 Stars, 2.5 Heat

This was a very sweet and adorable F1 romance with great representation. Brothers best friend is one of my favorite tropes, it always hits. And especially when he is so down bad for her. I love childhood crush redemption!!!!! And I love racing, but especially when they star POCs <3

The chronic illness part of this book is what made me want to pick this up, but the love story is what I really loved. I also love a forbidden romance and when these two characters start a secret relationship. They both have a lot to lose.

I wasn’t a huge fan of this book. I found the characters to be annoying at times. The mmc seemed so childish at times

Oh my goodness, I adored this F1 romance! Dev, the charming racer, and Willow, his best friend’s sister, were just perfect together. Dev’s awkward, shy guy vibe around Willow was adorable, especially after his social media disaster caused by his ex-coordinator. Willow stepping in to help him was just the twist they needed!

Their chemistry was undeniable, and the way they supported and understood each other was heartwarming. Dev’s belief in Willow’s PR skills and her understanding of his true self made their dynamic so special. The representation of POC and chronic illness was so well done and added depth to the story.

The tension with Willow’s brother finding out about their relationship added the perfect amount of drama. And the epilogue? Made me so excited for a potential sequel!

Big thanks to Berkley for the e-ARC—I loved every second of it! If there’s a book two, I’ll be first in line!

3.5-
Not a huge fan of the brother’s best friend trope, and I honestly think when they take a hidden/forbidden romance spin on it, it makes it even worse.

All that being said, this was pretty cute and ended up winning me over. I enjoyed the F1 aspects and I think the relationship itself was quite sweet and portrayed well. I also didn’t have problems with the disability representation. The actual plot was a little cheesy but a pretty good set up for having the characters in close proximity, and the conflict kept things interesting. Overall, worth reading for a sweet sports romance.

Dev’s career as a Formula 1 driver is at risk after a social media mishap. Luckily, he runs into Willow at a party and asks her to help save his image and take over as his social media manager. With Willow being his best friend’s little sister and her having a crush on him since they were kids, things quickly get complicated. Especially because Dev is also attracted to her.

I really enjoyed this slow burn forbidden romance! The chemistry and shared history between Dev and Willow made for a great build up to when they finally got together. I admittedly don’t know much about Formula 1 so it was interesting to learn a bit more through this story. This book was also full of different perspectives and in my opinion represented them all well - from the representation of different cultures to Willow’s chronic pain, this story showed real people in a beautiful way. I will definitely be looking for more from Simone Soltani after reading this!

Thank you to Berkley Publishing and NetGalley for the advance copy.

4.5 🌟

This was so freaking cute!!!
If you love F1 definitely pick this book up.

Dev is an F1 racer and in need of someone that can fix his social media presence. Willow is his best friend’s little sister who is a recent college graduate that is in need of a job. Dev knows that Willow can fix his image and offers her a job. The only problem is that they kissed a year ago and neither one has been able to stop thinking about it.

Dev and Willow were the absolute cutest!
I really loved their connection and the way they just uplifted one another.
I also really loved the diversity and representation in this book 🫶🏼!

This book just made me feel happy and giddy 🤭!

My man Dev was absolutely down bad. The way he spoke about Willow 😮‍💨🧎🏻‍♀️.