Did not finish book. Stopped at 34%.
I’m a big F1 fan so I was really excited for this book.

However, right off the bat, I immediately did not like our FMC Phaedra, She’s headstrong to the point where she’s like verbally abusive? Like she’s so strong that she’s a smart female has to shove it down and be rude to others?? I don’t know. I’m not a big fan. The way she treats her friend is just like red flag material.
Additionally, kicks the MMC (cosmin) around verbally, and is constantly belittling him for this assumption that he sleeps around with everyone.

Cosmin explains how her blatant dislike for him makes him only want her more - she has said multiple times don’t touch me and then all the sudden he proceeds to touch her and she thinks it hot and enticing? I cant follow that, considering how strong her opinions are made out to be in the book.
I feel like their relationship jumped from zero to now she’s falling for him, but we don’t get the in between or the why? I feel like the development of the relationship jumped.

Anyway, I feel like I can’t really get behind the individual characters, but also their relationship with each other. Additionally, I feel like the plot is very weak. We know that she’s an engineer for his racing team, he’s the driver, her dad owns the team and he’s also sick and deteriorating but other than that I don’t really know where it’s going.
At the 34% mark, I realized that I had too many grievances with the plot that I just couldn’t move forward.

Thanks to NetGalley and Forever Publishing for an ARC of this book in exchange of an honest review.

At first glance, Double Apex seems like your typical sports romance, set in the world of Formula 1. However, it didn’t deliver the romantic vibe I expected. For me, well-written main characters are crucial in this genre, and I found it hard to connect with the protagonists. Their story didn’t feel romantic, and I was actually hoping they wouldn’t end up together. While the racing element was exciting, the lack of chemistry made the story fall flat.

DNF @ 18%. I was super excited to do a buddy read of this book with some friends and booyyyyyyy did I not love it. The MC's both needed therapy and to not be together and work on themselves individually.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to be an early reader. All thoughts are my own.

I was so excited to read a racing romance. I'm a huge auto racing fan, and I loved the concept of this book. However, the execution was just not there. There were some things that happened in the book (I won't give spoilers), but I was really uncomfortable with the violence that occurred. I was really upset and I couldn't continue after that.

I love F1 and I love romance but unfortunately this book really did not work for me. The MMC was unbearable, his cocky egotistical attitude was a bit much for me and his character was pretty much unredeemable to me even after hearing his backstory. I also found the spicy scenes in this one to be super cringey and the word choice was just not for me. I wish I had enjoyed this one more than I did but I think its a case of wrong book for me personally.

haven’t loved a sports romance in so long but I didn’t want to put this down. Cosmin and Phaedra captured my heart. I love a brash heroine who doesn’t always make the right choices and is sometimes too quick to anger and that was Phaedra 100%. Cosmin’s sweetness blew me away—it was so well done that it didn’t feel cheesy or unrealistic but it truly felt like a man who was head over heels but knew he had a love interest that had to be handled with caution. The flirting and banter was so engaging and I wanted to keep reading to get to the next interaction.

The sex scenes were so good and the most I’ve read in a traditionally published book in a while but they didn’t feel like they were overwhelming the story.

Phaedra’s father’s storyline absolutely crushed me. I thought it was handled with care and Phaedra’s emotions felt so real and raw and I cried probably four or five times during this book.

Now—what made it not quite five stars for me. The past child abuse plotline with Cosmin’s sister and her abuser getting married gave me a really hard time. I had trouble understanding this choice just like Cosmin did and I felt like it was a bit of a loose thread and needed more explaining for me to accept why that choice was made. I would preferred the book without it. The second reason it wasn’t five stars were some of the side characters. I felt like Owen, Brooklyn and Peach kind of came out of nowhere and they were all quirky for quirkiness’ sake. It felt like they had their own book before this one and this was a fun oh here are the characters you loved from my last book but because Double Apex was the first in this series it threw me off a bit.

Klaus and Nat—I’m desperate for their story!! I am so excited that they will be the next book because as soon as they appeared on the page together I knew this was a story I wanted told.

Overall, I loved it! The things I disliked were so heavily outweighed by what I love and I cannot wait to read everything this author puts out.

I wanted to love this one but couldn’t get past 20%. I thought it needed another round of edits… Also, the story was a bit clunky. The relationship growth between the characters didn’t feel natural - they were at each others throats and 10 pages later they were attracted to each other and kissing? Sadly, this one just missed the mark for me.

Thank you for giving me the chance to read this arc ! I enjoyed reading it but the female main character was unbearable. She was giving “pick me “ vibes all throughout the book and it just didn’t like that . I did however learn about f1 in the book !

DNF at 6% for the MMC being incredibly cocky and making unwanted sexual comments over the radio to the FMC and this really truly just being glossed over as being okay and "boys will be boys". Not okay, not cool. I'm sure this cockiness and verbal assault is explained away through some *traumatic back story* but I wasn't waiting around to find out.

I did read a few other reviews to decide whether or not to DNF and I gotta say, it sounds like I won't regret my decision at all.

Thank you NetGalley and Forever Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this book!

Phaedra Morgan is great at her job as a race engineer, using her phenomenal math skills and years of finely tuned experience. However, her team’s new driver is not easy to work with. Cosmin Ardelean is on the verge of becoming a star, known for his impressive driving and frequent romantic-exploits. When the two teammates try a new strategy of getting along for the benefit of their team, a thrilling and forbidden attraction ignites! The stakes are high for Phaedra and Cosmin personally and professionally, and with all eyes on the racing community, no secret stays hidden for long.

I’m a very casual F1 fan (Drive to Survive is amazing television) but you don’t need to know the sport at all to enjoy this book! Phaedra is highly intelligent if sometimes a little tactless, and Cosmin is charming with a lighthearted attitude that hides a troubled past. These two have a ton of chemistry and the book is pretty steamy! I loved the setting of the book, chapters follow the race season and they move all around the world, but I found myself craving a tiny bit more of the racing! I will definitely be reading the next book in this new series!

I needed a couple of days to digest the book before writing my review of Double Apex. I really struggled through the first 60% of this book. Really struggled. The MMC showed his affection for the FMC by harassing her. The FMC gave off big Not Like Other Girls energy and was just mean. I can read unlikable characters but these two were a step beyond. After the 60%, the story seemed to coalesce, the characters were a bit more bearable, and they got back to racing. For an F1 romance, it was lacking on the racing.

There were good parts to the book. I found the MMC’s sister very interesting. I’ve not read a romance featuring a Romanian main character before. But I don’t plan to continue this series.

Pick this one up if you love:
- spice
- F1 (Formula 1 racing)
- FMC in STEM
- He falls first

I think my favorite part of this one was all the traveling for the different races. I personally know nothing about F1. I think this book will be a bigger hit with people who like F1.

I was incredibly excited for this book because the cover is stunning and an enemies to lovers sports romance sounded like just what I needed. But I…DNF’d this book at about 50% after the FMC physically attacked the MMC by hitting, kicking, slapping, and scratching him and when he accidentally slaps her leg because she’s, in her own words, “thrashing so much”, she proceeds to throw his childhood abuse (and his sister’s) at the hands of his uncle in his face and accuses him of being just like his uncle.

This wasn’t cute. It wasn’t funny. It wasn’t girl boss. It was horrifying to read in a book in 2024 that thought this was appropriate. I love unlikable FMC’s. Love them. But Phaedra was MEAN and she was abusive and I was deeply bothered by this entire scene.

Fun read. I’m not a huge car racing fan but this was a lot of fun and it was interesting to see the science and mechanics behind racing. The main characters were really good. Both had a lot of baggage to sort out. The side characters were hit or miss for me. I am looking forward to the next book.

I received an arc from Netgalley and the publisher.

DNF at 10%. This was a tell, not show, writing style that I absolutely do not mesh with. Also, these characters are supposed to be in their 30s but are acting like teenagers. Phaedra, the FMC, gave off huge NLOG energy. Very much not for me. Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for the ARC!

I was so excited to read this Formula 1 romance after my husband got me into it by having my watch Drive to Survive! (Who knew there was so much drama in F1?!)

Anyway, really enjoyed this book by Josie Juniper! It centers around Cosmin who is the hot new driver for Emerald Racing, and Phaedra who happens to be his race engineer and daughter of the team's owner. Loved seeing their relationship develop as they had good banter from the beginning - although at times they could both be a little too intense (especially Phaedra)...but to be fair, she was going through a lot.

It was also so fun with the racing bits thrown in. I'm a relatively new F1 fan so I feel like I learned something too!

Definitely recommend if you enjoy :
- Formula 1
- enemies to lovers
- forbidden romance
- some spice!

Thank you Netgalley & Forever for the opportunity to read & review this book! Excited to read the next book in the series!

ugh. the sexist comments were just not it. please don't do that to the heroes in books. dnf @25%

the mfc was also very whiny. I understand she was putting up with a lot of shit at work, but her sudden attraction to the hero (who treats her like garbage) just gave me major ick vibes.

DNF @ 7%

Thank you so much to Forever and Netgalley for providing an advanced copy of this. All thoughts and opinions are still my own.

I'm a big proponent for DNF-ing, but this was a fast DNF even for me. But these opening pages/chapters left me so uncomfortable and there was just no way to redeem this hero or romance for me.

I love a good tension filled, hate to love romance. And I especially love a woman engineer. What I don't love is sexual harassment in the work place that is brushed off as "just who he is".

This opens up with the hero making uncomfortable and undesired sexual innuendos to the heroine over the radio, for all other team members to hear. Despite the heroine saying she has asked for this to stop multiple times.

When the heroine brings it up with her boss/father he tells her "not make such a big deal out of it". That he's their best driver, etc, etc.

When she brings it up with a coworker he tells her "that's just his personality" and that the other employees are talking because she "obviously only cares because 'sexual tension'".

And the cherry on top, when she confronts the hero - he laughs and makes ADDITIONAL sexual comments.

Which was enough for me to DNF. But after reading other reviews from people got further into the story, it sounds like the harassment only gets worse.

This is not cute, or funny, or romantic, or honestly redeemable in any way. It's harassment and it's gross. Made only worse by the fact that her employer and colleagues brush it off as "guys being guys".

Who knew where the story was going when an engineer and FI racecar driver enter into a spicy romance. Great read for fans of Formula One racing and of course romance. This book is full of information on race courses, car mechanics and race basics too!

I wanted to like this book but I just found a lot of aspects of it to be frustrating. Phaedra just seemed instantaneously childish and mean (even to Nat) and it was hard to sympathize with anything she was going through. The instantaneous sexual chemistry felt unearned because there wasn’t enough background relationship between the two of them and then weeks would go by between chapters, causing any buildup to really lose momentum. It made it hard to get invested and stay interested. Overall it just felt like the story had such potential that was never quite fulfilled.