“My home is in London with a man who knows I prefer gold jewlery. Who holds my hand even when my fingers are freezing. Who outfitted his whole kitchen with my favourite appliances in my favourite colour and requested that I make the place a mess. Who let me leave to handle the things haunting me, because he would never stand in my way”.

Stella has recently been jilted at the altar by her (persnickety, self absorbed, and absolutely horrible) ex Etienne. Thomas is Formula One’s most hated driver after off handed comments (said in private but secretly recorded) about another driver’s conduct have gone viral. She’s trying to get her mojo back and Thomas is trying to move on from scandal. While attending a ‘stag and doe’ party the two meet, instantly connect, and while heavily inebriated end up married. Did I mention they also happen to be in Vegas? Let’s just say what’s happens in Vegas doesn’t stay in Vegas, and it unfolds beautifully.

Ride With Me is the highly anticipated addition to the Lights Out Series. While Formula One is present the tone is different. We talk about career injuries, the involvement of sponsorships, the frenzy of fans. But we also get a story that’s cozier, somber, and more intimate. It's mature, elevated, and expansive compared to book one. Especially the scenes in London, I found Stella and Thomas to have a firmness of self in them, while they also deal with insecurities and figuring out their relationship.

They exude husband and wifey goals. Sometimes the ‘’my wife” vibes can be cringey in other books, but in this, it’s cute and swoon worthy. For me it's all about balance and Simone finds it perfectly. I’m eager to find blood orange and vanilla cream macarons, watch an episode of Bake Off for comfort, and just patiently wait for book three. I caught some ideas...if they actually pan out, I’ll scream with joy.

Another quote that I just made me laugh, "who kidnapped my pure English rose and replaced him with...this?" so many funny zingers in this book that I had to toss one in my review.

Thank you so much Simone for this lovely book, readers, you don’t want to miss this! As always, my thanks to Berkley Romance and Berkley Publishing Group for the ARC.

I love this book so much!!!! Thank you NetGalley and Berkeley for letting me be an arc reader!

Thomas is an F1 driver and after a recent event he is literally the most hated man in F1. He fills in for a family member at a wedding in Vegas where he meets Stella. Stella is the owner of Margaux, has just been left at the alter and got
Drunk and posted a rant on social media and is now in Vegas for her cousins bachelorette party. After a drunk night both Stella and Thomas wake up and discovered they’re married.
I love Willow and dev but Thomas and Stella have my whole heart! The banter and the tension was everything! I love Stella that’s my girl she got the HEA she deserves and Thomas is gonna be everyone’s fav new book boyfriend. I was literally smiling so hard and laughing the whole time reading this! I had so much fun with this story and I’m also serious about becoming an F1 fan even though I know nothing about the sport lol Daphne is good in my book now! I love Janelle and Amara too! I just love this world and can’t wait to see what else you have in store.

Tropes:
Dual POV
Marriage of convenience
F1 romance
Bakery owner
Interracial
Spicy

i am utterly OBSESSED. did i expect anything less after Cross the Line? NO. but lord this one hit harder than the last. when hardworking entrepreneur & baker extraordinaire Stella meets British F1 racer Thomas on a mutual friends’ Vegas bachelor/bachelorette trip, sparks. fly!! and they never stop flying. things take off when the MCs wake up MARRIED the next night and decide to continue said marriage out of convenience to aid both their public images— obviously what happened in Vegas didn’t stay in Vegas, and i aint even mad. i couldn’t get enough of Stella’s determination, and passion and just overall drive to do whatever she wanted, and to do it well at that. and don’t get me started on Thomas!! this man was a complete SAP. a big ole sweetheart who just needed the right one to come along and Stella couldn’t have been the better person to be on the receiving end of his endless doting and care, in and out of the bedroom lord today 🥵 both MCs leaned on and learned from each other with both of them changing for the better as the book ran its course. their growth was just written so beautifully! this book will definitely sit at the top of my list for years to come. 💜

3.25 ⭐️ nothing like a marriage of convenience to pull me out of a reading slump 🤠

my feelings about this book are kinda mixed bc I LOVED the FMC but at the same time some of her actions really annoyed me (especially toward the end), on the other hand Thomas was perfect to me and I wouldn’t change a single thing about him 😔🙏🏻 tbh I wish their relationship hadn’t been such a slow burn bc even though I like that kind of development I lost a bit of patience when I hit 70% and they still weren’t together (even though they clearly liked each other)

for me there was also a bit of a lack of depth in their relationship with all the secondary characters, I wish there had been more scenes between Stella and Willow and more scenes with Thomas’ family bc in the end the relationships all felt a bit superficial

it was a fun read that kept me hooked until (almost) the end so I consider that a big win. I highly recommend it if you like f1 romances & drunk people getting married in Vegas

Words cannot describe how much I loved everything about this book. Ride With Me has EASILY raced itself into the top position as my all-time favorite romance. It’s a master class on tension, flirtation, humor, and most importantly, on what it means to fall in love with someone who sees you for all that you are while loving every part of you that encompasses.

Stella and Thomas make each other BETTER. They show up for each other with care in a way that you just can’t help but crave. The love they have seeps off of the pages and into your heart from the start, and I enjoyed every single minute of watching them learn each other. The banter was EVERYTHING! Their relationship is the definition of meeting your match and is truly the blueprint of a love found in giving as much as you get.

Beyond the love story, we get such a beautiful glimpse at friendship and what it looks like when people you love allow you to show up as yourself, no matter what form that may take. Both Thomas and Stella had incredibly strong friendships in their lives with amazing dynamics, and that made me so, so happy. I hope we’ll see more depictions of all types of love within romance stories like this in the future; allowing love in is how we get to the romance in the first place.

My favorite aspect of all is that Stella was unapologetically a Black woman. There was such nuance to her character and I really felt seen through Stella, every step of the way. Watching her find love with Thomas, a man who truly cared for her, was perfect. A romance between an F1 driver and a baking mogul was exactly what I needed in my life, and I can't wait to see what's next from Simone 💜🏁