Crash Test - 4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Arc received by @avonbooks and @harpercollins

I really enjoyed this book specifically due to the subjects of accepting your queerness, and advocating for mental health. I genuinely cried at the first half of this story relating to the heartache of someone not loving you and not accepting the relationship you've built because of their own ego. I really adored Travis's character.

However some of the character traits I didn't love.
We were supposed to be rooting for Jacob, but after what he has done to Travis I genuinely could careless about him. I did enjoy his character development alone after his life changing event. Such as seeking help, coming to terms with his queerness and embracing who he is and not who everyone wants him to be. But as much as I love a romance story I wish Jacob did more and Travis let him show how much work he has put into himself instead of giving in.

Overall I really liked how deep this book was and didn't sugarcoat the ugly side of your family not accepting you for who you are.

(The picture is from drifting and not F1 obviously. Perfect excuse to use it though lol)

#amyjames #romance #avonbooks #harperbooks #harpercollins #arcreview #crashtest #netgalley #netgalleyreviewer

This is one of those books where you will get absolutely hooked and pulled in in the very first chapter. I read the first chapter and went… woah. I already wanted to cry. I absolutely looooved this book with my whole chest. I am not at all educated on F1 or any other type of racing and that did not take away from my enjoyment of the story. It was so good! One of my new favorite romances.

I enjoyed this read, and I couldn't put it down. This is a queer romance, one of the mmc is bi and the other is gay and they start a secret relatiomnship after doing an interview together. They are both F1 and F2 racers, and it was interesting getting into that world. I loved the meet-cute between the mmcs and the instant attraction and opposites attract. I wasn't sure how I would like the past chapters, but I loved how both the past and present and dual povs were woven into the story in an organic way that made me enjoy the story. I enjoyed seeing how they got together and the struggles James, one of the mmc's had when it came to being in the relationship and navigating it.

It was emotional watching the other mmc, Travis, go through trying to grieve and be there for Jacob, even when no one was aware of their relationship. The dynamics were interesting to read, and the romance was also cute, spicy, and heartfelt. Overall, a good read. Thank you, Avon, for this arc for an honest review.

Amy James always delivers for me! This book was no exception. As one who spends her summers at the racetrack, it’s often hard for me to read racing related books. Crash Test changed that trend for me. I really enjoyed this one. It had suspense, realistic scenarios and hit all the beats. Great job, Ms. James!

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley.

Let's get into this.

Obviously, this book starts off with a bang. You're thinking F1, a crash, secret relationship, the tension is going to be INSANE! But it got rather repetitive and stale pretty quick. I think some of my disappointment in this has to do with the use of Red, White, and Royal Blue as a comp title. Aside from the secret relationship aspect and them being in the public eye, this wasn't anything like RWRB. It lacked charm, to be honest, the characters didn't feel tangible. The writing felt very mechanical and was very telling and relied heavily on what was going on in the characters' heads rather than giving us actual descriptions. The structure for most of the beginning (and most of the story tbh) made you feel like you were constantly at the end of the story. It was an odd feeling while reading.

When it comes to the intimate scenes, the parts where the story could have benefited from having the moment on page it wasn't there, but then random moments were on the page later on, as if the text was afraid of the character's intimacy with each other. By this I mean, like having their first night together and understanding their dynamic, given what we know about Travis's lack of experience and Jacob's need for control, this would have been a prime opportunity to touch on that and give the reader a glimpse into their emotional scars that were going to be worked on throughout the story.

There were some nice moments of this book. The moment where Jacob confesses to Amanda, his therapist about his need for control in his relationship with Travis was great. But it almost felt one sided because we didn't really witness it much in the flashbacks of their relationship and once they were back together it was glossed over.

And their rekindling...ugh. Oh are you here to get back together? okay! (I'm happy they talked more later but the initial scene was awkward, it's okay for characters to talk things out without mouthing each other first) Emotional intimacy makes the physical intimacy better.

Also, I really love sports romances because of the high tension, but I think because of the lack of detail in the writing the F1 aspect of this book was a bit bleh. There was nothing thrilling about the races or them driving. I couldn't feel it. I also just wanted more of the racing. The whole story just felt like it was flying through moments without getting to sit with them.

I did like the friendships the two leads made. That was one of the more fun aspects. I think they had more chemistry with their friends than each other. Travis and Jacob...I had a hard time rooting for them as a couple because I just didn't feel the spark between them. The closest I felt to them was the scene when Jacob initially woke up and clung to Travis.

I really wanted to like this book. I LOVE sports romances and RWRB was such a good time but this just fell so short of expectations. It wasn't BAD is just wasn't it.

The structure of this book is so uniquely different from any other romance books I’ve read and certainly all the queer ones I’ve read. I was expecting to go into this with a very typical boy meets boy story and they’d go through some issues, but I was pleasantly surprised when it hit the ground running so early.

This book is sectioned into 3 parts. So, I’ll be using those as references.

In part 1, I was absolutely hooked. I thought the opening was so incredibly strong, and then I was once again pleasantly surprised that even though this ended up being a second chance romance, we still got to see how Travis and Jacob fell in love and all the significant moments of their relationship. I really like Travis as a character. I found him pretty human and humble, even in his famous circumstances. Most of Jacob is told in flashbacks for part 1, and he seemed very sweet, very flirty, and the perfect person to break Travis out of his shell. Though we don’t get a real definitive timeline of their relationship, it’s clear to see how they fell in love and how they got to the present. How they got to the “end.”

In part 2, it started going downhill for me. Everything I thought I knew about Jacob’s character was suddenly gone, and now he was really insufferable to read as. I was really missing Travis, and begging him to have POV’s again. It was probably 3 chapters, maybe, where I was decently miserable and Jacob was just a prick of an individual. It did get better though with explaining how therapy, his sexuality, and his family were so hard for him, and those were all very interesting character aspects. And then he was just in Travis pine era, and I was locked in once again.

In part 3, it was just miscommunication central. It was very much the very last episode of “Friends” where Ross and Rachel are both trying to get back to one another, and it’s very cheesy and romcom-y. Normally, I’d hate that much miscommunication, but I think it was all right in this circumstance. Once, Jacob started reverting back to his original personality I liked the story much better. I really enjoyed the ending, and I appreciated that there was a takeaway with the second chance romance where the characters progressed. I felt like Travis and Jacob deserved to have their happy ending together.

On another note, I do appreciate that this book deals with the sense of homophobia in a more subtle, not aggressive way, and could be chopped up into a heteronormative way as well—and what I mean by that is, I don’t necessarily think all the homophobia in the book is just the genders of the two protagonists, and could easily have been a straight story. I mean this as a very high compliment because it means that queer fiction is normalized and they can just be romcoms. That’s very important, and this book does that.

A big thank you to HarperCollinsPublishers and Avon and Netgalley for letting me read this early, I’m so honored.

This was such an easy book to fall in to! I stayed up way too late and basically inhaled it in two sittings. The writing has this unpolished and fun tone and the structure is really engaging. It starts with a major event and then unfolds backward in each main characters first person point of view in two sections.

There’s strong hurt/comfort energy here and a really solid found family thread that made me wish we had even more time with the characters. I especially would’ve loved more from Travis’s POV becuase there’s so much there I wanted to dig into. Honestly, I would’ve happily read another 100 pages of this. The a story telling itself felt rushed without spending too much time on individual events, which I would’ve liked to see. It is a HEA, even if it keeps you unsure for a while.

There are heavy hospital scenes, so definitely worth knowing going in.

Thank you to Avon & Harper Voyager and NetGalley for this E-Arc. All opinions are my own.

To start this is my first exposure to formula racing ans i don't follow the sport, that being said there isn't a lot of racing so i was able to follow along just fine. I really enjoyed this book, it was my first time reading form Ms. James and her writing style flows so easily I devoured this book within the day.

We start off this emotional roller coaster of a book with Jacob Nichols being in a F2 Car crash, what the world doesn't know is that Travis Keeping a F1 driver was dating him for a year. Yeah- already start the waterworks. I found this book to be beautifully written for the first 85%. We start off with Travis' POV and have scenes set in the present and past as we get to know the characters and how it led them to where they were at the crash. I will fully admit I cried during a certain hospital scene. I was also so happy to see Travis find his family and cultivate relationships during their time apart. We then later get to see Jacob's POV and put some of the pieces together. It was satisfying reading Jacob's character development and him coming to terms with so many things that were affecting him mentally.

Like I said, loved this book, but I am slightly disappointed with the last 15%. I think everything was just resolved so quickly after so much tension and building to get to such a quick- OK! If this book would have gone further into the rebuilding portion of their relationship and maybe showing their new life together down the road I think it would have been absolutely perfect five stars.

I highly recommend this book for someone looking for a sports romance, with some angst, frustration and closed door-ish romance. I know I will probably reread this somewhere down the line!

Crash Test follows a dual timeline of the present, where Jacob Nichols has been in a massive crash in F2, and the past, the build of the relationship between Jacob and Travis Keeping. In both timelines, Jacob and Travis are working to succeed in racing while balancing a secret relationship.

Hello, yes. I need to have words with Amy James because WHY did this book hurt so much?? I cried multiple times while reading Crash Test because I genuinely felt connected to what they were going through. The high emotions of the tense situations the MC's were getting into was stressful in the best way possible. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a queer contemporary romance with some angst but a satisfying ending. I sped through this book in one day and I know others will love it just as much as I did.

WOWOWOWOW! What can I say? I love formula one and usually I love formula romances and I thought that this would be no exception, but wow, I didn’t know how right I was. I loved Travis and I loved the way the author writes! The writing style might not be for everyone, but it sure is for me! This story was so heartbreaking and so emotional and I ate it up! I read the first 16% without moving and I was HOOKED! I loved everything about this book!

Thank you for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book. I finished this book in one day, I couldn't put it down. The story flow was great from every moment. I loved seeing how Travis grew throughout the book, going from someone who was a loner to a person who would speak up about what he wants and how he feels and having people who truly care for him. Jacob, I can feel the pain he went through with going through the crash and the aftermath. I do not agree with how Jacob handled everything, but it was realistic on how someone would react. I am glad that Jacob stood up against his parents on how he felt and went to make things right. There was a thing that I found in chapter 35 when Travis is introducing his friends to Jacob. He introduced Matty as the guy that cornered him in the Crosswires motorhome. However, Jacob had gone to see Travis, so it should have been the Harper's motor home. I know this is an unedited copy of the book. I can't wait to see what else this author can write for us.

I think this book single-handedly got me into F1 racing, which is crazy cause i grew up around nascar in the finger lakes area. I absolutely adored this story and was hooked by chapter 2. I will urge everyone to read this book! 5/5 stars

I read this book in one sitting AFTER working a 12 hour overnight shift. Suuuuuch an easy read! This book mad me feel every single emotion. It had moments where I kicked my feet and giggled, moments where I was just pissed off, and moments that were heartbreaking. It was definitely a rollercoaster and I feel like it could have even been a little longer just to explore their relationship more. 4 strong stars and I definitely recommend especially to the ones who want a cozy MM romance with no spice! So good!

I loved this book. I really liked the accuracy of the Formula 1 references.

We love the therapy representation. The character growth is really good. Plus, the side characters are so great!

Jacob and Travis are opposites attracting, and the secrecy of their relationship leads to some misunderstandings, which makes this a heartbreaking story at times. But they also have the sweetest moments. I highly recommend it.

I was pretty invested in this story considering there wasn’t as much character development as I would have liked. I think it was a good story and I liked the plot idea, I just wanted more of it, so that’s not really a terrible flaw. It was spicier than I expected it to be but not too much for me to handle. I’d read something else by this author in the future!

F2 driver Jacob is in a horrible accident. F1 driver Travis tries to process and handle this news as best he can while trying to keep their relationship secret.

This book was an emotional rollercoaster. We immediately start with the accident and Travis’ POV as he navigates trying to see his lover in critical condition while Jacob’s parents know nothing of their relationship, his emotional grief and terror, all while still trying to maintain his F1 ranking. About halfway through POV shifts to Jacob and we see how he’s having to deal with things. Not just physically but mentally. Especially dealing with the conflict and consequences of his decisions.

What I loved most about this book was the emotional depth. I enjoyed the therapy sessions with Jacob as he finally wants to face his issues and deal with them. And I think some of the thoughts and conflicting feelings both characters have, everyone has experienced at some point. I also enjoyed Travis coming into himself more. There are a couple things I wished more of but I won’t say just b/c…spoilers. ;)

I was honestly between 3 & 4 stars with this one but I enjoyed my time enough reading it that I decided to round up.

This book had so much potential! I loved the story and a lot of the build up was really good. However I do feel like it was a bit long. I think a lot of the beginning could have been condensed. And that leads to my biggest bugaboo, I felt like I spent so much time reading the buildup to the big split & then so much during the separation (don’t get me wrong, we love seeing the character development), that when the conclusion came it just ✨poof✨ happened in the blink of an eye. Just like that, they were back together. It felt a little insincere & I was hoping for maybe a bit more of rebuilding back the relationship I guess.

But with all of that said, I did like this book. I got teary eyed a couple times because I was invested in the story and hurt when the characters where hurting. I was happy they got their hard earned HEA and despite the things I didn’t like about it, I would still recommend this book to others!

Arc provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Crash Test is a queer F1 romance that jumps right into the action. This is a heavier romance, focusing on recovery from injury, mental health, toxic family, and exploring one’s queerness.

I personally loved the different format this novel took. Yes, we get to see them fall in love but the majority of the plot focused on further into their relationship and what that means to them.

My only downside is that much of the personal growth was done away from each other and I would have loved to see more of their interaction after figuring things out. That said, a solid romance with a lovable side cast. The issues felt very realistic and were well done.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Contains Spoilers

A complimentary copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.

Not bad but not great. I've been waiting for a racing MM romance and this one looked to hit all the buttons.

First, the good. The book overall is well written; I enjoyed Amy James's writing style. The characters seemed like real people (for fiction, haha). The relationship between Travis and Jacob [I'll get to my opinions about Jacob later (hide spoiler)] came across as realistic. They are both in the closet, with Travis knowing he is gay, and Jacob knowing he is bisexual though not happy about his attraction to men. The drama (because of course there is drama) wasn't overdone. I didn't roll my eyes or complain mentally about how ridiculous it was. I was fully onboard with the amount of angst and drama - not something easy to write well and Amy did a good job. [Small "but" here. But, I did kinda think the whole Travis going to the US to speak to Jacob at the same time Jacob went to London to speak to Travis only to see him with another guy and chickening out rather cliche and I didn't like that. (hide spoiler)]

As for what didn't work for me. Sigh. Honestly, I thought Jacob came across as a jerk. Their initial meeting and how Travis described Jacob sort of messing with/flirting with him. I hate people like that. He was all cocky and it seemed kind of cruel how he was toying with Travis. It was obvious Travis was innocent while Jacob had been around the block a few times. Travis was doomed to fall under his spell. And Jacob fed him peanuts of affection and treated him like crap a lot. Now, Jacob does admit this in the end and apologizes for being a jerk. I mostly felt okay with that, after Jacob explained. But, I still am not 100% happy with Jacob because I still think he has a bit a cruel streak. Cruel might be too harsh, but Jacob seemed to be laughing at Travis, kind of making fun of him and how innocent he was. That's how it all came across to me.

I do wish there had been an explanation as to what kind of car racing they were doing. I don't follow sports, certainly not car racing so I was lost to what this was. It's apparently not the same as the Indy 500 (or whatever).

What could have truly redeemed this story for me to make it five stars is if there had been more written after all the events and they are back together. We don't get to see them living their new, happy together (mostly out) life. There is a very small (very small) amount of this but it doesn't satisfy that itch. For 90% of this story they are apart, whether Jacob is in the hospital or after they separated. Where is that happy ever after? This is mostly a Happy for Now ending. Why couldn't there have been an epilogue a year, or five years down the way with Jacob and Travis being competitor racers and they are fighting to see who wins the "big" race? I would have loved to have seen an ending with them in the future. Ideally, we wouldn't know who wins the race between them but they are driving, side by side, about to cross the finish line - they turn and look at each other and we know they are smiling like idiots and then it ends. I needed to see them living their life and I didn't really get to.

The found family aspect, a little overdone but I like the characters. It would be interesting if there is another book, not about Jacob and Travis, but about [Thomas (that's his name, right?), the guy Travis was not dating exactly but they were circling each other to see if they could be a couple. Travis told Thomas he wasn't over Jacob, and he wasn't ready to date. (hide spoiler)]

[Jacob's family. Whoa!!!!! It's honestly no wonder Jacob had hang ups about being attracted to men. His family is awful!!! Seriously, why do people have children if they can't - won't - love them no matter what? Seriously, what is the problem with being gay? Thankfully Jacob had a good therapist, and friends to help him get away from his family. By the end it does look like he has cut them out completely and they have no interest in contacting him. If there are additional books written in this world, there better not be a family reunion and all is forgiven. No, I don't want to see that and mostly because it's not realistic. The way his family was written, they aren't going to change. (hide spoiler)]

I am very glad I read this, and it is good overall. Since the ending wasn't perfect, I give these four stars and I'm going to try to read it again before the ARC expires.

Formula 1 with the intensity of a secret love story. The author delivered a compelling mix of adrenaline, heartbreak, and slow-burning hope, making this book a gripping read from start to finish.
Travis Keeping was a protagonist easy to root for—young, ambitious, and determined to win the championship, only to have his entire world thrown into chaos when Jacob Nichols, the boy he secretly loved, was involved in a devastating crash. The way Travis unraveled in the aftermath was gut-wrenching, especially as he was forced to hide his grief and love from the world while struggling to keep his racing career intact.
The tension between Travis and Jacob’s parents added another layer of heartbreak, making their separation feel even more painful. Travis’s downward spiral on the track felt realistic, and the pressure from his team, the media, and the world at large was palpable. Meanwhile, Jacob’s recovery and his emotional journey were just as compelling—watching him grapple with his own struggles, both physical and emotional, was just as gripping as the F1 drama.
The romance itself was beautifully done, even though much of it was filled with longing and distance rather than direct interaction. The flashbacks to their time together made their love feel real and poignant, and the moments where they slowly found their way back to each other were incredibly satisfying.
The only reason this wasn’t a five-star read was that some sections of the middle felt a little slow. However, the emotional payoff was absolutely worth it.
With heart-pounding race scenes, an angsty yet tender love story, and a journey of self-discovery, Crash Test was a thrilling and heartfelt read. Fans of Red, White & Royal Blue and high-stakes sports romances will absolutely love this one!
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!