I loved the first book in this series and was so excited to get the next chapter of the story. Unfortunately, it didn’t hit the same. I felt like the first half was just a retelling of what already happened in the first but from new character’s povs. It also made me not like our fmc from the first book as much because she acted so horribly towards Natalia in this book. I just wasn’t able to below surface level and fall in love with these characters the way I wanted to. I will still read more books by this author because I think she is very talented, this one just wasn’t for me.

I really, really need to stop reading a spin off book before reading the first one. You’d think I’d have learned my lesson by now. HAHAHA clearly not cause here we are. However, after going to look at reviews for book 1. Maybe I should be glad I didn’t read it first…

I can’t believe in 2025 I finally did it. I found a romcom with the most dislikable characters. Not even just dislikable some of the cringiest red flag swinging main characters. I’m like these are supposed to be adults, instead they act like heathen crotch goblins. To make matters worse let’s also throw in some time jumps every freaking chapter because you know “drama” 😑 How about instead let’s get back to F1 racing instead of confusing your reader every chapter.

Overall, this book was not for me and I cannot recommend it. Lastly big thank you to NetGalley & Forever for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Although I did enjoy this for the most part, I do think that there needs to be content warning in the beginning of the book. The ARC did not have this, so I hope that the final version has this!

ARC review
Publication date 17 June 2025

“Coming in Hot” by Josie Juniper is the second book in the "Frontrunners" series.
The story takes place at the same time as the events from the first book but follows a different couple.

Thank you Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the advance digital copy of the book (via Netgalley).
Opinions from this review are completely my own.

This is a formula 1 contemporary romance.
Natalia is a reporter and Klaus is a team leader in F1.
They have a one night stand and then try to stay far from each other because of the forbidden part of the relationship.

Unfortunately I did not find the characters likeable, especially Natalia.
Also, there are many time and location jumps that were annoying.
Basically after every chapter they were in a different country and up to a month goes by.
I did not see a development in the characters during the story. They went back and forward and kept finding reasons to have arguments.
There is also a "surprise" pregnancy towards the end that was predictable at one point and I did not see the point for it.

If you like sports romances with age gap and a slow burn, you could enjoy this.

I genuinely did not realize that this book would have such an involved plot that was complex and not like other typical contemporary romance???? But it had me on the edge of my seat, I was in agony, I was invested!!!

There are so many facets to this book that I don’t think I could even describe concisely and succinctly in a review, but I thought that this was a really solid book that clearly knew what it was talking about when it came to F1, was written pretty well, had a compelling plot with twists and turns, I really can’t find much to take issue with, which is a good thing!

I CAN tell you that I am absolutely obsessed with Austrian billionaire F1 team principal, Klaus Franke. That man is a dream despite some shortcomings, but I’d say Natalia had some shortcomings of her own and I really do think that they needed the two years that this book spans to work their shit out and finally get to a place that they were happy, and I loved every minute between when they met and the end of the book.

i also think the plot with her parents was an interesting situation, albeit maybe shoehorned a bit to try and explain her abandonment issues and her hesitations around Klaus, but overall I think it showed another aspect to her life and made her more multifaceted.

Anyway, altogether, I really enjoyed this book and it is only pushing me further and further into what I assume will become a hyper fixation on F1 if I ever let myself dive in fully.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the advance copy to review!

As a fan of sports romances, I was excited to dive into Coming in Hot—and while neither Natalia nor Klaus are athletes themselves, the high-speed world of Formula 1 serves as a thrilling backdrop to their slow-burn love story. What really stood out to me was the emotional depth of these characters: Talia’s struggle with family wounds and Klaus’s grief over losing his wife were handled with such care that the usual "dead wife trope" didn’t give me the ick (a rare feat!). Their personal growth felt authentic, and I loved watching them navigate their baggage together.

That said, I did struggle a bit with the timeline—the jumps between race weekends sometimes left me disoriented, and I wish their romance had felt a little deeper beyond the initial attraction. Still, Talia and Klaus were compelling enough to keep me invested, and I appreciated the cultural richness woven into their dynamic. If you’re into sports-adjacent romances with emotional weight, this one’s worth a read!

Thank you to Forever, NetGalley, and Josie Juniper for the ARC!

My favorite thing about Josie’s books is the strong women. Phaedra in book 1, and now Natalia.

Talia is a complex character. She’s a strong, independent, headstrong woman. She’s also very soft and kind-hearted.

Klaus is… Klaus. Lol. Look, do I think he’s good enough for our girl? Debatable? But she loves him and she chooses him, and she gets to do that and I’m here to support her. He says that she made him realize that he was capable of loving again after losing his wife, but I was craving for him to just put his heart out there for HER to SEE and FEEL that. Maybe a little more introspection in his POVs would have done it. I do understand the nuance of why he "couldn’t", though. Just wanted more, I guess.

I love a good sports romance, and his was sports-adjacent enough for me! I enjoyed this read. Thank you very much for the ARC, Forever!

I love, love, love this series. As a woman in STEM who is constantly greeted by shocked faces anytime I do my job, I felt very seen in the first book. So when I say this one on NetGalley I was more than excited. When I was approved I was so grateful. And it didn’t disappoint. It had the same vibes, banter, and depth as the first one. And the same beautiful cover style. Perfect sequel!

I think fans of Formula One racing will find this right up their alley (pun intended). Spice and drama and cars :) Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Coming in Hot is book two in Josie Juniper's Frontrunner's series. Natalia Evans is riding high in her career as a reporter for Auto Racing Journal. Complicating her work life is a recent one night stand that she had with a man that turned out to the principal for Emerald racing, Klaus Franke. Their paths keep crossing and it becomes more and more difficult for them to ignore the chemistry and remain professional.

This was my second Josie Juniper book and I have to say this one worked a lot better for me than the first. I will say the pacing was a little strange but the relationship and characters were more enjoyable. Klaus and Talia have great chemistry. I enjoyed the development of their relationship. Fans of the first book should eat this one up.

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

This book certainly "comes in hot" with some heavy spice right at the beginning - a bit too abruptly for me to be honest! However, its biggest struggle is the timeline. Natalia and Klaus' story develops over the course of a couple seasons??? I think? My eyes kept skipping over the "x months/weeks later" at the beginning of chapters and then I had to go back and try to get a sense of how long it had been overall, not just since the last chapter. I think the book would benefit from something more concrete e.g. labeling chapters with a month and, if not a precise year, a "Year 1/Season 1" or something. I also wasn't entirely sold on the (non-sexual) compatibility of the characters or the eventual conclusion.

3 stars because the writing and F1 knowledge are both solid.

I was really looking forward to Coming in Hot, but unfortunately, it missed the mark for me. It was hard to follow and I didn't enjoy how almost every chapter was a large jump in time. I wish there had been more depth to Natalia's relationship with Klaus because nothing about their interactions lead me to belive they were a good fit for each other. I felt like this book had a lot of potential, but it just wasn't for me.

Having not read the first book Double Apex I did check before diving into this to make sure I would be go ok to read this. This book run concurrently with the first. Our FMC is Natalia Evans. She is a reporter for the Auto Racing Journal. She ends up having a one night stand with someone she later finds out that night was the Principal of the Emerald Team.
I find that when it comes to the F1 books I really like when the chapters are over the season and the chapter headers are the different countries and races that they are at. Coming in Hot has that. This is my first book by Josie Juniper. I found the pros engaging. I liked how the plot progressed. Even though there were time jumps it was done well. I don't have any issues with accidental pregnancy but I did like where this one was placed within the timeline of the book and found that it worked well. Overall I will be going back and reading Double Apex and be looking for future titles by Josie Juniper including Sage's story!

Thank you to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the complimentary copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The romance in this story happens at the same time as the events of book 1, so I thought I had an idea of what their relationship was like. Based on the first book, I thought they had been sleeping together for a while. However, in this book, I learned early on that they slept together one time without knowing who the other was, and then the rest of what I saw in book 1 was just tension?? I don't get all the sneaking around from book 1 if they weren't together....??

Besides my annoyance at that not lining up, I just got the ick from a few things early on. 1) Natalia mentions that she doesn't ask anymore if a man is married and doesn't like being a homewrecker, but it's inevitable...? WHAT?! Which leads me to 2) Based on that quote, I'd think she sleeps around and has casual hookups all the time, but when Klaus proposes a friends-with-benefits situation, she says she doesn't do that. Huh?? Isn't that all you do?? 3) There's a weird miscommunication the first time they sleep together, and I hated it.

The timeline is also weird. How can I connect to these characters and care about their relationship when some of the development happens off page?? This book solidified that this author's writing isn't for me.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

A big thank you to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

After reading Double Apex, I was so excited to get approved for Coming In Hot! I am happy to report that I really enjoyed the 2nd book in the Frontrunners series!

Since I am a huge F1 fan, I would have loved to have had more of the F1 atmosphere that we experienced in Double Apex.

That being said, I still really liked Coming In Hot! I was happy that we got to revisit some characters from the first book and get a sort of update on them. One of my favorite things about this book was the growth between the characters. Both of our main characters come with baggage/traumas, and they have to figure out how to push through them both individually and together. It's got some great tropes, such as the age gap, work place/forbidden love, push & pull. I found the "second love" narrative to be tastefully and beautifully written, too.

Let's not forget about the beautiful covers of these books! The detail and colours are so eye catching.

Easy 4/5 stars from me!

Josie Juniper is by far my favorite F1 romance writer. She easily meshes the upstairs, downstairs environment of F1 into delicious deep dives of romance. Cannot wait for the next book in this series.

Thank you to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) | Forever and NetGalley for providing an eARC for a honest review.

Generally into sports romance, and I'm glad to see some different cultural representation as well! (Even though neither of the characters was an athlete themselves, this book is part of a series with interconnected standalone books, and I feel that it has sporty elements to it. )

Really loved the characters' relationship progression and how they had to get over their own emotional baggage. This is the first time I've ever had the 'dead wife' trope not give me the ick as well. Being the second love of someone's life does not sound pleasant most of the time, but Coming in Hot was so well done, it didn't bother me.

**Thank you to Forever Romance for the advanced reader copy. I received this book for free, but all thoughts are my own. – SLR 🖤

I've already read (and thoroughly enjoyed) Double Apex, the first book of the Frontrunners series, so I was excited to read Coming In Hot.

This book follows journalist Natalia Evans and team principal Klaus Franke. The two of them are not always easy characters to love. They are headstrong and hold their secrets close. While their mutual attraction is powerful, the walls they've each built around their hearts keep them in constant turmoil.

I loved this book. Klaus and Talia are flawed humans who I cared about because Josie wrote them so well. I was deeply invested in their story, as well as the greater story of the Emerald racing team.

Coming In Hot was fun, spicy, and thoroughly enjoyable. I've never watched F1 racing, but I feel like I should, just based off of reading Josie's books.

The pros…. Every chapter is in a new location so that’s fun! The cover is super pretty. And there’s a fun one night stand at the beginning!

But…. There didn’t seem to be a lot of character development. Klaus definitely had some quirks and he didn’t really do it for me :/

Tropes~
🏁 sports / formula 1
🏁 workplace
🏁 one night stand
🏁 accidental pregnancy

🏎️ “‘Are you shy, kleine Hexe?’ I know only a smattering of German but am pretty sure this deliciously bad man just called me a little witch.”

🏎️ “Hot-blooded woman,” he teases, setting us in motion down another gravel path. “You’ll get us in trouble.”

🏎️ “I’m in love with you, Talia. I have been since before I was sure I could love again. And I’ll do whatever it takes, for as long as you need, to become worthy of your love in return.”

If your a girly who loves Sports F1 / sports romances then this is the perfect book for you. This is book 2 in the Frontrunners series but can be read as a standalone. Although I didn't read book 1, im excited to dive into it after reading Coming In Hot. There was lots of spice, banter, angst between the two MC's, which I absolutely loved. The only thing that did bother me was that there was some many time skips and made it a little hard to know what's really going on. But overall, I enjoyed the book and would rate it a 4/5 stars.