I enjoyed this. I wasn't expecting to like it was much as I did because the MMC seemed so much older than the FMC, but I couldn't stop until I was finished.

I unfortunately had to DNF this one. The story just wasn't for me. This is my first time reading Josie Juniper and I couldn't get into her writing style.

Thank you NetGalley and Forever for an ARC of this title!

I read the digital ARC with plans to do an immersive read using the audio too, but I ended up just sticking with the ebook. The Formula 1 setting was fun and unique, and the concept had a lot of promise. That said, I think age-gap romance just might not be for me. I struggled to really connect with the characters and didn’t love how their relationship developed. It wasn’t a bad read, I still enjoyed parts of it, but it didn’t fully click for me the way I hoped it would. I still think others might seriously enjoy this though… it’s not the book… it’s me…

I ventured out of my only hockey romances and into the world of F1 romance, and I wasn’t disappointed!

There was a nice balance of sport with character development, and because of the nature of the sport seeing the relationship develop over realistic time (and not just a month or two) was a breath of fresh air.

I’m usually not a fan of a third act break-up, but here it made perfect sense, and more than that, there was ample time to give the readers a happy ending.

Talia and Klaus are endearing, frustrating, and such an enjoyable love story.

Perfect for fans of F1, Drive to Survive, and Austrian Team Principals ;)

I’m a sucker for age gap romances especially if there’s some forbidden reason why they can’t be together, and Coming in Hot delivers it.

We first meet Klaus and Natalia in Double Apex, the first book in Josie’s series about F1 teams. I think it’s best if you read it first as there’s a lot of overlap that I don’t think would make sense without it. I really enjoyed Klaus and Natalia in the first book, so I had high hopes in the second to learn their story. While they totally have chemistry, it really seemed through this book that that was all they had. I never got fully invested in their character arcs: Natalia is looking to grow her career and be taken seriously, and Klaus is still grieving his dead wife and trying to figure out where he wants his career to go. As far as first impressions go, when we meet both of them on page when we learn that she has a habit of accidentally sleeping with married men, and he thinks she’s a prostitute because she has sex with him after one drink at a hotel bar. Neither give a good first impression, and I think although it clearly illustrates their flaws and traumas that they both carry, it lingers over them.

It doesn’t help that they both come across as really young and impulsive and not like two career-driven adults. He’s 45 and she’s 35 but they both felt about 21 with the decisions they made with each other – like that couple in university who always was fighting and then making up dramatically.

I liked the banter, and when they were together and not yelling at each other, I could see why they appealed to each other. They are both really strong characters, and both knew they were putting their careers on the lines to be together, and I loved the angst that came with those decisions. They knew they shouldn’t be together, but they couldn’t stay apart. The sexy scenes were hot, and when they were clearly communicating with each other, I did swoon. I feel like this book almost had “it”, I just needed them to work through their emotions a bit more.

I enjoy this series, and if there’s more I will pick them up for sure. I love the look into the world of F1 racing and the different careers that make it happen. This is a fun romp for sure, and if you read it for pure escapism then it’s the perfect summer read.

I started this book in audio and had to switch to ebook so my feelings may be heavily influenced by how much I disliked the audio/narration.

Overall this book was written just fine. I will read the author again and I am very interested in finally circling back to book 1 in the series as well as reading the next book in the series. With regard to CIH:
The FMC needs therapy. She was pretty terrible and she knew she had issues with the fact that her parents abandoned her. And yet, she continued to live life and just blame all of her problems on being abandoned rather than actually dealing with them. When she meets Klaus, I wasn't even sure he was the MMC at first (again, audio to start) and I couldn't decide if I even liked him. She's incredibly negative from the beginning of the book and stays there through most of it.

There's not only a third act breakup but we get one in the first AND second acts too. The hits just keep coming! Just when you thought these two had their ish together, they broke up again. And the third act breakup, while valid, was just handled so poorly by the FMC. I just hope others don't read this as an example of how relationships should go. Every time he tried to apologize, grovel, atone, she twisted it around into something manipulative and nefarious. She was so wishy-washy. But Klaus persevered.

I didn't like the storyline with her deadbeat parents though I see why it fit in with the overarching plot with Klaus and the bit at the end. However, it made it really hard for me, the reader, to want to even read any scene with her parents. I was already DONE with them and did not find any of their groveling satisfying at all.

The book was fine. While the author made choices that I didn't like as a reader, I do wonder if I would have enjoyed it more if I had just read it with my eyeballs from the jump. Will keep these eyes out for book 3 bc I didn't hate it.

✅ Klaus Franke 40/, f1 Team Principal and minority owner, & Natalia Jane Evans, 30s, journalist
✅ Dual POV
✅ all the jet-setting, glitz and glamor one would expect from an F1 romance but not actually about racing (since neither lead is a driver). It is heavily about the business of F1 though
✅ multi year timeline
🌶️: it starts with a one night stand.. what do you think

DNF’d at 30%.

I really wanted to love this one—it’s an F1 romance with an age gap and a forbidden workplace dynamic, which usually checks all my boxes. But unfortunately, it just didn’t work for me.

The pacing felt off, with time jumps that were confusing and didn’t add anything. The characters came across as shallow and kind of toxic, and I found the dialogue awkward and cringy at times. I couldn’t connect with either of the leads and honestly didn’t care what was happening in the plot. It just felt like it was missing something, and I wasn’t having a good time reading it.

Bummed this one didn’t hit, but I had to call it.

Natalia Evans is a seasoned journalist, and she needs a big scoop. She needs this job so she can't say no when she has to spend time with Klaus Franke. They spent one night together that needs to stay forgotten, but being around him made that difficult. There was a lot of steamy scenes between two, a lot of push and pull with being together/not together, of having to choose between career or love. The audiobook, narrated by Cecily Foster and Max Rauch was what made this story interesting to read. Their voices brought this story to life and kept me going to the end.

I try my best to read and review all the books I request however after snagging this one, I learned about some of the tropes that come into play in this story that I didn’t feel prepared to read at this time. I’m so bummed because I loved Josie’s first book in the series and was super looking forward to this. Unfortunately, this is a me thing, and I just don’t feel ready to read it at this time. Thank you Forever for the eARC.

After reading Josie Juniper's first F1 romance, I was impressed with how she balanced both a solid representation of the motorsport and a fictional story with complex characters and a nuanced plot. So I was very interested to see what she would do with her second book set within the same world and characters, but following a journalist and a team principal.

It's steamy from the start, the chemistry between the main characters sizzles, and the forbidden romance aspect is a lot of fun—even when realistically grappling with the ethics surrounding the whole situation.

I was very much with this book fo the first half—and then we got into a very unpleasant turn of events when it's revealed that the MMC has essentially set the FMC up for workplace sabotage, AND we enter accidental pregnancy territory. It's one of my least favorite tropes, and had I known this book was going there, I likely wouldn't have picked it up despite my interest in F1 romances.

That said, I did not DNF—and do respect that Josie Juniper wrote an emotionally mature story about the realities of becoming pregnant in your mid-30s, navigating both motherhood and the prospect of raising a child with a person you're not entirely sure you can trust, and finding forgiveness within yourself.

I wish that I had enjoyed this book more—but I suspect that there are lots of people who will love this book and that it will deeply resonate with them.

In this sequel to Double Apex we get the follow up that we wanted of Phaedra’s best friend Natalia Evans and the right hand man to Phaedra of Klaus Frake. Natalia deals with the on again off again situationship they find themselves in along with family that shows up after 20+ years of being MIA. I was lucky enough to read and listen to this at the same time, and the voice actors did not disappoint! If you did read the first book and if you love, love finding a way please pick up this book. Thank you Netgalley, Forever, Hachette Audio, & Josie Juniper for choosing me to be an arc reader for this book.

An age-gap, second chance romance that has plenty of spice and scandal in the world of F1 racing.

When Talia and Klaus meet they never expected their worlds to collide.

A one-night stand will become more than Talia and Klaus expected when their worlds collide.

Will the journalist be able to keep her personal and professional life separate?

This was an emotional story of a woman left to unpack why her parents left when she was a child and how that impacts her personal and professional life. With secrets, deception, scandal, and sex this story is an on and off the course F1 read.

I loved the first book in the series, but this was a bit of a letdown. The timeline was all over the place and I didn't love the surprise pregnancy trope. I loved the cover though.

Coming In Hot, was just that, HOT.

The start of this had me hooked right away. I love when a romance book with an established cast of characters, and setting that starts with the spice right away!

A Formula 1 journalist and a team principal keeping there attraction for one another under wraps, yes please.

While overall I enjoyed my time reading, there were aspects that felt a bit too toxic for me, specifically the relationship between Natalie and her 'best friend' Phaedra (from book one), it felt like they didn't actually like each other or support their choices.

I will continue to read from Josie Juniper on the future.
Thank you to NetGalley for for E-Arc!

DNF at 42%.

thank you to Forever publishing for the e-ARC in the exchange for an honest review.

i really wanted to love this - especially because i'm a sucker for F1 and a good age gap romance. but i just couldn't get over the odd pacing and time-jumps. one chapter, we're a month ahead and the next, we're three months ahead. not to mention, for two grown adults - these two were SO insufferable with their constant arguing and sneaking around. i was really bummed to feel like i also couldn't justify the actions of nat's best friend either. everybody was just unlikeable.

This was a fun fast paced romance set around Formula 1. What I loved: the race technical references, scene setting around the calendar, how it relates to the overlapping narrative in the first book of the series.

Steamy scenes between Natalia and Klaus. Cue some well known tropes - sometimes exciting to anticipate, sometimes frustrating! A great way to get through a non-race weekend!

Thank you to Netgalley and to Forever/Grand Central Publishing for an ARC.

F1 romance is such a ride and I have really started to love reading this type of sports romance! I really love when there is tension and high stakes and I feel like the F1 delivers when done right! I liked that this was in the F1 world, but from the perspective of the principal rather than the driver, especially since this is a series. I like that we are getting different views! I also love a forbidden romance, and of course being drawn to the journalist looking for a story is always something to be cautious about. Natalia and Klaus are clearly attracted to each other, with their first encounter being a no names one night stand. Things get a little complicated once they find out who the other is, but the way they are pulled towards the other is hard for either of them to resist.

I love that we still got some insights into the previous couple, and I cannot stress enough how great the audios have been for both books so far! Men with accents, and accents done well are so irresistible! Max Rauch and Cecily Foster took on these characters so well! Klaus’s Austrian accent is so swoony!

TROPES
🏎️F1 Romance
🗓️Age gap
🏁Billionaire F1 Team Principal
📰Spunky Journalist
❣️One Night Stand
🫶🏻Found Family
💞Dual POV
⚠️Scandals & Secrets

DNF at 25%.

Thank you to Forever publishing for the e-ARC.

I wanted to love this, hello, Toto Wolff vibes?? Say less! I’m always down for an F1 romance, and I love a good age gap romance. So I’m genuinely sad this one didn’t work for me.

I just didn’t feel any real connection between the characters. The beginning moved way too fast, and there was barely any chemistry buildup.

Also, the MMC’s dialogue was so weird it completely threw me off. Like, I get that he’s older, but he didn’t need to do all that.

I have mixed feeling about this book. While I didn't hate it, there was nothing much I really loved about this book. It is a one time read. I have a feeling that it is a me problem.