Coming in Hot was chaotic and not in a good way. At first I chalked it up to how the book timeline is the F1 race schedule. The jumps in time broke the rhythm of the story for me but after a while got used to that. This is the second book in an interconnected series and I did not read book one. But I think that readers needed to read book one becuase it felt like the stories overlapped and I was missing important information.

This book was not for me. At about 35% I thought about DNF’ing this book so I put it down for a bit. When I came back to it, I decided to keep going. The middle was ok but then the book lost me again at 75%. I should have DNF’ed it then but at that point but felt committed to see it through and I just started skimming to get to the end.

Natalia has landed job writing at Auto Racing Journal covering the F1 season. Excited to spend time with her best friend Phaedra who is an engineer on the Emerald racing team, Natalia does not expect to start the season off by having a one night stand with Emerald’s Team Principal Klaus. After deciding to put as much distance as she can from Klaus to maintain a professional relationship, Natalia is determined to focus on her writing. When Natalia receives a tip on a potentially scandalous story and Klaus once again shows his reservations on being able to trust her, she knows there is no way a relationship can work. As the season continues Klaus tries to prove himself to Natalia, including letting her write an expose on him. There always seems to be a lure between the two. But can Natalia and Klaus find a way to trust each other and stabilize their on-again, off-again relationship?

I felt the F1 world was the perfect setting to help make this age gap romance work. I found myself rooting for Natalia and Klaus even if they were stubborn and stuck in their ways. Also the way Natalia ends up working through her relationship with her parents I thought was very thoughtfully done and was one of my favorite parts of the story. Once again Josie Juniper produces an F1 romance with a deep heart.

I’ll be honest, I’m a massive sucker for an F1 romance. Which is ironic because the closest I get to watching F1 is the Netflix drive to survive series which I consume religiously as soon as it’s released.

This has just enough F1 to feel like it’s related, while being very centrally focused on the romance, which I loved.

Pros: we’ve got slightly older MCs, which puts a lot more weight behind the decisions and romance than some other F1 romances I’ve red. The added complication of F1 management and press is truly delicious. I saw the chapter titles and wasn’t sure how I would feel about things being so spread out across race locations, but I think the pacing for the story made a lot of sense for a more mature relationship.

Cons: there’s a specific trope (which I can’t really mention without spoilers) that isn’t my favorite. I don’t honestly think it took anything away from the story ultimately, but it was kind of a shock when I first read it.

Am I now going to go read Josie’s other books because I loved her writing style? Yep. Yes I am!

Thank you to Josie and Forever Publishing for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you so much to Josie Juniper and Forever Publishing for this E-ARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own! 🥰

⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️

Find more on my IG @kayreads_romance

⚠️ !! Please be sure to check any TWs before diving in !! ⚠️

What to expect:
* Workplace romance
* One night stand to slow burn
* F1 Racing
* Journalist FMC
* Billionaire Team Principal MMC
* Dramaaaaaaaa
* Age Ga
* 1st Person Dual POV


Spicy chapters:
1
12
16
20

My thoughts while reading:
🚨ALERT SPOILERS AHEAD🚨

SPOILER CONTENT WARNING!!!:

There is an accidental pregnancy in the third act.

Now onto my thoughts.
I wanted to L O V E this book so much. The cover was beautiful, the tropes drew me in, and who doesn’t love a messy F1 romance?

Unfortunately, this book left me wanting a lot more.
I was annoyed at the characters for most of the book and the ending left a lot to be desired.
I am a fan of the accidental pregnancy trope, but it should be listed in the content/trigger warnings or in the tropes list.
There weren’t any TW or CW in the ARC so I hope they are listed in the final version.

I don’t think Phaedra is a good friend and while I partly understand why Natalia’s parents did what they did …. I don’t know if I would be able to give them the grace that Natalia did (after a while).

The spice saved it a bit for me, and the face that Klaus called Natalia , Talia all the time 🥰.

Starts off steamy with a one-night stand between strangers who meet at a hotel bar. But it all turns bad when Natalia realizes she just slept with Klaus, her best friend’s boss, and racing manager for a team she probably will end up writing about in her new job as an auto magazine journalist. To make things worse, he tries to pay her money after their encounter. Ouch. We drift along a scattered timeline as they cross paths throughout the racing season all over the globe, with some of the events overlapping with the previous book of the series. Everyone’s got issues here, with Natalia’s sense of abandonment after her parents left her with an aunt at age 7 and Klaus’s grief over his late wife’s death. High on the steam, once they start hooking up again, but it’s angry bickering banter the whole way through. My favorite part of the book was Natalia finding out what happened to her parents all those years ago. Negative points for using the word “clean” when Natalia asks Klaus if it’s ok to have intercourse without a condom.

Listen- I wanted to love this. But the story felt so all over the place and disjointed. The chemistry and passion was riveting. But with WEEKS in between chapters/events (I get the artistic choice but it didn't work here) we lose the nuance of falling in love that happens in the in between. In the everyday, in the missing each other etc. The overlap of Double Apex to this story was a bit confusing from reading the first book a while ago. I almost think you need to do a reread of DA RIGHT before you read this to appreciate the overlap. I do believe this reads best as a series and not a standalone. DA did a great job of building up Natalia and Klaus but I needed more communication and the in between to believe all of it. Also, in an age gap where he's supposed to be Phaedra's father figure.. I think Klaus needed to be aged up about 10 years.


Regarding narration- you can tell there wasn't any communication between the narrators/from producers/directors. Our female narrator's accent for the male MC (which was great and I believe accurate to Austria?! Or not, what do I know?) made the male narrator's male MC voice feel like a completely different character from a different country.

I'll give this book props because it wasn't driverXwoman and he is like the CEO of a team and she was a reporter. I just did have issues with the fact that there was no chemistry and this relationship was so much up and down for no reason. Like I'm in to you and then you betray me again and I hate you.

The audiobook was nice.

Oh my gosh. I just couldn’t bring myself to care about any of the characters. This was not good. Not good at all.

Natalia alone was so toxic and needed therapy. Stat. To say her “best friend” is hard to love makes you question everything. Not that Phaedra is any better but damn. From her best friend to her parents, Natalia needed therapy.

Klaus isn’t any better. I cringed so much when he gave Natalia money after their first night together. 😓 Also where was the chemistry? The romance? Not in this book. Even the spice scenes had me bored to tears. I give it a 1 🌶️ out of 5.

The only way you know the timeline anywhere in this book is if you’re familiar with the F1 schedule. Otherwise, you’re wondering where you’re at in the year. I strongly dislike too when an author tells you what happened rather than show you. The writing absolutely left a lot to be desired that I don’t think I’ll be reading another book by this author.

Thank you NetGalley, Forever and Josie Juniper for the ARC in exchange of an honest review.

this was just not as good as the first for me, probably closer to a 3.5 but it just didn’t hit like i needed and i truly couldn’t get over the idea that she was only with him cause of her daddy issues

thank you to netgalley for an arc of this book in exchange for my honest feedback!

How does that saying go? We listen and we don't judge!? Implement that here, okay!? So I put off reading Coming In Hot by Josie Juniper until I was able to get my hands (ears!?) on the audiobook! Why? Because I needed another book boyfriend with an accent in the worst way!

What happens when a widowed Team Principle and a younger journalist meet at a bar? A spicy age-gap Formula 1 romance, of course!

I liked that this book kind of stepped outside Juniper's women of STEM niche and highlighted supporting rolls within Formula 1 racing! I also loved that the first bit took place simultaneously with Double Apex, book one in Frontrunners. (Now listen, these can absolutely be read as standalone romances! Although I've obviously read both, I love that these are truly able to stand on their own!)

Natalia is strong, fierce and represents female empowerment very well with her roll as a journalist following the F1 circuit. Klaus is gruff with the best of intentions, though they are initially jarring to Natalia (and this reader). But once he explains himself, it all became water under the bridge! These two characters are so deeply flawed. Okay, flawed isn't the right adjective. They're emotionally damaged from previous life experiences that created jaded, vulnerable people that sought to protect their own hearts, never wanting to be hurt again. Yup, that sums them up better!

Alas, I've got one-ish complaint... I just wanted more steam! The back and forth love/hate (loathing turns to rip-each-others-clothes-off-bounce-down-the-hallway moments real fast here) helped build the tension, though I didn't necessarily always believe the lust and chemistry between Natalia and Klaus. But then I go back to this was literally who they were as characters, guarding themselves from hurt... and it makes complete sense!

How could I not talk about the audiobook with that hype? It's narrated by Cecily Foster and Max Rauch and it absolutely ticked my boxes! Foster filled Natalia's roll, feeling it and experiencing it, rather than just reading it! Rauch was wounded, as Klaus would in fact sound, which was perfect for his character! And yes, obviously that accent was pretty good too, okay!?

Yes, read it! Yes audiobook it!

Thank you NetGalley, Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and Hachette Audio for the complimentary copies to read and review.

A long awaited follow up to Double Apex. Talia and Klaus are the definition of opposites attract and finding comfort and home in a partner. Klaus, hottie mcsuave and team principal, is strong sturdy and sexy as sin. Natalia brings life, lightness, and connection to Klaus and he is her safe place to land. I am so happy to be back in this high speed F1 world.

After a decade in journalism, Natalia Evans has finally made the jump to her dream job - lead reporting for Auto Racing Journal (ARJ). Leading up to her first assignment, she decides to spend an intimate night with a smoking hot stranger she met in a hotel bar, only to find out he's the Team Principal for Emerald, Klaus Franke. Enchanted by Natalia but still feeling the death of his wife, Klaus is torn between pursuing the young journalist or keeping her at arm's length when they're both enmeshed in a high-stakes scandal.

I wanted to love this one so much, but it was a huge miss for me. First off - is everyone in Natalia's life ridiculously toxic? Her best friend literally doesn't talk to her for months because Natalia doesn't give in to her childish whims for once. Meanwhile, her parents, who have been absent since she was a child, randomly reappear with a wild story about why they left her and didnt even let her know they were still alive, and then suddenly want to be a family again.

Despite the two of them jet setting all over the world for races and other high profile F1 events, as well as a huge scandal around Klaus and his race team, there isn't a whole lot that actually happens in this book, nor do we get to see much of Natalia and Klaus developing their relationship and falling in love. Because we don't actually get to see this, the two don't seem to have much emotional chemistry. There are a handful of spicy scenes, which might have been the only saving grace.

Read if you like:
F1 racing romance
Journalist FMC
Age gap
30s FMC
Widower MC
Secret romance
International scandal

This is a tough one. Having read the first book I was really looking forward to Natalia and Klaus's story. I liked that it covers a long time span- no instalove here! However, they aren't great communicators and I found myself so frustrated with them. A times they were both immature and deeply unlikable. At other times I loved them. I know Klaus isn't real but comes off as sexy.

The end of the book has that trope everyone hates. This is the best execution of it I have ever read. It's exactly what we ended to tie this story up.

Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for this ARC.

✨Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for sending me a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review✨

1.5⭐ rounded down

No, just no. You know how there are romances that make you believe in love? This was not that. This was the farthest possible thing from that.

This was the most toxic relationship I have ever read, the red flags were jumping off every page. Their "relationship" was built on secrets, lies, a lack of trust, and sex as a way to avoid having a grownup conversation. They would break up and get back together every 4 chapters or so, and that lasted the entire book. These characters were in their 30s and 40s, but I had such a hard time believing that because it literally seemed like they were *max* early 20s with how immature and childish they were. And don't even get me started on all the time jumps🫠 every chapter was weeks or months after the last. You never got any context on what the heck was going on. Their backstories felt half-baked, I feel like their traumas were thrown in there in the hopes that the reader would feel something.

I won't be picking up another book by this author, I wish I could get back the time I used reading this one🫠 the synopsis felt like a sorry excuse of a summary, I didn't get any of that while reading this.

✨TW: this book contains cuss words and topics of absent parents, sexual content, cancer, death of a spouse and parent, murder, drug dealing, and rape (off page).

I honestly didn’t love Natalia and Klaus’ characters in Double Apex, but I still wanted to give their story a try. I was interested in the age gap and the forbidden romance aspects. Unfortunately the execution was a little lacking. The constant time jumps weren’t great for developing the romance and while they did have chemistry, they were also pretty toxic together. The trope at the end was also one of my least faves.

I enjoyed seeing Cosmin and Phaedra, but I thought it was a strange choice to make Nat and Phaedra best friends who lowkey hate each other. There was also supposed to be this big controversy surrounding the Grand Prix which I felt wasn’t even really explained. I appreciated that this was a fast paced read but I’m not sure I’ll continue the series.

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

A spicy FI romance between Natalia, a journalist, and Klaus from the Emerald team. These two meet up on the weekends of the races and there's quite a bit of steam. Unfortunately, there was less worldbuilding,, Both Natalia and Klaus have issues to deal with (she's got domineering parents, he's got grief) but they spend a lot of their time (when they aren't spicing) arguing with one another. I liked her, liked the concept of her character, but felt she was ill served by Klaus. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. An easy read for fans of sports romance.

Coming in Hot is the second book in a F-1 racing series by Josie Juniper. If you haven't read Double Apex, the first book in the series, I think it's essential for Coming in Hot. The first half of the book takes place as interludes during the events of Double Apex. If you haven't read that book I could find it confusing as to what's going on Coming in Hot. So much of this book felt disjointed because it was little snapshots on the on-off relationship between Natalia and Klaus. I wish that it had more connection points with each character besides their connection at races.

Although I'm not sure I'd return to this particular book in the future, I prefer the storytelling and formatting of Double Apex, I do look forward to the next book in the series, coming Winter 2026.

2.75

Coming in Hot by Josie Juniper is the sequel to F1 romance Double Apex occurring on the same timeline.

This sports romance follows the toxic Klause of the Emerald F1 team& Natalia who is now a journalist for Auto Racing Journal as they travel around the globe over a stretch of time.

The spice was pretty good and there were some outlandish conversations and situations that kept me hooked, but I didn’t feel a deep connection or emotional investment in the relationship or the characters. I felt annoyed & cringed for most of the book but I did laugh for a few scenes. The ending had me rolling my eyes, but if you are a sports romance girly who loves F1 maybe you’ll really dig this one.

Thanks Forever Grand Publishing & NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Let me start off by saying that I loved the premise of this book. Josie Juniper is talented at coming up with stories and ideas. Unfortunately, this one just didn't work for me. The time jumps made things confusing and it felt like there was more telling than showing. I was so ready to see Klaus' story but this one just didn't hit the mark. I'm still going to give her next book a shot bc I really do enjoy the premises of her stories.

2.5 ⭐️

In the beginning of this book, it felt so promising with how the author got straight to it from the get go. First chapter in, I loved it and it made me excited to keep reading! Then I got 60% in and it felt boring, I didn’t feel connected to the characters like I did with the couple in the first book.

It felt like such a let down because from the beginning of the book, the potential was there!! I didn’t like that the book was jumping through timelines and throughout the book I felt like I was confused to what was happening. Eventually, the plot was just lost to me and we were getting nowhere. Also this book didn’t give much of a “f1 romance” which is also part of why I was struggling to get through it.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the early copy.