Alright - so I've been mildly interested in F1 romances (because of the high stakes sport) and really hoped that this one could have sparked more joy for me - but unfortunately it was a bit of a let down. I wanted to love the story and the romance but I have to say it all fell pretty neutral for me? There won't any moments that really stood out for me, but maybe that was my own fault since I hadn't read the first book in this interconnected series.

Fun book with just the right amount of spice. Perfect for a day by the pool or at the beach.

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

This was…. Okay. I liked it but I want like obsessed. The narrators did a phenomenal job. I don’t think this was for me. And that’s okay!!! I might read the first book in this series because I hadn’t so I don’t know if that would change my opinion on this. These two were just….not good for each other

I have many many issues with this book, as an F1 fan. First off, a journalist (albeit before staring her job) and a “big” fan, not knowing who a TP was is….hard to believe. Second, our FMC is going through lots, but it doesn’t provide an excuse for being a horrible friend and partner tonthe others in the book. The MMC was cringy to a level that made me put the book down temporarily. I finished it, but mostly because I am doing a no DNF month. Otherwise, i dont think I would have finished because the book was not a good read. The time jumps made it hard to keep up, the plot wasn’t eve ln decent, and was really shocked that they tried to make it okay with such a wildly unprofessional situation is beyond me.

I definitely didn’t feel the humor in this one like I did in the first book. This was ok. I love an age gap romance, so I was excited for this…. But it kind of fell flat for me. I found myself zoning out while listening. The narrators were great, but like I said I didn’t get the comedic effect like Phae and Cos had. We’ll see how the next book goes.

Links to come.

Coming In Hot is a cute romance book (with added spice) that is set around the formula 1 racing world. Between a journalist within the sport and an industry legend.
I read Coming in hot as an audio book, I loved the speed of the narrators throughout the book, there was moments where the female narrator made the male character sound almost like a vampire instead of a French accent but didnt affect the book.
Over all I loved the story line and the ending. I want to read this again as a physical book also

I’m so sorry but this book was terrible. The storyline and time jumps were frustrating because most of the plot was happening off the pages. The characters were toxic and immature for their ages. The surprise pregnancy trope just felt wrong in this book. The narrator was fine but the story was not good and I would not recommend this.

DNF’d. I love an audiobook but the female voice actor doing a foreign accent for the MMC was so off putting, half the time I couldn’t understand a word she was saying and I had to keep rewinding. Really unenjoyable to listen to, I read book 1 so if I continue book 2 I will just read it rather than audio.

This is for the F1 girlies.

A fun little romp that had all the classic tropes and energies. We had our dramas, we had our miscommunication, we had our forbidden love moment. I can't say this one was entirely for me, being that I'm getting ick from the communications between this crazy duo. At one point I was screaming, just leave him girly!

I know it's a small thing, but fool me once, oopsy daisy, fool me twice I'm fcking out of here, and unfortunately our MMC lied twice. For me it wasn't giving healthy relations.

You might love this though, so I think if it sounds like your energy give it a go! Feel free to let me know 😘

2 out of 5 for me.

It was just okay. Felt like it was a bit all over the place. A story about a reporter/writer and F1 racing but it was lacking the racing part. It had some but not enough to keep me engaged as in an F1 romance. I was wanting more of Klaus POV to get a better understanding of him. Natalia I was not vibing with her at all. I don’t know anything else to say about her. She kinda annoyed me. She did realized she was being wildly selfish in the end. The spice wasn’t too bad. I also didn’t read the first book.

The audio narrator did fine. I had no problem with them..

STORY
Coming in Hot dives deeper into the relationship between journalist, Natalia, and F1 team principal, Klaus, that we got a taste of in the first book, Double Apex. The story goes back to the first time Natalia and Klaus meet, which takes place before Double Apex begins, and proceeds from there, strategically time jumping until the story is overlapping with the middle/end of book one. I appreciated the linear nature of this book because I think flashbacks may have been a bit confusing, especially since the setting is constantly changing between countries. Also, any scenes that took place in detail in book one were just mentioned/glossed over in book two instead of having readers relive moments like the big argument between Natalia and Phaedra, which I appreciated.

NARRATORS
I really liked the narrators in this audiobook. I think they both did a great job at bringing the main characters to life, but also giving the side characters their own personalities and voices. I was never confused as to who was speaking, and I very clearly felt the emotions of each character. The narrators really immersed me in the story and kept me engaged even when the plot got a bit repetitive. I also greatly enjoyed hearing Klaus’ German accent come to life.

PRODUCTION
The production of this audiobook is great. The page and chapter breaks were very clear without being awkwardly long and the pace of the book was perfect. The volume stayed consistent regardless of who was speaking and there weren’t any obvious edited-in moments. Essentially, nothing took me out of the story production-wise, which gets them an A+ from me.

THOUGHTS
Overall, I enjoyed this book more than its predecessor. I think the main characters were more interesting and sympathetic. However, we did not escape the “was that necessary” subplot which this time came in the form of Natalia’s parents, while in the last book it was Cosmin's sister. These subplots feel like they’re added to give some kind of arbitrary “depth” or “shock factor” that I don’t think is necessary for the plot. The pacing of the story also felt a bit off, with an uneven spread of plot points. My last grievance is something that felt like a holdover from book one, as well, which was the male characters seemed to be held to much higher standards than the female ones. Which feels weird for me to say because usually I’m all for men needing to go above and beyond to prove themselves. At the end, I was left feeling conflicted and unsure if I was satisfied with their story. There were definitely things done well with the story, but also things I felt could have been improved. Thus, I give it 3 stars.

I LOVE a good F1 book. This was so easy to listen to and the narrator’s were amazing. Spicy 🥵. This was an audiobook I listened to in one day because I couldn’t stop.

Thank you to Hachette Audio and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Coming in Hot is book 2 in the Frontrunners series by Josie Juniper. I have not read the first and don’t think I will go back to read it.

Starting with the positive, I really enjoyed the quality of this audiobook! The recording quality is great and the narrators do a great job with the different characters and accents. Unfortunately, that’s all that I enjoyed about this book.

This book is made up of constant time jumps between chapters which makes the story so choppy it’s hard to get invested. The characters, who meet during a one night stand, are constantly thrust back together throughout the F1 season so it’s a constant push and pull between the two. They are drawn together, have a date/hook up/etc. but then fight about something stupid and separate again. I hate miscommunication tropes and third act break ups and this book feels like the two constantly happening every chapter which is exhausting. Even when the two are officially in a relationship they keep secrets and lie to each other repeatedly about work stuff. I had to speed up the playback on the audio just to get through the book faster because reading this felt like a chore.

This one had a lot of problematic characters for me. I wanted to like what was happening but it honestly just gave me the ick. I was rooting for Klaus but each and every time he pulled a red flag out of his sleeve. The FMC was trying to be self aware but was somehow just on the wrong side of self aware that made me keep looking at her with an eyebrow raised. The best friend? I don't know if I would have liked her more if I read her story first, but she just did not work for me.

I feel like this book had a lot of potential but the end product was okay. The time jumps were annoying because it felt like I was being told what was happening instead of seeing it. I liked the chemistry between the characters and it was fun to see Phae and Cosmo. Narrators did a great job.

I received an arc from netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Coming in Hot

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for approving my request to listen to this audiobook!

Coming in Hot is book two in the Frontrunners series by Josie Juniper. I purchased the first book solely off the cover and the cover for this one is equally enticing! That said, I don’t enjoy this storyline as much as the first one. Mainly because it was infuriating to follow. There were just too many time jumps. Couple that with the immature behavior by both Natalia and Klaus and I found myself more annoyed than anything else.

On the plus side, the audio production was great, as were the narrators. I listen to my audiobooks at 3x speed and more often than not, if a character has an accent, I have to take the speed down a bit to make sure I’m not missing anything. That wasn’t the case with this one.

Audio = great!! Story = wasn’t a favorite.

I'm really enjoying formula one romance and I liked that this story had a little bit of a different spin to it. Natalia and Klaus are not involved directly with the racing, as in driver, mechanic, or coach, and it was interesting to see a different side of that world. I also liked that they spent time apart during their romantic journey and the reasons for the push and pull added an extra layer of depth to their eventual happily ever after. The audiobook, narrated by Max Rauch and Cecily Foster, is a fabulous way to get fully immersed in this incredible love story.

I wanted to love this book, but it kind of fell flat.

I had such high expectations for the second Frontrunners book after reading Double Apex and loving it. I was excited to read more about Klaus and Natalia's story, but honestly I am a bit disapointed.

The story line is what drew me in, who doesn't love a forbidden workplace romance with an age gap in a more "mature" age range (35 & 45) centered around the F1 racing circuit. However, what seemed forbidden turned out to be a non issue where Natalia was concerned, so much so that her boss tried to exploit it. There was not much talk about racing, kind of a let down, except for a scandal that was part of the plot and set to be exposed by Natalia, which didn't happen and was kind of glossed over.

While some aspects of the story are more fast paced the timeline itself drags on quiet a bit, understandable considering the racing schedules in the F1 world. There are a considerable amount of time jumps between chapters, some a week to a couple of months, where the characters don't speak and then just jump right back in. All in all the book takes place in the span of about 18 months, even then the ending seemed rushed.

The characters themselves lacked a bit a depth for me. Natalia was so set in what she wanted for her life and career throughout the book, until suddenly she didn't really care. Klaus, is supposed to be the more mature one out of the two, kept acting like teenager who didn't understand when he did something wrong. The character development needed some work.

I do recommend reading the first book Double Apex to better understand some of the plot as well as some of the friendship dynamics within the book, as some events do interconnect.

I do have to say I truly enjoyed the narrator selection for the audiobook. Max Rauch and Cecily Forster did an amazing job.

Book/plot:
This book did NOT make sense to me at all. I get the whole insta-lust / insta-love thing, but this takes it to a whole new level. Less than 2% in they're somehow in a shower together after their first introduction and hooking up? I don't think that level of attraction works unless it's in a fantasy novel with fated mates (and even then, SOME build-up is required I feel). I'm only thankful that it was a quick listen because I don't think I could have handled any more of the continued time jumps that don't make sense and the severe level of emotional immaturity. He says all sorts of "can't resist you / missed you" type things to the FMC while saying he'll never get over his wife?? The characters just talking about a "slow burn months-long foreplay" when that slow burn is entirely skipped over due to the constant time skips. It just feels like one hookup after another with absolutely no substance. And while I will always be all in for a book that is spice-forward, there still needs to be SOME level of substance and character building? A lot of this book felt like telling not showing with characters who sort of just... flip flop on how they react to their "relationship"?
I didn't realize this would be a pet peeve, but as a corporate girl who has worked her way up the corporate totem pole, it is absolutely unrealistic that someone gets handed a 12.5% raise without asking for it... and it comes with no additional duties? Everything about the FMC's job is highly unrealistic and that's a serious ick.

Audio specific:
Why does the MMC's accent sound half German half British? And the way the FMC does the male parts makes him sound like he's a 70 year old Frenchman.
The production overall I thought was done well, but do wish that it flowed better between the male and female chapters on accents and tone.

So here's the thing... As someone who loves F1 and F1 romances, I went into this with an open mind, wanting to give the author another chance after DNFing book 1.

I thought the characters in book 1 were problematic and immature, and I genuinely went Coming In Hot wanting to give it a fair chance.

*Please note this review DOES contain spoilers*

Things I appreciated/tolerated:
- I knew after book one there was going to be a ton of time jumps (I get the F1 season involves a lot of travel and breaks between races, but doing a time jump for every single chapter leaves a lot of telling rather than showing things on page. After book one, I knew this was the writing style to be expected, so while its not my favourite, I accepted that's how it was going to be and tolerated it.
- I appreciated that we didn't have to completely relive the drama that was the shit show of a friendship between Phaedra and Natalia. It was mostly grazed over while I did appreciate getting to see a little glimpse from Natalia's POV, only to realize these girls have no idea what a healthy friendship/relationship looks like.

The characters started out alright. They were flawed, but I had high hopes their character development would would progress into characters I'd grow to love. I love a flawed character that is able to get themselves together. I also appreciated that they were older characters (35 & 45). However, rather than character growth, it felt like we got character regression. They became progressively more childish, playing immature games and toxic behaviours.

Something else I found strange but was willing to overlook at the time was the audiobook issue of Klaus' accent. I believe early in the book it was indicated that Klaus was from Austria? (I think?) but also that he spent a lot of time in the UK? and as a result, the narrators interpreted his accent completely differently. The female narrator, Cecily Foster, performed Klaus' parts with an Austrian (almost German sounding) accent, while the male narrator, Max Rauch, performed Klaus' part with a British accent. It was so strange, and a little distracting, but again I was willing to overlook it.

The nail in the coffin for me, was that at 89% after being separated and not talking for 2 months (hello big time jump), and exactly zero hinting or subliminal messaging because we have no idea what she has been doing during this time, Natalia finally invites Klaus back to her little hokey home town where she has been hiding out since she last saw him. Knowing he doesn't have a ton of time to stick around, with his need to get to the next race location in basically the next day or two, she sees him and out of nowhere drops this complete bomb that she got pregnant their last night together. AKA she's two months along.

This is the moment I nearly threw my phone across the room. Instead I forcibly paused the audiobook, absolutely seething, because wtf? I am not a fan of the accidental pregnancy trope on a good day, but this?! This was infuriating to me.

So, while I genuinely wanted to enjoy this book and went in with the intentions of trying to force myself into liking it by overlooking some of the issues early on, it started out as a solid 3.5 star read, but ended in a DNF at 89% because I simply could not listen any further. While I absolutely love and adore F1 romances, and will continue to read new F1 romances as they come, I unfortunately think that Josie Juniper's books just aren't for me. I know there are lots of people who like reading about toxic and problematic characters for entertainment and healing purposes. I hope those people find these books and genuinely enjoy them, but sadly they are not for me.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for providing me with the ALC. Regardless of the outcome, I am so grateful for the opportunity.