Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing me with an egalley of this title to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
Formula 1 racer Dev Anderson has his career on the line. After a social media disaster he's looking to rebuild his image. When his best friend's sister, Willow Williams, steps into the picture with her recent college degree in sports management, he knows she's the perfect person to fix the problem. Willow has pined after Dev all her life but she knows he's off limits. When the two are forced to spend time together through their agreement, their short make out mistake a year ago comes roaring back to the forefront forcing Dev to realize his new found feelings for Willow and for Willow to see her crush on Dev is more than she ever though it would be. Can the two work together and avoid feelings getting in the way?
It's only recently that I have been engrossed by the power that is Formula 1. I love the fast pace of the races. I love learning about the drivers. It's intense and fun and one day I hope to see it in person, rather than on my TV screen. And I've been looking for romantic fiction, reminiscent of movies like Days of Thunder, Gran Turismo, and Rush. This one fit the bill!
I enjoyed the tropes set out in this one: childhood friends to lovers, brothers best friend, best friend's sister, off limits. These tropes are always fun and always bring fun drama and suspense to a romantic story. The need for the characters to try and stay away from each other, despite their attraction. The build up in chemistry and romance. The secretive nature of not letting anyone know. All great hooks for a story.
I enjoyed Willow's character. She's a bit shy but at the same time has no qualms letting people know her needs. At the same time, she is strong to almost a fault given her struggle with hypermobility which I assumed was EDS. I liked this representation that was woven into the story. I did think it might potentially cause an issue somewhere along the lines, but it didn't. Which was a bit disappointing. I feel like if you're going to include this aspect, there should be a plot line too encompass it's being there in the first place. The reader is just told about it through Willow's eyes but it never causes any issues at all throughout the entire story. Seems unlikely to me.
Dev was a hard one too pin down as far as liking him or not. It seems he's a bit of a self proclaimed playboy, but I don't really see any of that in his personality. If anything, he's definitely more of the brooding and protective type. I was a bit surprised with how fast he went from not having any kind of feelings for Willow to being almost obsessed with how much he cared for her and wanted her. It caused me a bit of whip lash. I needed more of an unfolding and that wasn't really there. I also wanted more from his races and being a racer, since it's very central to the plot. But I felt that was a bit lacking, as well. I did love his relationship with his friends who are also ensconced in Formula 1. 
I enjoyed the author's inclusion of different cultures. I always like too see this in books as it's important to show a more inclusive view of the world. I would have liked to see more of how this affected the characters, though. Dev does talk about being a minority and touches on how this has been hard for him as a driver, but I really don't see it explored enough given the author chose to include his background and skin color into the story.
I saw many parallels with Formula 1 as we currently know it. I could see the author did some research and tried to understand many of the aspects of the sport: the drivers, the teams, the set up at races, the pressure for the drivers, the competitive nature of the drivers and their teams, and the politics involved with the sport. Though the names of the drivers and the team names are changed, it was very obvious to me who they were modeled after. As a fan, I enjoyed that aspect yet at the same time would have liked to see the author take it into her own hands and really create characters and teams that were all her own.
I appreciate the no third act break up the author took. The epilogue, on the other hand, seemed kind of thrown in, like she had to include Willow and Dev would definitely be a forever thing and the only way to do that was with the cheesie scene given. I just would have liked to see a little more of that.
Finally, it's dual POV and that always makes me happy. I love watching the story unfold from both characters. It's fun too be in their heads and see how they are seeing things with each other.
I can see the side characters getting stories in the future, thought this one is definitely ok if it turns out to be a stand alone. There are some fun moments with humor and some cute spice but nothing over the top. I'm interested to see where the author might take future installments in this series and which characters she chooses to include.