If you are interested in flawed characters this is for you. Crash Test is for those who want to read about humans. Humans who run from their mistakes, have difficulty saying sorry, and who have to fight like hell for a chance at happiness. Keep reading this book review of Crash Test for my full thoughts.
Summary
Twenty-four-year-old Formula 1 driver Travis Keeping is halfway through an incredible racing season, with the championship well within his sights. But when a massive crash in Formula 2 leaves driver Jacob Nichols in critical condition, Travis’s world is flipped upside down. No one knows, but he and Jacob have been dating for almost a year.
Now the only boy he’s ever loved is clinging to life, his F1 team can’t understand why his performance is faltering, and he’s locked in a cold war with Jacob’s parents, who want him as far away from their son as humanly possible. Travis is sure everything will get better when Jacob wakes up, but he soon realizes he’s underestimated Jacob’s parents’ influence on their son.
As the F1 season barrels on, Travis and Jacob find themselves alone and miserable on opposite sides of the globe. But with some new friends by their sides, both drivers will be pushed outside of their comfort zones and onto a journey of self-discovery—one that just might lead them back to each other in the end.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
Crash Test is a book that is labeled as a romance, but feels more like a fiction book. I’m worried that readers who go into this expecting the emotional beats of a romance, might get frustrated. There is certainly a strong romance storyline, but this dual POV story is deeply committed to character development and distance. It’s about finding out who we are when we aren’t even in the relationship. About figuring out what is important to us as individuals. To realize we need to heal before we have a chance of being in a relationship.
Emotionally, Crash Test feels rough in some parts. One of my main complaints was that we basically start immediately with the crash. We don’t get a lot of establishing scenes beforehand except through flashbacks. I think it does a satisfactory job, it made the foundation of their relationship shakier than it might have been. And a large portion of the book takes place when they aren’t together which makes the designation of a romance a bit shaky in places. Crash Test is a story that showcases all the messy parts of realizing our internal biases and fears, forcing us to confront them, and our mistakes. Because these situations either make or break us.
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It’s a book that makes us, and our characters, work for their chances at even a shot of happiness. I enjoyed Crash Test, but I had a difficult time reflecting on this ‘romance’. Often times we know what we should do, what we have to do, but we stand in our own way. The ways in which we need that shove, that push to finally act. Find Crash Test on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop. org, Blackwells, & Libro. fm.