I have just begun dipping my toes into F1 romance and Double Apex was next on my list. While I had some mixed feels on it, this got more into the technical of the racing and I loved that! Keep reading this book review of Double Apex for my full thoughts.
Summary
Phaedra Morgan is one of the best race engineers in Formula 1. She’s a math prodigy with dazzling skill, cutting wit, and no patience for matters of the heart. Of course, her job would be a lot easier if she didn’t keep butting heads with their team’s cocky and infuriatingly hot new driver.
Cosmin Ardelean is intense and committed, but as famous for his off-track romantic exploits as his on-track wizardry. Yet his devil-may-care façade conceals a haunted past. When the pair strikes up a secret—and thrillingly forbidden—“arrangement” to improve their communication and bond of trust, the heat of their attraction turns to something more . . .
But no secret stays hidden for long in the racing world, and soon things are spinning out of control. With everything on the line, will they be able to strip away all their defenses and go full throttle for a chance at love?
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
Let’s start off with what I enjoyed in Double Apex. First of all, the audiobook narration was fantastic. I love a good accent in an audiobook and this one DELIVERS. The narration from Jonathan Lake & Mackenzie Cartwright brought the tension to the forefront. Secondly, this is only my first few F1 romances, but I loved how centered it was on the actual F1 racing. I hate sports romances without sports and I also loved how much technicality there was in this book. There could have obviously been more, but the actual race mechanics and the timing of the races was one of my favorite aspects.
But?
Now we get to what didn’t quite work for me. I really did not like Cosmin as a character for the longest time. The sexism that he perpetrates – and the world that Phaedra is swimming amidst in terms of sexism – made it hard for me to like him for like 40% of the book. I know we should trust the process, but it just meant that as a romance I didn’t understand their attraction, the sudden tension, or the romance when he was so un-likeable to me for so long? I like a good reverse grumpy and sunshine, but Cosmin seemed so one sided and there wasn’t a redeeming backstory for this except, “he’s a famous dude” who is a bit of a womanizer, but he’s not yet he is? That it had a hard time for me to get that out of my head.
Secondly, while I enjoyed Phaedra’s stick it to the sexism and nepotism, she had very much vibes of “not like other girls”. The comments she makes and the way she is described made me feel a bit cringe. In the whole manner of how she distinguishes herself. For her trying to combat the sexism and then also to perpetuate some pretty mean comments especially to her best friend didn’t sit right with me. For the romance, I just didn’t really feel it come together or the likelihood of that. I wanted to love this “stick it to the industry and be together” vibes, and could suspend my disbelief towards the end, but it just didn’t gel as much as I wanted from this romance. Don’t even get me started on the whole ‘twist’ at the end. I can’t because spoilers, but I hated that.
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Overall,
Honestly, the audiobook narrators saved this for me and only when I got to writing this review did I think, huh? I wanted to fall in love with this one and ended up reading it for the F1, which seems like the opposite reason I got into it at all? Find Double Apex Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop. org, Blackwells, & Libro. fm.