IMMACULATE! No freaking notes! This enemies to lovers and sports romance was SO good! I loved the banter and the way these characters fell HARD! 12/10 recommend!

Diana Zahrani is Formula One’s first ever female driver, and she’s worked seriously hard to get there. Navigating a male-dominated arena doesn’t faze her, neither does teammate rivalry and the excruciating press conferences. Diana is there to win. Her biggest rival, Miguel de la Fuente, is on track for his first championship title, and won’t let anything get in his way…

Told from a dual POV, we hear from Diana and Miguel as they battle through the season and sparks fly both on and off the track. The author’s love and knowledge of Formula 1 really shines through and elevates the story.

The novel is very much a slow burn. Some elements are detailed well, and others feel rushed. At the start of the book, Miguel is betrothed to someone else, and I didn’t feel how or why was explained fully. His engagement causes conflict as he and Diana clearly have feelings for one another, so he breaks it off with her and goes on a bender, and Nic, Diana’s teammate seems to have a total personality transplant early doors.

The friendship between Diana and Miguel is really sweet, and the ‘will they, won’t they?’ is endearing. Overall an enjoyable read, I look forward cheering on female F1 drivers in the future!

This was my second foray into F1 romance & I am so disappointed again. The premise was so great & the actual F1 parts seemed fine, so in theory it should be a good book, but it just didn’t work for me. The pacing felt so slow, I really dragged myself through it. I wasn’t invested in the characters & I didn’t feel like they had any chemistry so the romance felt really forced.

It took me a while to get into this book, but then I flew through the final third of the book.

This was my first F1 Romance book and I did enjoy it. I liked the dynamics of the main characters and seeing their journeys/developments through the story, and I was always rooting for them to get together, especially following their history. I wish we could have seen them get together a bit earlier in the book, and spent less time on the arranged marriage side, I just think it would have been better to see more of their time together in f1 and moments of their relationship. But I understand that what happened was needed for the story.

There was a lot of fun in this book which was enjoyable, but I also thought it was great to see the book showcasing women braking barriers, and the characters facing and working through a lot of problems

I wish we could have avoided the third act breakup, as I think it would have worked without it and it still would have been really enjoyable.

One day this will be real! One day there will be a female F1 world champion and I for one cannot wait.

In the mean time I will settle for stories like this one. Esha openly admits that she is relatively new to the sport, but as a lifelong viewer I adored how she represented the sport and its nuances.
Diyana and Mig have a love that spanned years without them realising it. Seeing them go after what they want was just a joy. This book is more sports focus with a romance subplot but the snippets that appeared on page felt authentic to the characters.

Overall I really enjoyed the read

🏎️ F1 Romance
🏁 Female F1 Driver
🏎️ Drive to survive stakes
🏁 Slow burn

A formula one, dual pov romance yes please.

It took a little time to get into this book but once the depth of the story started I just couldn't stop reading. The drama, the ooo moments the cute moments I loved it all.

The fact that he would give every P1 to her tugged at my heart strings and I can say I want to be in the era forever. This felt so refreshing to read as a romance book and with the drama and adventure added into it, I can say it has made me want to read more.

Thank you Netgalley, Esha and Avon for allowing me to read and review this book.

Offtrack was a good romance F1 read. I loved the detail surrounding the F1 races and the dramas around the races. At times the romance felt rushed and I couldn’t sense the characters feelings for each other too well. In my opinion, F1 was the main plot and the romance took a back seat. I did like the plot of a female driver coming into a male dominated sport and unsettling the dynamics. It was interesting to see how the male drivers reacted to her coming onto the scene.

The characters were good, I liked the different pov’s and learning about each one. I could see similar personalities with the current f1 drivers. As I said before, the story focused on the drivers so there was a lot of information about them. I found it interesting to explore the dynamics between all the characters but in particular, with Dianna. Miguel and Dianna’s relationship escalated quickly and it felt rushed at times.

I did feel myself wanting to read only about the races because those parts were written well but other parts did drag and I felt didn’t add much to the story. Despite reading in different character’s pov’s, I couldn’t see much development in their characters. I was also confused at times with the amount of characters. Dianna and Miguel didn’t have chemistry in my opinion. The F1 theme was written so well and I loved those parts of the book.

I am becoming a huge fan of these Formula 1 romances. This one focused a bit too much on the intricacies of the sport, but I feel super educated now. The slow burn romance could have used some more zoom. I am here for any FMC who's braking the glass cieling so this was overall an enjoyable read.

Thank you to Avon Books UK | Avon and NetGalley for providing an eARC for a honest review.

A generous 3 ⭐️

I very much struggled with the first 50% of this book. The animosity at the start didn’t sit right with me and the fact the MMC was engaged to someone else for 50% of the book made me want to stop reading. And the way the fiancée just disappeared and was never mentioned after this point really made me confused why she was added to start with.

This is very much a love story to F1. The authors passion for the sport is what kept me reading and powering through those difficult introductory chapters. The romance is very much slow burn, they are probably only a couple for about 10% of the book, but I found I didn’t mind this so much. The friendship between our 2 protagonists was enjoyable to read. I particularly enjoyed the Media Conference Scenes.

Tropes
-Dual POV
-F1 Romance
-Friends to Lovers
-Slow Burn
-Female F1 Driver

The premise of this novel was interesting, however the writing style was a let-down, and the romance itself, as well as the characters, were unconvincing.

A very good book and i'd definitely recommend it.



Thank you for letting me read and review this book on Netgalley.

I celebrate this author's creativity - a strong female lead set in a world designed to work against them is no easy feat to create, I'm sure!
Diyana Zahrani and Miguel de la Fuente are two great players in this stage.

However, I wasn't surprised to read at the end that the author is a Drive to Survive fan - as a lover of F1 myself, I was hoping for a bit more detail there, rather than just the soap opera moments (the ones picked out for Netflix viewers). I think Esha Patel's creativity of the press conferences and the drivers' commentary is fabulous at the start, but started to lack as other relationships in the story developed.

Overall, I had mixed feelings here - this book is *minimally* spicy at best, and something just didn't quite click for me. Wouldn't hesitate to recommend it, but it didn't quite tick all the boxes for me, unfortunately.

Firstly, I would like to say a big thank you to Avon Books UK, and NetGalley for the ARC.

This was a 3.5/5 read for me. It’s the first F1 romance I’ve read, and I did enjoy it for the most part.

Firstly, I love Diana and Miguel. Their friendship to begin with is incredibly sweet, and he is so supportive of her as the only female driver in F1. They immediately have a wonderful connection which blossoms beautifully – their journey isn’t easy, and I liked that it wasn’t simple and straightforward. They have undeniable chemistry and an instant spark.

I love that it was told through both Diana and Miguel’s perspectives - I’m a sucker for multiple POVs. This really helped us understand their conflicting emotions, and their own personal struggles within F1. I also love that we got an epilogue that rounded things off nicely for us – it wasn’t miles into the future, but it was enough into the future to give us a glimpse into the progression of their relationships and careers.

Now for my few little icks – the story did feel a bit rushed at times, I felt as though we were dragged through moments, rather than left to enjoy them at times. I don’t quite get how Miguel and Diana didn’t recognise each other or at least recognise each other by name considering Miguel had a crush on her as kids and they did karting together. I also think the switch up in vibe between Nic and Diana didn’t feel necessary, and how it subsequently affected Miguel and Nic’s long standing friendship.

But other than those few little issues, it is an enjoyable read.

dnf at 53%

I was promised enemies to lovers and this did not deliver! They weren't enemies at all, in fact they were barely even rivals. Add in the unnecessary ow/om drama and it's a recipe for a book that I'm not going to enjoy. I really tried to continue reading (I wanted to dnf at 10%) but in the end I just couldn't force myself through it. I feel bad for being so harsh but I think it is important to accurately represent what the book's about in the synopsis. Maybe if it had been marketed differently, I would have known what I was getting into and enjoyed it a bit more.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘈𝘷𝘰𝘯 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘈𝘙𝘊.

I'm a big F1 fan and the first thing I'll say is that it's clear this was written from a place of love for the sport. Drive to Survive also reawakened my interest in F1 and I'm glad it's finally being made accessible to a wider audience (particularly women). If the MMC isn't based on Carlos Sainz then I'll eat my Aston Martin bucket hat. And so Offtrack offers the essential premise of: if a woman was driving in formula one today, what would that look like?

Enter Diana - a new rookie on the grid who's managed to snag a seat at one of the top 3 teams (for the F1 girlies out there, the equivalent would have been Nyck de Vries coming in and finding himself in a Red Bull). Unlikely, right? It's not like she'll be scoring podiums right away though. That would be ridiculous. Aha.

Naturally she faces a tonne of misogyny on and off the race track and, for the most part, this aspect of the novel is dealt with relatively well. I was genuinely so invested in the idea that she hails from Saudi Arabia (where women weren't allowed to drive until 2018), and that she doesn't come from a super wealthy/privileged background, though this is only briefly touched on. But back to the question at hand: if a woman was driving in formula one today, what would that look like?

According to Offtrack, she would look like A LOVE INTEREST!! Marketed as a simmering enemies-to-lovers romance, this could (at best) be described as a tentative rivals-to-friends-to-staring-at-each-other-during-press-conferences-dalliance. The chemistry is minimal, the dual-POV did little to aid my understanding of their attachment to one another beyond "she's an amazing person" and "he's hot, brings me snacks and calls me by my actual name". That's not even mentioning the fact that the FMC and MMC had amnesia about karting together just a handful of years ago. Or that the MMC begins the novel involved in some strange arranged marriage that makes little to no sense (beyond, I assume, an obstacle to him jumping on Diana straight away). Some of the plot points were just... baffling.

When it sticks to the drama of racing, and dealing with press conferences, rivalries, sponsorship deals and fighting for next season's seat, it's a fun enough narrative (if a little out of touch with real world F1 politics). But add in all the excess romantic sludge, stilted dialogue and randomly exploding tyres and the drive is assuredly more Latifi than Verstappen.

Thank you NetGalley and Avon Publishing for this free advance copy for an honest review.

Offtrack, by Esha Patel, is a feminist dream set in the fast paced world of Formula 1 racing. Diana Zahrani is the first female in Formula 1 and she’s breaking records and winning hearts. It’s an awesome idea, and I was excited to give it a read.

This story is so sweet and heartfelt. I felt like it inhabited its world a little awkwardly because of this. Maybe if they were contestants in a baking competition? I’m a huge fan of Drive To Survive, so I was hooked by the idea of this book, but it was missing the drama and raw sex appeal of the high stakes world which is Formula 1.

As I said, this is a really heartfelt story. You really get behind Diana and want her to win. She’s an underdog fighting battles on all fronts. Her immediate success is improbable, but the author has the right idea. A woman in Formula 1 wouldn’t be given the chance to make mistakes and build her career. No rookie would ever do as well as Diana does, but it makes for a good story, and I even got choked up at the end.

The characters of Miguel and Diana are very sweet. It’s all longing and love and almost no sizzle. This is a vanilla romance story. There’s one brief sex scene; there’s not even any heavy make out sessions or slow burn touches. It’s purely about the emotions, which is sweet, but I think it missed sex appeal, especially as it was trying to fit into the racing world.

I did enjoy the world of racing it inhabited. This was an easy read. The fast pace of the story and the building of drama over the different races kept me interested. The way Formula 1 operates is perfect for this kind of romance. There’s drama in almost everything that happens. And the forbidden romance adds some spice. I just wanted more sex appeal! I don’t expect smut, but a gripping slow burn like Mariana Zapata would definitely elevate this. I even wondered half way through if this was actually a YA instead of Romance, but the characters are a bit old to be YA.

This is no feminist rant, but it still gets its message across. Diana is a woman trying to force her way into a man’s world. There’s some great subtle moments that show this, like her getting her period for a race and the ignorance of her male competitors, or the way her past is weaponised against her, while the same is applauded in her male counterparts. The feminism at the start is not as subtle, and so I don’t think it worked as well, but Patel settles in and hits her stride. Some of the misogynistic male characters are very one dimensional unfortunately.

Miguel is the male main character, and again, the best way to describe him is sweet. He’s dressed up to be a partying playboy but I didn’t get that from his personality at all. I also didn’t understand his arranged marriage at the beginning. Also, this is only a note from personal experience. I currently live in Barcelona and Miguel’s family would most probably be Catalan, and speak that language, and refer to it as Catalonia, not Spain, but that’s not something you’d understand unless you lived here.

Overall I enjoyed Offtrack. It’s an easy read. It’s got a great feminist undertone, which is all wrapped up in a palatable sweet romance. Formula 1 is daring and sexy, so I’m kind of surprised at how unsexy this story was. Spice it up a bit more and I think we’d have a podium finish.

I really enjoyed this one. As a huge F1 fan I love finding books that are to do with the sport. Both characters were great & Esha wrote a storyline that kept me gripped. I feel like I’m guaranteed to love an F1 romance. This was super easy to read.

For starters this needs to be separated from the original version of this book. It's bringing down the average rating and that's not fair since this is an entirely new iteration of the book.

I really enjoyed the fact that this was a slow burn. They really took the time to get to know each other and become best friends. The fact that they raced together when they were younger is adorable. Diyana had to go through so much as a woman in f1 and I loved seeing her journey. She put up with so much and all she wanted to do was race. Miguel was there supporting her every step of the way.

I received an arc through netgalley.

I really enjoyed this book. The F1 setting is refreshing as a sports romance, it’s not completely unusual but it’s a good change from the hockey and football ones. I don’t know much about F1 but it was fun to read and I thought the author transcripted pretty well the pressure of the races.

Miguel and Diyana are both likeable characters, and I especially loved reading about Diyana’s carrier as a woman in a male dominated field. Their story was cute, however the one thing I didn’t like in the book is the Jatziry storyline. I don’t think it brought anything to the book, just extra pages which could have been cut. Despite that it was a great book, it’s just the one thing that really bothered me.

This was a 3.5 stars for me. The racing scenes were really fun! And I feel like the author is either a big fan of the sport or did an insane amount of research because it felt so real. However, I struggled to connect with the romance in this book. Individually. I liked the characters and I think the FMC was The perfect strong female lead. But I didn't feel sucked into their romance like I wanted to be. That being said, it was an enjoyable book and if you like F1 you'll probably enjoy this