My first thought on seeing this stunning cover and reading the synopsis was “perfect summer beach read” and so I saved it and picked it up at the end of June. I was very much up for something light and glam to take me out of the dreary weather and straight into summer. I was not expecting what followed.

I’ll start with the good bits:
• this is a well paced, quick read. And I do stand by my initial thoughts that it would make a good summer beach read - for the right audience. But that audience needs to know what they’re getting into. It absolutely needs to be appropriately marketed (as in, it’s not in any way a romance) and 100% needs a trigger warning at the beginning AND on the back cover.
• I’m not personally a Formula 1 girlie but appreciated the fact that the author clearly is, there are some great descriptions of the races in here. I’ve not been converted into an instant fan but can see why people like it, from the book it came across as an attractive, glam sport to follow.

And now for the bad:
• The main characters are essentially a stalker and a rapist with anger issues. WILDLY toxic, and giving full CoHo vibes.
• I do think if you’re going to mention period poverty as a topical device (well... one off appearance), maybe amend “kitchen roll” to “toilet roll”. Kitchen roll is absolutely not a necessity for those on the kind of budget this applies to (and this comment may sound picky, but details like this lend authenticity to what is a worthwhile topic to draw attention to).

It will likely appeal to Fifty Shades fans, but I personally don’t want to read *any* rapey scenes dressed up as a dark romance. And the “me too” comment? Please take it out.

I still appreciate the opportunity to read the book prior to it's release, as always :)

Rush by Saskia Roy – 3 stars | Pub Date Jul 04 2024

Oh my, where do I start with this?
First of all, this book should have a trigger warning. Second, the MC is one of the least liked characters I've ever read about. Third, this book taught me to read reviews before getting into a story. And fourth, I want to apologize to Saskia Roy, but I didn't like this story at all. To be honest, I was looking forward to reading this; the cover is amazing and description is catchy, but. But it wasn't what I expected.
I gave this book three stars just because Lena, after all, found her self-respect and pride.

Publisher: HQ
Pages: 384

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Recommend for thriller and F1 fans but please be aware this is NOT a romance and tbh it wasn't what I expected. I can see now they are trying to market it properly which is great!

I had to take a long minute after reading this book to try and get my thoughts together - this is not a fun, sports romance, it couldn’t be further from that. It’s dark, and painful, and raw, and toxic, but Saskia Roy has created an addictive story of obsession that was deserving of the 4 stars that I have rated it.

First point - if you do not like sexually explicit content, then this book will not be for you. Believe me when I say I was taken aback when reading the opening chapter and we’d just dived straight into the spice.

As much as I would have preferred this book to be written in first person, I think third person worked well, we were truly seated as an observer to the turbulent ‘relationship’ between Lena and Nico.

As I said, don’t be fooled, this isn’t a swoon worthy romance. What Lena and Nico have is toxic - my heart hurts terribly for Lena because unfortunately, try as he might, Nico was never going to change. He’s broken, well beyond repair, and the stuff he put Lena through was hard to stomach at times. He could give Lena everything she could dream of, but he could also take it away with the click of his fingers. This story is dark, and twisted, and I couldn’t put it down.

I’m glad the book didn’t end with Nico getting away with everything he did, and I’m glad Lena found she can achieve her dreams without the help of a controlling, obsessive man. I do feel bad for Nico for all he went through as a child, and as an adult, and for all his brother has to suffer with, but it’s never an excuse for what he did to Lena. So, good on Lena for finding her own happy ending.

I’d definitely recommend this book. It’s something different, a dark side of romance I’ve not ventured into before.

I wanted to love this one but honestly not a few chapters in I knew that this was so not for me. I just did not enjoy anything of what I read and there were way too many red flags with these characters for me to continue.

thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Seriously though I thought I knew what I was getting into with this book but I didn't quite realise how deranged it would be. Lena is a wet sandwich and Nico is just a bad character.

There are trigger warnings that have been missed.

Ok, so I have put this on my DNF pile, which I am gutted about. I wanted soooo very much to love this novel but I did just not.

The blurb sounded interesting, not your run of the mill romance novel so I thought that this would be a great read for me.

It felt rather too fast paced, that it was more like jumping and it did not hold my attention at all. Such a shame, as I had high hopes for this novel.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have been so excited to read this book for so long so when I saw the opportunity to apply for an ARC I had to apply. I was so pleased when the acceptance email came through.

This was a good read and initially I was obsessed. For the first part of the book I was absolutely hooked. I couldn’t put it down and I was desperate to explore the dynamics of the relationship between the main characters.

Having said that, by half way through, the MMC’s behaviour gave me whiplash. One minute he wants her, then he didn’t, he wanted to change for her and then couldn’t. I was really hopeful for great character redemption arc but by the end I was slightly disappointed.

I was aware going into book that it explored the darker side of a romance through obsession, list and desire but by the end I just wasn’t on board anymore.

The pace of the book was good and I gave it three stars due to initial enjoyment but I definitely have mixed feelings about this one.

Having said that, the spice was very good. It hits you in the face immediately within the first chapter and the chemistry between the characters was intense.

I did notice that supporting characters like the other drivers had the same initials as drivers on the current F1 grid. A great, subtle touch!

Overall a good read. This is definitely one for the F1 romance girls (& guys) but be sure to bear in mind that this isn’t a smooth sailing, fluffy romance story.

I really had high hopes going into this book - F1 drivers and spicy romance! Say nothing less!
Unfortunately it was not for me. The scenes seemed to shift very quickly and without any context; I felt like a lot was missing.
I did not like the main male character at all, and like their relationship was not believable, also the sexual side of their relationship gave me the ick.

Thank you to NetGalley and HQ for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

yikes.... firstly, where are the trigger/content warnings? this book is full of them and there's no sign of a warnings list?

secondly, this book is a mess. the pacing is awful, one moment she's in LA, the next she's in Prague or another country where F1 takes place with no jet lag whatsoever and she's happy to drop her career she's worked so hard for some guy who literally doesn't care about her?
the writing is subpar at best, it's very much 'she did this and then she did this...', it's very repetitive and uninspiring

christ, the characters 😭 the most unlikeable pair of main characters I've ever witnessed in a book. Nico is a prick, he's misogynistic and toxic. The GASLIGHTING is insane, and what's even more ludicrous? this man is a wall puncher, it's red flag after red flag.
Sexual assault/r*pe happens within the 200+ pages with Lena saying 'stop' or 'dont' multiple times and Nico just carrying on. No talk of consent whatsoever. Within the first 2% of the book, we have a sex scene so there's no chemistry or build up. At 95% she says the safe word and he STILL doesn't listen and carries on? how can this book be targeted to women readers when the content is this damaging?

Lena is so boring and a shell of a person. The most millennial character I've ever witnessed, with eye rolling dialogue that will just make you cringe. She's dumb and almost insulting stupid, firstly for basically stalking Nico to another country and secondly for fully believing he wants a relationship (news flash he doesn't) and saying I love you about half way in for Nico to just stare at her... I just can't get over the fact that she's happy to throw her whole creative career away just to follow some twat around the globe and have meaningless sex with him. Plus also she constantly falls out with her only friend over him is just so sad

I can't even categorise this as a romance bcos where is it in the book? there's literally no romance whatsoever between these characters. the only redeeming factor for this book is that they don't end up together.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, unfortunately, after about 50% of the way through, I realised this book was not for me.

Aspiring writer, Lena, has months left until her 30th birthday to realise her dream of making it in LA. Nico is a handsome F1 driver who helps her (from what I've read).

I really gave this a go as I don't like DNF'ing books, but I was left questioning so much, and the more I read, the more I questioned. The way Lena's character was portrayed was not in keeping with her actions and it got to a point where I just couldn't progress.

This is definitely not a romance - a very triggering story (violence/sexual abuse/rape/domestic abuse).

Unfortunately I had to DNF this part of the way through as I could not continue with how disturbing some of the scenes were. There was little background of the characters, the main protagonists are both unlikeable which does not help either and I was rushing through the scenes/lacking interest the further I got into the plot. Sadly, this one was not for me.

Readers can expect:
- Spicy fiction
- Erotica
- check trigger warnings

Thank you to HQ and NetGalley for an ARC copy in exchange for an unedited, honest review.

This book was just not for me sadly, I found myself unable to continue reading despite attempts to persist.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

This didn’t live up to expectations as it wasn’t subtle enough to be sexy, the sex scenes seemed too heavy handed.
I enjoyed the story though and was pleased that Nico didn’t get his own way all the time and that Lena got the success that she deserved.

Aspiring writer Lena has only 5 months until her 30th birthday to make her life in LA worth spending the last 5 years away from from home in London worthwhile and achieve her dreams.

She should have just gone home...

Her 'relationship' with Nico just didn't make sense to me. The way her character was portrayed as the quiet, reserved type didn't work when it came to all of the things she did and the situations she found herself in with this man, who was quite frankly; awful.

I considered not finishing this book many times as the story just got progressively more absurd *cough* Sabine *cough*. However, I decided to give it a chance to see if it would get better.
Unfortunately, it did not.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Being a massive F1 fan and love of the spicy reads, I had high hopes for this book, this soon fell flat after only a couple of chapters in. I didnt like the characters and even though I knew the trigger warning with the spicy at times felt very uncomfortable reading. I think the plot the book sounded great, it just felt a little lost along the way.

I was intrigued by the description of this book, and although there were some steamy scenes, the novel felt a little like that was all it was. The rest of the plot felt weak and a little undeveloped, and simply there to link one steamy scene to the next. Moreover, Lena and Nico's relationship was quite toxic, especially in the final scene together, which felt very questionable. Perhaps that was the intention, but I didn't really see how that gave Lena her power back. Not one for me, I'm afraid.

Thank you to NetGalley and HQ for giving me a copy to review.

Trigger warnings for rape, childhood abuse and suicide.

I am sorry to say that I did not like this book. I would like to be clear that I understood that it is supposed to be dark and that was OK with me. I just thought that there was a lack of plot and it just seemed to be nonstop sex with a bit of background into Nico's childhood. His behaviour was unacceptable in a certain scene towards the end (and in prior scenes, to be honest. Lena put up with a lot of shit considering she only knew him a few months) and I was glad that they did not end up together. I did like the world of F1 (which I didn't know much about prior to reading this) and would be open to reading more books set in that world. Another reviewer suggested that this seems like the first book in a trilogy. If so, I would like a book centering around Davide.

Firstly this book has several trigger warnings and I would go in to reading it with your eyes open.
This is not a pretty romance where they see eye to eye and eventually get together.
The male lead is an arse, to put it nicely, and although in lots of books we love the heroine managing to bring him round to being nice, Nico is just an arse to Lena and I wasn't a fan.
She blindly went back to him too many times without really thinking of her own wellbeing and that felt a little too like real life for me!
Great storytelling for the right reader :)

So when I saw this beautiful cover and read the description "A dark and spicy love story about desire and obsession, set in the world of Formula 1." I thought I was in for a treat. It was also compared to the writing style of Sylvia Day, so I was really looking forwards to reading this book.

Let me start by saying this is not a love story nor in my opinion should it be in the romance category. This is erotica and not even the good stuff. This book should come with a list of trigger warnings from the outset as there is a lot of sexual content, some of which will put a lot of people off, even those of us who like some dark romance. At least we know what to expect going in.

The sex starts in the first few pages of the book and is full on. I personally enjoy the build up of a relationship or chemistry between characters, but I didn't get either of those things from this book nor is there a story line as such. Lena is obsessed with Nico after just one encounter at a party. That frankly happened so fast, blink and you miss it, but according to her it was the best sex of her life. She then starts to find a way to be at the same events he is. Basically he just uses her for sex, and in fact goes as far to give her a safe word 'red' and continue to carry on having sex with her even when she uses the said word, repeatedly. And I guess on hindsight, without really explaining the rules to her.

I read the book, all the while wondering when it was going to be over. Sadly, the only thing I liked about it was the cover.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.