There's just something about sports in books, especially romances, that I have a lot of fun with. This felt like a decent representation of the motorsport world, and I enjoyed it. It's a little cheesy and a lot of fun.

The tension worked well for me, and the family aspect (on both sides, but mostly the relationship between Dev and Willow's brother) was a nice addition to the story. I also really liked the social aspect of mucking up and trying to fix it. Tropey, yes, but enjoyable. I can definitely see myself coming back to this book when I want a fun romance read.

I listened to the audiobook and the narrator did a great job. I also learned that I have been pronounced Dev incorrectly, so thank you for that!

4 stars.

This story could have been wrapped up in a single chapter if the main character had just talked to her brother from the start. I'm really over plots that hinge on such a simple misunderstanding that could be solved with one quick conversation.

On top of that, it was incredibly boring. There was no real angst or chemistry between the characters, and once they got together, it was overly sweet to the point of being cheesy. I just couldn't handle it. The book dragged on far too long for such a straightforward plot.

Overall, I did enjoy the narration and voice but I can't say I enjoyed the story, I just kept waiting for it to end.

“Cross the line” is a F1 brother’s best friend secret relationship romance. Dev, a F1 race car driver, needs some help with his social media appearance, so he hires his best friend’s sister, Willow, that is fresh out of college and a social media expert to help him out.

I requested this book because I was so intrigued by the F1 atmosphere, (which I immensely enjoyed btw) that I was willing to overlook the ‘brother’s best friend trope’, a trope that I just don’t vibe with. So, you could say that my main problem with this book is obvious and foreseeable, but I still went ahead and requested this book, and I did not regret it.

I don’t think I like the trope brothers’ best friend, because almost all the time the brother is overbearing and telling the sister what to do even though it is none of his business. This just feels like glorifying female oppression and giving men more agency over women’s sexuality than they should have. Not to mention that giving a brother knowledge of one’s se* life or any power over it just feels icky.

Thankfully, this was only somewhat true in this book. The main love interests also have other reasons apart from Willow’s brother for staying away from each other and keeping their relationship a secret. Willow’s brother does get mixed up slightly and tells her: “I don’t want you to get involved with another one of my friends”. I can understand this on the one hand, as it could mess up the dynamics of his friend group, but on the other hand it makes her out to be the problem and the instigator, like she constantly seeks out his friends to date when she has previously only dated one of his friends and the fact that they split up was not her fault. Willow’s brother is also overbearing in other aspects of his relationship with his sister, for example, by accepting Dev’s job offer for her. Consequently, I was glad that we actually saw less of him than I had initially expected, and the love interests spent most of their time together without the brother.

Another part that I did not like about this book was that it was mentioned numerous times that Dev was undergoing a ‘dry spell’ previous to getting involved with Willow due to a fake STD scandal. What bothers me about this is how much emphasis was put on this. I understand that Dev is an athlete and has participated in casual sex in the past. But here it is presented like hooking up with strangers is an intrinsic need that he did not get to follow because of this scandal. Why can we not just have male characters that don’t enjoy a hook-up culture, instead of coming up with excuses for their abstinence? This leaves the impression that it is perfectly fine when women abstain for various reasons, but when a man isn’t involved with anyone or hooking up casually, it’s not deemed manly so there needs to be an excuse for his behavior. This isn’t a problem I have with this book in particular, having these patterns in books just seems like a toxic representation of male and female sexuality. Let’s have more men that don’t enjoy casual hook-ups in our books and let’s have some more women that do, just to level the playing field a bit.

Besides this, I did actually like Dev’s character, apart from his name (pronounced by the narrators as Dave). Sorry to all the Dev’s or Dave’s but his name just didn’t fit his character or his occupation. It made me cringe whenever Willow said or thought of his name in a romantic context.
Willow is an amazing character that turned this book around for me. She was very relatable to me as a person who also suffers from a chronic disease that has been asked where my parents are a time or two and a fellow member or Itty-bitty-ti**y committee. Willow’s character was the perfect mix of sass, fun and level-headed.

Apart from the previously stated issues I thought that this was a very sweet enjoyable romance with some spice, a lot of relatability and some humor. Dev and Willow are likable character together and apart, and I totally believed in their attraction and their relationship. Had it not been for the other issues in this book, it would have been a 4* read. This way it is a 3,5-star read rounded down.
I listened to the audiobook and would recommend the production. The narrators did a great job, although I did not like it when the male narrator tried to impersonate someone female. Perhaps it would have been better to go for a duel narration here.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan UK Audio for gifting me this ALC of the audiobook to review. All opinions are my own. I was not paid to leave this review.

This has been one of my top romance reads of the year, the combination of F1 and the representation instantly won me over!

I did enjoy listening to the audiobook, the narrator for Dev was brilliant but I did feel the narrator for Willow sounded a bit young and just didn’t match up to the image I have of Willow in my head but that’s a personal thing!

I’m not a big sports romance fan but I have followed F1 and this setup definitely worked, I enjoyed the little snippets into life behind the glamour of the F1 circuit. The race scenes were actually some of my favourite, the author did a brilliant job of writing them in a way that kept you engaged and invested in the outcome!

The romance between Dev and Willow was of course the main plot point. As characters I liked them individually and together, you could definitely feel the chemistry. Mostly they made a sweet couple but at times things definitely got a little steamy! I also really like ms how they navigated their relationship, there was only a little unnecessary drama but it made sense given their backstories.

The chronic illness rep was so important for me to see, plus I loved the cultural diversity portrayed with a South Asian MMC and Black FMC.


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

First of all, I LOVED the narrators! They did such a good job at keeping the story engaging and keeping my attention throughout, even when I kind of found my attention wandering or wanted to sort of throttle Dev! The latter of which happened a few times because sometimes he did get on my nerves, I'll freely admit that! He just...he sort of gave me the ick sometimes with the way he spoke about women or rather getting with them but that was probably the point!

ANYWAY! I love sports romance but tend to pick up primarily ice hockey romances, however I was lured in by the synopsis for this but the way I got so hooked on the whole F1 thing, like there was no info dumping and it was easy to understand how it all worked. It also provided so much tension at times too! I genuinely gasped a time or two! Not to mention the drama of it all and the backstabbing!

I also really enjoyed the representation! I'm always on the lookout for more books with disability rep and I feel like the representation in Cross The Line was wonderfully done, as well as giving the reader a taste for other cultures and their experiences.

Unlike Dev, I did adore Willow at all times and while I did kind of want to smack Dev a time or two, I loved the romance between them! There was tension and it was so well developed with no unnecessary drama or misunderstandings which I always appreciate! I kept waiting for them to break up to be honest, in true third act break up fashion, so imagine my surprise when that didn't happen at all! In all honesty, while I didn't like Dev all that much to begin with, even if he did make me snort a few times because really dude? I feel like he grew throughout the book, so I'll give him that!

This was a cute, fun read for the most part but I did find my attention wandering a time or two in the middle as the plot seemed to meander and I did feel like the whole thing with Oakley was a bit OTT, to be honest, hence the 3.5 star rating!

This book is perfect of all fans of the Dirty Air series by Lauren Asher, the perfect mix of a great romance, a good plot and great friendships.

I really love sports movies and my friend recently got into F1, so I decided to give Cross the Line a chance since she also requested and ARC, and we were buddy reading. I am glad I gave this book a chance because Dev and Willow were a delight to read about. I found their story very enjoyable and their characterisation felt natural. The story is low stakes (well, as low as one can get in a professional sport story), and felt free of unnecessary drama between characters—very refreshing. Overall, it was delightful.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an e-ARC copy of this book, in exchange for this honest review.

4.5⭐️ | 2🌶

Tropes:
~ F1 driver x social media manager
~ Brother’s best friend
~ She falls first but he falls harder
~ Sunshine x Sunshine
~ Lots of Bollywood references
~ Open door spice
~ Dual POV

Dev is the dreamiest book boyfriend, he’s witty, over-the-top romantic and an absolute pookie (please see my annotations for reference) I fell for him at the very start and my love kept growing through the book. Willow on the other hand, made me want to switch careers and join F1 (does any driver need a social media manager? I’m available!) she’s a wonderful character that will make you love her.

The narrators have done a fab job and the spicy scenes had me fanning myself! The sexual tension between the two characters after sharing one drunken kiss is so intense, you can almost feel it radiating through the book! What starts off as a ‘We can only be friends’ relationship quickly takes a turn when they realise they’re both crazy for eachother. The little things that Dev did for Willow made my heart melt!

I also adored the other characters in the book, especially Willow’s brother. I loved how accepting he was of his sister dating his best friend.

Simone has crafted this story so beautifully, the characters are perfect, the writing is excellent and the spice is spicy enough to make you swoon and fan yourself!

(review on the blog and other socials coming soon)

Growing up, my family was really into F1, so I ended up picking some knowledge about it. Sports romance is very popular, but I did not see many F1 books out there (though I am sure there are a ton) so I was intrigued by it. When I read the synopsis, I like both characters backgrounds and I thought the tropes would be a nice touch to include and gave the story a good push. Having the audio with a narrator for both main characters was incredibly helpful

Willow has had a crush on Dev for a long time, but she has kept things platonic, especially since Dev is her brothers best friend. That would complicate the situation as it is, but she is also considered off-limits within the friend group after a terrible breakup with her ex, who was part of that friend group. Now a job opportunity arises for her to work with Dev, which will benefit her a lot professionally, but it might also bring back some feelings for both of them.

I really enjoy when the main characters are forced into a situation, not necessarily a professional one, and end up spending a lot of time together. In this case, Willow is offered a job to work as Dev's social media manager, so she can repair his media image. This premise was great for the story, because it involved Willow in Dev's life and career, but it also gave them plenty of time and scenes to spend together and reconnect, which was very nice to read about. Their chemistry was evident from the start, and it was fun how unaware of it they both were. It was also very funny, though frustrating at times, how they had to push down their feelings for each other, but they handle things quite maturely and it was especially nice how they were there for each other. As the story progressed, their feelings also grew, to the point were it was difficult for them not to act on them.

Surprisingly, I also enjoy the career aspect of the book, having Dev navigate being part of a team that doesn't value, whilst Willow makes him realize that he can do better, and Willow enter the work scene in a field that has always fascinated her. They made each other better. I have been a bit disconnected from the F1 scene, but I do think the book provides enough context to understand what is going on. Scenes related to the sport were woven into the story and not just there because they had to be in it. What is more, the setting was easily and wonderfully described and I believe it is a great introduction to F1 and F1 romances.

Adding to the sparkly drama, tension, and building relationship between Dev and Willow, we also follow Dev's team and see different family dynamics. Apart from the tropes mentioned, I want to point out that the book also has South Asian and Black leads and chronic illness rep. Those aspects are integrated within the story, not making it feel forced or akward, on the contrary, it brings out some elements, and neatly balances it within the story.

I am not sure whether the rest of the series will follow characters we already know or if they will also be F1 romances, but I will be reading them for sure.

Me + F1 Romance = Perfect Day

Simone really out-did herself with her debut formula one romance, this read was pretty much flawless cover to cover. I loved the plot, characters and most importantly Simone's writing style. It made this such an easy read/listen.

My only TINY complaint... the review of pronuncaitions clearly was skimmed. The pronunciation of chassis was very off it was being pronounced CHAsee instead of SHAsee and it was said quite a number of times in the book which made it rather annoying.

Willow gets a job offer from her brothers best friend, who she recently kissed. I had expected to love this book because I usually enjoy a sports romance but it was quite forgettable. I liked the characters but I wasn’t overly invested in them or their relationship. There weren’t any stand out moments or times where I found myself smiling or laughing and usually I do that with a romance book. There wasn’t anything I actually disliked but it’s just not a book I would reach for again.

This was such a good read. I really liked he relationship between the FMC and the MMC! And for everyone who doesn't like third act breakups this is the book for you! I also liked that there was a big focus on Formula 1 and it wasn't just a crutch to call it a sports romance.
The narrators fit perfectly and made me enjoy the story even more.


tropes:
-secret dating
-workplace romance
-brothers best friend

I’ve been an avid romance reader for a while now, but lately, I’m just burnt out on the genre. Like I still find romance books very enjoyable, but five-star romances have been few and far between.

I listened to the audiobook of Cross the Line (thank you Netgalley) and it was both a good and bad experience. The male narrator did an amazing job. He was into it, and it felt like he was really enjoying himself. Unfortunately, the female narrator put me off a bit. She sounded very young, and was very monotone.

Overall this book read very young. The characters were 21 and 25, but it still felt a bit YA to me. The way the characters talked, thought, and handled certain situations made them seem more like teenagers, but it could have also been the delivery of the narration.

Low stakes, low angst
Cross the Line was also very low stakes. There’s nothing wrong with that, I know a lot of people want lower-stakes romance books with no third-act breakup, but that’s not me. I want the angst, the pining, the hurt.

For example, a main conflict is that he’s her boss, and she’s his employee. They don’t want to taint her reputation by being in a relationship (as she would be seen as “sleeping with the boss to get on top”), but they aren’t careful with their interactions at all. They make out in a club full of other people at one point, and I thought for sure they would be caught and would have to navigate that, but it just didn’t happen.

It felt like these conflicts were being set up, but they didn’t pay off. And that’s fine. The conflicts were handled in mostly mature ways, I just wish there was more tension. I would have made different editing choices (especially during the prologue), but overall this wasn’t a bad book.

Is it a good F1 romance?
I can’t be the judge of that. I know next to nothing about F1, so I can’t tell if the “sport” part of this book was accurate. It is dual POV, so we do get a lot of Dev’s perspective when he’s actually racing, which I liked.

I also think we got some progressive representation in this book. Dev is South Asian and Willow is Black, and Willow has hyper-mobility, something I knew very little about before starting this book, but now I know more!

Cross the Line is a fun, joyful sports romance. I laughed out loud a few times and I really liked some of the side characters. I would definitely read more from Soltani (hoping she turns this into a series actually) and I would read more F1 romances as well.

If you love sports romance, brothers best friend and slow burn this is for you. I loved the mix of throwing in the f1 racing with the development in Dev and Willows relationship. I felt as equally invested in Devs comeback as his and Willows relationship both aspects were able to covered in way that made sense with out detracting from the other. I loved the disability rep as fellow hypermobilty sufferer I felt this was portrayed so well.

The audio actors were great however I found it a bit grating when they did the fake voice of the opposite character during their chapter. It also took me till nearly half way through to realise his name is Dev not Dave.

I loved this audio book! I’ve started back traveling to work and have been struggling with the hour journey but this helped so so much! I loved the characters and I loved them even more together! The voices for both characters were so easy to listen too and I feel like it really helped me imagine the characters. Through the whole book was loving the plot, this is my first F1 romance so I was worried I’d maybe feel lost but it was just so easy to follow along. The epilogue!!! I mean wow talk about the dramaaa, I thought that would be them in a few years time married with kids, no! The epilogue was like another little book at the end and I loved that it was just to show how happy they were, it wasn’t the big happy ending you normally get it had some emotion and sadness to it but they still stuck together. I loved it, I now own the book and will definitely be reading it in the future.

I’m not sure if it was the voice actors or the actual story but I was really struggling to mesh with this book. I DNF’d at 25% - I really did try!
Maybe I will give the kindle or physical version a try rather than the audiobook because the concept and the diversity of characters had such good potential.

I can definitely see why others would love this book though, I’ve seen a lot of talk on social media about it and I can see why.

This was a brothers best friend romance trope set in the world of F1 racing and so was a little different for me but sports romance is sports romance and this did not dissapoint. It was fun to listen to as an audio book and I liked that both our main characters were from diverse backgrounds. What I didnt like was that for about 65% of the audiobook I thought our MMC was called Dave, not only did I not like this for a young guy in F1 and the image of him in my mind. Eventually the narrator started dropping in Dev and so I was totaly confused as to what I was hearing or what they were saying. This did take away from the book a little and I seemed to have missed what our FMC health issues were but they were woven in to the story pretty well and were not rammed down the readers throat.

I received this book as an ARC and provide an honest review

Absolutely adore this book, thank you so much for sharing it with me. Im so excited to read more from this debut author and from this series! Bring on the next book!

As an engineer, who occasional watches F1 and has a pretty good knowledge of the sport, I love a F1 romance and this one is a good one. The F1 feels real and the relationships are authentic. Dav and his friends have a great relationship.
Brothers Best friends is such a fun trope and this is a really good one.

This book could be a favorite of mine now! The representation in this book is amazing! The culture during the wedding and the representation with Willow's disability was really good.

The audio book was great as well I really liked both of the voice actors and they still sounded good when I had the book on 1.75x speed.

Behind the curtain: I was writing this review whilst listening to the epilogue. I honestly didn't expect it. The epilogue had me shocked! I can't wait to see what happens next in "The lights out" series!

🏎️ f1 romance
🧔🏽south asian rep
🎬90s/00s bollywood references
✨chronic illness rep
👩‍❤️‍👨friends to lovers/brothers best friend
📱racer x social media manager

The audiobook was great but it sounded like Dev was being pronounced as Dave which wasn’t expecting!

I highly recommend this book to everyone whether you’re a romance fan, sports romance fan or don’t even know how F1 works, I promise you won’t feel clueless at all. Simone’s storytelling capabilities will have you giggling, screaming and on the edge of your seat especially in the last 90% 👁️👄👁️ The words and storyline just flowed so well, this had a plot that worked in the tropes naturally, nothing felt forced or just there for the sake of it

As a south Asian girly I felt so seen and many have said this already. I don’t usually read enough books with characters that look like myself or share similarities in my culture but she represented the Indian/South Asian community beautifully! I hope that all the black and brown girlies see themselves in the main characters. On the topic of diversity the F1 grid in this book was amazing, if only it could be like this IRL!! I like how serious topics were incorporated into the storyline as well and showed the harsh realities of what racism and discrimination are like in a sport like F1