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Fast Track #2
Too Fast to Fall
So what if she’s crushing on a race car driver? That doesn’t mean it’s love at first lap.
But maybe it’s love at first lap dog?
Yesterday, Piper Murphy was just another dog sitter helping her sister with wedding prep while pretending she’s over her own broken engagement.
Today, she’s the fill-in dog sitter for Formula One driver Emilio Baquero. Brooding, gorgeous driver + naughty, cute Lab? Woof, down boy.
When Emilio offers her a five-week gig as his live-in dog nanny in London, Piper can’t help but say yes. It’s out of her comfort zone, sure, but it’s also a ticket to travel, racing, and caring for a dog she already adores. All while escaping the wedding planning that’s put her failures front and center.
Only being under the same roof means there’s no escaping Emilio’s intensity, or grumpiness. Piper tries to be a sunny presence, but their clashes just fuel the slow-burn tension to something near combustible.
Because falling for your boss is risky when you have a broken heart. Falling for your famous boss and his adorable dog? That’s a crash waiting to happen.
Too Fast to Fall is part of the Fast Track series from Karen Booth. Don't miss the first book, Not So Fast.
But maybe it’s love at first lap dog?
Yesterday, Piper Murphy was just another dog sitter helping her sister with wedding prep while pretending she’s over her own broken engagement.
Today, she’s the fill-in dog sitter for Formula One driver Emilio Baquero. Brooding, gorgeous driver + naughty, cute Lab? Woof, down boy.
When Emilio offers her a five-week gig as his live-in dog nanny in London, Piper can’t help but say yes. It’s out of her comfort zone, sure, but it’s also a ticket to travel, racing, and caring for a dog she already adores. All while escaping the wedding planning that’s put her failures front and center.
Only being under the same roof means there’s no escaping Emilio’s intensity, or grumpiness. Piper tries to be a sunny presence, but their clashes just fuel the slow-burn tension to something near combustible.
Because falling for your boss is risky when you have a broken heart. Falling for your famous boss and his adorable dog? That’s a crash waiting to happen.
Too Fast to Fall is part of the Fast Track series from Karen Booth. Don't miss the first book, Not So Fast.
288 pages, Paperback
First published May 26, 2026
About the author
Karen Booth
310 books536 followersKaren Booth is a Midwestern girl transplanted in the South, raised on 80s music and repeated readings of Forever by Judy Blume. She writes steamy contemporary romance and women's fiction. When she isn't creating fictional hunky men and the women who test them, she's listening to music with her kids, honing her Southern cooking skills or sweet-talking her astoundingly supportive husband into whipping up a batch of cocktails.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 286 reviews
June 5, 2026
short and sweet f1 romance with a single dog dad! emilio is a formula 1 driver who needs a dog nanny after his dog, gus, chases his other nanny’s away. piper is a dog walker/sitter who happens to be an f1 fan. emilio and piper seem worlds apart but quickly find out they have a lot in common - mostly their love of gus.
i really liked pipers character, she is enthusiastic and really resilient, even when she definitely has reason to wallow in her circumstances. i also liked that even though it has forced proximity from the start, it didn’t turn into insta love for these two.
maybe could’ve done without gus’s pov but it was more cheesy than cringe. the narrators did a good job!
thank you netgalley for the arc!
i really liked pipers character, she is enthusiastic and really resilient, even when she definitely has reason to wallow in her circumstances. i also liked that even though it has forced proximity from the start, it didn’t turn into insta love for these two.
maybe could’ve done without gus’s pov but it was more cheesy than cringe. the narrators did a good job!
thank you netgalley for the arc!
May 31, 2026
A sweet romance for F1 and dog lovers, it reads like a breeze!
This was a fast read, that's for sure. A tad unrealistic, but what romance book isn't? I very much enjoyed the dynamic between Piper and Emilio, with Gus in the mix. The few chapters from the beloved dog's point of view were a really nice touch and an interesting narrative device, I have to say.
The F1 background was well done; I'm usually afraid of inconsistencies on that front, but it all looked good here (we even got a DRS explanation—something I'm missing in the current season!). The romance follows a "grumpy and sunshine" plot with a side of forced proximity. And of course, both of them are dog lovers, though to varying degrees. Nothing felt cringey; everything flows smoothly, albeit quickly, as it's a rather short novel.
I feel as though if it had been a bit longer, we could have explored the background characters more, such as Piper and Emilio's families, but it's still an enjoyable read that delivers on what it promises.
Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy.
This was a fast read, that's for sure. A tad unrealistic, but what romance book isn't? I very much enjoyed the dynamic between Piper and Emilio, with Gus in the mix. The few chapters from the beloved dog's point of view were a really nice touch and an interesting narrative device, I have to say.
The F1 background was well done; I'm usually afraid of inconsistencies on that front, but it all looked good here (we even got a DRS explanation—something I'm missing in the current season!). The romance follows a "grumpy and sunshine" plot with a side of forced proximity. And of course, both of them are dog lovers, though to varying degrees. Nothing felt cringey; everything flows smoothly, albeit quickly, as it's a rather short novel.
I feel as though if it had been a bit longer, we could have explored the background characters more, such as Piper and Emilio's families, but it's still an enjoyable read that delivers on what it promises.
Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy.
February 28, 2026
Calling all my dog lovers, you need to read this one! One of my favorite things about Too Fast to Fall is not the sweet and caring romance, not the exciting F1 races, not even the grumpy x sunshine dynamic (which, if you know me, you know I adore), it's the fact that we get chapters in Gus, the dog's, POV.
I've really been on a sunshine nanny and grumpy father (daddy, if you will) kick recently, but this is the first time that the FMC has been a dog nanny—and I love it. Gus is so cute, so lovable, and so invested in making sure Piper and Emilio get together! The antics that Gus pulls are hilarious and sweet: he wraps his leash around them, pushes Piper into Emilio's arm multiple times, and tries to whine and beg his way into getting them into the same bed.
Everything else that I listed about the romance, racing, and character dynamics were also thoroughly enjoyable. It was so lovely to see Emilio slowly open up to Piper, and how the two of them helped each other heal from their past ex's and relationships. Their romance is sweet, swoony, and so adorable. I would have preferred a bit more communication on their part, the problems that cropped up towards the last third of the book could have been solved with just a bit more talking! But ultimately, the scenes that came of it and their confession and HEA still felt worth it.
I also thought the F1 elements in this book were really well done. I am a huge fan of how Karen Booth alternated POVs within a chapter to give us both Emilio and Piper's thoughts during a race. It kept the pace rapid, matching the thrill of the cars and the laps as they counted down.
Definitely a racing romance that I'll be adding to my recommendations list. A really fun and sweet one for if you need a quick romance that will leave you with a huge smile on your face.
﹙ three-point-five stars ﹚
— thank you so much to harlequin books for the e-arc via netgalley review!
I've really been on a sunshine nanny and grumpy father (daddy, if you will) kick recently, but this is the first time that the FMC has been a dog nanny—and I love it. Gus is so cute, so lovable, and so invested in making sure Piper and Emilio get together! The antics that Gus pulls are hilarious and sweet: he wraps his leash around them, pushes Piper into Emilio's arm multiple times, and tries to whine and beg his way into getting them into the same bed.
Everything else that I listed about the romance, racing, and character dynamics were also thoroughly enjoyable. It was so lovely to see Emilio slowly open up to Piper, and how the two of them helped each other heal from their past ex's and relationships. Their romance is sweet, swoony, and so adorable. I would have preferred a bit more communication on their part, the problems that cropped up towards the last third of the book could have been solved with just a bit more talking! But ultimately, the scenes that came of it and their confession and HEA still felt worth it.
I also thought the F1 elements in this book were really well done. I am a huge fan of how Karen Booth alternated POVs within a chapter to give us both Emilio and Piper's thoughts during a race. It kept the pace rapid, matching the thrill of the cars and the laps as they counted down.
Definitely a racing romance that I'll be adding to my recommendations list. A really fun and sweet one for if you need a quick romance that will leave you with a huge smile on your face.
﹙ three-point-five stars ﹚
— thank you so much to harlequin books for the e-arc via netgalley review!
May 2, 2026
Another hit by Karen Booth!
I adored Book 1 in this series, Not So Fast - so I JUMPED to grab this galley the second I saw it! Piper is a dog sitter in Miami who receives a last minute call to dog sit for Formula One driver Emilio. Gus (Emilio's dog) is notorious for being adorable but also a little naughty, but immediately connects with Piper. Emilio sees this as the answer to all of his problems and invite Piper to travel with him as a live-in dog nanny for Gus. And things definitely get...intense.
I wasn't exaggerating when I said this was another hit by Booth! I adored this story, the characters, the development, ALL of it. Gus was such a shining star and his POV chapters were SO GOOD and cute and ugh I just LOVED them. The grumpy x sunshine was also well done and I just thoroughly enjoyed binging this from start to finish in less than 24 hours.
I listened to this galley on audio and really enjoyed it! The flow was great and the narrator was a great choice for the characters (she did great accents!). My only wish for this book was either a dual or duet narration - sometimes it took me a moment to figure out who's POV we were in. My only critique!
I definitely recommend Too Fast to Fall.
I adored Book 1 in this series, Not So Fast - so I JUMPED to grab this galley the second I saw it! Piper is a dog sitter in Miami who receives a last minute call to dog sit for Formula One driver Emilio. Gus (Emilio's dog) is notorious for being adorable but also a little naughty, but immediately connects with Piper. Emilio sees this as the answer to all of his problems and invite Piper to travel with him as a live-in dog nanny for Gus. And things definitely get...intense.
I wasn't exaggerating when I said this was another hit by Booth! I adored this story, the characters, the development, ALL of it. Gus was such a shining star and his POV chapters were SO GOOD and cute and ugh I just LOVED them. The grumpy x sunshine was also well done and I just thoroughly enjoyed binging this from start to finish in less than 24 hours.
I listened to this galley on audio and really enjoyed it! The flow was great and the narrator was a great choice for the characters (she did great accents!). My only wish for this book was either a dual or duet narration - sometimes it took me a moment to figure out who's POV we were in. My only critique!
I definitely recommend Too Fast to Fall.
February 22, 2026
The single dog parent trope is not one I knew I needed in my life, but now I require more! This was such a cute and fun story, made even better by the fact there were chapters written from the dogs point of view.
Top F1 driver Emilio can’t seem to find a nanny who will look after his dog, Gus, whilst he’s tearing it up on the track. But luckily for him Piper has just the treats to sweeten up Gus and fill more than just the role of ‘dog nanny’ in Emilio’s life. Did someone say, puppy love? (I’m sorry, I had to.)
Filled with lots of F1 glamour, adorable dog meddling and a host of side characters you can’t help but love, this was a fun and fast read.
If anything, I wouldn’t have minded it being longer and seeing more of the build up between the relationship and also some of the side stories.
Overall, keen to read more in this series - hopefully there will be more dogs!
Thanks NetGalley and Harlequin Romance for the ARC.
Top F1 driver Emilio can’t seem to find a nanny who will look after his dog, Gus, whilst he’s tearing it up on the track. But luckily for him Piper has just the treats to sweeten up Gus and fill more than just the role of ‘dog nanny’ in Emilio’s life. Did someone say, puppy love? (I’m sorry, I had to.)
Filled with lots of F1 glamour, adorable dog meddling and a host of side characters you can’t help but love, this was a fun and fast read.
If anything, I wouldn’t have minded it being longer and seeing more of the build up between the relationship and also some of the side stories.
Overall, keen to read more in this series - hopefully there will be more dogs!
Thanks NetGalley and Harlequin Romance for the ARC.
June 14, 2026
I had a lot of fun listening to Too Fast to Fall. It was a light, entertaining romance that mixed Formula One racing, travel, adorable dogs, and plenty of slow-burning chemistry.
Piper was easy to root for as she tried to move forward after a broken engagement, and I enjoyed watching her step outside her comfort zone when she accepted a job caring for Emilio's dog in London. The grumpy-sunshine dynamic between Piper and Emilio worked well, and the tension between them built at a pace that kept me invested from start to finish.
One of the highlights of the audiobook was Talon David's narration. She did a great job bringing the characters to life and capturing both the emotional moments and the playful banter. Her performance made it easy to get swept up in the story and kept the listening experience engaging throughout.
The only thing that didn't quite work for me was the dog's point-of-view chapters. I understood what the author was trying to do, but those sections felt distracting and unnecessary. I was much more invested in Piper and Emilio's story than in hearing the dog's perspective.
Overall, this was a fun, fast-paced romance with lovable characters, great chemistry, and engaging narration. If you're looking for an easy listen featuring a Formula One driver, a lovable dog, and a swoony romance, this one is worth adding to your playlist.
Piper was easy to root for as she tried to move forward after a broken engagement, and I enjoyed watching her step outside her comfort zone when she accepted a job caring for Emilio's dog in London. The grumpy-sunshine dynamic between Piper and Emilio worked well, and the tension between them built at a pace that kept me invested from start to finish.
One of the highlights of the audiobook was Talon David's narration. She did a great job bringing the characters to life and capturing both the emotional moments and the playful banter. Her performance made it easy to get swept up in the story and kept the listening experience engaging throughout.
The only thing that didn't quite work for me was the dog's point-of-view chapters. I understood what the author was trying to do, but those sections felt distracting and unnecessary. I was much more invested in Piper and Emilio's story than in hearing the dog's perspective.
Overall, this was a fun, fast-paced romance with lovable characters, great chemistry, and engaging narration. If you're looking for an easy listen featuring a Formula One driver, a lovable dog, and a swoony romance, this one is worth adding to your playlist.
April 16, 2026
Single dog parent might be my new favourite trope!
Thank you Harlequin for the ARC!
I enjoyed this book much for than the first tbh. I don’t know much about F1 but it was a short and sweet read!
Gus honestly made the book. I love that hes a dog but Emilio’s wingman. He even has 5 chapters from his perspective! The only other book I’ve seen this done in is “if it makes you happy.” The vibes are also similar to Helena Huntings “A Love Catastrophe”
The book is fast paced and insta lovey with predictable moments but sometimes that’s what you need in a romance book!
My main beef is… she is always stroking this man from base to tip DRY?? Whyyy. The spicy scenes could definitely be written much better. I’m sorry.
If Gus wasn’t in this book the writing might’ve made me rate this book lower. But I loved the main plot points. Just not necessarily how it switches POVs sometimes between paragraphs. You get used to it but by then the books almost over.
The family drama and exes also kept the book interesting.
If you are in the mood for a cute and fun fast paced romance then try this book out!
Thank you Harlequin for the ARC!
I enjoyed this book much for than the first tbh. I don’t know much about F1 but it was a short and sweet read!
Gus honestly made the book. I love that hes a dog but Emilio’s wingman. He even has 5 chapters from his perspective! The only other book I’ve seen this done in is “if it makes you happy.” The vibes are also similar to Helena Huntings “A Love Catastrophe”
The book is fast paced and insta lovey with predictable moments but sometimes that’s what you need in a romance book!
My main beef is… she is always stroking this man from base to tip DRY?? Whyyy. The spicy scenes could definitely be written much better. I’m sorry.
If Gus wasn’t in this book the writing might’ve made me rate this book lower. But I loved the main plot points. Just not necessarily how it switches POVs sometimes between paragraphs. You get used to it but by then the books almost over.
The family drama and exes also kept the book interesting.
If you are in the mood for a cute and fun fast paced romance then try this book out!
May 26, 2026
ARC Review
My rating:- ⭐⭐⭐.5/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Tropes:-
🐶 Single (dog) parent
🏎️ Grumpy X Sunshine
🐶 Forced Proximity
🏎️ Sports romance
🐶Dog as cupid
This book is for all the dog lovers out there. I was genuinely surprised to see chapters in a dog's pov, but it just made the book better.
Too Fast to Fall by Karen Booth is a sweet, F1 romance where Gus, whom I absolutely adore, plays the cupid. I absolutely loved the hilarious methods Gus used to bring them together. I know that this is a romance book and I should be talking about the main characters, but Gus is just too adorable and my favorite (and I'm not even a dog person!).
Now, let's talk about Piper and Emilio. Emilio was being a b!tch at the beginning and I hated him for it (T_T), but that's just how he was until they started getting closer. It was so sweet to see Piper and Emilio help each other to get over their exes and past relationships, how they heal each other.
I'm definitely adding this book in my list of recommendations!
My rating:- ⭐⭐⭐.5/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Tropes:-
🐶 Single (dog) parent
🏎️ Grumpy X Sunshine
🐶 Forced Proximity
🏎️ Sports romance
🐶Dog as cupid
This book is for all the dog lovers out there. I was genuinely surprised to see chapters in a dog's pov, but it just made the book better.
Too Fast to Fall by Karen Booth is a sweet, F1 romance where Gus, whom I absolutely adore, plays the cupid. I absolutely loved the hilarious methods Gus used to bring them together. I know that this is a romance book and I should be talking about the main characters, but Gus is just too adorable and my favorite (and I'm not even a dog person!).
Now, let's talk about Piper and Emilio. Emilio was being a b!tch at the beginning and I hated him for it (T_T), but that's just how he was until they started getting closer. It was so sweet to see Piper and Emilio help each other to get over their exes and past relationships, how they heal each other.
I'm definitely adding this book in my list of recommendations!
May 26, 2026
Oh my gosh I love Emilio and Piper so much! There story was so cute and Gus, what an adorable boy.
Emilio is a F1 driver, he’s left stuck when yet another dog sitter has quit because the dog is too much, too wild. So when the new sitter comes in and Emilio sees how quick Gus is to connect with her he knows he needs to bring her along with him for race days.
Piper loves her job walking dogs and getting to bake her favourite treats for them. She’s a dog person always has been and they tune into her love and love on her. It’s adorable. So when she gets a call to work on a job at the F1 she jumps at the chance because her and her dad are big F1 fans. When Piper meets Gus she instantly loves the adorable fur baby. So after being asked to join them at the future circuits she says yes.
Watching these two and this adorable fur baby has been wonderful. Gus is mischievous and has an agenda of his own, he had me laughing like mad. I loved him, he stole the show.
I loved how they slowly began to connect through the love of the dog and F1. Piper helped Emilio believe in himself and Emilio did the same, the two of them together worked so perfectly.
I love Karen’s books, I love the way she writes the chapters and their story. I love the way she makes me love them as if they were real people. I can’t wait to see what comes from this world in the future.
Emilio is a F1 driver, he’s left stuck when yet another dog sitter has quit because the dog is too much, too wild. So when the new sitter comes in and Emilio sees how quick Gus is to connect with her he knows he needs to bring her along with him for race days.
Piper loves her job walking dogs and getting to bake her favourite treats for them. She’s a dog person always has been and they tune into her love and love on her. It’s adorable. So when she gets a call to work on a job at the F1 she jumps at the chance because her and her dad are big F1 fans. When Piper meets Gus she instantly loves the adorable fur baby. So after being asked to join them at the future circuits she says yes.
Watching these two and this adorable fur baby has been wonderful. Gus is mischievous and has an agenda of his own, he had me laughing like mad. I loved him, he stole the show.
I loved how they slowly began to connect through the love of the dog and F1. Piper helped Emilio believe in himself and Emilio did the same, the two of them together worked so perfectly.
I love Karen’s books, I love the way she writes the chapters and their story. I love the way she makes me love them as if they were real people. I can’t wait to see what comes from this world in the future.
Read
July 3, 2026🏎️🐶 Too Fast to Fall 🐶🏎️
📖 Bookish Thoughts
Full ARC Review to come!
❤️ What to Expect
• Formula 1 Romance
• Grumpy x Sunshine
• Boss x Employee
• Forced Proximity
• Sports Romance
_ _ __
📅 Pub Date: May 26, 2026
Thank you to Harlequin Audio and NetGalley for the advanced listening copy.
📖 Bookish Thoughts
Full ARC Review to come!
❤️ What to Expect
• Formula 1 Romance
• Grumpy x Sunshine
• Boss x Employee
• Forced Proximity
• Sports Romance
_ _ __
📅 Pub Date: May 26, 2026
Thank you to Harlequin Audio and NetGalley for the advanced listening copy.
June 29, 2026
This is definitely not about Carlos Sainz (wink) so if you are a fan of his you probably shouldn't read this (wink wink) I liked the addition of the dog and the chapters from his POV. Overall this was a cute F1 romance to add to my read pile.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Emilio is an F1 racecar driver who's having a rough season. He's not winning races like last season, parents are getting a divorce, he's getting over a breakup, and he hasn't found the right nanny for his dog. Things have been stressful and it's not helping his focus while racing.
Piper loves dogs. Her job as a dog walker might not be the most financially stable, but it is her passion and gives her a purpose. Although living with her parents after her engagement fell apart can't last forever. Fortunately a call from her dog walking service needing someone asap for a certain F1 driver might be her saving grace.
Piper and Emilio are such an adorable pairing. The grumpy x sunshine dynamic works so well and Piper even brightens up my spirits with her optimism and affirmations. I felt for Piper all the way through and her trying to hard to work for Emilio and be there for her sister's upcoming wedding. Emilio trying to fight back his instinctual feelings for her is comical and I just want to shake him and say "Let her in!". It's so much fun reading the racing parts and getting into Emilio's head. Seeing how things played out with his parents and ex was interesting and dramatic. My fav part is when they visited his Abuela. The best was Gus, the dog. He was a huge part of the plot which I appreciated and he even had his own POV. There was importance to his character which every dog should have.
Overall Too Fast to Fall was a sweet romance filled with exciting races, wagging tails, some tasty treats, and love that defies the odds.
Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin for an ARC to review.
Piper loves dogs. Her job as a dog walker might not be the most financially stable, but it is her passion and gives her a purpose. Although living with her parents after her engagement fell apart can't last forever. Fortunately a call from her dog walking service needing someone asap for a certain F1 driver might be her saving grace.
Piper and Emilio are such an adorable pairing. The grumpy x sunshine dynamic works so well and Piper even brightens up my spirits with her optimism and affirmations. I felt for Piper all the way through and her trying to hard to work for Emilio and be there for her sister's upcoming wedding. Emilio trying to fight back his instinctual feelings for her is comical and I just want to shake him and say "Let her in!". It's so much fun reading the racing parts and getting into Emilio's head. Seeing how things played out with his parents and ex was interesting and dramatic. My fav part is when they visited his Abuela. The best was Gus, the dog. He was a huge part of the plot which I appreciated and he even had his own POV. There was importance to his character which every dog should have.
Overall Too Fast to Fall was a sweet romance filled with exciting races, wagging tails, some tasty treats, and love that defies the odds.
Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin for an ARC to review.
June 27, 2026
If you love F1 racing, sports romance, an adorable golden retriever/relationship conspirator, and a man who can’t help but fall for his dog nanny, this one’s for you!
Two words: SO CUTE! I loved that this book gives you all the feels of an F1 racing Hallmark movie! There’s a lot of mixing business with pleasure, travels to a foreign country, drama & funny situations, and love interests that slowly open their hearts. Plus, we get some super cute, pet-centric POV chapters for Gus, the goodest boi 🐕, that definitely adds so much personality to the story.
Piper is such a relatable FMC, and she really resonated with me. We meet her while healing from a broken engagement, navigating family and her future. Enter Emilio. Just coming off a recent breakup and dealing with his own problems, both needed each other in a professional capacity when things start heating up…and each realizes they may enjoy this arrangement more than they should. 🤭
There were so many wholesome and real interactions, AND there’s some spicy spice too. 😍🔥 My heart was so full from the ending, and my ears were positively blessed with the incredible audio narration of Talon David. Bringing multiple characters to life is absolute magic, and the voices were done flawlessly.
Enjoyed this one so much and 11/10 would have a “Gus’ #1 Fan” foam finger. 👆🎉
(4.25⭐s)
𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬
🏎️ F1 Driver Hero
💞 Forced Proximity
👰♀️ Jilted Bride
🐕 Live-In Dog Nanny
❤️🔥 Fated Mates
🐾 Doggo Love Conspirator (POV chapters!)
☀️ Grumpy/Sunshine
🌶️ Spicy
Two words: SO CUTE! I loved that this book gives you all the feels of an F1 racing Hallmark movie! There’s a lot of mixing business with pleasure, travels to a foreign country, drama & funny situations, and love interests that slowly open their hearts. Plus, we get some super cute, pet-centric POV chapters for Gus, the goodest boi 🐕, that definitely adds so much personality to the story.
Piper is such a relatable FMC, and she really resonated with me. We meet her while healing from a broken engagement, navigating family and her future. Enter Emilio. Just coming off a recent breakup and dealing with his own problems, both needed each other in a professional capacity when things start heating up…and each realizes they may enjoy this arrangement more than they should. 🤭
There were so many wholesome and real interactions, AND there’s some spicy spice too. 😍🔥 My heart was so full from the ending, and my ears were positively blessed with the incredible audio narration of Talon David. Bringing multiple characters to life is absolute magic, and the voices were done flawlessly.
Enjoyed this one so much and 11/10 would have a “Gus’ #1 Fan” foam finger. 👆🎉
(4.25⭐s)
𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬
🏎️ F1 Driver Hero
💞 Forced Proximity
👰♀️ Jilted Bride
🐕 Live-In Dog Nanny
❤️🔥 Fated Mates
🐾 Doggo Love Conspirator (POV chapters!)
☀️ Grumpy/Sunshine
🌶️ Spicy
June 3, 2026
Thank you to Harlequin Audio and author Karen Booth, for providing me with the ALC of “Too Fast to Fall”.
The audio is such a good way to go for this series! This is the second time I was able to listen and it was just a hit! Talon did a wonderful job with the narration.
💭My Thoughts💭
Gus one hundred percent stole the show in this book! I loved getting his cute little snip of thoughts. It was the perfect extra added to the story.
This is book 2 but can be read as a standalone, the characters from book 1 are present so you will feel like you're missing that part but not for the plot.
Piper got to live the life I wish I got to have in my 20s! To be able to dog sit for an F1 driver and travel all over while trying not to fall in love. Sign me up for it every time!! I also loved how fast Emilio folded for her, it was truly chef's kiss.
❣️Tropes❣️
F1 Romance
Grumpy x Sunshine
Boss x Employee
Slow Burn
Dog Steals the Show
🩵🩵🩵RATING🩵🩵🩵
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25
Spice Level: 🌶️
🎧 Single Narration 7h 52m at 2x
🎙️ Talon David
Narration Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Publisher: Harlequin Audio
The audio is such a good way to go for this series! This is the second time I was able to listen and it was just a hit! Talon did a wonderful job with the narration.
💭My Thoughts💭
Gus one hundred percent stole the show in this book! I loved getting his cute little snip of thoughts. It was the perfect extra added to the story.
This is book 2 but can be read as a standalone, the characters from book 1 are present so you will feel like you're missing that part but not for the plot.
Piper got to live the life I wish I got to have in my 20s! To be able to dog sit for an F1 driver and travel all over while trying not to fall in love. Sign me up for it every time!! I also loved how fast Emilio folded for her, it was truly chef's kiss.
❣️Tropes❣️
F1 Romance
Grumpy x Sunshine
Boss x Employee
Slow Burn
Dog Steals the Show
🩵🩵🩵RATING🩵🩵🩵
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25
Spice Level: 🌶️
🎧 Single Narration 7h 52m at 2x
🎙️ Talon David
Narration Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Publisher: Harlequin Audio
May 29, 2026
screams into a pillow GOD, I LOVE F1 ROMANCES. I finished this book in a single day — I literally could not put it down.
If you’re looking for a quick, easy, instant-love romance set in the world of Formula 1, this is definitely the book for you.
Emilio, one of the top F1 drivers, is struggling to find someone he trusts to take care of his dog, Gus, while he’s busy dominating on the track. Enter Piper, who quickly becomes much more than just Gus’s dog nanny. Suddenly, Piper’s life is turned upside down as she spends the next five weeks traveling the world with Emilio, living in close proximity while the chemistry and tension between them build fast.
Personally, I’m a sucker for Karen Booth’s books, and I really enjoyed the cameo from a previous novel in this one. That said, if you’re looking for a romance filled with deep longing and intense character development, this one may not completely hit the mark for you. It leans more toward a fun, fast-paced, feel-good romance than an emotional slow burn.
Overall, this was such an addictive read, and I can’t wait to see what’s next in the series. Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Romance for the ARC!
If you’re looking for a quick, easy, instant-love romance set in the world of Formula 1, this is definitely the book for you.
Emilio, one of the top F1 drivers, is struggling to find someone he trusts to take care of his dog, Gus, while he’s busy dominating on the track. Enter Piper, who quickly becomes much more than just Gus’s dog nanny. Suddenly, Piper’s life is turned upside down as she spends the next five weeks traveling the world with Emilio, living in close proximity while the chemistry and tension between them build fast.
Personally, I’m a sucker for Karen Booth’s books, and I really enjoyed the cameo from a previous novel in this one. That said, if you’re looking for a romance filled with deep longing and intense character development, this one may not completely hit the mark for you. It leans more toward a fun, fast-paced, feel-good romance than an emotional slow burn.
Overall, this was such an addictive read, and I can’t wait to see what’s next in the series. Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Romance for the ARC!
March 15, 2026
From the very first moment this book had me hooked. I loved being introduced to the dog Gus right away and it instantly made me want to keep reading. Too Fast to Fall is such a delightful read! Karen Booth pulls you into the story so quickly that I found it really hard to put the book down.
Emilio and Piper are both lovely characters and the chemistry between them is definitely there. They felt real and easy to root for. And it’s not just them who come to life on the page, Gus absolutely steals the show too! I loved the chapters from his perspective, they were fun and added something really unique to the story.
Also, I didn’t even know “single dog dad” was a thing but I’m officially a fan now. I had such a great time reading this one!
4.5 ⭐️
Emilio and Piper are both lovely characters and the chemistry between them is definitely there. They felt real and easy to root for. And it’s not just them who come to life on the page, Gus absolutely steals the show too! I loved the chapters from his perspective, they were fun and added something really unique to the story.
Also, I didn’t even know “single dog dad” was a thing but I’m officially a fan now. I had such a great time reading this one!
4.5 ⭐️
June 11, 2026
2.5
This was fast and… well, too fast.
Everything happened SO quickly that there was basically no time to connect with the story, the characters, or the romance.
It’s also a very short book, only 270 pages, which definitely explains some of it, but I really wish there had been a little more tension and that the romance had developed more slowly because we do NOT like insta love over here…
That said, I absolutely loved the dog!!
And the narrator did an amazing job with the audiobook. Honestly, the audiobook was probably my favorite part and the main reason I finished it.
This was fast and… well, too fast.
Everything happened SO quickly that there was basically no time to connect with the story, the characters, or the romance.
It’s also a very short book, only 270 pages, which definitely explains some of it, but I really wish there had been a little more tension and that the romance had developed more slowly because we do NOT like insta love over here…
That said, I absolutely loved the dog!!
And the narrator did an amazing job with the audiobook. Honestly, the audiobook was probably my favorite part and the main reason I finished it.
April 26, 2026
3⭐️
This one was enjoyable overall, but it felt a bit slow in parts and I found myself waiting for things to pick up. The romance had some sweet moments, even if it didn’t fully hook me the whole way through.
I also didn’t love the dog’s point of view. It pulled me out of the story a bit and just wasn’t really for me.
Still an easy read, just not one I was fully invested in.
Thank you so much to harlequin books for the ALC via Netgally!
This one was enjoyable overall, but it felt a bit slow in parts and I found myself waiting for things to pick up. The romance had some sweet moments, even if it didn’t fully hook me the whole way through.
I also didn’t love the dog’s point of view. It pulled me out of the story a bit and just wasn’t really for me.
Still an easy read, just not one I was fully invested in.
Thank you so much to harlequin books for the ALC via Netgally!
May 17, 2026
A quirky F1 love story? Say less. This book had everything I love, fast cars, globe-trotting, dogs, tension, chemistry, and a romance that kept me smiling the entire time.
The mix of Formula 1 glamour and heartfelt moments made it such a fun, addictive read. I loved getting swept into the chaos of the racing world while still feeling grounded by the humor, emotional moments, and lovable characters. Honestly, what’s not to love?
The mix of Formula 1 glamour and heartfelt moments made it such a fun, addictive read. I loved getting swept into the chaos of the racing world while still feeling grounded by the humor, emotional moments, and lovable characters. Honestly, what’s not to love?
June 9, 2026
Thank you @NetGalley and @HarlequinAudio for the ALC. This is book two in the Fast Track series and I liked this one a little more then the first. Piper is a dog walker who loves F1 and has moved back in with her parents after a broken engagement. F1 driver Emilio needs a dog nanny for Gus, who has a habit of running away. Piper is thrilled to get out of town for five week. Emilio is happy Gus has someone to take care of him. Yet, Gus wants a permanent mommy and he will do everything he can to make it happen. So cute.
May 25, 2026
Sports Romance | Grumpy x Sunshine, Workplace, F1
Sunny dog sitter Piper becomes live-in carer for brooding F1 driver Emilio. Forced proximity, sharp banter, and sizzling sparks—falling for the boss was never part of the plan. Fast, fun, steamy, and full of heart. Past heartbreak, relationship pressure
Perfect racing romance—total winner! 🏎️❤️
Sunny dog sitter Piper becomes live-in carer for brooding F1 driver Emilio. Forced proximity, sharp banter, and sizzling sparks—falling for the boss was never part of the plan. Fast, fun, steamy, and full of heart. Past heartbreak, relationship pressure
Perfect racing romance—total winner! 🏎️❤️
June 30, 2026
This was okay. Kinda cute. Nothing special. The dog pov was funny and kinda weird. I liked that it was a race car driver and a dog sitter. It was fine, but nothing that captured my interest in a way where I was really invested in the story.
May 18, 2026
The title of this book says it all. This book was super fast paced. But the narration was perfect, the story line adorable, the attraction palpable and the build up hot!
June 14, 2026
Emilio very swooney. Looooove that Gus the dog had parts in this book ❤️
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
This book was a shorter read so I decided to push through, but nothing about it really kept my interest.
The main plotline involved Piper (a dog sitter) moving to London from Miami to work for and live with her favourite F1 racing star, who she had a huge crush on.
Instead of this being super exciting and tension filled, with Piper exploring a whole new world, we enter drizzly London where Piper stays in the house the whole time. The setting could have been so fun.
I expected Piper to perhaps go with Emilio to work and see him training and racing up close. It's mentioned that other racers bring their dogs with them, but we don't meet a single one.
We also didn't get any scenes of her doing fun 'activities' with Gus outside of the house.
Piper's sister was mad at Piper for leaving right before her sisters wedding when there was so much planning to do, but Piper promises to do her maid of honour duties remotely, however we don't see her doing a single one.
It just seemed that every element that could have made for some fun and interesting scenes was completely missed out on.
With how grumpy and dismissive Emilio was, and Piper feeling lonely and isolated, the situation she had agreed to ended up just being an uncomfortable one.
The F1 element was also disappointingly lacking. I craved more Formula 1 talk, especially as Piper was apparently a big fan.
I feel like it should have been so exciting, but even the racing scenes were missing intensity for me.
There was very little build-up or anticipation to them. Instead of this sentence ( "The lights blinked on in succession— one, two, three, four, five. They went out. Away the cars went." ), I think it would have been really cool if the countdown was split into separate sentences, with descriptions in between of how Emilio was feeling right before he took off.
Even the final big race was over in just a couple of paragraphs.
I had a similar problem with the first book in this interconnected series. Despite this, I did give that book 5 ★, but the writing quality of this book was very poor - I'm really not sure how that changed so much since the first book 😕
The writing felt cringey and there were a few word choices from the characters' dialogue that took me out of the story. I kept thinking to myself 'people don't talk like that'. Emilio's "epic, sweaty hair" was mentioned quite a few times too.
Lots of sentences stood out to me, such as:
"Just like it was a car, Emilio steered the conversation away from the topic."
The way the characters communicated also felt very robotic, making their conversations feel stale and awkward. I didn't feel anything at all from them.
My biggest problem with the writing, however, was the lack of description from everything.
Similarly to the first book, I craved more descriptions of the F1 environment. The reader gets a passing mention of: the drivers room, the paddock, the media pen, the pit lane, a formation lap etc, but no explanation of what these things actually are or what they look like. They were blank spaces in my mind as I had no way to fill them.
We also received no character descriptions until 10%, making it difficult to fully form and connect with the characters from the get-go.
There were even times when it would be mentioned that the characters were feeling something, but it didn't go into further detail, like:
"It was giving her all sorts of feelings— tingling and whatnot."
"Piper had so many feelings as she watched Emilio come across the finish line in sixth place."
All of these issues made the writing feel jolty and difficult to read.
The combination of this and the split pov's made my reading experience a confusing one.
The split pov's happened mid chapter with no character name heading above, so they were hard for me to differentiate between and took me out of the story each time while my brain caught up.
We also get pov's from Emilio's dog, Gus, but instead of these being a fun clever addition, they felt uncomfortable because Gus felt more human than dog - he didn't have a dogs personality and spoke in clear sentences. It just didn't work for me.
One of the jokes Gus made: "you know what they say about big paws", was a bit weird for me personally. What the joke was hinting at is not something I'd want to be thinking about at all, but especially not while reading a romance.
I also found it weird the way Emilio spoke to Gus. It was as if he wasn't a dog. He spoke very awkwardly and formally to him.
Neither of our main characters appealed to me either. Emilio felt very bland. The only time he had personality was before he 'softened' towards Piper, when he had a biting and blunt attitude that was very dislikable. When he all of a sudden switched to being nice, there was nothing to him.
We never get to know from Emilios' perspective what stood out about Piper to him and why he suddenly liked her after previously finding her so grating (other than his dog liked her).
Piper is described as having a 'sunshine' personality, but I personally didn't view her as so. I found her to be a bit irritating, especially as she was careless and constantly overstepping boundaries.
The main plot of this book is Piper becoming Gus's dog nanny - she is hired as a professional in this field. Except she wasn't professional at all.
She put Gus in unsafe situations with crowds of fans, allowing the fans to hold Gus while she stood away from him and took photos. She posted pictures of Gus online without his owner's consent and even made a social media account of Gus without asking.
None of this was in her job description and I was surprised she didn't think about these things. For all the money she was being paid, and her only job being to care for and protect Gus, she was often distracted.
She also didn't respect Emilio's boundaries when he first hired her. She was hired to care for Gus but badgered Emilio about wanting to spend time with him 'hanging out', going on his training runs with him, and having dinner together.
I didn't feel able to root for the possibility of a romance forming because Emilio had set a professional boundary, and that shouldn't have been stepped on by Piper.
Another problem I had with boundaries was once Piper and Emilio were first intimate together. They didn't give themselves any label afterwards and discussed that "last night meant nothing". So when they went to Emilio's grandmother's house, Piper told him she wouldn't be sharing a room with him and didn't want to be intimate out of respect for Emilio's grandmother. When it came night time and they were outside their rooms, Emilio asks a SECOND time if they can be intimate together and she STILL declines, but later he creeps into her room anyway and disregards what she told him.
This was an uncomfortable scene for me to read and didn't make Emilio look good to me.
The power balance of Piper and Emilio's relationship was also a factor I didn't enjoy. Piper moves in with him to care for his dog and is being paid A LOT of money. In the end, once they are together, he pays her 4x the amount he was supposed to, which instead of being a gracious gesture, felt inappropriate to me.
Before the 50% mark of this book, Emilio kept thinking about kissing Piper and dating her, and how he "couldn't" due to their work relationship dynmatic, but surely the biggest complication of all here was the fact that he was constantly considering being intimate with her, even though she had given no hint towards him that she liked him like that. It felt creepy and uncomfortable.
There was no flirting or banter between them even once they got together, and the only foundation of their relationship was lust - and a tiny amount at that.
I never understood why it progressed to love. I didn’t feel any spark between them when they met and the chemistry just wasn't there.
Emilio's feelings toward PIper did a complete 180 at 40%, where suddenly she was magical to him, but I didn't feel like there were many moments to show for this newfound feeling. He'd been so frustrated by her previously. Suddenly he was inviting her to everything when just a couple days ago he'd wanted nothing to do with her.
The only romantic moments between them were when Gus wrapped his lead around their legs and had them pressed up together. This happened over and over again and was extremely repetitive and felt uncreative.
Up until 70% of the way through this book, it really felt like nothing had happened. I chose to highlight 70% as a slight changing point because it was the first and only 'conflict' in this book, other than Piper needing to decide if she would he staying or leaving Emilio's employ.
At 70% we bump into Emilio's ex, who we have been made to feel was evil for leaving Emilio, even though it is later admitted that Victoria had the courage to end the relationship after many years because it turned out Emilio never really loved her.
The scene is short and not much of a conflict.
At Piper's sisters wedding, I assumed there would be a conflict with her ex who broke their engagement, but even though the ex IS at the wedding, we don't get any scene of them interacting.
Emilio also crashes this wedding with Gus, which felt highly inappropriate.
One plotline that I think could have been really interesting could have been the dog treat company that wanted to sell Piper's homemade dog treats.
There is a scene where they ask Piper to send them the recipe so they can "check it over". The scene shows Piper feeling uneasy about this, but she does it anyway. I assumed this was leading to a conflict around Piper being stolen from, but nothing comes of it and it was a perfectly harmless interaction.
Finally, I wanted to note something that probably made me the most uncomfortable out of the many uncomfortable moments in this book, which was the continued mention of reckless driving that Piper performed.
Piper admits to often speeding and having points on her licence. A character from the previous book tells her "we all get them (points) at some point".
The scene of her driving to the airport at the beginning even has her being pulled over for speeding, but she doesn't get a ticket because the policewoman likes F1.
We also see Piper answer her phone while driving at one point.
We got statements throughout this book like:
"I broke several major traffic laws to get to the airport in time."
"You drive like you passed your test yesterday."
"You just clipped that cyclist’s left arm. Okay. Fine. You grazed it."
"Who's going to pull me over? There’s nobody around."
These scenes were clearly intended for comedic effect, but they were not funny and I found them very distasteful, even in a book about racing.
* thank you to harlequin and netgalley for the e-arc in exchange for a review. these are my honest thoughts *
The main plotline involved Piper (a dog sitter) moving to London from Miami to work for and live with her favourite F1 racing star, who she had a huge crush on.
Instead of this being super exciting and tension filled, with Piper exploring a whole new world, we enter drizzly London where Piper stays in the house the whole time. The setting could have been so fun.
I expected Piper to perhaps go with Emilio to work and see him training and racing up close. It's mentioned that other racers bring their dogs with them, but we don't meet a single one.
We also didn't get any scenes of her doing fun 'activities' with Gus outside of the house.
Piper's sister was mad at Piper for leaving right before her sisters wedding when there was so much planning to do, but Piper promises to do her maid of honour duties remotely, however we don't see her doing a single one.
It just seemed that every element that could have made for some fun and interesting scenes was completely missed out on.
With how grumpy and dismissive Emilio was, and Piper feeling lonely and isolated, the situation she had agreed to ended up just being an uncomfortable one.
The F1 element was also disappointingly lacking. I craved more Formula 1 talk, especially as Piper was apparently a big fan.
I feel like it should have been so exciting, but even the racing scenes were missing intensity for me.
There was very little build-up or anticipation to them. Instead of this sentence ( "The lights blinked on in succession— one, two, three, four, five. They went out. Away the cars went." ), I think it would have been really cool if the countdown was split into separate sentences, with descriptions in between of how Emilio was feeling right before he took off.
Even the final big race was over in just a couple of paragraphs.
I had a similar problem with the first book in this interconnected series. Despite this, I did give that book 5 ★, but the writing quality of this book was very poor - I'm really not sure how that changed so much since the first book 😕
The writing felt cringey and there were a few word choices from the characters' dialogue that took me out of the story. I kept thinking to myself 'people don't talk like that'. Emilio's "epic, sweaty hair" was mentioned quite a few times too.
Lots of sentences stood out to me, such as:
"Just like it was a car, Emilio steered the conversation away from the topic."
The way the characters communicated also felt very robotic, making their conversations feel stale and awkward. I didn't feel anything at all from them.
My biggest problem with the writing, however, was the lack of description from everything.
Similarly to the first book, I craved more descriptions of the F1 environment. The reader gets a passing mention of: the drivers room, the paddock, the media pen, the pit lane, a formation lap etc, but no explanation of what these things actually are or what they look like. They were blank spaces in my mind as I had no way to fill them.
We also received no character descriptions until 10%, making it difficult to fully form and connect with the characters from the get-go.
There were even times when it would be mentioned that the characters were feeling something, but it didn't go into further detail, like:
"It was giving her all sorts of feelings— tingling and whatnot."
"Piper had so many feelings as she watched Emilio come across the finish line in sixth place."
All of these issues made the writing feel jolty and difficult to read.
The combination of this and the split pov's made my reading experience a confusing one.
The split pov's happened mid chapter with no character name heading above, so they were hard for me to differentiate between and took me out of the story each time while my brain caught up.
We also get pov's from Emilio's dog, Gus, but instead of these being a fun clever addition, they felt uncomfortable because Gus felt more human than dog - he didn't have a dogs personality and spoke in clear sentences. It just didn't work for me.
One of the jokes Gus made: "you know what they say about big paws", was a bit weird for me personally. What the joke was hinting at is not something I'd want to be thinking about at all, but especially not while reading a romance.
I also found it weird the way Emilio spoke to Gus. It was as if he wasn't a dog. He spoke very awkwardly and formally to him.
Neither of our main characters appealed to me either. Emilio felt very bland. The only time he had personality was before he 'softened' towards Piper, when he had a biting and blunt attitude that was very dislikable. When he all of a sudden switched to being nice, there was nothing to him.
We never get to know from Emilios' perspective what stood out about Piper to him and why he suddenly liked her after previously finding her so grating (other than his dog liked her).
Piper is described as having a 'sunshine' personality, but I personally didn't view her as so. I found her to be a bit irritating, especially as she was careless and constantly overstepping boundaries.
The main plot of this book is Piper becoming Gus's dog nanny - she is hired as a professional in this field. Except she wasn't professional at all.
She put Gus in unsafe situations with crowds of fans, allowing the fans to hold Gus while she stood away from him and took photos. She posted pictures of Gus online without his owner's consent and even made a social media account of Gus without asking.
None of this was in her job description and I was surprised she didn't think about these things. For all the money she was being paid, and her only job being to care for and protect Gus, she was often distracted.
She also didn't respect Emilio's boundaries when he first hired her. She was hired to care for Gus but badgered Emilio about wanting to spend time with him 'hanging out', going on his training runs with him, and having dinner together.
I didn't feel able to root for the possibility of a romance forming because Emilio had set a professional boundary, and that shouldn't have been stepped on by Piper.
Another problem I had with boundaries was once Piper and Emilio were first intimate together. They didn't give themselves any label afterwards and discussed that "last night meant nothing". So when they went to Emilio's grandmother's house, Piper told him she wouldn't be sharing a room with him and didn't want to be intimate out of respect for Emilio's grandmother. When it came night time and they were outside their rooms, Emilio asks a SECOND time if they can be intimate together and she STILL declines, but later he creeps into her room anyway and disregards what she told him.
This was an uncomfortable scene for me to read and didn't make Emilio look good to me.
The power balance of Piper and Emilio's relationship was also a factor I didn't enjoy. Piper moves in with him to care for his dog and is being paid A LOT of money. In the end, once they are together, he pays her 4x the amount he was supposed to, which instead of being a gracious gesture, felt inappropriate to me.
Before the 50% mark of this book, Emilio kept thinking about kissing Piper and dating her, and how he "couldn't" due to their work relationship dynmatic, but surely the biggest complication of all here was the fact that he was constantly considering being intimate with her, even though she had given no hint towards him that she liked him like that. It felt creepy and uncomfortable.
There was no flirting or banter between them even once they got together, and the only foundation of their relationship was lust - and a tiny amount at that.
I never understood why it progressed to love. I didn’t feel any spark between them when they met and the chemistry just wasn't there.
Emilio's feelings toward PIper did a complete 180 at 40%, where suddenly she was magical to him, but I didn't feel like there were many moments to show for this newfound feeling. He'd been so frustrated by her previously. Suddenly he was inviting her to everything when just a couple days ago he'd wanted nothing to do with her.
The only romantic moments between them were when Gus wrapped his lead around their legs and had them pressed up together. This happened over and over again and was extremely repetitive and felt uncreative.
Up until 70% of the way through this book, it really felt like nothing had happened. I chose to highlight 70% as a slight changing point because it was the first and only 'conflict' in this book, other than Piper needing to decide if she would he staying or leaving Emilio's employ.
At 70% we bump into Emilio's ex, who we have been made to feel was evil for leaving Emilio, even though it is later admitted that Victoria had the courage to end the relationship after many years because it turned out Emilio never really loved her.
The scene is short and not much of a conflict.
At Piper's sisters wedding, I assumed there would be a conflict with her ex who broke their engagement, but even though the ex IS at the wedding, we don't get any scene of them interacting.
Emilio also crashes this wedding with Gus, which felt highly inappropriate.
One plotline that I think could have been really interesting could have been the dog treat company that wanted to sell Piper's homemade dog treats.
There is a scene where they ask Piper to send them the recipe so they can "check it over". The scene shows Piper feeling uneasy about this, but she does it anyway. I assumed this was leading to a conflict around Piper being stolen from, but nothing comes of it and it was a perfectly harmless interaction.
Finally, I wanted to note something that probably made me the most uncomfortable out of the many uncomfortable moments in this book, which was the continued mention of reckless driving that Piper performed.
Piper admits to often speeding and having points on her licence. A character from the previous book tells her "we all get them (points) at some point".
The scene of her driving to the airport at the beginning even has her being pulled over for speeding, but she doesn't get a ticket because the policewoman likes F1.
We also see Piper answer her phone while driving at one point.
We got statements throughout this book like:
"I broke several major traffic laws to get to the airport in time."
"You drive like you passed your test yesterday."
"You just clipped that cyclist’s left arm. Okay. Fine. You grazed it."
"Who's going to pull me over? There’s nobody around."
These scenes were clearly intended for comedic effect, but they were not funny and I found them very distasteful, even in a book about racing.
* thank you to harlequin and netgalley for the e-arc in exchange for a review. these are my honest thoughts *
July 7, 2026
3.75
June 23, 2026
Thank you Karen & Harlequin Romance for the eARC of Too Fast To Fall.
Actually rating 3.75.
Too Fast To Fall was a really cute idea and I loved the story & the characters, it let me down when it came to the execution though. The switches of between the focus character mid chapter was really weird and the fact that both the MCs chapters were in 3rd person POV but the random chapters we got from Gus' perspective were in 1st person POV was extremely weird. If the perspective switch was fixed this book would have been so much smoother of a read. Overall I loved the story just didn't love the way it was formatted.
Actually rating 3.75.
Too Fast To Fall was a really cute idea and I loved the story & the characters, it let me down when it came to the execution though. The switches of between the focus character mid chapter was really weird and the fact that both the MCs chapters were in 3rd person POV but the random chapters we got from Gus' perspective were in 1st person POV was extremely weird. If the perspective switch was fixed this book would have been so much smoother of a read. Overall I loved the story just didn't love the way it was formatted.
June 9, 2026
I read the first book in this series, Not So Fast, last year and loved it. When I found out there was going to be a second book in the series I’ve been waiting for it ever since. Not So Fast was actually my introduction to Formula 1 romance books and I loved that book and this one just as much. I’ve read quite a few books with a parent and nanny as the main characters but this is my first dog parent and dog nanny book. I thought it was such a fun concept and done really well. Piper was such a fun character to root for and so easy to love. Emilio was very misunderstood but underneath it all he was so caring and loving. I loved the slow-burn tension between them and how their relationship developed. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and the audio version was very good. I rate this book 4/5 stars and recommend it to anyone who likes forced proximity, grumpy/sunshine, and Formula 1 romances.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
These was SO CUTE!
At first I wasnt sure if I'd like Emilio by the immature way he was treating Piper but he finally got over that and it was cuteness overload 🥰
Love the secret crushing, the standing up for each other, and the dog! Omg I LOVED that the dog has a pov and how hard he tried to get them together 😂
This book reminded me what a good fake dating and forced proximity book should be like. I got worried when the author used the good ol "it doesn't have to mean anything" ploy, but I didnt mind it too much as it wasnt dragged on forever.
I wish there was a hardcover edition of this because I'd buy it in a heartbeat 🥹
At first I wasnt sure if I'd like Emilio by the immature way he was treating Piper but he finally got over that and it was cuteness overload 🥰
Love the secret crushing, the standing up for each other, and the dog! Omg I LOVED that the dog has a pov and how hard he tried to get them together 😂
This book reminded me what a good fake dating and forced proximity book should be like. I got worried when the author used the good ol "it doesn't have to mean anything" ploy, but I didnt mind it too much as it wasnt dragged on forever.
I wish there was a hardcover edition of this because I'd buy it in a heartbeat 🥹
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This is the second Karen Booth F1 romance in the Fast Track series that I've read. I think it's fair to say that Karen Booth is producing some of the best F1 romance novels these days. Both were fabulously good times. I worry my neighbors thought I was an escaped deranged clown with how big my cheshire cat smile was while walking around listening to this audiobook. It really brought me joy and made me smile which is exactly what I'm looking for from a romance read.
Too Fast to Fall opens with F1 driver Emilio Baquero not having someone to watch his dog, Gus, on qualifying day. Gus is an escape artist and is quite good at getting dog sitters to quit. Emilio's PR person gets him a dog sitter for race day through an app. Piper Murphy who's a F1 fan shows up and gets along great with Gus leading to Emilio hiring her and asking her to move to London with him and Gus and to go to all his races.
I admit: I almost skipped reading this one because I was rather dubious of the premise. It seemed exceedingly contrived and I didn't really see how it could work from the description. I didn't see how we'd go from dog sitter to offer to live with a F1 driver in any reasonable way. I only read it because I'd enjoyed Not So Fast enough to justify taking a risk. I'm very glad that I did because let me say, the premise worked. I was shocked at how well it worked and came together. If anything, it was less contrived than Not So Fast and handled the conflict of the situation more authentically.
The chapters written from the dog's perspective were fantastic and entirely unexpected. Karen Booth even changed the voice in those chapters to more closely resemble a dog's. To me, they took what was already a good book and made it truly special. I'm a sucker for great animal character and Gus (and his role in the story) was on par with the crows from Wooing the Witch Queen that I adored.
Another thing I appreciated was the emotional maturity of the main characters. So often I read romance books and am deeply concerned by the characters' relationship skills and emotional maturity.
Karen Booth's decision to call Piper's clitoris her "heavenly apex" was impressive and hilarious. I snorted when I heard that. It's truly a shame that most men miss the apex when driving.
My only real complaint of this book is that while it's coming out well into the F1 2026 season, it is very much written about the 2025 season. There's 20 drivers on the grid and we have DRS trains. I know with publishing timelines, this was likely a bit of a problem, but the 2026 regs have been known for a long time. I also feel like we could have had some pretty good sex jokes with supper clipping, harvesting, etc. While this isn't inherently problematic, I was reading this ARC before, during, and after watching the 2026 Miami Grand Prix. It felt oddly dated in ways it shouldn't for a F1 book that hasn't even been published yet. That said, it's really my only complaint about this book and it's hardly a complaint and more of a weirdness. Too Fast to Fall contained significantly less F1 technical depth than Not So Fast since we don't have Mia's podcast needing technical depth which made the regulation differences less noticeable. Karen Booth does a rather impressive job of including enough F1 stuff to actually root the book in the sport without actually needing much technical F1 understanding. I think this works very well--a stark contrast to All to Play For which felt like it took place in hotel rooms and was hardly about F1 at all.
I listened to the audiobook and thought the narration helped bring the story to life. There were a few moments where I sort of felt like Piper was annoyingly warm and bubbly but that's in-line with her character and not 30 seconds later that same narration decision was making me smile and improving my experience with the book. I think this speaks to the appropriateness of the narration since my experience mirrored Emilio's and is not a complaint. Again, Gus the dog was a standout narration--just like he is in the prose. Talon David did a fantastic job changing her cadence to both match how Karen Booth writes Gus' internal narrative as well as letting us very clearly know these are Dog Thoughts.
This was another delightful F1 romance from Karen Booth. I both enjoyed it and recommend it, even if you're not a F1 fan. At this point, I'd say you should just trust that Karen Booth's F1 romances will almost certainly be worth reading. I am.
Thanks to Harlequin Audio and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.
Too Fast to Fall opens with F1 driver Emilio Baquero not having someone to watch his dog, Gus, on qualifying day. Gus is an escape artist and is quite good at getting dog sitters to quit. Emilio's PR person gets him a dog sitter for race day through an app. Piper Murphy who's a F1 fan shows up and gets along great with Gus leading to Emilio hiring her and asking her to move to London with him and Gus and to go to all his races.
I admit: I almost skipped reading this one because I was rather dubious of the premise. It seemed exceedingly contrived and I didn't really see how it could work from the description. I didn't see how we'd go from dog sitter to offer to live with a F1 driver in any reasonable way. I only read it because I'd enjoyed Not So Fast enough to justify taking a risk. I'm very glad that I did because let me say, the premise worked. I was shocked at how well it worked and came together. If anything, it was less contrived than Not So Fast and handled the conflict of the situation more authentically.
The chapters written from the dog's perspective were fantastic and entirely unexpected. Karen Booth even changed the voice in those chapters to more closely resemble a dog's. To me, they took what was already a good book and made it truly special. I'm a sucker for great animal character and Gus (and his role in the story) was on par with the crows from Wooing the Witch Queen that I adored.
Another thing I appreciated was the emotional maturity of the main characters. So often I read romance books and am deeply concerned by the characters' relationship skills and emotional maturity.
Karen Booth's decision to call Piper's clitoris her "heavenly apex" was impressive and hilarious. I snorted when I heard that. It's truly a shame that most men miss the apex when driving.
My only real complaint of this book is that while it's coming out well into the F1 2026 season, it is very much written about the 2025 season. There's 20 drivers on the grid and we have DRS trains. I know with publishing timelines, this was likely a bit of a problem, but the 2026 regs have been known for a long time. I also feel like we could have had some pretty good sex jokes with supper clipping, harvesting, etc. While this isn't inherently problematic, I was reading this ARC before, during, and after watching the 2026 Miami Grand Prix. It felt oddly dated in ways it shouldn't for a F1 book that hasn't even been published yet. That said, it's really my only complaint about this book and it's hardly a complaint and more of a weirdness. Too Fast to Fall contained significantly less F1 technical depth than Not So Fast since we don't have Mia's podcast needing technical depth which made the regulation differences less noticeable. Karen Booth does a rather impressive job of including enough F1 stuff to actually root the book in the sport without actually needing much technical F1 understanding. I think this works very well--a stark contrast to All to Play For which felt like it took place in hotel rooms and was hardly about F1 at all.
I listened to the audiobook and thought the narration helped bring the story to life. There were a few moments where I sort of felt like Piper was annoyingly warm and bubbly but that's in-line with her character and not 30 seconds later that same narration decision was making me smile and improving my experience with the book. I think this speaks to the appropriateness of the narration since my experience mirrored Emilio's and is not a complaint. Again, Gus the dog was a standout narration--just like he is in the prose. Talon David did a fantastic job changing her cadence to both match how Karen Booth writes Gus' internal narrative as well as letting us very clearly know these are Dog Thoughts.
This was another delightful F1 romance from Karen Booth. I both enjoyed it and recommend it, even if you're not a F1 fan. At this point, I'd say you should just trust that Karen Booth's F1 romances will almost certainly be worth reading. I am.
Thanks to Harlequin Audio and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.
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