🚨I include trigger warnings at the end of the review that may provide spoilers depending on what your definition of a spoiler is.
Rated: 4.5/5
When Amy announced she was dropping a suprise novella featuring the two characters I haven't been able to get out of my head since reading the ARC of Crash Test at the beginning of the year, I was beyond stoked. I've been having a rough patch lately and this was just the pick-me-up I needed! I loved how much growth we got to see in Jacob & Travis, both individually and within their relationship. The parallels gutted me in the best way (specifically the "impress me"/"impressive" one lol). It may be a short book but it's taking up a lot of space in my heart for sure. I love these two!
Favorite Quotes:
🎙️ "I'll see you out there. I'll be the one driving much, much faster than you."
🎙️ "You could've made him grovel a little." "That's not how you treat people you love."
🎙️ "Yeah, sorry for complimenting you on your sexy boyfriend, Jacob."
🎙️ "Travis makes us all look like idiots in Q1"
🎙️ "You were on pace for pole position until that dog ran across track. Tell us what happened." "A dog ran across track."
🎙️ "Impressive."
🎙️ "I've lost count of how many times we've been together like this, and yet somehow, every single time, it's like a hill I have to climb, a choice I have to make. To be vulnerable with him or not, to hold a part of myself back or let him see how much I need him. It should get easier with time but it never does. But it never stops being perfect, either, when I summon up the courage to let him in."
🎙️ "There are a thousand possible outcomes tonight. And at the end of every one of them, I love you."
🎙️"You're it for me, Jacob. You're the love of my fucking life."
🎙️ "Travis is asking me for this. And there is nothing I won't do for him."
🎙️ "Travis doesn't make mistakes. He's the best driver in the world. But I'm in the faster car."
🎙️ "Can they really not hear it? Isn't it totally, utterly obvious that my entire world hinges on him?"
🎙️ "This is the place where I became a race winner, the place where I might have earned myself an F1 seat for next season. In thirty years, I might look back on this night as the turning point in my career. It should feel important. It does feel important. But it can't compare to the feeling of Travis's fingers threaded in mine or the look in his eyes when he smiles at me. And it will never hold a candle to him saying I make his life perfect, or to the faint tingling on my left ring finger, where his lips last touched my skin."
Characters:
MMC1: Jacob Nichols, 24, F1 reserve driver
MMC2: Travis Keeping, 25, F1 driver
Pets: 2 dogs - Monacco & Ghost
POV: First person, Jacob
Pace: Fast
Type: Novella sequel to Crash Test
Cliffhanger?: Eh, sorta. The last chapter introduces a new set of characters that seem to have their own book, but it's not really a cliffhanger for Jacob/Travis.
Setting: Singapore
Tropes:
📚 F1 racing
📚 Established relationship
📚 Rivals but also lovers lol
Microtrope:
🤏 He wears his boyfriend's racing shoes (similar to the jersey trope lol)
🤏 His boyfriend is able to read him like no one else & knows how to calm him
Spice:
🌶 Cracked door
🌶 Blowjob
🌶 Anal sex
🌶 Anal fingering
Triggers:
⚠️ Frequent discussions about a previous car crash that resulted in two deaths
⚠️ Parental abandonment
⚠️ Homophobia
⚠️ Discussions of vomit/staining from vomit