High Octane: Ignited

by Rachel Cross

[Jack]

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

There aren’t many romance novels out there about Formula One. So far I’ve found two, one was quite the let down. I’m happy to say that this one blows the other out of the water and into space.

We’re introduced to Cass who is traveling the the world with her father, who is a Formula One sponsor. What we are not told right off the bat, that the reason she’s with her father is because she was involved in a tragic accident that took the life of one of her team members while flying a helicopter.

I was a bit confused at first as to why Cass was so messed up, needed to drink and become drunk in order to just fly on a plane.

Ronan and Cass meet at a bar, with Cass pleasantly drunk. They chat for a bit and decide to head up to Ronan’s hotel room. They both thought there’d be some sexy fun times, but turns out Cass had too much to drink and ends up sick in the bathroom.

She leaves ashamed and hopes to never see Ronan again.

But she sees him at the track the next day, and this is where the rivalry between Ronan, the sexy British driver and Maddox (I think thats his name!) a sultry, hot tempered Texan starts to heat up. And boy was the drama great! The had lively banter, and it was apparent how much both of them wanted to win the championship. But of course there could only be one winner!

Ronan and Cass start a rocky relationship, there’s hot sex, and tense moments, with each not wanting to reveal too much about their past. They would rather focus on the present, afraid the past will come back to haunt them.

Cass was so broken, she thought she was coping with her tragedy by drinking. But when she meets Ronan, she finds a new way to cope. Sex with him is amazing, best she’s ever had. But not only are they sexually attracted to each other, there is a definite connection between the two of them. They care for one another whether or not they want to admit it or not.

The racing aspect of the novel was very well done! It felt as if I were in the paddocks myself and could hear the roar of the engine. And it was accurate! The qualifying, practices, testing and the tracks! There were real F1 tracks in there and it just made me even more happy.

Their relationship is not all sexy times and roses. They have their ups and downs, Cass is unwilling to seek help for the issues she has developed since the accident, and Ronan is unable to put anything put Formula One first in his life, as well as deal with his father, and the mess that he created.

But they work through everything together, they no longer have to face their demons alone and that was what made the characters that much more real, well rounded and developed. They were fleshed out, had their positive and negative traits. Which was a nice change from all the other New Adult books out there.

I hope to read more of Ronan and Cass’s story! What an amazing novel, an excellent combination of Formula One and romance.