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A review by smitch29
Revved by Samantha Towle
5.0
4.9
I thought this book was great. It proved yet again that Samantha Towle is what ever author should be: a great story teller. She wrote a captivating story that had heart and great characters.
In this book, Andi was left without a father at too young of an age. She hero worshiped her racing legend of a father, and thought he was invincible. When his occupation got the best of him, it left her and her mother reeling from the loss. Yet, the racing world is all she has ever known and loved. She just got a job working on a Formula 1 racing team as a mechanic. Being immersed in racing is in her soul, but it also allows her to be closer to her father. A good family friend got her the job, but failed to mention to anyone that she is a girl. her employers aren't sexist, but they fear she'll be a distraction and create problems for the all-star racer, Carrick Ryan. He's already got the reputation as a playboy and the racing company is hoping to keep all the media drama out of the workplace. To keep her job, Andi has to deny any advances from Carrick, which should be easy since she refuses to date drivers, due to her history. So Andi shuts down all Carrick's flirting as best she can, but she can't deny to herself that she's attracted. It makes Carrick learn how to have a friend that is an attractive, single girl. They grow really close throughout the tour and it leaves Andi the opportunity to see past Carrick's cocky exterior and see his fears of abandonment that his mother left him with. She becomes much more endeared to Carrick and increasingly has more troubles hiding her attraction. At some point it becomes about more than her job, and it's just her deep rooted fears holding her back. She's quite terrified of his job and the risk he takes daily and she doesn't know if she can handle the risk on her heart. But when her feelings don't just go away, she's forced to face a decision, but she has to remember to be weary of his tender heart, that won't take well to rejection.
The plot wasn't terribly original. Even the racing tour setting was a near mirror of concert tours. Despite that this book never really reminded me of other books while I was reading it. Now, of course, I can draw similarities easily. But, the unique and solid writing style allowed me to be immersed in the lives of just these characters.
Speaking of the characters, I really liked how realistic both of them were. They both had sincere flaws and didn't handle everything as well as they should have. However, the author did a great job making sure their problems weren't magically cured just by being together. Too many romance novels seems to erase any character flaws by being in love, which is kind of stupid and very unrealistic.
I can admit that it is very hard in this genre to separate my feelings for the characters from my thoughts on the book. So many times, the characters' personalities can make or break a story for me. I can't find a single problem with the story itself, but I can't say I was never annoyed by a character in this book. The heroine, Andi, especially irked me. She was very realistic, and my complaints are really biased from reading too many unrealistic books and they're just superficial by nature. Andi's issues seemed to be too repetitive at times. It mirrored true life really well, but true life isn't always fun to read. I felt like the same pattern in Andi and Carrick's relationship occurred too many times. However, that's just how life works, but it does detract ever so slightly from my rating of the book.
The book was truly solid and very entertaining. It's been a while since of read anything from this author, and it left me excited to see what she will publish next.
I thought this book was great. It proved yet again that Samantha Towle is what ever author should be: a great story teller. She wrote a captivating story that had heart and great characters.
In this book, Andi was left without a father at too young of an age. She hero worshiped her racing legend of a father, and thought he was invincible. When his occupation got the best of him, it left her and her mother reeling from the loss. Yet, the racing world is all she has ever known and loved. She just got a job working on a Formula 1 racing team as a mechanic. Being immersed in racing is in her soul, but it also allows her to be closer to her father. A good family friend got her the job, but failed to mention to anyone that she is a girl. her employers aren't sexist, but they fear she'll be a distraction and create problems for the all-star racer, Carrick Ryan. He's already got the reputation as a playboy and the racing company is hoping to keep all the media drama out of the workplace. To keep her job, Andi has to deny any advances from Carrick, which should be easy since she refuses to date drivers, due to her history. So Andi shuts down all Carrick's flirting as best she can, but she can't deny to herself that she's attracted. It makes Carrick learn how to have a friend that is an attractive, single girl. They grow really close throughout the tour and it leaves Andi the opportunity to see past Carrick's cocky exterior and see his fears of abandonment that his mother left him with. She becomes much more endeared to Carrick and increasingly has more troubles hiding her attraction. At some point it becomes about more than her job, and it's just her deep rooted fears holding her back. She's quite terrified of his job and the risk he takes daily and she doesn't know if she can handle the risk on her heart. But when her feelings don't just go away, she's forced to face a decision, but she has to remember to be weary of his tender heart, that won't take well to rejection.
The plot wasn't terribly original. Even the racing tour setting was a near mirror of concert tours. Despite that this book never really reminded me of other books while I was reading it. Now, of course, I can draw similarities easily. But, the unique and solid writing style allowed me to be immersed in the lives of just these characters.
Speaking of the characters, I really liked how realistic both of them were. They both had sincere flaws and didn't handle everything as well as they should have. However, the author did a great job making sure their problems weren't magically cured just by being together. Too many romance novels seems to erase any character flaws by being in love, which is kind of stupid and very unrealistic.
I can admit that it is very hard in this genre to separate my feelings for the characters from my thoughts on the book. So many times, the characters' personalities can make or break a story for me. I can't find a single problem with the story itself, but I can't say I was never annoyed by a character in this book. The heroine, Andi, especially irked me. She was very realistic, and my complaints are really biased from reading too many unrealistic books and they're just superficial by nature. Andi's issues seemed to be too repetitive at times. It mirrored true life really well, but true life isn't always fun to read. I felt like the same pattern in Andi and Carrick's relationship occurred too many times. However, that's just how life works, but it does detract ever so slightly from my rating of the book.
The book was truly solid and very entertaining. It's been a while since of read anything from this author, and it left me excited to see what she will publish next.