Hello F1 Romance Era…
After binge-watching Netflix’s Drive to Survive, and then getting into F1 for real, I was so keen to read Lauren Asher’s Dirty Air Series, and it did not disappoint.
Check out my thoughts on each book below:
Throttled
First in the series, and this book sets such a good tone.
It follows the relationship between Noah Slade, a legendary Bandini racing driver at the top of his game, and Maya Alatorre, little sister of Noah’s teammate and rival Santiago, and an upcoming YouTube star.
The attraction between the two sizzles, but Maya promised her brother she would stay away from Noah, and she intends to keep her promise, at least as far as her brother knows.
God, it’s hard not to love these two together. The chemistry, the arrogance of Noah, he is one of the best male main characters I’ve ever read. Asher writes his character brilliantly, playing into the arrogance, and adding a layer of humanity to him by giving him a difficult home life, which made it a tense, page-turning read, and also made Noah very easy to love. Plus, the forbidden nature of their relationship made it such an exciting read.
My drawbacks:
Although I love a cheesy, cutsie romance, sometimes this was a bit much even for me.
Also, the spice rating is high, and again, was at times too much for me. I felt like all the couple could do was joke about/mention their sex lives and it made them feel a little two dimensional at times. It totally worked as a means of flirtation, but it was a little overdone for me.
Star Rating – 4 stars
Tropes:
Forbidden Love
Rival’s little sister
Sports romance
Collided
The second in the series is a friends to lovers romance between McCoy driver Liam Zander, and Sophie Mitchell, daughter of rival team Bandini’s Team Principal.
The dynamic between Liam and Sophie jumps off the page, their chemistry, even when they were just friends, is incredible. Sophie as a character made me so happy, and the naughty bucket list trope is such a fun and clever way for the two friends to instigate an intimacy that could lead to something more.
With this one, however, I felt that things moved quite quickly, and although normally I love a fast pace, I would have preferred the ‘twist’ element of the story to be dragged out a little more. I felt there was a rush to the happy ending.
Also, the cringe element is definitely there, even more so than Throttled - it was very cheesy at times. Plus, not a fan of ‘not like other girls because she wears trainers’ trope, but that’s just me.
Otherwise, a fun read!
Star Rating: 3 stars
Tropes:
Friends to Lovers
Sports Romance
Wrecked
Trigger warning: mental health issues, childhood trauma.
This book! Just wow!
Jax, the party animal that’s out of control as he hides from his unknown future, and Elena, PR rep that will do just about anything for the family she has left, including become the babysitter to F1’s notorious bad boy.
The authenticity of this book was incredible. Although F1 was a key element to this book (duh), Jax and Elena’s backstory became more of the plot as they each helped each other navigate their issues, helping their relationship grow from enemies into lovers.
Asher really played up the enemies to lovers’ trope, and the forced proximity, although far-fetched, was amazing. Also the nightmare trope just gets me every time, it draws out character’s protective sides and I just love it.
It’s so hard to not reveal spoilers with this one, but Elena was such a wonderful character, and Jax is such a loveable rogue, it’s so hard not to love everything about this.
Drama, intensity, humour, family, joy, sadness – this book had everything and was probably my favourite of the series. Also, I just loved that Jax was British.
Star Rating: 5 stars
Tropes:
Enemies to Lovers
Forced Proximity
Sports Romance
Redeemed
To say this book was incredible doesn’t do it justice. It was poetic, clever, moving, intense, and held such an important message of loving yourself first.
After a bad F1 injury, Santiago finds himself away from the sport, as a recluse in Italy. Meanwhile, Chloe, sick of her circumstances with her addict mother, seeks out the other half of her family, only to find herself on a plane to Italy, where she happens to cross paths with Santiago, not that she knows who he is.
When Maya and Noah need Santiago to step up, he adopts Chloe as his crutch, setting them up in a fake relationship that turns real in the most beautiful way. If you love eighties romances, this one will be special to you.
I loved that even though this was a sports romance, it wasn’t sports focused in the same way as the first two in the series. Like Wrecked, it was much more hard hitting, and I felt Chloe & Santiago helped each other grow into their full potential respectively which is always refreshing in a romance. Chloe’s story had me feeling all of the emotions, and I’m so glad she got the happy ending she deserved it.
Their falling in love was so pure, and the grovelling, I’ll say no more…
Star Rating: 5 stars
Tropes:
Fake Dating
Found family
Sports Romance
The Dirty Air Series
What a series! I can see why these books are so loved.
The F1 element to the story, even across all four books, helped the stories be addictive, exciting, dramatic, and Asher did such a good job of making each story interesting and unique.
If you like dramatic sports romance, with protective and oftentimes arrogant men and fierce, independent, driven women, then I would urge you to read the Dirty Air Series.
Series Star Rating: 4/5
Strap in (pun intended) for my fav quotes:
‘I could never win again and be perfectly fine so long as you’re by my side’ – Noah Slade
‘I’m probably going to marry her one day. I think she’s the one.’ – Noah Slade
‘Maya…keep talking. I love hearing your voice.’ – Noah Slade
‘If you have a favourite, I don’t trust you. Any book lover has at least five they can name off the top of their head.’ – Liam Zander
‘People think the king matters, but the queen brings down all the other pieces.’ – Liam Zander
‘My favourite part of the rules is finding a way to break them.’ – Jax Kingston
‘Mum taught me whenever a woman says that she is fine, then she is definitely, under no circumstances, fine.’ – Jax Kingston
‘I can’t change the cards I’ve been dealt, but I can change the way I approach my hand.’ – Jax Kingston
‘I don’t want to be picture perfect with you. I want to be a fucking mosaic, made up of broken pieces so damn colourful, you can’t help finding them beautiful.’ – Jax Kingston
‘Life is about creating the memories that matter, while forgetting the ones that don’t.’ – Chloe Carter
‘I think we owe it to ourselves to unapologetically love who we are no matter what. Because if you don’t love yourself, then why do you except anyone else to?’ – Chloe Carter
‘Loving you is realising heaven isn’t a place, but a person’ – Santiago Alatorre
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