Book Review: Collided

Over the past week I read the second book in the Dirty Air series by Lauren Asher, Collided.

This novel takes place at the same time as the first book, Throttled, but follows Sophie and Liam. Sophie is the daughter of the Bandini team principal who in Throttled quickly became best friends with Maya. Liam is one of the top F1 drivers, but drives for McCoy, a rival racing team.

Sophie is in her last year of college and feels like she’s always played it safe and followed all the rules her dad has had for her. Wanting some excitement in her life, she decides to spend the summer traveling with her dad and Bandini for a bulk of their season. And she decides to make a bucket list filled with items outside of her comfort zone including naughty items. When Liam accidentally finds and reads her list, he first teases her about it, but then seriously wants to help her check off items on the list.

Liam has been known to hook up and date a lot of women, but never commit or get into a relationship. Now, he’s supposed to be on his best behavior for a while because he was sleeping with the niece of his boss and things didn’t end well.

The two are attracted to one another, but maintain that they’re going to be friends only. Liam isn’t supposed to be getting involved with any women for a while and Sophie is also connected to his rivals. Sophie likes Liam, but she knows he’s not looking for a relationship. But with their growing closeness and friendship and Liam determined to help Sophie with her list, can they stay just friends?

I enjoyed the book and really liked Sophie and Liam. Their flirty banter was fun and I just enjoyed their characters. But, their denial of their feelings for each other lasted a lot longer than I would’ve preferred. It went up til pretty close to the end before they finally admitted they wanted to actually be together and not just as friends and not just as a friends with benefits situation. So, I would’ve liked if they admitted it to themselves and each other a little earlier on – then maybe the rest of the book could have been trying to keep it a secret from Bandini and McCoy. But, that’s just my opinion! Overall, I did like the book and characters.

Read this if you want a spicy F1 romance with the friends to lovers trope.

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