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A review by iam
Pole Position by Rebecca J. Caffery
3.5
I was super interested in a sports romance featuring Formula 1, but I ended up not really liking the characters.
Haper was acting disrespectful and just plain stupid for a good portion of it, and while some of his behaviour is later explained by trauma, especially his early on rudeness cannot be excused away by that.
Kian was a bit more mature at times, but still had a flaring temper that made him act petty and incredibly rude as well, which combined with his overall higher sense of maturity felt even more jarring.
For a big chunk of the book, I just plain didn't enjoy the characters interactions. Which is not ideal for a romance. This is pitched as an enemies-to-lovers romance, which I usually enjoy. And there sure is animosity between the two, except... they had no reason do dislike each other?? Kian is simply sulking, and Harper is being obnoxious for the heck of it, and neither of them wants to be the bigger person. Even when they try to make up, which happens from both ends several times, they end up breaking off all attempts for plain stupid/senseless reasons again. Not saying that's not realistic, it just was annoying to read about, to be frank.
Once the proper romance started, however, things mellowed out, and I enjoyed it a lot more. There are still conflicts, but they made more sense to me and felt better to read about.
I also enjoyed the mix of romance and sports stuff. F1 was not explained, so someone who has no idea about it may struggle a bit with following the sports stuff - my family is big on F1 so I have some idea of it by osmosis - but I don't think that will impede the reading enjoyment much, as the base "car race" stuff is easy to follow.
I also really enjoyed how little of a deal the queerness was. It's not ignored, but the potentially troublesome conversations all happen off-page. While this was a good choice, a lot of other things also happened off-page... and not all of them I found a good choice. There were several times were I felt like I had missed something, or accidentally skipped a chapter, because so much seemingly important things happened off-page. I personally would also simply have enjoyed some of the things that were skipped, interviews, trainings, conversations and such.
I also found several of the background things to feel very forgotten. For example, there's a whole blackmailing thing going on in the background, but it's barely addressed? Plus, a whole second plotpline in the background that is probably setting up a sequel. Overall, just a lot of stuff happened in the background that felt important but ultimately wasn't, which I found a bit disappointing.
Lastly: the names? Harper James and Kian Walker? Something about Walker and Harper I found super hard to keep apart, especially since the characters jump wildly between calling each other or being called by their first and last names.
Haper was acting disrespectful and just plain stupid for a good portion of it, and while some of his behaviour is later explained by trauma, especially his early on rudeness cannot be excused away by that.
Kian was a bit more mature at times, but still had a flaring temper that made him act petty and incredibly rude as well, which combined with his overall higher sense of maturity felt even more jarring.
For a big chunk of the book, I just plain didn't enjoy the characters interactions. Which is not ideal for a romance. This is pitched as an enemies-to-lovers romance, which I usually enjoy. And there sure is animosity between the two, except... they had no reason do dislike each other?? Kian is simply sulking, and Harper is being obnoxious for the heck of it, and neither of them wants to be the bigger person. Even when they try to make up, which happens from both ends several times, they end up breaking off all attempts for plain stupid/senseless reasons again. Not saying that's not realistic, it just was annoying to read about, to be frank.
Once the proper romance started, however, things mellowed out, and I enjoyed it a lot more. There are still conflicts, but they made more sense to me and felt better to read about.
I also enjoyed the mix of romance and sports stuff. F1 was not explained, so someone who has no idea about it may struggle a bit with following the sports stuff - my family is big on F1 so I have some idea of it by osmosis - but I don't think that will impede the reading enjoyment much, as the base "car race" stuff is easy to follow.
I also really enjoyed how little of a deal the queerness was. It's not ignored, but the potentially troublesome conversations all happen off-page. While this was a good choice, a lot of other things also happened off-page... and not all of them I found a good choice. There were several times were I felt like I had missed something, or accidentally skipped a chapter, because so much seemingly important things happened off-page. I personally would also simply have enjoyed some of the things that were skipped, interviews, trainings, conversations and such.
I also found several of the background things to feel very forgotten. For example, there's a whole blackmailing thing going on in the background, but it's barely addressed? Plus, a whole second plotpline in the background that is probably setting up a sequel. Overall, just a lot of stuff happened in the background that felt important but ultimately wasn't, which I found a bit disappointing.
Lastly: the names? Harper James and Kian Walker? Something about Walker and Harper I found super hard to keep apart, especially since the characters jump wildly between calling each other or being called by their first and last names.