Friday, May 23, 2014

Ignited by Rachel Cross & Ashlinn Craven- Book Tour and Review

Title: High Octane: Ignited
Author: Rachel Cross and Ashlinn Craven
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publish Date: May 19 2014
Publisher: Crimson Romance
Event organized by: Literati Author Services, Inc.

~ Book Synopsis ~

Everyone’s fueled by something… Cassidy Miller is living her dreams as an EMS helicopter pilot saving lives in Arizona. When her helicopter crashes in bad weather and a member of her crew is killed, her life, as she knows it, is over. Suspended from her job and desperate to escape memories of that night, she jets to Europe and is swept along on a whirlwind world tour of Formula One racing courtesy of her father, an executive sponsor of a team. Sexy, daredevil British driver Ronan Hawes has no room in his life for anything but winning. Strategy meetings, press conferences, practices, sponsor events and racing consume him. Half way through the season, he’s on track to win the Formula One World Drivers Championship--a title that has eluded him for years--and no emotionally damaged woman, felon father, rookie rival or rumor mill are going to run him off course. From Brussels to Abu Dhabi, Texas to Germany, their relationship speeds across the globe, navigating the dangerous turns of life, love and racing.

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My Review:

High Octane: Ignited by Rachel Cross
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Cassidy Miller has experienced a trauma on the job as a pilot and her career in the future is uncertain. She takes some of her time off to travel with her semi-estranged wealthy father around the Formula One circuit. Ronan Hawes is an F1 driver who is set up to be a serious contender during this racing season. He is incredibly focused and has little time for anything besides racing. Cassidy and Ronan don't seem like people in a place to start a relationship, but they keep being drawn to one another.

This was a strange reading experience for me because I didn't feel particularly connected to either main character. Both have a lot of personal issues and challenges that have caused them to put up some emotional walls and remain fairly disconnected from others in general. I think in reading this I felt the emotional distance from them as characters throughout, but it sort of helped me feel that i could understand them a little better because of it. The sexual chemistry they share is undeniable, but I was unsure whether they would be able to really find a way to be together given the issues that they each faced, and the challenges they had to overcome. I think because of their unlikely pairing and the way that they both had to go through a lot of personal growth, I appreciated them and stayed engaged in the story. I think it is always an interesting experience to read about people that aren't like me, and I found myself hoping that these characters would be able to make it work and find the love they both deserve.

*An ARC was provided in exchange for an honest review

Purchase Links

Amazon | iTunes

About the Author

Fueled by black jelly-beans and Pinot Noir, Rachel Cross writes fast-paced contemporary romance with a twist. She lives in coastal California with her surfer/pilot husband and two daughters. Her past includes stints as a firefighter, paramedic, clinical manager and Weekly World News tabloid model.

Connect with Rachel Website | Facebook | Twitter

Ashlinn Craven enjoys writing “head versus heart” romances where lovers face toe-curling problems usually caused by wayward technology or each other. In her twenties she worked her way across Europe's technology hot-spots before succumbing years later to Alpine serenity, writing, marriage and motherhood . She lives in Switzerland which held its last Formula One race in 1954.