- Release Date: August 3, 2010 / Audio: October 8, 2012
- Pages: 284 pages/ 7 hours 15 minutes
- Genre: Contemporary Sports Romance
- Publisher: Tantor Media and Berkley
By the time I finished the second book in this series, Hard and Fast, I was really invested into the community of racers and their family and friends. There is something nice about coming back into a series with characters you already know. Hot Finish is one of the first romances I’ve read where the hero and heroine are divorced and I liked the dynamic of the characters having memories and a life together.
With her alimony payments coming to an end Suzanne Jefferson goes back to work as a wedding planner planning the lavish and expensive wedding of spoiled, annoying sorority girl Nikki Borden to rookie driver Jonas Strickland. Nikki is obsessed with having a start studded racer wedding and demands to have all drivers as groomsmen (despite that fact none of them know the groom that well), including Suzanne’s ex-husband Ryder Jefferson. Who it also turns out it technically not her ex-husband because of misfiled papers.
I really enjoyed the humor in this book and found it a lot of fun. Suzanne is a spunky, quick witted firecracker of a character and you never know what she is going to say. It’s fun to see her spar with both Nikki and her ex-husband Ryder. Plus there are the usual wedding antics like crashed bachelor parties, tuxedo mishaps and bridezilla tantrums.
While the romance in Hard and Fast felt like a quick fling from meet cute to HEA, this one felt like more of an emotional investment. The pursuit in this book is more one sided because while Suzanne has accepted the divorce, Ryder is still in love with her so a lot of the romance is him trying to prove he deserves a second chance. They spend a lot of time thinking back on their past. I liked how their relationship had a lot of ups and downs throughout the book instead of how most romances I’ve read have all ups and then one bad moment just before the end of the book.
I did this one on audio and had the same thoughts on Emily Durante’s narration as I did on Hard and Fast ; all her voices are good, but her southern accents are annoying. I can’t wait to finally get to a book where the southern characters aren’t the main characters.
Hot Finish was a fun, hot romantic ride and I’m so ready for the next book in this series. This book introduces a prolific TMZ type blog about race car drivers so I’m curious to see if that will play into the next book.
