Friday, October 4, 2019

Book Review: Gridlock by Tracie Delaney

I had so much fun reading this very cute story. It had some emotional aspects and was overall a great and well written romance book. I really like this new series and the insight it gives into motorsport, although there was more of it in the first book but I really liked the depth of the characters in this second one.

This wasn't what I would call a typical enemies-to-lovers story, which I originally thought it would be. There wasn’t such a strong feeling as hate between the characters. Madison was hurt so deeply because of the loss of her brother and projected her feelings on a man who had no hands in her brother’s death. Tate was a fun and altogether great guy. I didn’t expect that he had edges and some shadows in his life, which surprised me but actually gave me a better connection to his character. It made him even more likeable and human, if that makes sense.

So, it didn’t take much time at all for Tate to win Madison over in the sense of her warming up to him and them being very attracted to each other, not only physically. The more Madison got to know about Tate, the more she liked him and the private person he was underneath the façade that he showed the public world. But she had a mission, a mission to shine light on the dangers of the motorsport that youngsters underestimate and that are cause of a lot of accidents and deaths which could easily be prevented or reduced with more disclosure of the needed driving skills and required technical equipment to drive at such speeds in a race car.
Though her growing feelings clashed with what Madison swore to do and brought her in a predicament. Could she forget about her plan or ignore her feelings?

Despite his fame and fortune Tate was a selfless, humble, generous and not at all a self-centered or greedy guy. I even felt with him and his story because although it may have seemed like it, his life wasn’t that easy or carefree. He had a lot of responsibility, not to mention the lonesomeness of his lifestyle.
‘”We all have our demons, Madison. We’re all damaged in one way or another simply by living.”’
I couldn’t even say that one book or the other was better because they were so different. I loved the first book and was very curious about this story. I was also a little bit anxious because considering Tate was on the same team as Jared, I didn’t know if the story didn't end up being too similar. But there was absolutely no need to worry because the author did a fantastic job of creating yet another great story about a driven and successful character whose job and passion was racing in Formula One. But his job was the only similarity to the first book because the characters were standing with both feet firmly in life while dealing with what life threw their way in a more mature way. (Not that the characters in book #1 were childish, but I felt like they were still on the brink of figuring out adult life and enjoying the fun of being young a lot more. It generally had a different feel to it as it felt more lighthearted and centered on their attraction whereas in book #2 the characters had a lot of external circumstances that played a big role in them finding to each other). Sorry for veering off topic a bit there. Anyway, I loved Jared and Tate equally as much in different ways for their great personalities and big hearts.

Btw, although I should have known what was coming because of the blurb, it still caught me off guard on how the story started.

I really hope that we get to see more of these two characters in the next book because Tate became very dear to my heart.

-- I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book given by the author. --

My rating: 4 of 5 Stars

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