5/5

• i feel like i wasn't meant to enjoy this so much but it was such easy reading and so full of cute angsty cliches i just couldn't help it
• i now want to date an f1 driver
• is the writing and plot award winning and new and innovative? absolutely not. did it still make me feel very strong feelings and fall in love with hot tall blue eyed men? absolutely yes.
• i am literally in love with noah slade i want one
• i also want a santiago alatorre
• it's literally like reading angsty fanfiction which makes it amazing that is all
• that accident scene had me EMOTIONAL
• professional mmc taking the fmc on an immersive tour of his job/to do something that he loves professionally is a new fave trope

TWs: domestic abuse, ref to child abuse, toxic family, physical violence, alcohol consumption, car accidents, fire, sexism, ref to groping/sexual harassment, vomiting

Tropes/themes: brother's rival, f1 racer x vlogger, i see how he looks at you, reformed playboy, strained family relationships, travelling the world, forbidden romance, hidden relationship

 …The way I love this book and will take no criticism about it… I finished this a week ago and have not quit thinking about it since then. Maya and Noah officially have a spot in my heart.

Maya was honestly such a sweetheart the whole time, I literally love her. I also think I’m a bit jealous of her life. I mean, she becomes a youtube vlogger and travels with her brother around the country with his hot teammate. I’m going to need my brother to get it together. I was also a big fan of Noah. I’m really just a sucker for men that turn it around for one girl. Now don’t get me wrong, Noah made some questionable decisions and homie betrayed me a couple times with his actions and words BUT I still loved it.

I absolutely loved the build-up of their relationship. A slow burn that I loved every second of. I thought the pace of the romance and story, in general, was amazing. While it was a slow burn build-up for the characters, I really felt the story was fast-paced. I was super into everything that was happening which was probably why this read so fast to me. It also may have felt quick because of the time jumps. Sometimes the story would jump 2 weeks to a month in time to coincide with the races. This didn’t really bother me as I felt I wasn’t missing much but this jumping may bother others.

Anyways, back to the romance. There was so much build-up and it was filled with cute banter and sweet scened and ugh. I loved it. There were a couple smexy scenes but nothing too scandalous compared to the dark romance books I read.

One of my favorite things outside of the relationship between Noah and Maya is the relationship between Maya and Sophie. Sophie is the F1 teams’ owners, daughter. I was a little worried when she was introduced but their friendship is literally everything. The way they back each other up when it comes to the men in their life is great. So if you’re looking for a book that also has a good female friendship this is it. Sophie is so protective of Maya and I loved it.

Honestly, I just loved everything about the book. While reading other reviews I saw people hated Noah and all I have to say is he’s much better than half the men I read in my dark romances sooooo. PLUS I don’t understand why people are hating him for being an asshole and manwhore when in the blurb it literally talks about him being a villain. PLUS everything I heard about this book literally mentioned he was an asshole and a grump so why people are surprised is beyond me. Now there was some cringe dialogue but I really feel like my love for the rest of the book outways that little detail.

As I said, I loved this book and it was exactly the book I was looking for. It was just such a comfy book that I already want to reread it. I really want to continue with the series but I don’t know if my Lil heart can take it; however, the next book follows Sophie and I love her so we shall see.

Throttled is a fun tension filled romance. Maya and Noah have palpable chemistry that built up great tension in this forbidden romance (brother’s teammate/rival!). I appreciated Noah growth throughout the story. I’m interested to see how the rest of the series is. Would recommend! 

3.75 stars. This was pretty good. I liked it overall but if I'm being honest with myself, I didn't really like this book until the last about 140/50 pages. Other than the last portion of the book I really had a problem getting into it. I hated Noah for most of the book but I did feel bad for him when it came to his dad. He was so full of himself which I don't find attractive at all. The audacity he had times man. Other than that I hated him until he redeemed himself with Maya. After that I liked him. Maya was sweet but she fell a bit flat for me. I'm not saying main character need a huge struggle but it just seems like stuff came really easy for her and she was just kind of there. I feel like she needed something.I also decided to look up F1 Racing since I never heard of it before and needed a visual lol so that was fun.  I am excited to keep reading the rest of this series though. Liam and Sophie's appearances has me excited for the next book! I can't wait to read the rest of the series.

I liked the plot but to me the 'conflict' felt more exaggerated than it should have been, like I thought it wasn't a big deal if they hooked up or not. Although I understand Maya's reluctance to being just one girl more. Overall i felt like I was more of a fan of the secondary characters than I was of Maya and Noah, which makes me excited because I can't wait to read everyone else's books

The relationship between the two main characters relied a ton on smut and not so much on actual relationship building. The story wasn’t bad but I do think it could’ve been stronger. 

HOLY MOTHERFORKING SHIRTBALLS.

Though I actually wanna admit that the conflict resolution fell a bit flat...I'd like to see more conflict between Maya and Santi as siblings. 

rival's sister/brother's rival