Tag: Fast Track Series

Guest Review: Final Lap by Erin McCarthy

Posted October 30, 2014 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: Final Lap by Erin McCarthyReviewer: Tracy
Final Lap by Erin McCarthy
Series: Fast Track #8
Publisher: Berkley, Penguin
Publication Date: October 7th 2014
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four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

At a friend’s lavish wedding, Harley McLain and her twin sister, Charity, meet sexy stock-car driver Cooper Brickman. The more reserved Harley is immediately smitten—until he hits on her twin. But Harley has had enough of being the “nice” girl, and after trading dresses with Charity, she seduces Cooper for a night of wild sex.

What was supposed to be a one-night fling gets complicated when Cooper needs a nanny to look after his kid sister—and is convinced sweet, dependable Harley would be perfect for the job. She can’t resist the money—or Cooper’s hot bod. But when her deception is revealed, will it destroy her dependable image—or will he finally realize how sexy sweet can be?

Harley McLain has always had a crush on driver Cooper Brickman so when she meets him at a friend’s wedding she’s so excited. I mean every girl dreams of meeting their prince charming, right? Why couldn’t it happen to her? Unfortunately when Harley tells Cooper that she’s a nanny all he’s interested in telling her is about his little sister who has been living with him and how he has no idea what to do with her. He doesn’t have kids of his own so having a 12 year old around the house is confusing. Harley’s a bit disgusted when her twin sister, Charity, walks by and she sees lust in Cooper’s eyes. WTH? I mean they’re identical twins so why would he look at Harley as a mother figure and Charity as someone he’s interested in having sex with? Talk about confusing.

Charity is a bit put out with Cooper and everyone else who doesn’t see beyond her boobs. She has a brain, ya know? Charity and Harley decide to switch dresses and therefore switch identities. Harley wants to see what will happen with Cooper if she acts like Charity. Well, a lot, it turns out. Cooper has had a lot to drink but when Charity starts coming on to him he’s all in and they end up in her room spending the night together. Harley wants to tell Cooper the truth but after he falls asleep she just doesn’t know how. She doesn’t know how to tell her sister either and ends up leaving her in the dark. Not a good decision, that one.

Cut to two months later and Harley is now working as a nanny for Cooper and his sister (who’s actually 13). She finds she really likes his sister, Mary Jane, but has a hard time thinking of Cooper as her boss. She really likes him a lot and the more time they spend together the more she likes HIM and not the driver persona she’s had a crush on for a while. Cooper is sending signals that he likes her as well but when Cooper finds out about the switch he may not want her around any longer.

This was a great final book in the Fast Track series. We only get one romance, but both Harley and Charity finding their HEA’s.

Harley and Cooper were so cute together. I did have a bit of an issue with Cooper at first when he kept thinking of Harley as more maternal. Maybe she was, but she was a woman as well. The fact he could lust after Charity and not Harley confused me and we find out later in the book that it confused the hell out of him too. How can he like Harley when he slept with Charity? He shouldn’t, but he does.

When he finally comes clean to Harley about how he slept with her sister, Harley is so relieved because now she can tell him it was actually her that he slept with. Only…he then tells her how horrible of an experience it was to sleep with Charity and Harley is so embarrassed! How can she come clean about her feelings and tell him the truth when he thought sleeping with her was so awful? I wouldn’t have wanted to either!

Despite the deception they manage to work out their issues. There was another zinger right at the end of the book that I thought was a bit too overly dramatic but I got over it. 🙂

The other couple was Charity and Jeff Sterling. Though there’s not a lot of them in the book together but what was there was very sweet and I wish we could have gotten more of their interactions.

Overall a really good book. I’ve enjoyed the Fast Track series and will miss reading about all of the lively characters that we’ve come to know and love.

Rating: 4 out of 5

four-stars

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Guest Review: Jacked Up by Erin McCarthy

Posted June 21, 2012 by Book Binge Guest Blogger in Reviews | 1 Comment

Judith’s review of Jacked Up (Fast Track Series #6) by Erin McCarthy.

Eve Monroe is a stock-car PR pro who puts her career first—until an on-track wardrobe malfunction reveals more than the sexy smile of her race-car brother’s jack-man, Nolan Ford. The video’s become an internet sensation, and it’s Eve’s job to calm the sponsors and put a spin on the unexpected exposure. It may be purely a public relations job, but now that Eve’s seen what’s under Nolan’s crew suit, it’s gotten a little personal—and after a few dates she has Nolan pretty revved up. If only she’d learn to relax and enjoy it…

And they both have the same drive.

Nolan’s sure that the spontaneous birthday bash he’s throwing for Eve in Las Vegas should loosen her up. It does more than that. Somewhere between cocktails and a smoking-hot motel-room derby, Eve and Nolan wake up hitched, thanks to a post-sex-high detour to a Vegas chapel. A hangover marriage to a virtual stranger isn’t good for anyone’s image, so Eve plans to play the happy wife long enough to satisfy the press, and then quietly part ways. Now all she has to do is convince her new personal jack-man. But Nolan has plans of his own.


Anyone who has ever been to Vegas knows that people get crazy there and crazy things happen, some of which can make one’s normal life crazy as well. In this sixth story in Erin McCarthy’s “Fast Track” series is about people who don’t normally do crazy things. Both Even and Nolan are in their early 30’s, they have a fairly good grasp on their individual lives and abilities, but both are seeking that important ingredient–that important person–who can make their world complete. Eve is a worrier–I recognize her as the kind of people who have populated my family for generations. (I come from a long line of championship, blue-ribbon worriers.) She is unhappy; she hates her job; she resents the fact that both her brothers are doing what she really wants to do–stock car racing–and she has had to content herself with operating as their PR person–living on the edge of their careers, trying to be a part of the racing world in a capacity she hates. Her dad pressures her about a bunch of stuff, she is uptight about her image, she just doesn’t know how to relax anymore, and she has forgotten how to have fun.
Now Nolan Ford is fascinated with the sassy gal who can dish it out with the best of them, is curious about who really lives under those layers of business suit and what she might just be like if she found a way to have fun. Throughout this story I was absolutely amazed at Nolan’s patience with Eve–I kept asking myself if such a patient, understanding many could really exist in real life. The word for Nolan that kept popping into Eve’s head was always the word “thoughtful.” He is a generous uncle who is perfectly at ease around babies and little kids; he knows his value to the racing team that works for Eve’s brother; he makes enough money to live comfortably but the he does worry from time to time about the inequity financially between him and Eve, but he doesn’t let that hinder him from working really hard to get Eve to remember how to be human, how to relax, and most importantly, how to have fun.
But what do you do when you realize you have married someone you have known for only two weeks? How do you deal with your respective families? How do you deal with family members who are worried about issues you aren’t worried about at all? So it was with these two, and how they work it all out is an important part of this story. But perhaps the most important part of the story for me was to witness how this kind and patient, fun-loving, hard-working, genuine and gentle man simply absorbed Eve’s stress and gave it back to her as fun and caring and loving. It was like watching someone unwind a Slinky and it was fascinating to watch Eve respond to a person who wasn’t worried about a lot of insignificant stuff–a person who took life one day at a time, and one who valued her for who she was and not for her family name or who she was working for.
I have enjoyed all the stories in this series and have felt that each one has an important point to make about how individuals, couples and families manage to live with the stress, publicity, and fast pace of the racing world. This is another great story that points out another important lesson: one has to be true to one’s self, to live out one’s own dream, and find joy in the living of that dream. It’s a terrific read and one I am pleased to have experienced.

I give it a 4.25 out of 5

The series:

Book Cover Book Cover Book Cover Book Cover Book Cover Book Cover

You can read more from Judith at Dr J’s Book Place.
This book is available from Berkley. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

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Guest Review: Slow Ride by Erin McCarthy

Posted January 25, 2012 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Tracy’s review of Slow Ride (Fast Track #5) by Erin McCarthy

As a tribute to her late journalist father, Tuesday Jones is planning a career benefit, auctioning off racing memorabilia and meet-and-greets with drivers. Ex-racing star Diesel Lange has had his own brush with death, and is determined not to waste another minute of his life- especially when he meets Tuesday. He wants nothing more than to shift their romance into high gear, but he knows she’s still grieving. Can Diesel do the one thing he could never do on the track and take it slow?

Tuesday Jones formally meets ex-racing driver Diesel Lange at a wedding reception. She’s a bit smitten with him and they are mightily attracted to each other but since she’s had a bit too much too drink so Diesel just takes her home and leaves her to sleep it off. From that point on the couple start to see each other pretty regularly and have a great time. They start a physical relationship as well and that’s just an amazing part of their relationship too.

But Tuesday is mourning the recent death of her father and Diesel has completely closed off his feelings toward the near fatal accident that took him out of the racing circuit forever. These are issues that are making both of them emotionally unavailable to each other in a way that is a severe threat to their relationship. Along with that is the problem that Tuesday has of drinking her stress away – which would be fine if she stopped at one glass of…whatever. She wants to be in control of everything and when that can’t happen she drinks her stress away which puts her even more out of control.

Erin McCarthy has a fantastic way of writing relationships that are just normal. They’re fun and enchanting in their normality and I love that about her books. This book had that in spades and I loved seeing they dynamic between Diesel and Tuesday as Tuesday was an excitable talker and Diesel was pretty calm and didn’t speak all that much. It just worked between the two of them.

With this story I think that the angst waited too long to come along. While I loved seeing the relationship build you could also see the problems between the characters growing as well but then nothing was happening. In my opinion the problems were such that they needed to be dealt with much earlier in the story. If they could have been able do deal with their individual problems they would have then been able to deal with the issues that they had in their relationship – which were directly related. As it was I felt that things were a bit rushed at the end and I found that a bit disappointing.

Overall a cute book.

Rating: 3 out of 5

You can read more from Tracy at Tracy’s Place

This book is available from Berkley. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

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Guest Review: The Chase by Erin McCarthy

Posted August 12, 2011 by Tracy in Reviews | 5 Comments

Tracy’s review of The Chase (Fast Track #4) by Erin McCarthy

When racing for the checkered flag…

Kendall Holbrook is determined to make it to the top, even with the challenge of being a woman on the male-dominated racing circuit. She doesn’t have time for romance–especially not with racing rival Evan Monroe, the man who nearly crushed her dreams years ago. Forced into meeting up with him, Kendall is experiencing all those old feelings again–and she can’t deny that they still have more than enough chemistry to set fire to the track.

…expect a few speed bumps.

After getting dropped by his biggest sponsor, Evan is watching his racing season go up in flames. Now, the only replacement available is completely humiliating: a co-sponsorship for his-and-her deodorant with Kendall Holbrook–the girl who once broke his heart. Acting like Kendall doesn’t still get him all hot and bothered is bad enough, but the biggest challenge awaits him on the track- where Evan has to decide if a second chance at love is more important than making it to the finish line…

Ten years ago Kendall Holbrook and Evan Monroe were an item. Ok, they were only 18 and 19, respectively, but they were in love. Then Kendall gave Evan the silent treatment one day and never looked back. Evan tried to get Kendall to talk to him but he’s spent the last 10 years wondering what the hell happened to turn her from him, especially since he was about to propose marriage.

Now Kendall is a rookie driver and has a bit of a chip on her shoulder because she’s the only woman driver and her and Evan just don’t get along. Until Kendall’s friend Tuesday does what she does best, gets to the heart of the matter. Next thing you know Kendall and Evan are hot and heavy again and loving every minute of it. But not everyone is happy with their relationship and though they try to keep it on the down low. But what happens when all of the insecurities that Kendall has come smacking her in the face? How will Evan deal with everything that is now in their lives and how will Kendall handle all of the pressure that comes with Evan’s problems?

This was a great story. It was fun, and straight forward with just a bit of angst to make it interesting. I loved Kendall and Evan together once it actually happened (and don’t worry, you don’t have to wait long) and just wanted them to be happy and carefree.

Kendall had some self-esteem issues and frankly I can understand where she got them. Her family loved her but they didn’t understand her one freaking bit. Evan was great for her in that way because he loved everything about her supported her in everything.

I have to say I would have loved an epilogue on this book, as there were a few things that were left unknown, but I’m hoping we get more info on the pair in the next book that comes out in October, Slow Ride.

Overall a fun read and one I’d recommend.

Rating: 4 out of 5

The Series:

Flat-Out Sexy (Fast Track)Hard and Fast (Fast Track)Hot Finish (Fast Track)The Chase (Fast Track)

You can read more from Tracy at Tracy’s Place

This book is available from Berkley. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

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Review: Hot Finish by Erin McCarthy

Posted September 21, 2010 by Casee in Reviews | 5 Comments

Casee‘s review of Hot Finish (Fast Track series, Book 3) by Erin McCarthy.

Not all marriages last forever!

Suzanne Jefferson is broke, which is why she’s given up charity work for wedding planning. Fortunately, she has a high-profile client,and best of all, he’s paid in advance. There are just two teensy problems: The bride is a bona fide bridezilla, and Suzanne’s ex-husband is the best man. At least she thought he was her ex-husband!

But this one might…

Two years after their marriage fell apart, stock car race driver Ryder Jefferson still can’t stop thinking about Suzanne. Which is why he isn’t too upset that, due to a glitch, the two are still technically married. Now he’s imagining easing Suzanne’s woes by satisfying her needs in the bedroom. After all, that’s the one room they never argued in. Besides, with wedding bells ringing all around them, Ryder is wondering if,even though they’d quit the race a few laps too early,they can still come on strong with a big, romantic finish!

After the buildup of Suzanne and Ryder in the first two books, this book was anticlimactic. I was anticipating Hot Finish as a reunion story. In actuality, it was a story about a couple that never really split up. Oh they thought they did. They went through the legal motions (or so they thought), they stopped living and sleeping together, they even stopped acting like a couple. But they still saw each other regularly. They still compared their current lovers to each other. It wasn’t my idea of a reunion story at all.

Suzanne needed a therapist years ago. She never should have married Ryder in the first place, pregnant or not. She was too immature to realize what she had and when she didn’t get exactly what she needed from him, she split. After she completely emasculated him. I don’t blame him for barely fighting their “divorce”. It was only toward the end of the book that I got a glimpse of why Ryder would eve like Suzanne let alone love her.

Not that Ryder was that much better that Suzanne; he wasn’t. He was a child in a man’s body. When he met Suzanne, he knew that she was “the one”. Did he ever bother telling her that? No. Why not? She should have known, of course. He wouldn’t have married her otherwise. Forget the fact that she was pregnant when they got married. That just stepped up his timetable. He never even considered the fact that she may have thought that it was the ONLY reason he married her.

The whole marriage was a total case of miscommunication complete with amazing sex.

Enter the present. Ryder and Suzanne find out that they actually aren’t divorced. Suzanne is horrified while Ryder actually starts thinking that it may be a blessing in disguise. With that thought in mind, he begins to woo Suzanne in ways that only Ryder can. He wants to show her how perfect they were together before everything went south. What he doesn’t realize is that as far as Suzanne is concerned, everything started going south the moment he married her because she was pregnant.

Suzanne is such a raging bitch that it’s not even a little bit endearing. Yes, it’s a defense mechanism she has in place after years of abandonment issues. Instead of feeling empathy for her, all I felt was disgust for her bitchiness whenever she would get shrilly with Ryder. He was in no way blameless but he was clueless. Suzanne knew he was clueless but never felt like he deserved to be clued in. In that, I could never really feel for her as a heroine. Their story just didn’t resonate with me.

2.5 out of 5

This book is available from Berkley. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

The series:

Book CoverBook CoverBook Cover

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