All To Play For by Josie Juniper

Narrated by Cecily Foster and Gary Furlong

Book 3 in the Frontrunners F1 Romance Series. Can stand alone.

Thank you NetGalley and Forever for the early review copy. This post contains affiliate links, but it never affects my review.

I love a good F1 romance. I’m obsessed with the sport and have a list of over 250 F1 romance books on my blog, so I really wanted to love All to Play For by Josie Juniper. Unfortunately, it fell short for me.

All to Play For is the third book in the Frontrunners series (though for some reason they aren’t linked at Amazon), and I went in without reading the first two. That may have impacted my connection to the characters, but honestly, I don’t think it would have changed my overall feelings all that much.

Sage Sikora, also known as ‘Salvia officinalis’ (repeated over and over), is the first female F1 driver. She takes on the alpha role in this story, and she comes across as rough, messy, and often unlikable. The writing leans toward manic pixie dream girl energy, but it never quite lands. Her bright blue or green hair pulled me out of the story and made me wonder if the FIA would even allow that, and realistically, with how much drivers sweat, wouldn’t that dye be running down her face?

Her dialogue didn’t help me connect to her either. When she says things like, “You really don’t think you can just, y’know, stop? On your own?” to her brother, who is struggling with drug addiction, it felt off and out of touch. And after a sexual encounter with a woman, she says, “My hands smell like a mermaid petting zoo,” which completely pulled me out of the moment. I understand she’s meant to come across as bold and unconventional, but instead she just felt off-putting.

Alexander Laskaris, aka ‘Sandy’ or ‘Sandy boy’, starts out as a snooty nepo baby working for a sports magazine. He writes an article accusing Sage of sleeping her way to the top, supposedly because he has a crush on her and wants her attention. That whole setup didn’t sit right with me at all. When she sues him, he settles by becoming her unpaid assistant for the season, which forces them into constant proximity.

Sandy did grow on me a little over time. He clearly cares about her, and I could see the effort in his redemption arc. Still, as a woman, I couldn’t fully move past what he wrote about her. That stain never quite faded, so his redemption didn’t fully land for me.

There’s very little actual F1 in this story. Most of the book takes place in hotel rooms and beds near each circuit, with far more focus on sex than on racing. What little F1 content we do get is at least accurate, but there was so much missed potential. Sage is the first female F1 driver. I wanted her journey. I wanted to see how she got there, what she endured, and how she navigates a male-dominated sport. The story barely touches any of that.

The humor also didn’t work for me. It leans crude, which I usually enjoy, but here it just felt forced. Some of the phrasing came off as more offensive than funny, and at one point I actually wondered if the book had been translated before realizing the author is American.

That said, there was just enough here to keep me listening. I didn’t dislike it enough to quit, but I kept waiting for it to hit its stride. It improved slightly as it went on, but not enough. Around 80 percent, I seriously considered stopping, but I pushed through since I was so close to the end.

The Narration:

The narration by Cecily Foster and Gary Furlong is honestly what kept me going. They both fit their roles well, and Gary handled Alex’s British accent smoothly while switching to an American voice for Sage without issue.

The Down & Dirty:

I read a lot of F1 romance, and while All to Play For by Josie Juniper gets the racing details right, there just isn’t enough of it. I never connected with Sage or Alex enough to say I truly liked this one. Even without reading the first two books, I never felt lost, so it does work as a standalone. I just wish it had leaned more into the sport and given us a heroine I could root for.

I’ll be heading back to my list for my next F1 romance and hoping for one that delivers more of the racing along with the romance.