Formula Dreams by Sawyer Bennett

Narrated by Sean Masters and Kitt Swann

4th standalone in an interconnected series.

Thank you Sawyer for an early copy for review. Full disclosure: I do some PA work for Sawyer, but I try very hard to not let that affect my reviews. Still, there may be unconscious bias. This review contains affiliate links.

We’re back with Titans Racing with Formula Dreams by Sawyer Bennett. Formula Dreams stands alone perfectly, but we met Francesca Accardi in earlier Race Fever Series books when Brienne Norcross, owner of Titans Racing (and the Pittsburgh Titans hockey team), hired the first female Formula International driver.

“I don’t want to be a symbol. I most certainly don’t want to be a gimmick. I want to drive—fast, focused and feared. I want them to talk about my cornering, my braking zones, my times—not my chromosomes. Or my mascara.”

Francesca is feisty, focused, and determined to prove she belongs on the track with the guys despite the press and publicity. If only people cared about her driving as much as the makeup underneath her helmet.

We already knew Ronan Barnes, and I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure he was redeemable after how he behaved in Formula Fling, the first book in the Race Fever Series. He even started Formula Dreams as the asshole who impeded Francesca’s first qualifying.

“Ronan Barnes. Too gorgeous for his own good and the cocky attitude to match. I’ve known him for years—karting, FI3, FI2. Always the same swagger, the same smirk beneath dazzling blue eyes. He’s brilliant, fast and never plays nice.”

But if you know Sawyer, you know she can redeem anyone. Ronan’s mother is an out-of-control alcoholic who regularly checks herself out of rehab and often publicly embarrasses him. His father leaves the fallout for Ronan to handle, so he carries way more than most people see.

When the Crown Velocity team and the Titans team are paired up for sponsor promos, Ronan and Francesca are thrown together for a series of competitive challenges. Francesca slowly saw what was behind Ronan’s walls, and I loved how she knocked those walls down brick by brick and softened him in all the right ways.

There was some solid on-track racing, though not as much as the first two books. But one scene absolutely destroyed me. I was listening alone on a plane and bawling my eyes out. Thank goodness there wasn’t anyone next to me.

Likes:

I love Sawyer’s writing style. She sucks you in and never lets go.
Seeing previous characters from the series.
Francesca’s Italian family and how much she treasured them.
The scenes of them doing promos.
How hard Francesca pushed to knock Ronan’s walls down.
They really developed the relationship with honest communication.
Of course the racing.
I love seeing Brienne Norcross from the Pittsburgh Titans Series.

Dislikes:

After Sawyer ripped our hearts out, she didn’t spend enough time repairing the damage. It wrapped up too quickly.

The Narration:

Kitt Swann was so fantastic switching seamlessly between an Italian accent and American. I loved her performance. Sean Masters was a great MMC voice. The dual narration audiobook brought the story to life, and I’m glad I listened instead of reading.

The Down & Dirty:

I’m heartbroken that Formula Dreams appears to be the last in the Race Fever Series. I’ve loved this racing romance world so much. This fourth book hit the perfect blend of racing, romance, spice, and emotion, and it reminded me exactly why this series has been such a standout for me. I appreciated how Sawyer acknowledged the challenges a woman faces in motorsports without making it the whole storyline.

The first two books in the series (Formula Fling and Formula Chance) leaned much heavier into the racing, which is what originally hooked me. The more recent books (Formula Freedom and Formula Dreams) balanced the racing with more romance and character depth, but as a huge F1 fan, I still miss that earlier, more intense on-track focus.

Even so, Formula Dreams delivered what I love most about a good racing romance, and it left me feeling so attached to these characters. High stakes, high heat, and high-speed emotion made this the kind of story that stays with you long after you’re done listening. I still think the Race Fever Series is best read in order, though every book stands alone easily.