Release Day Review: Full Throttle by Lisa Henry

30 May of 2023 by ButtonsMom2003

Full Throttle By Lisa Henry

Genre: Contemporary Romance, GLBTQ, MM

Tropes: Sports, Formula 1, Pining

Released: May 30, 2023

Publisher: Self-Published

Series: Lights Out, Book 2 (but the books can be read in any order)

Length: 295 Pages

Cover Design: Meredith Russell

Synopsis

When Lennox and Connor race full throttle into a secret relationship, can they navigate the track, or will they crash and burn?

Lennox Bradley is Formula 1 royalty. His father was an F1 champion, and so is his brother, so expectations are high for Lennox’s debut season. But when he suffers a koala-related PR disaster at the Australian Grand Prix, he’s thrust into the media spotlight. For an introvert like Lennox, it’s a nightmare.

Connor Blake doesn’t know the first thing about Formula 1, but as communications manager for Bradley Racing, it’s his job to manage the fallout for Lennox. Except Lennox isn’t anything like the arrogant, shallow guy he’s expecting, and it gets harder and harder to deny the magnetism between them. When Connor and Lennox both have to choose what it is they really want for themselves, is there any room for a future together?

This M/M romance from Lisa Henry features a secret relationship, two guys who are bad at admitting their feelings, pining, and is set in the high octane world of Formula 1 featuring fast cars, driving at the limit, spectacular crashes, heated rivalries, and of course, a HEA.

Each book in the Lights Out collection is a standalone story, and the books can be read in any order.

Review

Reviewed by ButtonsMom2003

Family is hard.

I’ve read several books by Lisa Henry and enjoyed all of them. Most of the ones I’ve read she has co-written with another author. The more recent one I read were LOL funny (the Bad Boyfriends series). To refresh my memory, I looked back at the ones I reviewed that she wrote on her own. I needed that refresher to remember how deeply emotional and thought-provoking those books were. Which brings me to Full Throttle.

This is another book with a lot of heart and emotions. Lennox doesn’t want to be an F1 driver even though his family is racing royalty. He doesn’t like all of the attention and media hype. When he gets into a bit of a pickle the team’s PR guy, Connor, is assigned to handle the fall out.

Connor was on his way to visit his sister, his first time off in a while, when he got called back to Bradley Racing to mitigate the damage to the brand, caused when Lennox dropped a koala – while they were in Australia. It was a bit of a PR nightmare.

Lennox hates dealing with the media and he didn’t expect to end up liking Connor just as Connor didn’t expect to see the real man underneath all of the public persona. Wow, this story really grabbed me and made me feel all kinds of things. Lennox isn’t out and Connor is. When Connor accidentally learns Lennox’ secret he begins to understand him even more.

I felt so bad for Lennox and how he felt he had to hide his true self. His relationship with his father, who also happens to be his boss, is strained. He doesn’t really think his father will mind that he is gay but the racing world will.

This review is already getting too long so I want to conclude by saying that this is a great story about F1 racing, coming out, and difficult family dynamics. I loved it and so far, this series has been great. The books can be read in any order but I’m glad I started with Team Orders which I think kind of set the whole series up.

♥♥♥♥♥

O Factor: Spicy

Lights Out Series

♥ Amazon US ♥ Amazon CA ♥ Amazon UK ♥

About Author

Lisa likes to tell stories, mostly with hot guys and happily ever afters.

Lisa lives in tropical North Queensland, Australia. She doesn’t know why, because she hates the heat, but she suspects she’s too lazy to move. She spends half her time slaving away as a government minion, and the other half plotting her escape.

She attended university at sixteen, not because she was a child prodigy or anything, but because of a mix-up between international school systems early in life. She studied History and English, neither of them very thoroughly.

She shares her house with too many cats, a dog, a green tree frog that swims in the toilet, and as many possums as can break in every night. This is not how she imagined life as a grown-up.

Lisa has been published since 2012, and was a LAMBDA finalist for her quirky, awkward coming-of-age romance Adulting 101, and a Rainbow Awards finalist for 2019’s Anhaga.

Find out more at Lisa’s website and blog. You can follow her on Bookbub and sign up to her newsletter.

Author Links