This episode coming to you hot and sticky from summer in Australia as we welcome guest Renée Dahlia! [Kate would like to note that we recorded this episode back when it was, in fact, summer in Australia, despite releasing it now, when it is summer in North America.]

Renée is the author of Episode Five’s Driven to Distraction and we talked about:

• the dangers of informal rally racing

• children as gateways to interests (Renée’s son made this map!)

• a certain champion’s bad dad trauma

• why authors choose not to use “F1” in their work

• research (or “something underlined in Hanna’s notes that starts with R”) 

• Rachel Reid’s Heated Rivalry

• the real-time feeling of crashes

• what’s next in Renée’s Gamble Racing Series.

In Season Two, Episode 5, we read racy book: Driven to Distraction by Renée Dahlia. And, surprise! Next episode we’re interviewing her! And, not a surprise: We still don’t know what a rally driver is. Maybe she can tell us!

This MM, driver-historian, “S1” romance is also a mystery and we absolutely spoil the ending. Here’s what else happened:

Hanna changed a character’s name to “Daddy” to rattle Kate. This is reflected in our playlist for this book [KATE YOU WILL LIKE THIS ONE].

In fiction, it’s suspicious for both team cars to catch fire on a race weekend. In real life, that’s Ferrari.

We learned so many facts: 

• Monza is the most dangerous track.

• Drivers lose weight during races. 

• There are only three hours of free practice.

• The money is in the Constructor’s cup.

• Corner names at Silverstone.

• You can crash or kiss on an F1 track against a Unesco Heritage wall!

We noted some familiar tropes:

• Horses! are a common F1 trope—we think because of Rich People.

• Pixar’s Cars made another appearance. 

• The midseason sex break was back.

• Superstitions galore.

• Thicc necks.

• Living in Monaco for tax reasons. (And savory crepes!)

• The narrative followed our race schedule.

• Lots of crashes.

• But our hero was not a champion!

We wondered: What does a seven-point safety harness look like? And how tall are F1 drivers?

Here’s a great moment from Fast & Furious, as promised: “YOU NEVER HAD ME. You never had your car.”

Hanna proposes Pierre Gasly for our racer hero and rejects Kate’s offering of Esteban Ocon.

This week, we revisited Lauren Asher’s Dirty Air series with Collided and learned about Sexy Pinterest Bucket Lists. News conferences galore! Bandini vs. McCoy! LFG!

(Previously on Racy Books, we read Bookstagram darling Throttled. The edits seem to agree Noah is Charles, but we pegged him as Max.) 

Check check check: a playlist in the front matter, summer break, a champagne kiss, a thematic Disney movie, a Monaco apartment, a fireproof racing suit, a timeline consistent with the F1 calendar, and A Mine In Front Of A Microphone. But no celebratory donuts or bad dads.

Remember that time Christian Horner’s kids said their favorite drivers and Max didn’t make the cut?

We were right: Jax and Elena are the next couple in this series. But what we really want is a book for Sophie’s dad, James Mitchell. 

A classic news conference moment from real life: Seb defends Ham calling Vex a dickhead.

The google search for “F1 corporate rooftop lounge” has some hits and some misses. We remain without answers.

The fact is: Jeep Wranglers are sexy.

Please contact the team at Racy Books if you also have Michael Fassbender Blindness. 

Is a young Sebastian Vettel our hero? He can read and he’s German. That might be as close as we get.

Next up: Driven to Distraction!

Let’s talk about Drive by Tamara Lush! An Italian hero brings the “bossy for her safety” vibe and our heroine is breaking the Female Tire Changer glass ceiling. Welcome to Formula World!

(Since you are here, in the overlap of open-wheel racing enthusiasts and romance readers, you may be interested in hoverbikes, which show up in Hanna’s book Queen of Dust.)

We took a safety car in the first five minutes of the pod to discuss bookstagram annotations. Wow! That was fast.

Here’s a link to Kate’s curated list of F1 Romances. [KATE HELP] [Ed. Note: I would not necessarily call this “curated” so much as “every one I could find.”]

• “The one where her boyfriend is Max and her brother is Carlos and she’s a youtuber” is Throttled by Lauren Asher.

• “The one where is she is half mechanic and half model” is Revved by Samantha Towle.

• “The one where she was also a mechanic” is My Shocking Monte Carlo Confession by Heidi Rice.

• “The one with the fish” is Lights Out by Kat Ransom.

• [KATE THIS IS TO HELP YOU MAKE YOUR SPREADSHEET]

We found out an F1 steering wheel costs $100,000! And drivers toss them around!

Max’s world record pit stop. Max’s dad’s car fire pit stop. Max, Max, Max, Super Max.

Is it science that women fall in love with their first lover? Please feel free to weigh in.

“Mia” is a perfect representation of mine. No comments necessary, this is factual.

We didn’t get songs in this book, but that didn’t stop Hanna from making a playlist. 

We blame The Shallows for why we can’t remember anything.

This book had driver superstitions!

We agree we want more news conferences, we disagree that our hero is Danny Ric. And because Hanna makes the show notes, Dante is: Mario Andretti!

Racy Books Presents! Maya Blake’s The Price of Success. Featuring: A heroine who is a driver! Trauma and drama! (And Hanna once again professing her love of books with kidnappings and/or car crashes.)

At the top, we try to talk about topical real-life F1:

• Things missing from Drive to Survive Season Five.

• Fernando Alonso is doing well in Sebastian Vettel’s Astin Martin. 

• Lance Stroll’s broken wrists.

Kate does not get Hanna’s Field of Dreams reference, did you?

Do you know about Hannah Schmitz, strategist at Red Bull? Fun fact: she deals with ~mYsOgoNy~ and Max Verstappen [KATE YOU SEE THIS?] doesn’t like it.

We learned about limited in season testing and wondered: Is a re-shapable training track real? We don’t think so.

This book’s central question seems to be: Can one race when one experiences emotion? Here’s a catchphrase for the answer: Foggy eyes, broken hearts, will crash.

Men drive race cars when they have kids even though our heroines keep choosing to quit for that reason. Podcasting is not a visual medium but: side-eye.

Not only are there six-star hotels—there are seven-star hotels. Marketing!

“‘Let him whip in kitchen cups,’ you know what I mean?”

Here’s one of Crush-On-Her-Professor Hanna’s poems, for the real ones:

“Shirts, socks, and underwear,
Hoodies hanging on the chair,
Fucking paper everywhere,

I cannot see the floor.”

More importantly: Lando Norris eating seventeen spring rolls.

The closest we can get to our hero is Toto Wolff—the likelihood he flies his own PJs is high.

For the sandwich girlies:

• The grilled cheese from Chef. 

• The Milanesa Torta from XOCO. 

• The egg sandwich of my heart.

Tell us what you put on your sandwiches. We also want to know which books you’ve read with well-described sandwiches. And tune in next time for our equally relevant thoughts on [KATE PUT WHATEVER WE READ HERE I DON’T REMEMBER]. -Ed. note: We read Drive by Tamara Lush for our next episode. Can’t wait for you to join us!

Welcome to Season Two Episode One of the Racy Books Podcast! (This is the podcast where Hanna and Kate talk about things that interest them, mostly forgetting they are supposed to be doing something entertaining to other people!) 

This season we’ll be reviving some of the worlds we entered in Season One and I made that pun because this week we’re diving back into Samantha Towle’s Revved series with Revived. This book scored points with us for its interconnectedness of racing and sex, but there are some CWs up top FYI.

Some things that came up:

• Hanna has a new book out, Queen of Dust. We both enjoyed it.

• If you like kidnappings and have a high-tolerance for stream of consciousness, may we recommend: Kristin Ashley Rock Chick.

• It’s pronounced Silver-stun, according to Sir Lewis (we don’t have time to unpack the questionable American-English accent). 

• What is rally racing? We still don’t really know so prepare for this to come up again and again in Season Two.

• For those following along with microtropes we got: Pre-race rituals! Balaclavas! Therapy gone too far! But no Disney mentions.

• And! We learned about super license fees! (Kind of/from TikTok, as one does.)

Now, for our hero: we think it’s Alonso.

Don’t forget to check out our playlist for this book and get started reading [KATE I DON’T KNOW WHAT’S NEXT PLEASE ADD THAT IN TYSM]. Editor’s note: Our next book is The Price of Success by Maya Blake

Just hear those sleigh bells jingling. . . in our theme song!

For the 2022 Racy Books Pod Holiday Special, we read: Formula One Noel by Christina Braver–thanks again to Christina for the advanced reader copy; this steamy, contemporary holiday romance is out now!

Fun reminder that Hanna has a book coming out in January–QUEEN OF DUST. Buzzfeed put it on a list of romance novels that “will knock your socks off.”

Things that came up this episode (in addition to our Hero Walker’s dick):

• This is Hanna’s first Christmas romance! Do they all have a traditional solstice sex day? Kate would (and did) argue that Hanna made that up.

• Seattle does not have the infrastructure for snow. The whole place shuts down.

• Nora was giving Meredith Grey, but Walker was all: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmivKyEY1Dk&t=3s

• As we discovered, Dr. Thomas’s name was. . . Dr. Thomas.

• The most important scene in cinema made an appearance in this book.

• Questions were raised about Formula One driver contracts. We continue to have no answers. 

• Don’t forget to check out the playlist for this book!

• Have you seen this tweet about how women have had to normalize ~*~viOlEnCe~*~?

• On the podium, Hanna asserted that Danny Ric is our hero! Here he is dressed like a real cowboy. (And click here for Charles pronouncing Ricciardo.)

For our last episode of the season, please enjoy our first time recording via zoom! (We have already been told by our producer this is the last time we are allowed to record with airpods! Kate would like to ask you to please ignore the annoying bit at the beginning, it is the worst part.) Luckily our guest is a true professional (who also has a F1 podcast called Choosing Sides) with a real mic and a perfect newsletter:

It’s a long one, so pull on your fireproof balaclava, buckle up (KATE ARE THERE SEATBELTS IN AN F1 CAR? I FEEL LIKE I SHOULD KNOW THIS), and welcome to the pod, Lily Herman! 

She was a wealth of information and here are the things she taught us:

• How she got into romance and F1 (the power of Sarah Dessen and Netflix as gateway drugs).

• Don’t be a Ferrari fan if you don’t have time for therapy.

• Everything we ever wanted to know about TYRES. 

  • How Pirelli became the sole supplier (all Hanna heard was the word CONSPIRACY!)

  • They purposely create compounds that degrade to force tyre strategy!

  • Tyres are someone’s entire job (KATE CAN WE FIND A ROMANCE WHERE ONE OF THE MCS IS A TYRE DOULA?)

• The importance of fuel testing.

• There have been rampant eating disorders among drivers!

• Gene Haas (“a hundreds millionaire”) is a white-collar criminal!

• Drive to Survive is perfect reality television filled with fun characters.

• The reason Hanna doesn’t like Esteban Ocon might be related to this video (min1:45).

• Her thoughts on the possibility of a Vex redemption arc and as a possible perfect romance hero. (Stay tuned for her F1 romance series BIG-EYES EMOJI) 

• The rush of Red Bull’s implosion in Bahrain was universal.

• Her top-three requirements for an F1 romance:

  • Basic knowledge of the cars

  • Nuance in character type (fewer angry drivers)

  • A CRASH!

• Why Priest is giving Toto Wolff. 

• Why the heroes of Heated Rivalry would make perfect F1 drivers.

• Her theory that Jonah from The Simple Wild is Kevin “Suck My Balls, Mate” Magnussen. (Also! He wrote a memoir! It is not in English but here are some quotes.)

• Which drivers are gonna vibe to Taylor Swift Midnights. (This is a video of Charles Leclerc singing.)

• Can we expect more drivers from the Canadian Billionaire Charity Program? 

• What it would take to get a female driver on the grid.

Thanks for listening to Season One of Racy Books–we hope to see you around the internet some time! 

Get excited because this week we’re reading the first book in Lauren Asher’s Dirty Air Series, Throttled.

Would you classify yourself as a problematic reader? Do you love drama and bad dads and crashes? (And murderers?) Tell us about it!

• This book uses the term F1 and has a Big Huge Italian team with an iconic red car. It’s a nice mix of real and unreal, and maybe a good way to avoid copyright infringement! 

• Some favorite vlogs for those of us on Youtube: Canadian van-lifers who now live in a cabin and a 23-yo influencer living in NYC

• How many years between the characters makes an age gap romance? We’re not sure! But we think it’s important that the characters be at different places in their lives.

• “Is this what a slow burn feels like?” is a strange question to ask for someone who maybe just published a slow burn.

• There were some fun jokes at Haas’s expense and it felt good to be on the inside.

• We were very impressed that Noah went to therapy twice a week during summer break. Turns out summer break is a fourteen-day shut down. . . but we’re still proud.

• We determined the point of an F1 romance is the moment the driver says, “Being with you is better than winning.”

• KATE WATCH THESE TWO SCENES SO YOU GET MY REFERENCES:

  • The waterfall scene in Last of the Mohicans

  • The same scene but in Mission Impossible Two 

STAY ALIVE.

• Here are a ton of links to Real Things that have happened in F1 that also happened in this book: 

  • Vex has the fastest pit stop. (And Bottas has the slowest pit stop.)

  • Noah had trouble with “the drink” just like Kimi. 

  • A moment between drivers at a press conference that maybe inspired the author?

• This is a pro-Steve Harrington podcast.

• Here’s the playlist from the front matter of the book, you are welcome. (This podcast is at the center of a Venn diagram for fans of Taylor Swift, F1, and romance novels.)

• Proof that Noah could have done better than P8.

• We agree: 

  • James Mitchell is Christian Horner and Bobo Fox is Toto Wolff. 

  • Jax Kingston is Lewis Hamilton and Santiago Alatorre is Carlos Sainz.

• We disagree:

  • Liam Zander? Is he Seb; is he Bottas? We’ll have to read the rest of the series to figure it out.

  • Noah Slade is the American Max Verstappen, gold shoes and all. I mean.

It’s Episode Fore, if you will, featuring: forearms and foreplay in Tessa Bailey’s Unfixable!

Here’s what happened:

• Hanna tried out a new tagline and Kate took a deep breath.

• Hanna’s new book about an actor who has to play his twin to get another shot (this is a pun) with his ex, End of the Day, is out on 9/27! Kate did the math. (Our Instagram in the future is also really good—come be our friend!)

• Dark Fever famously starts with a John Cougar Mellencamp quote.

• Do drivers get to keep their trophies? We didn’t think so.

• Kate does not know how to respond to Hanna’s new phrase: “loose in the clickity-clacks.” [POLL?? Vote on what this could possibly mean??? SO MANY QUESTION MARKS]

• POV trends in romance are fascinating! Here’s more on that.

• No official playlist for this book so you know what that means: We made you one!

• How did Shane, who to our knowledge was not working out four hours a day, jump in a car and win that race when his neck was not as thick as Pierre Gasly’s? It should be giving “my shoulders are dead.”

• Did Willa taste champagne on Shane’s skin? No. In this book, the champagne was sprayed on the car. Also! Turns out! No one is spraying champagne anymore–it’s a SPARKLING WINE spray now.

• A regional delicacy in Monza is actually risotto.

• Things we still don’t know: When can you use the F1 copyright in a book? How do you drive on a beach in Ireland? Why did Martin have to die?

• Charles Leclerc has GREEN eyes. [KATE, I’m mostly including this so we can link to a photo of Charles because he’s so so handsome.]

• Who is Shane? Not another K Mag? A winner like Max Verstappen? An in-and-outer like Albon or Ocon? More likely, as our producer pointed out, Shane is super-sub Nico Hülkenberg.

Please join us in ten years when we revisit the question “Do we like Vex now?” and also in two weeks to discuss Throttled, Dirty Air #1 by Lauren Asher.