The Chase by Erin McCarthy (Fast Track #4)
Contemporary Romance
April 5, 2011
Paperback
Berkley

Reviewed by Mandi

Favorite Quote: “I’m going to make your car my bitch,” he told her, shooting a grin her way.

The hell he was.

Blurb: 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.

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…

The Chase is the second book I have read in this series and I liked it so much better than the previous book, Hot Finish. The Chase is full of humor, a very charming, sexy hero and a heroine who really appealed to me. Kendall and Evan have quite a history. They fell in love as young adults, only to break up and not speak for years. Now ten years later, their friends are tired of them carrying baggage around with them. So they are forced to talk about why they broke up all those years ago and they realize it was a simple miscommunication. Sitting together getting all of their feelings out brings about that spark of attraction – and of course some cocktails help speed things along too.

So from quite early in the book, these two are in a good place in their relationship. There are no huge obstacles they need to work through (except at the end which we will discuss in a moment). They really both love each other and just need to figure out how to reconnect and work their romance into their career driven lives. Evan reminds me a lot of Ford from The Sweetest Thing by Jill Shalvis. He is very charming, sexy and loves to tease. He is also having a very poor year as a racecar driver. It is nice to see a hero who is not perfect in life. His driving basically sucks, but that becomes not so important to him once he starts dating Kendall.

Kendall struggles with being the only female on the circuit, but she can hold her own. She is aggressive pursing Evan but still gets flustered around him. After they sleep together for the first time, there is an awkward moment where she is trying to leave and she gives him the thumbs up. She has these little dorky moments that make me smile.  She is a tomboy who loves to be with the guys on the track, but she is still a girly girl inside.

This book is an excellent read up until about 40 pages from the end. And then this huge conflict is thrown in from left field that left me scratching my head. I would have been perfectly content with the story ending right before this happens. I just see no reason why this event had to be included in this story. And after it is introduced, I don’t think sufficient enough time is spent dealing with it.

Overall, The Chase is a super sexy, fun read that I definitely recommend.

Rating: B

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