Ariel Tachna has the skill to write out-of-ordinary love stories (like her Partnership in Blood series) but also very ordinary “extraordinary” love stories like this one: Overdrive is set in the World Championship Rally world, that is a little less shining than the F1 circuit, but is still a “public” setting; nevertheless, this is a behind the scene story, about very ordinary guys falling in love and having to face the common step by step routine to build a long-term relationship.

Daniel “Dany” is a French driver who desperately needs a good navigator; when the chance comes to hire Francois “Frank”, a young French-Canadian, the little detail that Frank is without job after being kicked out from his previous team since he is gay it’s not a problem at all: Dany is bisexual, and the fact that Frank is young and hot is a bonus.

When I said the story is ordinary, I meant it in a positive way: even if Dany and Frank’s love story isn’t, and cannot be, only a private affair (there is their team to consider, sponsors and public opinion), for most of the novel the author concentrate on their private life; how they first share an home together, allowing them to know each other and instil in each other heart the seed of love; how they discover common interests and target; and above all how they can replace the first rush of attraction with something deeper and more lasting.

Another point that I like was that, even if Dany and Frank had any chance to “consummate” this love immediately, the author preferred to delay the moment when sex becomes part of their relationship; I think the choice was to prove that, if you build steady basis, the love will be stronger. Dany is actually a don juan, basically playing the field with both men and women, always searching the next thrill, in love, sport and career; but once he “tests” it, he is always on the hunt for the next one, easily forgetting the previous flavour of the day. It’s not actually Frank’s choice to “deny” Dany, it’s more something just happening, even supported by Frank’s sudden need to go back home for some weeks, leaving Dany in France wondering what it could have been and what can be if they take a chance on this love. Once they arrive to the sexual part of their relationship, in any case they regain the lost time, and it was quite nice to see Dany, the “driver”, letting Frank taking the lead at least in bed.

The private side of the love story remains center stage for most part of the novel, and only in the last chapters the public side will make its appearance; even in this case, the author chose to deal with it in a quiet and romantic way, no drama at all.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1615819029/?tag=elimyrevandra-20