Chasing Daisy by Paige Toon

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

I was sooo tempted to give this book 5 stars for character Luis alone but I really can’t even though I’m fairly certain he is my future book husband. Yep I’m going all fangirl with this review. I think I’m in love.

If you can’t stand gushing, let me just say this is a sweet, funny and romantic book that I literally couldn’t put down from the moment I started it. If you don’t mind gushing, read on.

Synopsis

Anyway, the story (I should probably talk about that shouldn’t I). Chasing Daisy follows Daisy Rogers a 26 year old “bun tart” (aka catering assistant/waitress/dogsbody) for a Formula 1 team. She’s sworn off men following a bad break up from a celebrity and is trying to get away from her ex by travelling the world to different Grand Prix events as part of the teams catering staff. Her resolve to stay single wavers however when she meets the two new drivers on the team Will and Luis.

Luis, the Brazilian, is definitely a player, out partying all night and constantly surrounded with women. He has an incredible ability to drive Daisy crazy and she can’t stand him. Will on the other hand is very sweet, dedicated and determined to win. He’s the perfect man. The only problem, he has a long term girlfriend. Daisy tries to fight her feelings but starts to get attached. Is a relationship possible or will getting involved lead to a crash and someone getting hurt?

Thoughts

Safe to say I really, really loved this book. I’ve read a few of Paige Toon’s books before and have found them a little hit or miss. One I loved, another not so much. This one definitely tips her towards favourite author territory. It’s sweet, funny, sad and totally addictive. Kind of like Days of Thunder with a love triangle thrown in.

Setting the story within a Formula 1 team is chick lit genius. There are exotic locations, hot drivers, celebrities, drama and all of the excitement and anxiousness of the races. The story itself is slightly predictable. You can guess almost from the outset what the ending is going to be but I have to say it’s a very enjoyable journey (particularly if Luis is driving).

Daisy is a likeable enough character. I won’t go into her background too much as it’s all kept quite secret and would therefore give away spoilers but she’s quite fiery and determined which are characteristics I like. I do love how she can curse and swear at someone in Italian one minute and go completely tongue tied when speaking to someone she’s attracted to the next. I did feel like she occasionally over reacted to things (possibly her Italian blood) and that her ethics were a little dubious at times but I was still cheering her on most of the time.

I have to admit I wasn’t overly impressed with Will and couldn’t see the attraction myself. As soon as Daisy found out he had a serious girlfriend she should have had nothing to do with him and to me it seemed really wrong that at times he seemed to encourage her. He was quite sweet, attractive and dedicated to his career but I found him a little on the boring side particularly compared to Luis.

Luis, Luis, Luis. I think I’m in love with Luis. He’s definitely the bad boy of the racing world. Doesn’t follow his diet plan, stays out late with the mechanics drinking, has a gaggle of women hanging off him most of the time and loves stirring up trouble. His relationship with Daisy is explosive and fireworks most definitely fly whenever they meet. She can’t stand him and he takes great pleasure in winding her up, embarrassing her and generally just being a bit of a nuisance. Underneath it all though he seems like quite a sweet, funny and caring guy.

I can honestly say all of my favourite parts of this book featured Luis in one way or another. Daisy and him learning swear words in different languages, him embarrassing her in front of some important people, him standing up for her at an event, him trying to psyche out Will before a race. Fantastic scenes all.

I was very close to a 5 star review just for these but there were a couple of bits that stopped me. Firstly, there is quite a strong adultery is ok type vibe going on which I wasn’t too keen on. Also I felt like there were a few storylines that weren’t quite resolved and that left me feeling a little bit unsatisfied.

Overall though I’d definitely recommend it if you’re looking for a cute, romantic and easy read. I sat down and read the full book in a morning 🙂