Drive by Susan Strecker - NO

Drive by Susan Strecker, 298 pages. Koehler Books, 2019. $19.

Language: R (121 swears, 12 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: PG

BUYING ADVISORY: HS – NO

AUDIENCE APPEAL: LOW

Piper is Planter Pierson’s daughter – and everyone knows it. Pierson Racing is a very successful NASCAR team, and Piper grew up knowing that driving and racing would be her life. Until that disaster in Tennessee. Now Piper is just trying to survive and stay as far away from that dangerous life as possible. What will it take for Piper to start living again?

The message of this story is great: living means taking risks. I also thought the ending came together very well in a way I wasn’t expecting. However, I didn’t enjoy my time reading this book as much as I wanted to because I couldn’t stand Piper – especially her self-centeredness which made it difficult to sympathize with her when things didn’t go her way. The timing was also difficult to follow, sometimes making the story feel choppy with Strecker recounting what happened to Piper rather than showing those scenes to readers. Mature Content rating for partial nudity and sex.

Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen