Ultra Meital Reviews: Racing for the Sun by Amy Lane

I really don't know how to start this review.. I wanted this book to be so much more than it turned out to be. I liked the two MCs in the beginning but as the book progressed I was sick of all the angst and how much Sonny was childish and immature but mostly that he was SO damaged I don't think he will EVER be "fine". He will always be a responsibility for Ace because he NEEDS to be taken care of. For me it's a HORRIBLE place for a relationship in which it almost feels like a parent-kid dynamic.

Sonny and Ace mate at the military. Ace was Sonny's superior. Right from the start he got the feeling Sonny is the kind of guy someone should keep an eye on and that he did. They were kind of "friends" while in the service, and yet there was always the fact Ace was higher ranking. Somewhere along the way, Sonny admits to Ace his big dream of building race cars and makes Ace promise they'll share it with Ace riding the car Sonny builds. I'm not sure if neither of them meant it, talking on the desert in Afghanistan. It's not a place to dream.. it's a place not everyone survives.

Yet they DO survive. Ace gets out of the military a few months before Sonny and he starts working on making their dream come true. I think it was a good thing for both of them to have a planned future because both would have been lost without it. Ace has fallen HARD for Sonny throughout the time they shared together and he proved it whenever Sonny needed saving.. yet Sonny always thought Ace was straight so it takes them quite a long time before they start a real relationship.

They start to build a life together. Making a business of an old garage, Sonny spiking up a car Ace bought for them to race. They get a kid receptionist whom they saved and later on a fellow mechanic who also needs a place to belong. It was a nice home for all of them but Sonny was always too "whoobly" mentally. He has went through A LOT. Since all we get is Ace's POV neither we nor Ace know ANY of that, but it left a mark on Sonny, a literal one as well as many emotionally. He needs reassurances from Ace, nearly CONSTANTLY and they tend to be of the possessive kind which I generally don't care for.

Ace was a good guy, he needed Sonny almost as much as Sonny needed him. He needed to build a future together with Sonny to somehow compensate on someone who was very close to him and DIDN'T. He feels he NEEDS to make it come true for him to somehow "fix" it. Ace's family situation wasn't very clear to me. It was between neglectful to caring though I wasn't sure about the loving, and then they were. I don't know. I think Ace never had a true place at least in his mind which is also a reason for him to try and build something REAL with Sonny.

Sonny.. well he is too f#(%ed up to explain. He was childish and ignorant in a way that doesn't even make sense, I really don't think that ALL of his problems are due to what HAPPENED to him, I think it's somehow who he is, and I'm not talking about being a little retarded, because he it almost feels like socially awkward? After hearing his life story I'm not sure how it all played maybe that's a little of my problem.. I just don't GET him. He is manic half of the time, he behaved like a child the other half - and curses at people for no real reason. I had a hard time connection with him. I felt sorry for him. Like a broken toy Ace took on himself to care for.

See, while I liked both Ace and Sonny at the beginning I was just so TIRED of Sonny at a certain point. He was all over the place all the time, and I just couldn't see a REAL relationship buildup through all of his frantic gestures. I mean there WAS a buildup and yet, with every reassurance he needed I felt like he went a hounded steps back. It was just SO DAMN ANGSTY I couldn't take it.

I think if you are a fan of possessiveness, broken toys and HIGH angst this book would be AWESOME for you. But for me, the possessiveness was off, and Sonny was somehow TOO broken to feel he can be a true HALF of a relationship. I guess for some readers it wouldn't be an issue, but for me, that's a thing I truly look for in relationships - no matter the differences, in the end I love seeing a balance. In this one I wasn't having it.

One last thing! The previous book I've read "Red Fish, Dead Fish" (Fish out of Water, #2) mentions Ace and Sonny. The timing is after this one but it mentions a guy from Sonny and Ace's past. I wonder where Amy is taking it, because it seems there's another book related to this character and his background. I actually hope Ace and Sonny would stay out of it, let Jackson and Ellery take care of things. [ Note - The 4th book in the "Fish out of Water" series will be a crossover with this one ]