The False Flat

I’ll admit, I rolled my eyes at first when the protagonist’s backstory hinged on a cycling career derailed by injury. *Another sports-to-love redemption arc?* But Collings subverts expectations by making the bike shop the real stage—not just a cute meet-cute backdrop, but a pressure cooker of class tension, unpaid invoices, and the kind of friendships that feel like family until they betray you. The romance with the taco-truck-owning love interest (yes, really) avoids cliché because their connection is built on shared exhaustion, not grand gestures. Their first kiss happens mid-argument over a broken bike chain, and it’s *messy*—just like the rest of the book. Alaska Jackson’s performance sells it. She doesn’t just read the Spanish phrases; she *switches* into them, her accent shifting naturally like a native speaker’s. (A small but brilliant touch: the love interest’s abuela’s lines carry the weight of someone who’s scolded a hundred grandkids.) My only critique? The middle act drags slightly during the protagonist’s internal monologues about her past—Collings leans hard into the ‘false flat’ metaphor, and a few of those introspective loops could’ve been tightened. And while the ending satisfies, the villainous ex-teammate’s comeuppance feels a touch too neat for a story that otherwise thrives in moral gray areas. Still, the audiobook’s production is flawless—no awkward edits, no volume spikes—just Jackson’s voice, a well-oiled chain, carrying you through every gear shift of the story.