Derian Winfield is the typical bad boi butch. Rich beyond most people’s dreams, rebellious and bored, she spends her life on the Formula One circuit holding parties, smoozing donors and picking up women – women with whom she is unfailingly polite but who mean less than an excellent bottle of scotch.

When her beloved aunt, Henrietta, collapses with heart problems, Derian drops everything to go home. She finds Henrietta’s beautiful protégé, Emily May, sat outside her hospital room and a turf war for the literary agency Henrietta and Emily adore.

Emily, orphaned by a plane crash, responsible for her non responsive older sister and now threatened by deportation, resists the charismatic jet setter with all her will, and when she succumbs knows it is extremely temporary – literally until the next race, the next casino or the next woman attracts Derian’s attention.

This is another in a line of relatively formulaic romances from Radclyffe, but I enjoyed it. For me the romances don’t come close to the series; Provincetown, Honor, Justice and First Responders (in my personal favourite order) but I really liked the characters and found myself pulled into the story.

Derien is the typical playboy but not only charming, she has integrity and deep down, knows her life is a sham, simply a way of escaping the fact she was never good enough. Emily appears all sweetness and light, the archetypical good girl, but underneath all that goodness is a tiger waiting to be unleashed, and of course Derian is just the woman to unleash her.

Some of the background characters are a little shadowy, but Derian’s adoring best friend Aud is amusing, some of the agency staff are solid and most of all Henrietta herself is a real character, irascible yet inspiring, she is what really holds the plot and the agency together.

I was slightly confused by Emily’s history; needs a visa, comes from Singapore and yet is clearly not Asian from her description or the jacket. That and some of the other back stories, such as the feud between brother and sister Martin and Henrietta, could have done with more detail, but as with any good traditional romance, be it book or movie, we forget unimportant facts in the rush to the ‘happy ever after’ and only remember afterwards that there was something missing.

The writing is excellent, fast paced and enthralling, and I genuinely wanted it to all work out.. not that I had a moments doubt. Definitely Radclyffe at her romantic best. ( )

Lots going on in this Radclyffe romance (not an unusual event).

Mainly it's the story of Emily and Derian. Emily is a senior literary agent who works at the Winfield Agency for Henrietta.

Derian Winfield is a racing enthusiast and Henrietta's niece. But, when Henrietta winds up in the hospital they both bond over their love for the older woman and wait together as she's diagnosed etc.

Of course, as the time goes on after they leave Henrietta's bedside, they also feel a pull towards each other. But there are complications of course. Derian's father is trying to take over Henrietta's agency, and so Derian has to make a choice. Step into her Aunt's place (something she doesn't want to do or think she's suited for) or let Emily and everyone possibly get fired (or in Emily's case, something worse than getting fired). Emily is in the US on a work Visa, and she's in danger of losing it, which would be bad not just for the most obvious reasons.

I liked the characters. From Derian's friend Aud to Henrietta and I really liked how the stuff like the BEA and National Book awards were in there. (Heh, the swag scene, both before and after the general admission was hilarious).

It was an all around fun read, with lots of good book-ish stuff in it.

I got this advanced galley through Netgalley on behalf of Bold Strokes Books. ( )