Welcome to my favorites shelf. It took me long to start reading this book. Shame on me. Especially because I love ice queen romances, and it is a truth universally acknowledged, that Lee Winter's ice queens are just out of this world. If you're looking for a straight up romance, then pick another book but do come back to this once you're looking for a joyride and romance, of course.
This book pushes my adrenaline button on, it makes me giddy with anticipation on how innocent this big corporation is and the very influential individuals behind it. The two reporters, despite their mutual dislike, makes a deal to work together without backstabbing and killing each other along the way to uncover the truth. Throughout their in Stop! The reveal of one of the biggest scandal of the decade, career upgrades for both and the best of all, the hs continued the next part of their lives as a couple.
Catherine Ayers and Lauren King are pretty terrific on their own but together they are phenomenal and if you are a villain, you should lawyer up immediately. Kindle price is USD9. All the books are masterpieces! This one included! Just wow! I was so excited while reading as if I was there with the main characters trying to find out what was going on.
Not to mention the chemistry!!! Simply amazing! Listened to the audiobook this time and wow! Dec 18, Julia rated it it was amazing Shelves: read-in , mystery , ff , ice-queen-reputation , opposites-attract , co-workers , enemies-to-lovers , contemporary.
God, and to think I almost gave up on this book because the first chapters weren't catching my interest. That would've been such a huge mistake I'm very glad I didn't make.
What a fantastic book. It nailed everything: great, complex characters; interesting, well-paced mystery; amazing romance; and if that wasn't enough, some parts had the feminist in me almost shedding tears of joy.
I can't stress how amazing the characters were. Lauren too, but especially Catherine — her backstory was revealed ju God, and to think I almost gave up on this book because the first chapters weren't catching my interest. Lauren too, but especially Catherine — her backstory was revealed just slowly enough so that from the beginning I had an idea she couldn't be entirely bad, but kept me waiting anxiously for the details of what happened.
And when it finally did, all I could think was, damn, this is an extraordinary character. You can't write a story about female journalists in politics without at least acknowledging how much sexism they must put up with to get anywhere, and this book did that and more — it was incorporated directly into Catherine's backstory and why she was the way she was.
Sexism played a huge role in her fall from grace, and she's got that rage and determination to get back everything that was taken from her.
Catherine fucking Ayers is a full-fledged badass, and alongside Lauren King, they're absolutely unstoppable. The way their dynamic was developed was outstanding. Lauren was fearless and mercilessly dragged Catherine out of her comfort zone, and she was just what Catherine needed in her life.
But it wasn't easy, and I felt the heartbreak along with both of them. Jem , Tiff and Jenna already said everything I had to say in their wonderful reviews. Everything about this book makes it more than deserving of a spot in my favorites shelf. It's a shame Lee Winter hasn't published anything else except for a short story from this book's universe, because I would honestly read anything else written by her. Jan 14, Jacob Proffitt rated it it was amazing Shelves: steamy , lgbt , romance , mystery , balked-by-price , audiobook.
This was a decent investigative mystery with romance elements that worked in the end, but only barely. The plot had a strong and steady pace and that held my interest throughout. I had to consciously suppress what I know about the details because I'm more than passingly familiar with tech and security fields that lie at the heart of their investigation and while the trappings hold together fine the details simply don't. Which is frankly to be expected and Winter does a great job putting togethe This was a decent investigative mystery with romance elements that worked in the end, but only barely.
Which is frankly to be expected and Winter does a great job putting together the framework such that the motivations driving the various parties involved hold together amazingly well. And I particularly liked that she gave many of the opponents Lauren and Catherine face complex backgrounds that made their interactions move from cooperation to opposition in a fluid, but reasonable, manner. Until the epilogue, I was going to say that the romance felt rather lacking, however.
This is mostly down to Catherine being so closed off for so long and holding onto her standoffishness all the way through a dark moment. At that point, I didn't actually buy that what they had had enough foundation to last at all.
It was a beginning, but it didn't feel like enough. And I was skeptical that an epilogue could pull it together, but that turned out to be a premature evaluation. And it wasn't even that the epilogue was idealized or anything.
Quite the opposite, in fact. Instead, it showed the compromises they had made and many of the accommodations in their relationship. But better than that, though, is that it showed how they had become a team and why it is that they stayed together. And why they'd make the choices and sacrifices in future to remain together. It was a really fantastic piece of work, frankly, and redeemed the whole romantic arc for me. A note about Politics : Winter does a great job keeping this apolitical, which is an achievement when the story is fundamentally about government corruption.
No parties are mentioned and we don't meet any politicians who are pure and good or anything like it. So while the primary corruption is in Nevada and presumably involved Republicans , there are explicit indications that it reaches into everything everywhere.
Her characters, dedicated journalists, even call out the sad state of modern journalism for being shallow and too willing to take a party line for their own story angle, even, and including, their acknowledged model, Helen Thomas. This was unexpected for me because I'd think that the one subgenre where you didn't need to worry about offending a large percentage of your audience for taking sides would be a lesbian romance.
I know that no single group is monolithic in outlook, but those in the audience who weren't actual Democrats would at least be used to messages from that perspective in their art and entertainment. So Winter did an incredibly good job with a difficult thing that she probably didn't have to do at all. It maybe helped that this was published in , so before some of the more heated polarization the last four years have been.
A note about Steamy : There is a single explicit sex scene, though with a memory back with more detail later. It's the light side of my steam tolerance. Whoa, wow, awesome! These are some of the adjectives that may fly out of your mouth as you finish The Red Files by Lee Winter.
What an amazing book. Winter did everything right with this one. The mystery is multi-layered, the characters are fascinating and tenacious. Oh yeah, the romance is pretty damn good too! To say I was blown away would be an understatement. Lauren King is a journalist for the LA Centennial.
She writes about the celebrities glittering the screens of Hollywood and what p Whoa, wow, awesome! She writes about the celebrities glittering the screens of Hollywood and what parties the who's-who are attending. She has zero desire to do this type of frivolous reporting. Lauren is an ambitious investigative reporter who is chomping at the bit to get the go ahead to report real news. Lauren is smart, thoughtful and fearless. Catherine Ayers is a blue blooded, ex-Washington bureau chief.
She has been abused by the good-ol boy club that runs politics. She was forced out of DC by a political maneuver that took her career and all her supposed friends. Ayers is now being forced to suffer out the remainder of her contract by being the Centennial's gossip page reporter. Catherine is vicious, cold and has a tongue that will slash her foes to threads. She is also extraordinarily intelligent, honest and at the perfect moments, she is tender.
Catherine and Lauren are like oil and water. These two get extreme pleasure out of making the other one squirm. It is delightful! They treat each other as arch rivals. Both of these women are being held back career wise, so they use the other as their scratching post. Claws out! Their banter is legendary, quick wit that is not only humorous, but also very smart. There were times the barbs they threw at each other caused me to wince, but every time they redeemed themselves.
The meat of the book is a muti-layered mystery involving a start-up corporation and with a big brother complex. I won't go to any details, I definitely do not want to ruin this for any would-be readers. The story is so good! This is fast paced novel, by a great storyteller.
The book is the perfect length, I never felt like we were rushing to wrap it up and put a bow on it. This book is solid gold. Feb 24, lov2laf rated it really liked it Shelves: ice-queen , pages , age-gap-romance , crime , drama , lesbian-or-f-f , political , romance , from-hate-to-love , mystery.
As mysteries go, this was a pretty good one. The mystery aspect is not predictable at all which is unique. We don't know the who, why, or the how and it takes a long time to get there which is intentional.
The author has a journalism background herself and I think that really lent to the story. The leads get one nugget of information that connects to another and then another and we're right there on the journey as things are figured out. I didn't even bother guessing around the mystery, instead j As mysteries go, this was a pretty good one.
I didn't even bother guessing around the mystery, instead just going along for the ride. The plot is quite complex but it all weaves together nicely and the whole unraveling of the actual crime was really interesting.
It also has a very topical feel. With this book, that doesn't happen at all. We never meet the possible villains. The villain s are more like an 'it'. Because of this, the mystery felt like an intellectual puzzle to solve rather than something visceral. The crime isn't a murder. I'm not sure if I've ever read a mystery without one. I never found the book "funny" but it's definitely entertaining. All of the characters from big to small were fleshed out and completely distinct.
Most characters were so vivid they jumped right off the page. Also, something about the book made it highly visual for me. View 1 comment. Perfect storyline, and an amazing book! May 06, Marilyn rated it it was amazing Shelves: must-read , lgbt , recommended-by-tlbr , owned , favorite-author , ebook , ylva , age-difference , series , all-time-favorite.
This is another fabulous book from Lee Winter. I loved it! I had been saving it for a special reading slot in anticipation that it would be very enjoyable, and I wasn't disappointed. It's a mystery, with a little bit of action, including a car chase. The supporting characters are all quirky, interesting and likable, except the bad guys. They aren't likeable. The romance is nicely done, with an ice queen dynamic. I really enjoyed the MC's interactions, and found them both charming.
Today I saw th This is another fabulous book from Lee Winter. Today I saw that there will be a sequel to this coming out next month, so I had perfect timing reading this now. I can't wait to read the sequel, and spend more time with these characters. I'm trying not to go over-the-top with superlatives in this review, but you may notice that I've put this book on my all-time-favorites shelf.
Oct 20, Amy Marsden rated it it was amazing. Lee Winter has done it again! I don't think there's a book of hers I've read and haven't enjoyed immensely. I'm off to read the sequel now! Sep 07, Jamie rated it it was amazing Shelves: enemies-to-lovers.
So I recently went on a bit of a marathon of Lee Winter books and instead of writing an essay of every single book and talk about why they are brilliant, I think I'm just going to leave ratings for them except this review because it was definitely my favorite of her books. Lee Winter is absolutely one of the best authors in lesfic and I think the only rival to her for consistency in published work is EJ Noyes. I got into her so late as before I felt her books were heavier than what I usually wan So I recently went on a bit of a marathon of Lee Winter books and instead of writing an essay of every single book and talk about why they are brilliant, I think I'm just going to leave ratings for them except this review because it was definitely my favorite of her books.
I got into her so late as before I felt her books were heavier than what I usually wanted to read, but maybe because I'm in a different place as a reader I inhaled all of her books the last couple weeks. They're so so good. Winter is known for and almost always has some form of Ice Queen characters- but as I most of these books back to back I can say that while all of these characters do have Ice Queen characteristics, that doesn't mean it's the same character.
She has an incredible knack for creating dynamic, varied, and interesting characters all behind the wall of ice. It didn't feel stale to me at all reading one after another. This book in particular is a mystery thriller novel at heart with romance added in, but the romance doesn't take away from the excitement at all. I can say with many of her books I struggled putting them down, but it's nonetheless so true for this one in particular.
I was so riveted with what was going to happen- and the action had my heart thumping. This book has been out five years, and is very popular so I'm sure I don't really need to write a detailed review of the plot and characters other than I absolutely loved it. Lee Winter, I'm sorry it took me so long to get into your books. I'll never do it again. Consider yourself to have a new fan. View all 7 comments. Mar 23, Sandra rated it it was amazing Shelves: various.
I finally read this one. I always love a story which takes place in the media world. So this story is about two journalists, who are like fire and ice. Catherine has suffered a humiliating fall from grace and was now reporting on the A-list parties in L. When Lauren begins to work in the same newspaper office, they are always clashing together and bitching.
But when they decided to work together on a big story, which will be much bigger than they imagined, they have to find a way to overcome they differences. I was hooked to the story they were looking for, from the beginning, it kept me on my toes.
Winter describes and narrate very well all the twists and turns of the story, when they were revealed, including some mystery and angst. But in this case, it keeps the excitement in the romance part. The romance is a really slow burning, but it was, what it needed. Otherwise it would have been too simple. I loved the banter, wit and conversations of Lauren and Catherine. Although sometimes Catherine was such a cold bitch.
But Cat is a very interesting and multilayered person, every time, I was liking her a bit more, she acts like the most poisonous ice queen. Nevertheless, there was chemistry between the two. For my taste, I would really love it, if there were a continuation. I would like to know how the story of them would go on. My rating 4. I reread because I am planning to read the sequel Under Your Skin next. Late to the party! But I'm so glad I finally got around to reading it.
I first picked it up after reading Requiem for Immortals. Which was a mistake because they are very different books especially in tone, but both excellently written.
I read a chapter and I couldn't get into it plus I got distracted by other glittery new books. I finally read it - wow. Loved it - the MCs and the minor characters are so well written. The dialog is fabulous. I've always wanted to be as sharp and as quick as Catherine. But to be that way you have to be fearless like Catherine, until Lauren throws her off. Is it a romance with a mystery? Or a mystery with a romance?
I think it is both. Winter is able to balance both and the pacing is perfect. I can't wait for Winter's next novel. Jan 27, Sky Brown rated it it was amazing Shelves: best-main-character , enemies-to-friends , slow-burn , well-written , ice-queen , drama , betrayal. I started to read this book last year but I don't think I even finished a chapter before I just decided to not read it anymore.
Boi, am I glad I did :D. This book is really, really good. I absolutely loved the mystery it kept me on my toes the whole time I was reading it, I kept getting more and more excited. Then the ending happened and it was just fantastic. The romance betw I started to read this book last year but I don't think I even finished a chapter before I just decided to not read it anymore.
The romance between Ayers and King started out slow with them "hating" each other but I could totally feel the chemistry between them. Jan 17, Bugs rated it it was amazing. Another gem from one of me recently-discovered favourite authors, the brilliant Lee Winter! I remember after reading the fantabulous "Requiem For Immortals" my 1st Winter book I couldn't wait to get me hands on another critically-acclaimed Winter book, "The Red Files.
I practically ingested the book in a blink of an eye! And have been re-reading it periodically since, I might add! First off, I absolutely LOVE ice-queens especially powerful, gorgeous ones with bloody cold and caustic t Another gem from one of me recently-discovered favourite authors, the brilliant Lee Winter! First off, I absolutely LOVE ice-queens especially powerful, gorgeous ones with bloody cold and caustic tongues so sharp they cut like knives.
So when Catherine Ayers graced the first pages of the book, I was immediately enthralled. Not used to being stumped by anyone who had the misfortune to experience her caustic treatment, Catherine was properly schooled, by a junior colleague, no less! And so began the war of words and back-and-forth between these 2 stubborn, strong-willed women! However, what completely took Catherine off-guard about Lauren's brazen, unintimidated attitude only attracted her more, much to her chagrin!
The more these two went against each other, the more they found themselves irresistible to each other. It was exhilarating to experience the thawing of ice-queen Ayers as she found herself slowly but surely falling for Lauren. What a crackin' riot, indeed! Add to the deliciousness of these duo, was a compelling journalistic story that both ended up chasing after, working as partners-in-crime reluctantly, and finding out themselves that they made a perfect team.
Oh the intoxicating slow-burn Winter's knack in churning out smart, clever dialogue especially the verbal gymnastics made the relationship between two nemeses who eventually became lovers ever so realistic that one couldn't help rooting for them!
One of me favourite lesfic couples, that's for sure! And don't miss their follow-up story in "Flashbang!
I highly recommend this series! There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one ». Readers also enjoyed. About Lee Winter. Lee Winter. Lee Winter is an award-winning veteran newspaper journalist who has covered courts, crime, news, features and humor writing for almost three decades around Australia.
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