In The Paddock Club by Madge Maril, Former fashion model Cat Cromwell might come from very humble beginnings but she’s working nonstop to make sure her beloved 
younger siblings don’t have the same worries she’s had. If it means she has to fake date wealthy men who have wronged their fiancées or significant others, then so be it. Cat has never had a great relationship with men–particularly those who come from money–anyway and doesn’t see herself settling down anytime soon. But her latest job, getting Formula 1 driver Bernard Baudelaire to fall for her as she works with their fashion crew, is proving rather difficult. And it gets even more complicated when he moves to a different racing team altogether, leaving Cat in the sights of Bernard’s rival, Fausto “Faust” Ferreira Sanchez, who somehow seems to have an inkling of what she’s attempting to do.
‘Everyone agrees that the world is weird and nonsensical and, by all philosophical accounts, supremely fucked-up. I get to right a few wrongs while I’m still here. That’s real wealth.’
Cat can’t believe now that she’s finally allowed into the Paddock Club she’s working for the team Bernard is attempting to run into the ground instead of seeing him on a daily basis so she can endear her way under his skin and help his former fiancée Imogen get revenge for being left at the altar. And then there’s mysterious Faust. Someone Cat should *not* be attracted to let alone enjoy their stolen moments between races together. He’s just as handsome and talented a driver as she expected. But she didn’t realize Faust had his own reasons for being in the F1 world, similar to her own. And as they begin to truly understand each other–including Cat’s job as a heartbreaker for hire–their families, friends, and pasts will only make their time more complicated.
…Frustration glowing from his unyielding eyes. “I remember you, Cat. From Bernard’s wedding. Who could forget you?”
A smartly written, dry-witted romance where the main characters were not only doing their jobs for the best of reasons, but where they also had an almost instant understanding of each other, THE PADDOCK CLUB dove directly into the intensity that is the Formula 1 universe. Paired up with a slow burn romance and rival drivers whose tempers were tested repeatedly, author Madge Maril’s sophomore offering in the Slipstream series was tantalizing and fast paced.
‘I’m not a good person. What I am, though, is a good woman.’
Egos and rivalries are the name of the game in Formula 1 racing. But typically, it’s on the racetrack, not necessarily in the drivers’ personal lives. In this case, heartbreaker-for-hire Cat Cromwell shook up both Faust and Bernard’s worlds completely in her bid to get revenge for her client, not realizing it would also change her life in the process.
I was honestly not sure how I would feel about Cat getting back at Bernard for leaving Imogen at the altar. There were so many ways things could go sideways. And of course they did. But as we learned about *why* Cat decided to get into the revenge business, I was sold on her chosen career and touched by how she wanted to help women who have been wronged while also taking care of her family back home in her own lovely way. Her history had some heartbreaking moments that will tug at your heart. But it was Cat’s determination to do right by her clients and loved ones, as well as her own personal journey of acceptance, that kept me cheering her on.
TROPES/VIBES:
💕 Heartbreaker for Hire
🏎️ Rising Star Formula 1 Driver
🏁 Drama On & Off the Track
🎭 Fake Dating
🔥 Sensual Slow Burn
💛 Altruistic Main Characters
CW: View Spoiler »
Faust was an interesting hero. We got a few paragraphs (or lists) tossed in here and there to convey his true thoughts on Cat and it was oh so enticing to see his interest in her grow. He also came from humble beginnings like she did, making him a bit of an odd man out in F1. But it also meant that Faust could read people around him. And that gave him some insight into Cat’s predicament while they were tiptoeing around their attraction and all the craziness that is Formula 1. I think readers will love getting to know Faust and seeing how his chances at winning–on and off the track–turned out.
THE PADDOCK CLUB was an entertaining, high-speed sports romance that crisscrossed the globe and will hang onto your attention whether or not you’ve read book one, Slipstream. Fans of high-stakes races and even higher stakes relationships will want to add this to their reading list right away.
QOTD: Do you follow Formula 1 racing or like reading about it?
Book Info:
Published: July 14th, 2026 | Simon & Schuster | Slipstream #2
A Formula 1 romance set in the Slipstream universe following Cat Cromwell, a fashion influencer on a secret mission to ruin a driver’s reputation, but she may fall for his rival instead.
“This is the steamy rom-com every F1 girlie has been waiting for.” —Sarah Adams • “Deliciously addictive!” —Ellie K. Wilde • “The Paddock Club is one of my top reads of the year.” —Tarah DeWitt • “Madge Maril is a delightful voice in romance!” —Chelsea Curto • “Cat and Faust are a masterpiece in on-page chemistry.” —Peyton Corinne
As a professional heartbreaker, Cat Cromwell knows she’ll never fall in love—but she’ll pretend to, for a price. A former fashion model in New York City with a side hustle charming and then dumping the World’s Worst Men, Cat is offered the chance to pull off her biggest con yet: date and dump F1 driver Bernard Baudelaire… who recently left his very angry ex at the altar.
Raised on Formula 1 by a single father herself, Cat is excited to infiltrate the ivory tower that is the Paddock Club through fashion, and also to get back at another powerful, spoiled man who feels entitled to treat women like playthings, something she has undertaken for women and girls since her early modeling days and her family’s financial struggles. But Cat’s perfect plan hits the brakes when Bernard leaves the racing team—and she’s assigned to work with Faust Ferreira Sanchez instead, a moody F1 driver recovering after an apocalyptically embarrassing year in his career.
Faust is nothing like the men Cat is paid to date and loves to hate. He’s quiet. Honest. And absurdly hot in an all-black suit. Worse, Faust is convinced that Cat isn’t who she claims to be. And he’s particularly interested in why she’s flirting with his ex-teammate and biggest racing rival.
As flying between fashion shows and racing circuits wears Cat’s carefully crafted mask thin, she finds herself drawn further into Faust’s steamy game of cat and mouse, and the dangerously real passion they ignite in each other. But with shadows from Cat’s checkered past looming in the pit lane, can she find a way to break her target’s heart without losing the first honest man she’s ever known? Or will staying in the Paddock Club be the first scam she can’t pull off?
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