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?
"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?
Title: The Paddock Club (Slipstream #2)
Author: Madge Maril
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Expected Publication Date: July 14, 2026
Review:
Thank you to Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for providing me wtih a copy of this title to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
I was pleasantly surprised with the first book in this series. The publisher sent it to me and I love F1 so I was excited to try it out. I've had some ups and downs with F1 romance. Most times I've found the balance is not great between the romance and including what happens in the sport. Maril did a great job with this in the first book so I was looking forward to seeing what happens in this book.
If you didn't read the first book, no worries. You can totally read this one as a stand alone. There are some cross over characters but you honestly don't get enough from them here to ruin the first book. Just enough to see there are other things that happened in the past you might want to take a look at.
The tone and cadence of this book is completely different from the first book. I will be honest and say it felt like a totally different author wrote this. Mostly this was because of how Maril chose to build out her characters. The FMC, Cat Cromwell, and the MMC, Faust Ferreira Sanchez, are both on the side of a bit quirky. The writing in this installment truly reminded me of something I'd read from Ali Hazelwood (who I love). Cat is literally cat fishing: being paid to target the world's worst men to fall in love with her and then break their hearts. She's a former model who knows just how to use her looks and whiles to get what she wants. And Bernard Baudelaire is in her line of sight. She earns herself a job on his team as the person who dresses the drivers throughout the season. But in a unseen turn of events, Bernard leaves the team and Cat has to work with Faust, a moody driver trying to recover from a bad driving year.
Cat is a very interesting character. At first I found her rather flat. I didn't see she would have any emotions at all and wondered how I would connect with her. She is very closed off, but I see now that is part of how her characrter was being built out. As the story unfolds and her layers slowly start to appear. Her past and why she does what she does. Her need to care for her family. Her worry her family will find out just how she funds their schooling and keeps them in the black. Every time she does her job, she risks being seen for what it truly is. Enter Faust, who sees right through her. He's meticulous in finding out who she truly is and what she's doing almost to the point of being obsesses with her. Their relationship is fraught with moments of pure tension and attraction. Faust quietly broods and takes it all in. His quiet demeanor totally threw me off. Cat and Faust play a cat and mouse game throughout the story which is the perfect mix of flirty, smart, sassy, tense, and fun.
I loved how Maril tells this story from Cat's POV but we get these journal entries from Faust where we get to know a different side of him. You see his obsession with knowing Cat and taking care of her. You see his need to be in control but at the same time give that control to Cat. This is especially evident during their romantic and sexual encounters. Maril weaves in a part of sexual play that I was not expecting. And what I really loved about how she approached spicy was the build up. If you're expecting spice around every corner, you won't get much of it. But what you do get is immense tension and build up until you think you might burst if they don't fall into bed with each other soon!
This book is full of fast paced scenes and scenes that will keep you chomping at the bit. There are so many times Cat can be found out. There are so many people who look at her and wonder just exactly what she's doing. And when a mistake she made in the past is revealed and her entire plan unravels before her eyes, you see her family step in and take care of her like she never knew they would.
I will say there were some scenes I had to read more than once to get the idea of what was going on. I'm not sure if that was just my mind not working write and the writing itself. But overall I really enjoyed this installment in this interconnected series. With small guest appearances from characters I already know and the introduction of so many new characters who were interesting and unique, I'm looking forward to seeing what story Maril will write next. While I am not a fan of Bernard's, I would love to see a redemption story done right for him!
4.5 rounded to 5 stars
Author:
Madge Maril is a writer and Byronic hero enthusiast whose work has been published by Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, and more. Previously a beauty and fashion journalist, Madge fell back in love with fiction through fandom and has been writing stories about big feelings ever since. She lives in Ohio with her husband and cat.
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