This is an amazing sequel to a fantastic novel, a thrilling story that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Eden, the panda is a lovable character from the first to this second book and Michelle's redemption was done delicately and well. I also loved the supporting characters: the sweet Safta Hannah and Phelim, the protector. As always, this was masterfully written by one of my favorite lesfic authors.

I highly recommend this series!

This is the slowest burn of slow burns ever and I enjoyed and hated it so much! Ok, no I'm kidding I didn't hate it at all but I think it tapped out all of my patience for this year's slow burn readings.

The book starts where we left of in The Fixer. I read these books back to back which makes it feel like I just read one long book. Although I do think you can read this one as a standalone, it's so much more fun to have the knowledge of the previous book.

The strongest feature of this series is the fact that the side characters are so rich and add so much more to the story. I feel like I know all of them and not just think of them as a collegue or a friend of the MC's.

An ARC was provided to me via Netgalley in return of an honest review.

‘Chaos Agent’ brings back the characters I loved so much in ‘The Fixer’ but with Eden and Michelle working together in a very different setting than before. I have to admit I was so frustrated at the beginning of this book because their banter and interactions felt so restrained from where Winter left off. I wanted them to give into their mutual attraction right off of the bat, however I completely understand why it’s written the way it is. It’s the change of their working relationship which opens up the narrative to explain why Michelle acts the way she does and what she finds so unnerving about having Eden get under her skin.
There are so many heartwarming moments where these two women let down their barriers but also open up their own concrete world views to make space for one another’s experiences. The cast of supporting characters are really brought into their own in this conclusion to the series so although I was completely satisfied once I had finished the final page, there was a part of me that holds hope it isn’t the last we’ll see of them.
Thanks to these novels I will definitely be diving into Winter’s back catalogue of works because she writes with care and attention to every detail and no character or action is ever an afterthought. Definitely a new favourite to my love of the slow burn trope!

This is a sequel to The Fixer, but you can read them separately.
This series revolves around Michelle and Eden. Michelle is the CEO of The Fixers, an organization that helps the rich and the powerful that can bring people down and fast.
Eden is an activist deep down. Michelle has offered to bring her on board to help do good, but that is really not what is happening.
Sparks continue to fly between the women, despite Michelle trying to deny what is happening.
I would recommend.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wow. This book started out slow for me. I'd read book #1 and thought it was a pretty decent book if not one that knocked my socks off. I saw that other readers were giving this one 5 stars and wondered why because I just could not get into the story.

However, it picked up fast and I couldn't put this down. I liked the characters so much more than I did in book one - they were more life-like to me and more likable. The story itself ping-ponged around to a few different storylines and for once it was not a bad thing. All of the zigs and zags made this a page-turner.

Giving it 4 stars, but in reality, it was probably a 4.5 for me.

Wow, the emotional roller coaster that I went on while reading this book was tough. Just when I thought the past couldn’t get worse for Michelle, it did, and my heart ached for her. I think that I like Michelle the most out of all Winter’s characters that I’ve read. Michelle is such a complex and interesting character. Eden came close to being my top one too. While Michelle is trying to do good, Eden is struggling with being 100% good like her mom. And it’s just… wow. The way they match each other so well and they were good for each other.
And the poor souls of Winter’s characters having parental issues. I just want to wrap Michelle up in a hug even if she might order people to torture me for that.
I like this series even more than the On the Record series. Even there, I didn’t think of Michelle as a villain - even though I loved Catherine Ayers and hated Michelle for hurting her. I pitied Michelle in the On the Record series. Here? I felt so much more after knowing the whole history that made Michelle the way she was. Michelle kept peeling back her tough layers and each time I loved her more.
I loved how the romance played out. Although it was frustrating to see those two being totally clueless and in denial, the moment they started expressing their love was so satisfying. Like they were meant to be together.
I liked how Michelle changed for the better because of and not for Eden. Eden was a catalyst that Michelle needed to heal herself while Michelle was what Eden needed as a safe place. But neither of them was the other's savior, no hero complex here. They were just simply there - creating a safe space for the other to be broken and healing.
This book was the perfect conclusion to The Villian and On the Record series.

It was great to witness Michelle’s tedious road to healing. Nothing can justify her actions, but at least we get a sense of understanding. The emotions were so raw and beautifully written. Also, there seems to be an overarching theme of acceptance - of our past, our decisions, our mistakes, and just all out flaws and imperfections.

Winter is a brilliant author, one who creates memorable ice queens, and she's done it again.

Sorry but just like the last book from this series I just couldn't get into it.... I tried.... I'm sure it is a wonderful book but it just wasn't for me...

Picking up right where we left off in the fixer, chaos agent was a dream to read.
It's gritty (be warned there's a fair bit of violence) yet there's also humour, and the slow burn pays off with some fabulous heat! There's a wonderfully written variety of characters for you to both love and hate.
I'm equally satisfied with how the story wraps up and sad there isn't more!

Eden's job is done. But Michelle can't say goodbye to her, so she hires Eden to work for her company. Fooling herself that she can keep the evil purpose of her company a secret form Eden and only give her jobs that seems for a good cause.

Soon enough Eden befriends everyone in the company and makes it a friendlier place to work at. It doesn't take long for Eden to find out the truth. She chooses to expose the company and thus starts a "war" which Michelle.

Meanwhile, Michelle is tortured for who she thinks she is and her past. She punishes herself daily believing there is no redemption. She doesn't even really go after Eden for leaking company secrets. Until a common enemy turns against them, making them join forces.

Book two is suspenseful and full of revelations. Michell Hastings is a tragic character, her past is painful. She has been misled and abused by her former employers. Rejected by her parents, she believes herself to have no worth or goodness. It's Eden who finally helps her see the truth and helps her right the wrongs she did.

It was a delight reading The Fixer and The Chaos Agent back to back. If only Lee Winter could write faster and give us a new book every 6 months.

This sequel to The Fixers was everything I could want in a book. Romance, intrigue, action, hurt/comfort and characters with depth. The writing was solid, it some twist and turns and I was really invested in the characters and their journey. This book was longer than the previous one and maybe it would work even better as one book, I certainly wouldn't have minded the higher amount of pages to read!
The sequel picks up where the first one stops and now do-gooder Eden is an employee of the company with a looser morale. The connection with her boss Michelle keeps growing, but can Michelle be a worthy partner to someone who only wants to do good? I liked the fact that both characters develop and while Michelle is firmly on her way to redemption it's also Eden who learns not everything in the world is black/white, good/evil.

Chaos Agent continues the extraordinary plot of Eden and Michelle from The Fixer. A distinct departure from the systematic meltdown of Michelle’s iciness in The Fixer, their continued story in Chaos Agent explores Eden’s influence in Michelle’s transformation. Not only that, there is a steep price to pay for those changes that Michelle yearns for, including facing the destruction her past has caused to everyone around her. There is an extraordinary amount of bravery both women will need to face from the past and in their present if they want a future together. The journey they make to get there is some of the best writing I’ve encountered in a long time. I look forward to reading these two amazing books again.

Lee Winter does know how to write an Age Gap/ Ice Queen romance!
It is good to be able to see Michelle's perspective.
Chaos Agent continues the story of The Fixers and if romance was missing there it is all here. I also like the secondary characters the author created.
After reading the two books, I think I would prefer them as a longer one and not two volumes.

Wow, just Wow......I wasn't sure what was coming after The Fixer for Eden and Michelle and I am still processing the whole story arc (finished reading yesterday). If you want a rollercoaster ride of emotions I recommend both The Fixer and Chaos Agent-the twist and turns, ups and downs of this story arc will have you standing in line for another Lee Winter ride.

Who knew a series titled The Villains would have the reader thinking yeah this person is awful, can not stand them only to then want so desperately to see that person be redeemed/saved/rescued, call it what you want, but to want Michelle to come out the other end a changed person for the better and the reader cheering for her.

These two books will definitely be in my must read again shelf and I am sure the re-read will happen soon enough. Thank you Ms. Winter, you are the queen that puts the jewel in the Ice Queen's crown.

I received an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, but would have written the same opinion if I had come across this book on my own.

➥ 5 Stars *:･ﾟ✧

Heart pounding, Eden swallowed hard and whispered, “I didn’t know where else to go.”
Fury and venom dripped from Michelle’s voice as she leaned right in and demanded: “Who did this to you.”

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Sorry for the *ahem* week long delay in writing this review: I was left in slight shock. This was so good that it made me want to lower my rating on the first book just because this one surpassed it so much. This book was everything I was craving after having finished the first. Here we got romantic development, action, hurt/comfort, drama and (view spoiler). This book packed such a punch that I was left dazed and empty upon finishing it.

I'm not even sure how Winter did it but it felt like both Eden and Michelle's personalities had been even more fleshed out: so many cute, defining moments for each of them. Always indicative of their personality. There was so much angst here, I was practically drooling.

Seeing Michelle (view spoiler) was such a delight. I really felt like I knew her so well by the end of the book. Seeing someone so cold and typically apathetic warm and long for someone was just UGH - it's everything. It's what I love about romance, actually. When (view spoiler) and Michelle became desperate while everything crumbled around her 😋😋😋 now THAT was a treat. That's the type of obsession I'm looking for - Eden literally turned Michelle's world on its axis and I devoured it.

And the side characters? Gah, I feel stupid for trying to articulate my feeling because I literally cannot put into words how much I enjoyed this one.

Don't worry, I'll add in some quotes tomorrow because I'm too tired rn. BYE!

━━━━━━━━━━━ ♡ ━━━━━━━━━━━

Two sides of me were fighting reading this book.

1. The down on earth one rolled her eyes and found too unrealistic a few plots in this book : the fact that Michelle didn't get fired way earlier for keeping Eden despite her high risk profile and for not reporting the leaks to the board. The fact that Michelle didn't have to answer to justice for her role in the Fixers. The fact that Eden's mum accepted Michelle in a heartbeat after one short argument. Michelle’s job reconversion in the end.
2. The romantic lesbian in me
I appreciate that Eden wasn’t left in the dark for too long because her being so good and naive made me uncomfortable. I really enjoyed the cat and mouse game between Eden and Michelle. It was the longest slow burn I have ever read and I wouldn’t have wanted it another way. Michelle scars are so deep it would haven’t felt right. Winter took her time to free Michel from her demons.
The subject is really tough : is Michelle evil because she works for an evil corporation ? Winter made sure the grey zone Michelle was in was really light grey, someone broken and betrayed doing her job just because she doesn’t know who she is outside of work. She just do it because she is really good at it. Her self loath being a huge part of who she is. I have spoiled enough already but despite my inner conflict, I mostly took pleasure reading this book : I appreciated the plots, manipulation, side characters like Tilly and Phelim and I am a sucker for forced proximity, especially in damsel in distress situations. Of course some characters dear to my heart made a mandatory appearence for Michelle to get closure and I couldn’t be happier.
I have a thing for ice queen and Michelle Hastings is one of a kind. The ending was a bit rushed but will definitely satisfy romantic readers out there (most of the readers really)

Lee Winter has done it again. I was overjoyed to get Michelle's perspective. She was so captivating in the previous books as Catherine's enemy and this sealed my love for her. I will be endlessly grateful that Winter often does two parts for each love story. I very much hope there's another for Breaking Character!

What a great book! Lee Winter's craftsmanship is on full display here, with so many threads woven so smoothly and intricately. I couldn't put the book down, I just had to see the story, Eden, Michelle, and their relationship unfold!
Eden is now officially an employee of The Fixers, convinced that the job can help right injustices. What she doesn't know is that the company's a little murkier than she thought. Plus, she's never worked in an office and doesn't know the culture that goes along with it, which leaves her breaking all sorts of unspoken office rules and attracting attention from a lot of her fellow employees...and her boss Michelle.
I loved watching Eden disturb the office status quo, and especially loved watching Michelle's reactions. These characters are magnetic.

𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗠𝗘𝗦: 𝙰𝙶𝙴-𝙶𝙰𝙿. 𝙴𝙽𝙴𝙼𝙸𝙴𝚂 𝚃𝙾 𝙻𝙾𝚅𝙴𝚁𝚂. 𝙸𝙲𝙴 𝚀𝚄𝙴𝙴𝙽. 𝙾𝙿𝙿𝙾𝚂𝙸𝚃𝙴𝚂 𝙰𝚃𝚃𝚁𝙰𝙲𝚃. 𝚆𝙾𝚁𝙺𝙿𝙻𝙰𝙲𝙴. 𝗥𝗘𝗗𝗘𝗠𝗣𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 2.

📚ᴀʀᴄ📖⁠


I won't say I don't want more because as I was reading this book, I realised there was still so much I wanted. But then it struck me, I just didn't it to end. It feels like using the word "story" makes the book feel less, but for lack of better wording, I was so deeply invested, I hate to know this is probably the end of it all.

𝗥𝗘𝗗𝗘𝗠𝗣𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡: Now, yes, that was the intention but I liked Michelle either way because I knew since "On The Record" series that she was remorseful of what she had done to Catherine. What I wanted to see was how she comes to terms with accepting love again and that was exactly what I craved, Could have been more emotional and dark given the environment and circumstances but this was also good because, Michelle crying in front of Catherine, like shut the front door. I wanted that so bad, I was scared it wasn't going to happen but when it did, I was in cloud 9.

The way my mind was captivated, yes, serotonin kick is what this was.


𝙄 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣 𝘼𝙍𝘾 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙔𝙡𝙫𝙖 𝙋𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙫𝙞𝙖 𝙉𝙚𝙩𝙂𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙮 𝙞𝙣 𝙚𝙭𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙣 𝙝𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬.

This book is so weirdly (in-a-good-way) wholesome, I love it!!

Chaos Agent continues with Eden working at The Fixers' office still unknown to what they actually do. Hastings can't stay away from Eden and decides that hiring her is the best way to keep her in Michelle's life.

Ahhh, the schemes, the banter, the romance, and sooo much more. Chaos Agent is more than just a book, it makes you question things and how far you'll go for it.

While book one set the tone, Chaos Agent saw Michelle peeling back her layers even more and finally coming to terms with the torment of her past. On the other hand, Eden faced the challenge of understanding the crucial balance between perfection and being human.

What book one lacked, this book had in abundance. I felt their pain, the love and the complexities both MCs faced through this book.

Now I want a third book because I'm not yet done with Hastings and Lawless.