When DC Loved Iowa

by Lee Winter

What happens after the morning after? Polar opposites fall in love in this low-angst, ice queen lesbian romance about a DC finance journalist and a cheeky butch flight mechanic.

Cynthia Redwell can’t believe she bedded some ex-softballer/mechanic at her best friend’s Iowa wedding. Worse, the woman has a smart mouth, a cute grin, and a baffling immunity to her fabulously biting barbs.

Suzette Beringer wakes up beside closeted, bitchy, beautiful Cynthia and instantly knows she’s trouble. She should definitely steer clear. So how come they keep reconnecting…to the point she’s just invited Cynthia to meet her parents? And why on earth did Cynthia say yes?

The funny short story from Lee Winter’s Red Files universe has now been expanded into a novella.

Genres: Lesbian, Romance, Novella, Audiobook, Lesbian Fiction, Fiction, LGBT

114 pages, Paperback

First published July 2, 2025

About the author

Lee Winter is a former award-winning veteran newspaper journalist who has covered courts, crime, news, features and humor writing for almost three decades around Australia. Now a full-time author and part-time editor at Ylva, Lee is also a two-time Lambda Literary Award finalist and a multiple Golden Crown Literary Award winner.

Want to get in touch? Email: Leewinterauthor@gmail.com

Reviews

[gloria .☆ﾟ. · Rating 5 out of 5]

SOOO DARN DARLING. i’ll have 10 more please!

i’ll say…4.75, bc SOOOO many of the sex scenes were fade to black or otherwise implied. i love winter, but most authors know better than to keep it vague after their happy ending.

cynthia and suze are the SWEETEST, i want to keep them safe in my pocket. they’re so giggly and hopelessly romantic despite having that endearing attitude of theirs.

i love the grit that comes with some of winter’s stuff, but this feel-good novella was SUCH a treat and just what i needed after a rough couple of days.

this is definitely a go-to comfort read as from now. PLEASE make more of this type of novella. genuinely the best of winter’s recent works. VPFA and Fixers don’t compare to this delight.

[KT · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lee Winter the author that you are. If you wrote a pamphlet on Safety Tips for Employees Working in the MRO Hangar, I’m 100% certain I would laugh and cry reading it and promptly give it 5 stars on Goodreads.

[Menestrella · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 2021, I wrote "Too short! I want a whole novel about them now..."

And I guess with a novella I got close to my wish. Lee Winter never disappoints.

This was a fun, sexy and in a way nerdy short story. And the dog name cracked me up.

[Guerunche · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, the gift that is the Legendary Angela Dawe! I was saving this audiobook for when I really needed it and this was the week for it.

The moment I heard her voice I knew it was exactly what the doctor ordered. I was smiling, laughing and swooning throughout.

This was a treat indeed! I loved revisiting not just these characters, but old favorites as well. How wonderful to enjoy a Winter-verse crossover like this!

[Aunt Missa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nobody can take an ice queen and thaw them like Lee Winter. Suze? Hell yes. Gimme ten more of her all day. Her confidence and her banter and her family? Sigh.

[Elske · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!

[jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Novellas are always hard for me to rate.

Did I like this? Definitely. Was I emotionally invested? Not really, if not at all.

I do love all the recent additions to the Red Files universe, though.

[Cherie · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️. Nice to see the old characters back again. I wish this one was longer

[BooksWithSuun · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this story too short for my taste, and it ended up feeling rushed. The characters didn’t feel distinct enough - after a few pages, they all started to blur together. The “ice queen” type character shifts from cold and distant to completely soft very quickly, which is something I usually enjoy, but here it didn’t feel earned or believable. Overall, the pacing made it hard to connect with the characters, and I was left wishing there had been more development. I had higher expectations for this story.

[Abigail · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay—hands down—this is the hottest novella I’ve read so far this year! No. exaggeration. Plus Cynthia and Suze’s banter? Absolute fire. And their chemistry? Scooooorching! I caught myself breathless *multiple times!*

I’ll admit, I never read the short story ‘When DC Met Iowa’ (I was too salty about what Cynthia did to Lauren in ‘The Red Files’ to even bother with her story. Yes, I am petty like that! I only dived into this because I was hoping my book wifey Catherine Ayers would make an appearance —that was all!), so I wasn’t expecting to cackle through the first chapter or to suddenly “get” Cynthia and find her cockiness… charming. It’s all down to Lee’s writing, I know. It is sharp, funny, addictive—as ever! And Cynthia Redwell, aka my wifey’s bestie (and a boxers thief), turned out to be so much more than her “bitch in heels” exterior. And for someone like me who is still closeted at home and work, her POV hit me harder than I expected.

All in all, this was funny, spicy, and introspective. A solid 5 stars from me—and a reminder to *never* skip a Lee Winter short story.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating 3.5.

I think of short stories as the extra cherry on top of a beloved novel or series, where supporting characters are given space for their own sapphic love story. If Cynthia Redwell, the best friend of the “great” Catherine Ayers sparked your interest from the Red Files Universe and then again in Sliced Ice where Cynthia meets Suzette Beringer (Lauren King’s best friend), this quick read is for you.

A generous back and forth of banter between Cynthia, a beautifully frigid, razor-edged, unapologetic “I don’t give two fucks” diva, and Suze, simple yet masterful at shoving the ice right back in Cynthia’s face, will have you laughing and falling a little in love with them both.

Here the reader learns about Cynthia’s past and reasons for her guarded and emotionally detached persona while Suze, grabs hold of her insides in the gentlest ways.
Love is found.

[Angel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another little 2-3hour read. I needed something baring realism and not fantasy for a quick minute and this did the job. This short story is branching off from the ‘On the Record’ series that I had rated highly back when I read the novels. Can’t say I remembered the series in great details and this story isn’t filled with reminders other than how the few characters relate to on another. But, even so it’s a good, quick thawing for an ‘ice’ queen.

Spice levels I give 1 out of 10 though. It’s very much everything outside the bedroom that has Cynthia melting. Having to take a closer look at her childhood and decide if the cold persona is worth risking a chance at happiness.

If Suze didn’t have such self-assurance and confidence in who she was, Cynthia’s initial comments and descriptors about who she is, where she comes from and what she looks like would’ve be a maaajor issue. Obvs the writing allowed us to skirt over the comments quickly but could’ve been a problem real fast.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

4⭐️

[Grendaycita Segovia · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 🌟 Divertido, descarado y lleno de spicy sin saturar en un historia corta.

[Celina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This love; I enjoyed it.

[estela :) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t really know what to say. I’ve always adored Lee’s books, but this one simply didn’t sit right with me. I didn’t find Cynthia’s remarks particularly appealing, especially when the adjectives were so strong that it destroyed my view of Suzette. (Since I have a very… vivid imagination.)

Either way, I always love when characters from other Lee Winter’s books are featured. It was a good time to read about Monique or Catherine and Lauren.

[Elsa · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 stars

[AmEricaNo · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5

When Cynthia wakes up the day after her best friend’s Iowa wedding, she can’t believe she’s in bed with some cute mechanic who is surprisingly immune to her fabulously biting barbs. Suzette is the cute mechanic in question, and she’s the best friend of the bride. Soon, Cynthia and Suzette find themselves drawn to each other despite their differences.

I’ve been on a bit of a sapphic romance reading drought since the first week of July, so I was looking for something to bring me back without the struggle of a full-on commitment. So when I saw that Lee Winter released a novella last month, I decided to put my money where my mouth is and see if When DC Loved Iowa really is perfect for new readers to try out her work.

First off, a little bit of background: From what I understand, When DC Loved Iowa started out as a short story set in Winter’s Red Files universe and was expanded into a novella for a July release date. I’ve never read any of Winter’s earlier works before, so I went in anticipating that I might not get a lot of the references.

And wouldn’t you believe it—it turned out to be true. Despite standing decently well on its own as a low-angst and low-stakes standalone story, When DC Loved Iowa is chock-full of references to events and characters that exist in Winter’s other works, most notably the Red Files duology (though there were a few other cameos sprinkled in).

Thankfully, rather than feeling annoyed or lost, I mostly got curious about what these other characters’ stories were, especially Catherine and Lauren’s—who are the best friends getting married in question. Still, it can definitely feel like being dropped into a world in motion, which is great if you love knowing that there is more out there and not-so-great if you’re not a fan of the interconnected stuff.

(Though I heard that the extended universe is rather common in these types of romance novels. I wouldn’t know myself, as a reader of speculative fiction.)

As for Cynthia and Suzette’s romance, it was as short and sweet as I hoped it would be. With a story like When DC Loved Iowa, you’re going to have a hard time if you’re expecting to be surprised. This is the type of novella you read because you know exactly where the story’s destination is as soon as it begins, and all you want is a good ride there.

Cynthia is an ice queen? It’s because that’s her defense mechanism. Suzette is struggling with reading into things? Another character is there to remind her about the importance of confidence. There might as well have been giant billboards declaring what Cynthia’s and Suzette’s character arcs are going to be, because while I would rate the writing as above average, it is certainly not subtle.

But it doesn’t have to be, because When DC Loved Iowa succeeded in exactly where I want it to succeed, which is to get me more excited to read other sapphic novels. Oh my god, I missed this. I missed two characters who are all over each other and can’t figure out how to get together. I missed the romance. I missed the tension. And I especially missed good chemistry, which Lee Winter delivers in spades.

As soon as I finished When DC Loved Iowa, I bought another sapphic book on Kindle. I count that as an absolute win.

[Bugs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, Lee Winter, you brilliant one, you! Another gem in the bag with this absolutely delightful and devilishly charming story about 2 polar opposites, Cynthia and Suzette. These two appeared in the Red Files series as best mates to the lead characters - Cynthia being Catherine's and Suze(tte) being Lauren's.

If you had read Winter's short, "When DC Met Iowa," featured in her fantastic anthology, "Sliced Ice," and wished Cynthia and Suze's one-nighter short were longer and more substantial, fret no more bc Winter's long-awaited, much-anticipated novella, "When DC Loved Iowa," grants us our wish!!! Well, at least mine.and I couldn't be more thrilled!

Granted, I was still a little unsure if WDCLI would be a true extension and not merely a re-release of the short. Until I read every page of it and heaved a sigh of relief when it wasn't the latter! Phew! Mind ya, I still wish it were a novel length story (at least 300 pages long, heh!) but beggars can't be choosers.

So I'm just ecstatic to have, in my reread collection, a properly expanded story between a prickly, acerbic ice queen and a former softball player, their respective back story, especially Cynthia's! Truth be told, after reading their short, I always wondered what happened in Cynthia's past that shaped her ever-caustic, icy persona.

Yeh, I love me some hardcase ice queens with properly crafted back stories - BC I truly believe that there's always a reason for someone to behave a certain way especially when they seem to go against the grain in every turn.

Anyway, I absolutely, positively LOVE this exquisitely heartfelt story about the thawing of an ice queen who never thought, in a million years, would be smittened by someone from a different world in the name of love! I especially LOVE the banter, the flirtation, the subversive "chase" (oooo yeh!) and ohhh...Cynthia's heartfelt back story!!!!

And...we get a visit from the usual suspects, Catherine and Lauren PLUS...the ever-intriguing Monique Carson from one of my faves, "Hotel Queens," and "Number 6!" ABSOLUTE GEM!!!

So what are you waiting for? READ IT!!!!

[Corrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

When DC Loved Iowa by Lee Winter was a fun little read.

Cynthia Redwell, a DC-based finance journalist with serious ice-queen energy and a razor-sharp tongue, wakes up after her best friend’s wedding in the most unexpected place — with a total stranger: Suzette “Suze” Beringer, a down‑to‑earth, cheeky flight mechanic from Iowa (and yes, a former softballer). It’s such a clash of worlds, and yet… sparks fly.

Cynthia, ever the elegant cynic, can’t believe what happened. Suze, on the other hand, wakes up and immediately senses—something’s off. She knows she should steer clear of this beautiful, closeted, and frankly bitchy ice queen. BUT then, why do they keep bumping into each other? And even more confusing: why did Cynthia accept Suze’s invite to meet her parents?

Basically, it’s a low‑angst, opposites‑attract lesbian romance that’s equal parts witty banter and sweet connection. A short story from Lee Winter’s Red Files universe has now grown into this charming novella, expanding their flirt‑and‑snark‑filled day-after adventure into something deeper and more heartfelt.

4.4 Stars

[Shula McCann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gave When DC loves Iowa five ⭐️’s . It’s a fun read as you can tell by the quote, with a lot of verbal sparring between DC (Cynthia) and Iowa Suze. You should recognize the main characters from Lee Winter’s The Red Files and Under Your Skin, they’re the best friends of Catherine and Lauren. You’ll also see another familiar face from Lee’s books in a hotel in Vegas.
This novella is a fast read at 100 pages, but it’s definitely a story with depth. You will finish the book understanding Cynthia for the first time ever, and even like her. Yes, I know! Suze was of course lovable already. I really enjoyed how opposite they are in so many ways, but it turns out what you need is a spark, and chemistry…okay communication definitely helps too.
You do have to have read at least The Red Files before this story, and preferably Under Your Skin and it would be more fun to have also read Hotel Queens and Number Six. This is the kind of short story I will read again.

[Jamie (TheRebelliousReader) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. I’m up and down with Lee Winter but this was damn good. I don’t remember Cynthia at all from Red Files (that’s not a book that I liked…oops) but omg was this novella wonderful. She’s my type of Ice Queen. Intelligent, emotionally constipated, rude as hell, and rocks the hell out of a power suit. She’s also a closeted lesbian. SOLD. SOLD. SOLD. I’m obsessed. Watching her melt for Suze was great.

Suze is a wonderful character and really understands Cynthia and is patient and understanding while Cynthia works through her feelings due to her upbringing and some past hurts. Suze is funny and charming and really balances out Cynthia’s more rigid personality really well. I absolutely loved them together. Fantastic chemistry between them and I liked the humor as they snarked and bantered a lot. I’m glad that I picked this up because I had a wonderful time with it.

[Henriette · Rating 5 out of 5]

witty, snarky, hot f/f novella with gratifying depth
I was hooked from the first sentence. It took not even a full page to know that I hit the snark goldmine of witty banter with this novella and I started happily chuckling along when uptight, icey, high-femme Cynthia wakes up in a strange bedroom and tries to remember her ‚apparent night of chandelier swinging‘. Then she discovers - the horror - that she spend the night with butch mechanic Suze, the ‘antithesis of every perfectly manicured stick insect she‘d ever bedded‘. And then the great snarking and out-snarking really takes off. There are sparks and there is spice, a lot of spice OMG!
But this wouldn‘t be a Lee Winter-book without more depth and thoughtful exploration: Lee Winter skillfully adds a whole layer of past, pain, sadness and understanding for the two main characters without detracting from the witty banter. A masterful balance.
And it shows that Lee Winter had as much fun writing the book as we readers will have reading this. After the second page I gave up marking all the wonderful sentences to remember - the book is chokeful.
BTW. You can enjoy the novella as a stand-alone. Added bonus: If you know Lee Winter‘s books you will meet some of her previous main characters (Catherine, Lauren, Monique). If you don‘t you might crave to get to know more about them. Prepare for an epic binge.

I received an ARC. The review is left voluntarily.

[Jennabeebs79 · Rating 5 out of 5]

When DC Loved Iowa is an absolute delight! It’s sharp, clever, and crackling with whip-smart dialogue that feels effortlessly real. It dances beautifully between biting humor and raw honesty, serving up laugh-out-loud banter right alongside moments that quietly gut you. The balance of snark and sincerity is done in such a perfect way that it makes the heavier themes of trauma and self-reflection land all the more powerfully. It’s the kind of deceptively light storytelling that sneaks up on you, lingering long after the last page.


Check out my complete review at TheLesbianReview.com,

[Shannon Luchies · Rating 5 out of 5]

Suze (Iowa) meets Cynthia (DC) and they end up in bed in what starts as a one night stand. But as the snark flies, the attraction grows.

But Cynthia is deeply closeted, while Suze couldn't hide her lesbianism if she tried. So how will this play out...?

Really fun read. Plus we get cameos from Catherine, Lauren and Monique.
5 out of 5 stars. My only gripe, I wish it was longer.

[Kay · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this incredibly boring. The premise itself was unrealistic, and the ice-queen character was so overdone as to be ridiculous. Then, of course, she melted overnight and became an entirely new person. If you're a fan of Lee Winter's ice-queen novels and are already familiar with these characters, you might get better mileage.

[Min · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gosh I love them😩😩

I really wish for this story to not end—but its pacing is actually good enough, and it just felt like the right length. It's so easy to love them in just a short period of time—I'll really miss this too, especially their dynamic.

p.s. I wish the other scenes were on page, cause the tension is just too much—but then it'll be cut off or will fade to black😩😭

[Lens_and_Lit Sapphic Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this @leewinteroz takes her signature ice queen flair and gives it a fun, opposites-attract heated twist.
DC brought the attitude, Iowa brought the heart and together they brought the heat. Sharp wit, and opposites attracting in the best, blush-worthy way. 📸📚

🧡🤍🩷 A wedding, some beer pong and missing underwear brings together DC and Iowa.

[Betty · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a cute short with characters from other books by Lee Winter. I can honestly say I hope there is more to their story. It was way to short. Still it's a must read. Highly recommend reading The Red files and Under your skin as well as Hotel Queens before reading this book.

[Vita L. Licari · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful novella from Lee Winters! We catch up with Ice Queen/snarky/closeted/DC Cynthia and fun loving/ hard working/ snarky/out Iowan Suzette! After a one night stand, they can't stop thinking about one another. But Cynthia hates Iowa! This is a fabulous Ice Queen love story! 5 stars!!