Yachting enthusiasts will revel in this windblown, stormy tale which begins in Sydney Harbour. American Ali Graham is running a charter business alone since her father's death, and the economic downturn causes the bank to foreclose. Her old flame Jackson McKenzie tells her he has bought up her loan - but she hasn't seen him in four years, and her life has changed since then.

Ali's mother has a serious illness which saps all her money and the beautiful yacht is the last asset she owns. Ali distrusts Jackson's motives, and he distrusts her possible relationship with Zane, a sleazy playboy. Can they overcome their SUSPICIOUS WAYS? To find out Jackson asks Ali to dinner and in between discussing GPS and sloop racing they rehash personal matters. Ali wants to rekindle their relationship, but not while Jackson could take her yacht, and Jackson quietly resents her chartering for Zane, who is rumoured to be a drug runner. The outcome is that Ali heads off on her charter to the Solomon Islands, desperate to earn money, while Jackson fumes about the situation, not realising that Ali is now in personal danger as well as financial. Stormy weather ahead....

Lexxie Couper has written a well-detailed tale of yachting, set against the reality of cancelled charters and company takeovers that make life so hard for any small business today. I felt that her characters should have shared more and not jumped to so many conclusions, but both were solitary types so perhaps this just fitted their personalities. Ali was determined not to appear vulnerable but at only 24 she needed all the help she could get. I liked the writing, which didn't hesitate to show the underside of this world, and will be looking out for more by this author.