Verdict: A grounded, emotional butch/femme romance about a biker going home to say goodbye to her dying mother, with a supporting cast readers adore and sex scenes they rave about, held back by a one-week love story that not everyone believes and an ending several readers found too abrupt.
Best for: Readers who want a cool, guarded butch and a warm bisexual femme, a family drama with real weight under the romance, and a grandmother worth the price of admission, and who can live with a fast-moving relationship and a terminal illness storyline.
Heat level: ★★★★☆ (4/5 — explicit, derived from reader reports; romance.io has no steam rating for it)
Rating: ★★★★☆ (3.7/5 — a 3.95 Goodreads average across 224 ratings, with a quieter 3.73 on StoryGraph and a recurring doubt about the romance itself)
Tropes: Butch/femme, opposites attract, going home again, estranged family, bad girl meets good girl, age gap, bisexual heroine, insta-attraction, found family, grief.
Dark Horse by A.L. Brooks is a standalone contemporary lesbian romance published by Ylva in February 2017 and set between Sydney and the Victorian city of Ballarat — and the collision at its centre is Sadie, a 29-year-old butch biker thrown out of her family home at seventeen, running into Holly, the 22-year-old bisexual receptionist at the hotel where she books in to visit the mother who never stood up for her.
It holds a 3.95 average across 224 Goodreads ratings and a 3.73 on StoryGraph, and it picked up a Tantor audio edition narrated by Justine Eyre in 2023, six years after first publication. Nearly three-quarters of Goodreads raters give it four or five stars. The reviews underneath that average, though, disagree about something basic: whether the romance or the family drama is the book. That argument is the thing worth understanding before you start.
What Is Dark Horse About?
Dark Horse is a romance, but several readers call it a drama-romance, and that is the more accurate label. The love story shares the page with a dying mother, a father who is a career politician and a bully, a sister dating a homophobe and a manipulative ex. Ylva files it as butch/femme and opposites-attract, and both labels hold: Sadie comes with a motorbike and a guarded heart; Holly is warm, open and working the desk at her parents’ hotel.
Sadie is the book’s gravitational centre. She has built a decent life in Sydney managing a coffee shop, close to the grandmother who took her in, and she has also built a habit of leaving before anyone can leave her. Holly lacks direction rather than stability — a graduate stuck behind her parents’ front desk, not out to her mother. The Lesbian Review found it very much Sadie’s book, and that weighting shapes everything: her fears drive the conflict, and Holly’s arc is the smaller of the two.
What Makes This Butch/Femme Family Drama Romance Work
- Elsie: Sadie’s grandmother is the most-praised element in the reviews by a distance. Readers want her as their own gran, shelve her among their favourite supporting characters and credit her with most of the book’s humour.
- The supporting cast as a whole: Mother, sister, best friend, Holly’s parents — readers repeatedly say the secondary characters are more than plot devices, and that Holly’s parents are allowed to be ignorant and then to learn.
- The mother–daughter reckoning: The conversations between Sadie and her dying mother are the scenes readers single out as the best-written, and the ones that made several of them cry.
- The heat: Reviewers who agree on nothing else agree the sex scenes are unusually good — hot, well-judged and never mechanical.
- A butch heroine with a real wound: Sadie’s abandonment issues are the engine of the book, and most readers find them earned by what happened to her — even the ones she frustrates.
Book Synopsis
Sadie was seventeen when her father decided she had done something she hadn’t, and sent her away to live with her grandmother in Sydney. Twelve years on she has a job she is good at, a gran who adores her, a motorbike and a firm rule against letting anyone close enough to hurt her. Then her best friend announces she is moving in with her girlfriend, and before Sadie can finish sulking about that, a phone call tells her that her mother is dying and wants to see her.
So Sadie goes back to Ballarat, the town that decided long ago she was trouble, and checks into a family-run hotel for what is meant to be a short visit. She has questions for her mother that have waited twelve years, a father she would rather never see again, and a sister she has not spoken to since the day she left. What she does not have room for is Holly — the receptionist who is seven years younger, a local, and far too sunny for someone like Sadie. The attraction is immediate on both sides, and it is inconvenient on every count.
Holly has her own knot to untie: a degree finished, no idea what comes next, and a mother who has no idea her daughter likes women. As Sadie’s family reopens old wounds and her past in the town keeps surfacing, the question is whether a woman who has spent her adult life walking away can stay long enough to let something good happen to her — and whether one week is enough to find out.
My Review
The emotional core is the best thing here, and it is not the romance. Sadie going home to a mother who failed her, with the clock already running out, is a strong premise, and Brooks writes their conversations with real restraint. The reckoning is partial and awkward and human, which is why readers keep saying it made them cry.
The second strength is the cast around Sadie. Elsie is the obvious standout — funny, wicked and fiercely on Sadie’s side — but the book’s quieter achievement is Holly’s parents, who start out prejudiced and are given room to listen. And the heat is very well done: readers who found the romance thin still call the love scenes some of the best they had read in a while.
Where it struggles is the romance itself, and that is a recurring complaint rather than one reader’s gripe. Sadie and Holly go from strangers to declarations in about a week, and while some readers felt the chemistry pouring off the page, others say the emotional connection never arrived — one calls the relationship mostly physical, another says she could not believe in it. The conflict leans on Sadie’s insecurity, and a two-star reviewer points out it is still generating angst at 96%. Stack on a slow first quarter, a middle that a three-and-a-half-star reader thinks could lose some pages, and an ending that at least three reviewers found abrupt or wanted an epilogue for.
One expectation to reset: the cover is a silhouetted rider on a motorbike, and the blurb says Sadie was “punished for a crime she did not commit.” A reader expecting a biker story with a criminal edge will be surprised — one reviewer says exactly that. This is a family and grief novel with a romance inside it. If the bike is what drew you, calibrate; if you wanted emotional weight, you are in the right place.
My honest note: A strong family drama and a very hot romance that do not always feel like the same book. If you need to watch a love story grow before you trust it, this one moves too fast. If you read for characters and emotional stakes, Sadie, her mother and Elsie are worth the trip.
| Element | In Dark Horse |
|---|---|
| Central relationship | Sadie & Holly — butch biker, 29, and bisexual femme hotel receptionist, 22 |
| Core tropes | Butch/femme, opposites attract, going home again, estranged family, age gap, insta-attraction |
| Setting | Ballarat, Victoria, and Sydney — a family-run hotel, a childhood home and a town with a long memory |
| Heat level | 4/5 — explicit, several scenes readers single out |
| Series | Standalone — Sadie and Holly end together, no epilogue |
| Content notes | Terminal illness (brain tumour) and death of a parent, grief, homophobia, parental rejection and a teenager thrown out of home, a false accusation, mild violence, a manipulative ex, weight-related remarks |
How Spicy Is Dark Horse?
A 4/5. romance.io lists the book but has no steam rating for it — only three users have rated it there — so this number comes from two other sources. Ylva’s own copy calls it a hot butch/femme romance, and the reader reviews back that up unusually consistently: “steamy,” “hot” and “brilliant” recur, one reviewer ranks the scenes among the better ones she had read in a while, and The Lesbian Review’s reviewer was just as enthusiastic. One reader notes that Brooks, known for filthier work, keeps things on a tighter leash here — explicit, but in service of the relationship rather than the point of it.
The thing worth knowing in advance is not sexual: the heat sits right alongside a mother dying of a brain tumour, and one reader who is sensitive to terminal illness says she had not expected so much of it. No reviewer I found flags anything on the page beyond that. For contemporary romance at the same heat, the butch/femme Three Reasons to Say Yes and Brooks’s own The Long Shot sit in the same band.
Who Should Read This Book?
You’ll likely love it if: you want a guarded butch heroine with a real reason for her walls, you like family drama that is allowed to hurt, you rate a scene-stealing supporting cast, and you want your emotional romance with genuinely hot love scenes.
You may want to skip it if: you need a slow build to believe in a couple, you are actively avoiding terminal illness and parental death, you get impatient with a heroine whose insecurity keeps restarting the conflict, or you want an epilogue that shows the couple settled.
In short: a moving homecoming story with a hot romance attached, asking you to trust a love affair that happens in about a week.
What Readers Are Actually Saying (September 2026)
This is a quiet backlist book, and nothing new is driving it in 2026. Its readership was built at release through Ylva’s ARC programme — a good share of the visible Goodreads reviews are marked as NetGalley or publisher review copies — and then kept alive by the author’s wider catalogue, with several readers saying it was their first A.L. Brooks and would not be their last. The Lesbian Review covered it enthusiastically. I found no trade coverage, and the Amazon listing carries no editorial reviews. The distribution is the interesting part — 46% of Goodreads ratings sit at exactly four stars, with only 27% at five. One practical note: the original Kindle listing no longer resolves; the current Kindle edition sits under a new one.
The other thing keeping it in circulation is audio. Tantor released an unabridged edition in June 2023, narrated by Justine Eyre and running 10 hours and 19 minutes. Listeners who mention her like her: one reviewer calls the narration fabulous, and a two-star reviewer says Eyre’s voice was her favourite thing about the book.
Prefer audio? Listen to Dark Horse on Libro.fm — the audiobook shop that supports independent bookstores.
Why readers love it (according to the discourse): Elsie first — she comes up in review after review as the gran everyone wants. Second, the family material: the strained bonds, the reconciliation with the mother and the volatile scenes with the father are, for several readers, the best part of the book, and “emotional” is StoryGraph’s only unanimous mood. Third, the sex scenes, praised even by readers who did not connect with the romance. The Australian setting earns its own mentions.
What readers argue about and complain about: The romance, above everything — and this is where the book genuinely splits. Readers who loved it say the chemistry jumps off the page; readers who didn’t say the connection never went deeper than physical, that a week is not long enough, and that the couple’s storming-off fights feel immature. Second: Sadie’s insecurity as a plot device, which one reviewer says keeps being used to manufacture conflict right to the end. Third: pace — a slow first quarter where one reader could not warm to Sadie at all, and a middle that another thinks could have been trimmed. Then the ending: one reader calls it a brick-wall stop, another says it felt off, a third wanted an epilogue. Smaller notes from single voices: the father is closer to caricature than character, and one reader was bothered by remarks about weight that she felt dated the book.
The standalone question worth asking first: Dark Horse stands alone and requires nothing else. Sadie and Holly end together. If you like Brooks’s voice, her catalogue is where to go next, and the numbers make that a real recommendation: her most-read book, Dare to Love, averages 3.99 across 1,028 ratings; Make Her Wish Come True sits at 4.11; and A Christmas Chance — the obvious pick if you came looking for Brooks at Christmas — averages 4.35 across 326. Dark Horse sits mid-table in her catalogue, not at the top.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Dark Horse a butch/femme romance?
Yes. Ylva markets it as a butch/femme romance: Sadie is described as a cool, butch biker and Holly as a warm bisexual femme. It is a publisher-supported entry on our butch/femme list.
How spicy is Dark Horse?
A 4/5 by our reading. romance.io has no steam rating for it, but the publisher calls it hot and readers consistently describe several explicit, well-written love scenes.
Does Dark Horse have a happy ending?
Yes. Sadie and Holly end together. There is no epilogue, and a few readers found the final chapter abrupt, but the romance is resolved.
Is Dark Horse a Christmas book?
Not that I could confirm. Ylva files it under holiday romance, but none of the reader reviews I read mention Christmas, and the story runs on a week-long visit home. If you want Brooks at Christmas, A Christmas Chance is the obvious place to look.
Is there a Dark Horse audiobook?
Yes. Tantor Audio released it in 2023, narrated by Justine Eyre, at 10 hours and 19 minutes. Listeners praise the narration, and it is available on Libro.fm.
If You Loved Dark Horse, Read These Next
For another Australian romance with a butch heroine readers fall for, Switcheroo by Cheyenne Blue trades Ballarat for the outback. If the family wound was what held you, Get It Right pairs a soft butch with a femme against real-life weight in a much shorter book. And for more A.L. Brooks at the same heat, The Long Shot builds its emotional core on another father-daughter conflict.
For more in this register, browse our butch/femme lesbian romance guide or the full Book Reviews collection.
The Bottom Line
Dark Horse sets out to be a homecoming story, a grief story and a butch/femme romance at once. The mother–daughter reckoning lands, Elsie steals every scene she is in, and the love scenes are genuinely hot. It also asks you to believe in a love affair that happens in about a week, leans on Sadie’s insecurity to keep the couple apart, and stops before some readers were ready. If you read romance for emotional stakes and a cast you’ll remember, it is worth your time. Check Dark Horse on Amazon →
The Eikna Overall Ranking
On the Eikna scale, Dark Horse ranks as a solid, emotionally weighted butch/femme drama-romance — moving and genuinely hot, held back by a rushed love story, and best approached for Sadie’s homecoming rather than for a slow-built romance.
The Evidence Scorecard
Overall ★★★★☆ 3.7/5
- ✓ 3.95 average across 224 Goodreads ratings
- ✓ 3.73 across 38 StoryGraph reviews
- ✓ 46% of Goodreads ratings stop at four
Romance ★★★★☆ 3.6/5
- ✓ Chemistry praised as leaping off the page
- ✓ Butch/femme opposites-attract dynamic works
- ✓ Holly’s parents given room to change
- ✓ One-week timeline some readers never believe
Characters ★★★★☆ 4.1/5
- ✓ Elsie the most-praised character by far
- ✓ Supporting cast more than plot devices
- ✓ Sadie’s wound earns her walls
- ✓ Father reads closer to caricature
Writing ★★★★☆ 3.8/5
- ✓ Mother–daughter scenes singled out
- ✓ Love scenes praised as well judged
- ✓ The Lesbian Review rates the craft highly
- ✓ Slow first quarter, trimmable middle
Emotional Impact ★★★★☆ 4.1/5
- ✓ “Emotional” unanimous on StoryGraph moods
- ✓ Several readers say it made them cry
- ✓ Grief handled without melodrama
- ✓ Manufactured angst late in the book
Heat Level ★★★★☆ 4/5
- ✓ Publisher markets it as hot
- ✓ “Steamy” and “brilliant” recur in reviews
- ✓ Several explicit scenes, relationship-led
- ✓ No romance.io steam rating to confirm
Ending ★★★☆☆ 3.3/5
- ✓ Sadie and Holly end together
- ✓ Standalone, no cliffhanger
- ✓ Family arc reaches real closure
- ✓ Abrupt stop, no epilogue, three readers note
Re-read Value ★★★★☆ 3.6/5
- ✓ Justine Eyre’s narration praised by listeners
- ✓ Elsie rewards a second visit
- ✓ Readers plan re-reads in their reviews
- ✓ Terminal illness makes it a heavy revisit
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