Ellora’s Cave, $4.45, ISBN 1-4199-0454-X
Contemporary Erotica, 2005

A Bit of Sass refers to our heroine Sass Miller who decides that a no-holds-barred hot shag with hot hunk Jacob McConnally will be a perfect early Christmas present. Naturally, I heartily approve of her decision. However, things become somewhat complicated when Jacob decides that he wants to marry Sass – the sex is that good, you see – and she’s like, “Er, wait a minute, did you realize that when you move from the front door to the back door?” Okay, that’s actually me. Sass isn’t so sure whether she wants to marry him because she’s not a stupid woman and she has to make sure what Jacob is really about before she says yes. A divorcée and single mother, she realizes that, as she puts it, things aren’t always so simple anymore.

“You liked my cock in your ass.”

Heat bloomed at the blunt statement, but she didn’t deny it. “Yes.”

“Marry me and I’ll wake you every morning with the pleasure.”

Please don’t tell me he’s going to do… that… to her every morning. That sounds more like a threat than a tempting promise.

Jacob foolishly tells her that everything will be fine where her kids are concerned because he’s marrying her, not them, which ends up firming her resolve not to marry him. Jacob is going to have to convince her that he’s really serious about settling down with her and he’s no longer that commitment-phobe she thinks him to be.

A Bit of Sass has plenty of good things to love. Both characters come off as pretty realistic, especially Sass whose concerns for her kids ring true. Sass doesn’t come off like a nitwit playing hard to get because the author needs to pad the book up to a certain word count, but instead a woman who tries to do the right thing with her heart as well as her kids. Ms McCarty treats the developing “friends turned lovers” relationship here with a most enjoyable maturity. I’m pretty amazed by the ease at which she moves from creating really scorching and explicit love scene in one page to a pretty realistic family scene in the next page. I have a truly wonderful time with this story. I think the author has just obtained another new fan.