For the past thirty-odd years, Thanksgiving Day at Mom's house has concluded with dessert and a nap to pass the afternoon until it's time to eat again. But this year, while everyone in the family slept off their gluttony, I indulged in something far more decadent than my double-chocolate chip cookies: Lacey Alexander's Hot in the City 2: Sin City.

When e-mails and an after-hours phone call from Marc Davenport-long-time friend and business colleague at the home office in Las Vegas-turn suggestive, Diana Marsh does her best to ignore the urge to be a bad girl again. She's doing her best to be the good girl her family wants, even if it means neglecting her soul. Problem is, she's been a good girl to the extent that she's let her mother fix her up with Bradley-a handsome but completely dull man-and just thinking about him is enough to snuff out her arousal.

Not so with Marc, the man she's never met but is about to. The morning after their phone call-which ends in a session of hot phone sex that leaves Diana wanting more-Diana discovers she's being sent to company headquarters in Las Vegas to work on a project. After calling Bradley and making her case for taking a break from their relationship, Diana heads off to Vegas with a burning desire to discover just why they call it Sin City.

Marc looks forward to giving her the full-length tour as well as the full length of other things. He introduces Diana slowly to the culture and sensuality of life in Las Vegas, complete with a first date to a gentlemen's show and limo ride that brings them both to the verge of sexual fulfillment, until they pass two friends of Marc's on the street and invite them along for more of a ride than any of them anticipated.

As it turned out, Sin City was far better for my hips than those extra cookies and far more satisfying. Ms. Alexander does a wonderful job of weaving the erotic and romantic elements to make a story fans of both will enjoy. I found myself completely immersed in the fast pace of the storytelling as well as the blossoming relationship between Diana and Marc. I must admit that given the description of the book I expected the sexual components (including menage a trois, lesbianism, anal sex, voyeurism and light bondage) to overpower the story and overshadow the romance, but the romantic in me was pleased to have a fulfilling and completely romantic ending. My only suggestion to the reader is to be sure you leave yourself enough time to enjoy the entire story to the last page. Then again, you can always return for seconds.

Reviewed by: Sashi Ketsel
©2004