Not going to bother writing a big long review for this, but I am so glad I broke my rules to buy and read this one. There was so much to love about it.

The relative absence of external conflict left a refreshing focus on the main characters. The conflict grew naturally out of their own understandable hang-ups. Widowed Tamara Briggs is wary of dating at all after her stock car racing husband died in a crash at Talladega, never mind dating another racer. She's also 32, with two kids and the resultant stretch marks, and as much as she's wildly attracted to Elec Monroe, she can't help but wonder what a 25 year old guy sees in her cottage cheese ass.

For his part, Elec has been avoiding commitment in his previous relationships, but McCarthy turns this trope on its head. You see, as much as he's a monogamist at heart and loves kids, he's sterile, so he's avoided the marrying type, because he doesn't want his heart broken when she leaves for a man who can give her children. Naturally, Tamara's children are an attraction for him, a ready-made family where he assumed he'd never have one at all. The commitment-focused hero breaking down the widow's reservations was a breath of fresh air.

I just had a few issues with the book, both thematically and stylistically. It's written in a rather folksy tone, and that makes sense for a book about stock car racing set in Charlotte, but there were times where it went from folksy to just inelegant. Swallowing a "bucket of spit" is a rather strange phrase to show up multiple times. I also didn't like how she couldn't leave the dead husband alone. Can't she have an HEA with Elec without having to enumerate her first husband's flaws?

In any case, I loved the book so much, I've broken more rules to buy Hard and Fast to read next. I'm weak.