Colm Devaney is the illegitimate son of an English lord and an Irish servant. Although he isn’t good enough to marry Bess, according to her ailing father, he is good enough to supply them with a place to stay in New York City. It isn’t much of a place as he hasn’t much money. He hopes for that to change. If he wins a few fights, he’ll have enough money to buy a home in the country for Bess. Maybe then the old man will approve of him.

Bess doesn’t want Colm to fight but she needs money for her father’s medicine. The only other alternative is to give in to the neighborhood bully’s demands for sexual favors. She doesn’t want to do that. The only man she desires is Colm.

Winning Bess is a gritty slice of American history. This erotic romance isn’t set in some neat and tidy Regency ballroom but in an 1847 New York City slum. The writing is wonderfully descriptive. I was so sucked into the story I lifted my feet off the floor as I read so the rats couldn't touch them. I have never done that before. The dialogue is curt and harsh, the sex scenes hot and the romance surprisingly sweet. Winning Bess is a winning read.

Reviewed by: Kimber