Sassy
Valerie Howard
ISBN: 9781435708679
Lulu Publishing
Reviewed By Jennifer Walker

Official Apex Reviews Rating: 


Nobody's perfect…right? Sassy knows she's not - at least, she says she's not; however, her friends seem to think otherwise. After all, she always seems to have an opinion on what they do with their lives. As someone who is very close to God, she tries to do her best to live as He would want her to and tries to help her friends live the same way. However, not everyone wants to listen to her message, and she soon learns that how she delivers her message is just as important as the message itself.

Sassy is a successful marketing executive living in Chicago, who is cultivating a deeper, more meaningful relationship with a friend she has had for several years. Darnell is an up-and-coming R&B star who is just beginning his rise to fame; however, he's led down a path that draws him further and further from Sassy (and God, for that matter) and puts their relationship in jeopardy. He very nearly succumbs to temptation in the form of a very beautiful and successful model, and Darnell's manager wants him to do anything it takes to make his name. A lot of money is at stake, as are Darnell's heart and soul. Sassy does what she can to keep him on the right path and help him mend his relationship with his father, but it's difficult when he travels so far away for his work.

Meanwhile, Sassy is trying to help her friends, David and Jayna, through their marriage difficulties, which are further complicated when Jayna becomes pregnant (much to her dismay). Another friend, Amber, has made many choices in her life that Sassy has not approved of, the most recent of which has been to date a married man. At work, Sassy must choose between two less-than-ideal candidates to add to her very successful marketing team. It's a lot to juggle, but Sassy has God on her side to lead the way. If she can just keep her friends from turning their backs on her and her judgmental ways and convince Darnell to put as much into their relationship as she tries to, things could be perfect.

In Sassy, Ms. Howard delivers a simple, yet profound message: if you just put your life into the hands of God, He will guide you. There is another important lesson to be learned here, though, which is that Christians must be careful how they try to teach this message so as not to alienate the recipient. Despite this theme, which runs throughout the book, Sassy is an entertaining read and not overbearingly preachy.

Ms. Howard injects humor into her story, with delightful interactions that make her characters real and fun to read about. They are people you can imagine knowing, perhaps at work or living upstairs in your apartment building. They all have their own problems and travel their own journeys, learning important lessons along the way. The main drawback to Sassy is that it needs professional editing and formatting, and it could be further developed to enrich the stories and characters, but the writing is quite readable and enjoyable in its current edition.