NB: Welcome to Flashback Friday! Because of Carrie’s Four Weddings and a Sixpence anthology review, we wanted to run another anthology with a similar grade that we enjoyed. The Brightest Day has one of Sarah’s favorite novellas of 2015! This review was originally published June 17, 2015. Reviewing anthologies is always difficult for me. I’m never sure if I should give a grade for the collection as a whole, even if some of the stories didn’t grab … Continue reading The Brightest Day: A Juneteenth Anthology by Kianna Alexander, Lena Hart, Piper Huguley and Alyssa Cole →
Amanda, Carrie, Elyse, and RedHeadedGirl heave great sighs and discuss garbage, dumpster, compost and tire fires as we look back at 2016. We also talk about the books that rocked our worlds and made us happy, and a few bright moments of the past year. In between we discuss all sorts of things, as we do, including cats, angry vengeful women, more about cats, and fun stories from Elyse’s office. We also make tag predictions … Continue reading 227. Smart Bitches Assemble: Looking Back at 2016 →
It’s the seventh night of the Extrava-Hanukkah Giveaway! Only two nights left – so let’s get this one going, eh? I hope you’ve been having a lovely holiday and are surrounded by warm and delicious things, and possibly warm and delicious people, if you’re into that kind of thing (I hope not. Warm people are good. Eating people… not so much.) So that took a turn. Anyway, perhaps you’re surrounded by everyone and everything you love, … Continue reading 2016 Smart Bitches Extrava-Hanukkah Giveaway, Part 7 →
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn is a Kindle Daily Deal and is $2.99! Sharp Objects is also part of the KDD today. Some found the format a little frustrating, with all the jumping between POVs and between timelines. But many said the book kept them entertained with the mystery and all its twists. Also, be warned it’s a pretty graphic book. Have you read this?
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An Improper Holiday is a m/m romance novella set during the Regency period. Regency people weren’t all that big on the actual day of Christmas (this was post-mistletoe, but pre-Christmas trees, cards, and presents). However, Regency people loved to party, and they kicked off their festivities on Christmas night and carried on for twelve days. Apparently there was some controversy over exactly when the twelve nights actually started and stopped. I like to imagine that … Continue reading An Improper Holiday by K.A. Mitchell →
It’s the sixth night of Hanukkah, and Smart Bitches gave to me… the Extrava-Hanukkah Giveaway of great simplicity! Sometimes you just need books, and maybe some things to read with. Whatever you need, we’ve got you covered: today’s giveaway is…. A $100 Amazon gift certificate! That’s easy enough, right? Here’s how to enter: leave a comment below and tell us something good you learned this past year. Maybe it’s a new author, or a new skill, … Continue reading 2016 Smart Bitches Extrava-Hanukkah Giveaway, Part 6 →
So here’s the news: All Romance eBooks and OmniLit will be closing effective 12/31/2016. Per the email sent to ARe customers, readers are encouraged to “take this opportunity to finalize any transactions, download your purchases, and back up your library.” If you’ve purchased ebooks there, you must download them immediately* as the sites will go dark at midnight CST, 12/31/16. *Of course, all the traffic is making the download and access process very slow. I’m having a … Continue reading All Romance is Closing Effective 12/31/2016 →
It’s almost 2017! Are we ready for this year to be over? I think I can hear the resounding yes from the Bitchery. Hopefully, next year will be leagues better than this one! … I will warn you that this first link is not for those with sensitive stomachs as it does deal with grisly crime scenes. However, Broadly’s interview with women who work in crime scene clean up was fascinating: Cleaning. It’s not for … Continue reading Links: Carrie Fisher, Asexual Characters, & a Cat Documentary →
The Pages of the Mind by Jeffe Kennedy is $2.99! This is a fantasy romance with an arranged marriage. Readers loved the scholarly heroine, but found that the second half of the book had a very different feel than the first half. It has a 3.9-star rating on Goodreads.
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Four Weddings and a Sixpence is super comforting. It’s a collection of four novellas, all Regency romances, all remarkably angst-free. Five minutes after reading each story I had already forgotten all about it, but I remembered my enjoyment while reading it. The novellas are held together by a framing story written by Julia Quinn. In 1817, four girls who are attending Madame Rochambeaux’s Gentle School for Girls find a sixpence in the mattress. The girls … Continue reading Four Weddings and a Sixpence by Julia Quinn, Elizabeth Boyle, Laura Lee Guhrke, and Stefanie Sloane →
It’s the fifth night of Hanukkah, and Smart Bitches gave to me…. A whole assortment of things to enjoy while snuggled up with your favorite individuals, be they human, canine, feline, or anything! This collection celebrates Amanda, who is the mastermind of the Covers & Cocktails feature, and the most excellent organatrix of all things SBTB. Ready? Today’s giveaway includes: An Amazon Fire Stick with Alexa Voice remote Plus an assortment of soft, fuzzy, fun, … Continue reading 2016 Smart Bitches Extrava-Hanukkah Giveaway, Part 5 →
This HaBO request comes from Fran. She wants to find a paranormal romance: I was at a romance novel book club last week and one of the organizers mentioned a romance she read in the early era of ebooks, pre-kindle (she mentioned a Sony reader, so maybe 2006ish plus or minus a few years) and made it sound like a non-traditional publisher, e-book first even when e-books were new. In terms of plot, she said that … Continue reading HaBO: Heroine Becomes the Ward of a Vampire →
Lab Girl by Hope Jahren is $3.99! This is a Kindle Daily Deal and is being price-matched. The KDD today features Goodreads Choice Awards finalists and there are some pretty awesome selections, if you want to check out the sales! Many readers loved this memoir, but warn that the audio version is a little too dramatic.
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This HaBO request comes from Samantha. She wants to find a historical romance that has some Devil in Winter qualities: I am trying to remember the title of a historical romance. I think it was published pretty recently. The heroine lives with her uncle, who is always making inappropriate advances on her and she wants to escape from him. So she decides that she needs to get married. The heroine has her maid send a note to the … Continue reading HaBO: Heroine Needs to Marry to Escape Creepy Uncle →
This review is by Sabra Nicole, who previously wrote a guest review for How Not to Fall, which is the first book in this series. She absolutely loved it, so of course we want to hear how she liked the continuation of Annie and Charles’ romance. Her Twitter bio says she is a writer of things…mostly words, and she’s that fluent in both Geek and Sarcasm. How Not to Let Go, the second novel in Emily … Continue reading Guest Review: How Not to Let Go by Emily Foster →
This is so! Much! Fun! Ahem. Lemme put down this latke (curried sweet potato – YUM) and set up a giveaway, since it’s the middle of Hanukkah and we’ve got candles, latkes, chocolate to spare! Time for the fourth night of our annual eight straight days of giveaways to celebrate Hanukkah! Today? A Kate Spade tote big enough to hold everything you need for an excellent reading day in any season, any weather! The Kate Spade Grant … Continue reading 2016 Smart Bitches Extrava-Hanukkah Giveaway, Part 4 →
RECOMMENDED: The Courtesan Duchess by Joanna Shupe is $1.99 at Amazon and other select vendors! This is a historical romance where the couple is married, but estranged. This is also the first book in the Wicked Deceptions series, which Redheadedgirl loved! She mentioned this book on a previous Whatcha Reading post and called the book “delightfully crazy.” And, if you want more Shupe, the first two books in her New York-set Knickerbocker Club series are also on sale!
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How’re your holidays going? Good? Well, that’s great! But if not, here’s some Cover Snark to help put a smile on your face! From Carole: Just OMG. Carrie: These are not the bear. The bear is my penis. Elyse: It’s like a super fucked up centaur Why is half his body missing? Did he lose everything from the waist down to frostbite? Carrie: It was tragic. Amanda: It’s like a weird centaur hybrid. Instead of … Continue reading Cover Snark: The One with a Polar Bear →
