Smart Bitches in People Magazine

Great day in the morning! We’re in People Magazine.

While the article doesn’t appear to be on their website, in the 3 August issue, featuring a very messy-headed Robert Pattinson and “his messy love life” on the cover, on page 46, there’s BOSOMS! And a list of our very favorite romances.

Here, a PDF for your viewing pleasure! People magazine, page 46.

People (the magazine, not the plural noun) had asked us for a list of our very favorite romances, and that list was, of course, a LOT longer when we sent it in. Five of our choices made the list:

Book Cover

One of the best romances ever: unabashed and hilarious, fun and moving. Minerva’s jerkwad ex-boyfriend bets his friend Cal that he can’t get Min to sleep with him in a month. If you love stories with bickering, blistering attraction, this will keep you reading long after you meant to turn off the light.

Book Cover

The premise sounds like something dreamed up in the fevered fantasies of a bad 80s screenwriter: a white ninja rescues a shy, proper seamstress from a life of drudgery. The execution, however, is flawless. Few people write with the elegance and beauty of Laura Kinsale, and this book’s emotional intensity will have you reaching for a box of tissues.

Book Cover

During the course of this book, the heroine tells the hero “In my dictionary, romance is not maudlin, treacly sentiment. It is a curry, spiced with excitement and humor and a healthy dollop of cynicism.” Few romance novels fit this description better than Lord of Scoundrels. This book reliably converts non-romance readers over to the dark side. Male or female; math professor or classicist; computer programmer or chef: all are helpless to resist the razor-sharp banter and explosive chemistry between Jessica and Sebastian.

Book Cover

People often sniff at Harlequins, known in the industry as “category” romances, but behind the covers, they can pack a marvelous story in a very short space. This one is a great example: a new twist on the Cinderella myth that’s set in Australia. It’s a perfect afternoon beach read.

Book Cover

This is the first of an ongoing series by Nora Roberts writing as Robb.Set in NYC in the 2020s, there’s mystery, suspense, and hot, hot action of many kinds. Eve and Roarke form one of the best couples in romance today.

But there were more on the original list, which began: Seven of our favorite romances? When People asked us that question, the wailing and gnashing of the teeth began. Not only is narrowing the list down almost impossible, Sarah and Candy have divergent reading tastes and don’t always agree on what’s good. The books they do agree on have a distressing tendency to be out-of-print and very hard to find (The Windflower by Laura London, for example). We finally agreed on a few limiting criteria: nothing that’s been out of print for more than ten years, and the selection must attempt to reflect the variety in the genre. So here’s The Smart Bitches’ Top Seven Romances That Aren’t Impossible to Find.

Book Cover

(The Immortals After Dark series) If you pack one of these in your beach bag, bring a fan, because holy hot steaming demons: this series is smart, savvy, and so freaking spicy. Few do hot sexy tension like Cole.

Book Cover

So many amazing romances are being released from digital publishers. This powerful story from Samhain Publishing features a hero and heroine scarred in different ways who have to relearn everything they thought they knew about sex and love. It comes out in print in February.

Book Cover

Shana Abe writes lyrically and beautifully, and her Drakon series (The Smoke Thief, The Dream Thief, Queen of Dragons, The Treasure Keeper) about a race of Dragon people with the ability to change form are no exception.


Obviously, when you have no limits in bandwidth, you can keep going for pages about your favorite books! But with column inches, space is tight like, well, you know where I was going with that.

SO! How about a giveaway? To celebrate I will give a set of each of the above books, including a bound galley of Butterfly Tattoo, to one random commenter in the next 24 hours. All you have to do is pick your one favorite, without question, ultimate recommendation for the Best Romance Novel Ever in your opinion. See? Easy, right? Riiiiight.

 

Comments are Closed

  1. Ollie says:

    Kushiel’s Mercy by Jacqueline Carey (I hope that counts as a romance!)

  2. appomattoxco says:

    From the list or best ever? It always depends on what I’m in the mood for. Right now, I could reread Butterfly Tatoo. I do love Morning Glory  beyond all reason.

  3. Lizzie (greeneyed fem) says:

    I love Loretta Chase, but I have to go with Mr. Impossible over Lord of Scoundrels. It has just as much yummy banter, and the heroine is bookish! And sharp-tongued! And not a virgin! And independent! I love Daphne, and I SUPER-love Rupert “I’m going to play dumb because it’s easier to let others have low expectations” Carsington. AND they have sex in a Egyptian pyramid. C’mon! /GOB

    This is a nail-biter of a contest—such a yummy prize and only 1 winner!

  4. AbbyT says:

    Since it came out, I have hooked at least five new romance readers with Duran’s Duke of Shadows.  Hands down it’s my favorite and the one I go to to recruit newbies.  I’ve waxed poetic about the book before in an unfortunate email to SB Sarah so I won’t dive back into it here except to say that it is my #1, go-to, will-always-have-on-my-shelf book.

  5. Gina says:

    Since Devil in Winter and Romancing Mr. Bridgerton have already been picked, and you have already listed Bet Me, I will have to go with Julia Quinn’s Minx. I have read that book to pieces.

  6. MaryK says:

    I’d have to go with The Shadow and The Star, list or no list.

    So, what did you have to do to get an article in People Magazine?!?  😉

  7. Calila says:

    Gah not sure if i can just pick one. Guess i’ll just name one of my top three, Lisa Kleypas’ The Devil In Winter.

  8. StephB says:

    SO hard to pick just one! Augh. If I had to pick just one, though, it would be Georgette Heyer’s The Talisman Ring – hilarious, full of adventure, AND wonderfully romantic, with so many laugh-out-loud lines throughout.

  9. Wendy says:

    I can’t believe they didn’t show A Hunger Like No Other! That’s like the best romance book right there!

  10. rebyj says:

    Oh I have been waiting for the print edition of Butterfly Tattoo to come out. That’s my choice!

  11. Sarah W says:

    My current favorite is The Duke’s Wager by Edith Layton.

    It was recommended either on this site or in Bosoms as one of Ms. Layton’s best, so I searched out and finally located through Interlibrary Loan.

    And WOW, was that recommendation spot on.  It did change the way I feel about heroes and villains (and what constitutes either) and gave me disturbing insight into how difficult and risky it was to be a woman of no means in Regency times.  And how difficult it was to maintain one’s integrity, male or female.

    The pay off at the end?  Incredible.  Absolutely perfect.

  12. Nat says:

    Like everyone else, I have more than one favorite. As I was reading everyone else’s lists (and taking mental notes of course), the one that came to me as standing out is Sea Swept by Nora Roberts. There’s just something about Anna and Cam…

  13. Gin says:

    One?! Sadness. I feel like I should apologize to all my other favorites. Dreaming of You, Lisa Kleypas, is my angsty go-to.

    (With a close second to Texas Glory, Lorraine Heath. Out of print and hard-to-find, but Dallas Leigh is my favorite hero.)

  14. Lori S. says:

    Just one?  Jeez, talk about tough decisions!

    If I had to pick just one, I’d have to say Outlander by Diana Gabaldon.

  15. Abby Normal says:

    No Rest for the Wicked, by Kresley Cole.

  16. Heather says:

    Wow.

    Gonna have to go with Lucky’s Lady by Tami Hoag. That’s one of the few books I have that’s survived every shelf purge.

  17. Kate Pearce says:

    I don’t think I can pick one-but if I did, I think it would be These Old Shades By Georgette Heyer, simply because I think all my heroes are based on the sneering, cynical awesome Duke of Avon 🙂

    p.s. will see you in Concord tomorrow!!

  18. Rae says:

    Time and again, I come back to The Villa by Ms. Roberts.

  19. EmilyW says:

    The Spymaster’s Lady by Joanna Bourne. Everything about it just fit me to a T. It’s like she wrote the book especially for me. And following that closely is The Raven Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt. So many good ones that I wish I could list!

  20. AmandaV says:

    Well, Outlander is probably my favorite book of all time, but I don’t consider it a romance.  When I think of Jamie and Claire, I think of the whole series, which is not a romance.  I can’t really separate Outlander from the others.

    One of my very favorite romances is The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn.  I just about love everything she writes.

  21. Kay Sisk says:

    Pamela Morsi’s Simple Jess.

  22. Helen of Troy says:

    While I like Bet Me, I’d have to go with Jennifer Crusie’s Welcome to Temptation or Manhunting.  My copies are falling apart…

    If we’re talking historicals, toss me a Garwood / Laurens / Quinn and I’ll be a happy camper – doesn’t matter which book!

    Congrats on making it into People!

  23. Patsy says:

    Jennifer Crusie’s Welcome to Temptation because it’s fantastic and sexy and hilarious; and Catherine Coulter’s The Nightengale Legacy because who doesn’t love a dark, brooding hero who isn’t all that dark or brooding at all.

    And… it just occurred to me that in both of those books, the guy puts out before the girls does.  hmm.

  24. Elizabeth Wadsworth says:

    Just one?  Okay, talk about obscure—The Broad Highway by Jeffery (yes, that’s spelled correctly) Farnol.  Even after 100 years, the love story between femme fatale Charmian and shy bookworm Peter is fresh, witty, and charming.  And unlike many historical novels, this one actually feels as though it was written in the period in which it’s set (the Regency.)

    spamword;  standard92—yes, I do have a pretty high standard, thank you very much.

  25. Stacey P. says:

    So hard to pick one favorite… especially since my answer will be different depending on my mood! At the moment, though, the one that comes to mind first is Blue Smoke by Nora Roberts…

  26. Nike says:

    It is so, so hard to pick just one. I’m going to have to go with one of my favorites of the moment: Wild At Heart by Patricia Gaffney.

  27. DarK says:

    Only one? Oh..mmm…ahhhh….okay I pick Her Bodyguard by Michelle Jerott.  It has love, humor, danger, mystery… a bit of it all really.

    Spam word of about53 is more realistic on the number of books I could list.

  28. Becky says:

    The Blue Castle by LM Montgomery.  I’ve loved that book since I was a preteen.  I finally broke down and bought a second copy a few years ago because my original copy fell apart.

  29. pdtoler says:

    I’m another Heyer fan.  The Grand Sophy?  Devil’s Cub? No, The Grand Sophy. 

    Stopping now, before I change my mind again.

  30. kpsr. says:

    Since I can only pick one, I’m going old school favorite.

    Caroline by Willo Davis Roberts (part of the Sunfire series from Scholastic? I think.)

    Man, did I love that book in jr. high. Feisty main character cuts off her hair (thus disguising her as a boy!) and follows her brothers on the trail for gold in California, meanwhile becoming attracted to the man who she ends up traveling with while in disguise! What’s not to love?
    *sigh*

  31. Elizabeth Wadsworth says:

    I should have added, this was the first romance novel I ever read that was written entirely from the hero’s POV (which makes sense, as the writer was a man) but in the 1970’s was really a revelation, since nearly all romances of that period were entirely from the viewpoint of the female protagonist.

  32. Moonstruck Madness by Laurie McBain.

    Discovered in a paper bag full of yard sale books when I was 12. I found a copy on e-bay about 3 years ago and now it lives on my keeper shelf.

  33. MeganS says:

    Georgette Heyer’s Devil’s Cub. Just thinking about it makes me feel warm and happy. (Although now I’m planning on rereading Bet Me this weekend, because that’s another warm and happy read…)

  34. JoanneL says:

    One?

    ONE?????

    I can’t. Not one…. okay, I can. No, I can’t……

    THE WOLF AND THE DOVE by Kathleen Woodiwiss

    No. No, that’s not it.
    Wait.
    ummmm

  35. Elizabeth Krentz-Wee says:

    Devil’s Cub by Georgette Heyer.

    I like the earlier These Old Shades, but that heroine is a tad too young and perky for me.

  36. Michael says:

    Impossible to pick one, so I’ll go with the book that got me hooked on romances, The Duke and I by miss Julia Quinn.

  37. Carin says:

    If I had to pick JUST ONE…*sigh*  OK, I can do this…  Umm.  Night Play, by Sherrilyn Kenyon.  It’s not perfect, but there’s something about it that gets me rereading it over and over.

  38. Gwen says:

    Georgette Heyer. But which one?  Devil’s Cub!  A Civil Contract!  Frederica!  Oh, I’ll just close my eyes and point to…  I can’t do it.  Devil’s Cub – probably gets re-read the most.

    Ooh, and Bet Me is another favorite, which snuck in when I hadn’t noticed yet that I read a lot of romance.

  39. Elizabeth Krentz-Wee says:

    Is The Windflower available anywhere as an ebook?

  40. ev says:

    I haven’t read everyone else’s choices, and choosing is not easy. But the one that comes to mind immediately is “The Madness of Lord Ian MacKenzie”. That story just really drew me in and packed a wallop because he wasn’t a perfect hero. I loved how it really showed him in a positive light even with his mental problems.

    I am waiting, not very patiently, for the next book in the series. The fact that I would choose a regency book, for me, is surprising since they are not my first choice in genre.

    But this one was goood.

Comments are closed.

By posting a comment, you consent to have your personally identifiable information collected and used in accordance with our privacy policy.

↑ Back to Top