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:

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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(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.

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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.

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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. Rene says:

    … and I borked the code, so … hope that fixes it.

  2. Rene says:

    argh. Sorry for the spamming… trying to fix the italics.

  3. Malin E says:

    Captives of the Night by Loretta Chase. Lord of Scoundrels and so many of her other books are awesome, but this is the only one that makes my heart truly ache when I read it.

  4. romantic@heart says:

    Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander.

    I’ve been reading romance books since I was 12 years old. Years and years! But, after reading Outlander, it was like my eyes were opened for the first time to what romance was really all about.

  5. Brenna says:

    I would love to say Checkmate by Dorothy Dunnett.  Even though it is considered historical fiction, it has all the elements of a romance novel.  But for a really romance novel, then it would have to be Loretta Chase’s Lord of Scoundrels.

    I do have to wonder about Kinsale’s Shadow and the Star.  It is certainly a very good book, at least at the first three quarters of the story with lots of gut-wrenching moments.  But the moment they arrived in Hawaii, the story turned into a farce with the H/H running around, a sword, lots of chop-chop Japanese English, etc….  Boy, what a turnaround. It completely ruined it for me.  If I were to choose a Kinsale, I’ll go for Flowers in the Storm.

  6. Jen H says:

    Goin’ oldskool, here: Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

    I know, no HEA—-unless you count the dreck that was “Scarlett”, and I don’t—-but Rhett & Scarlett loved eachother, they just didn’t know it at the same times in their lives.  And, my marshmallow-heart says she got him back:)

    “hit72”, huh?  Well, I was born in ‘72, but I don’t know yet if I’m a hit…

  7. If you’re going to make me pick just one (sigh) then Hummingbird by Lavyrle Spencer.

  8. Crystin says:

    Pick ONE??? Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander! (Very close on its heels…JD Robb…just about any book in that series.)

  9. JC says:

    Such a cruel demand.  Three of my favorites are already mentioned- Outlander, Devil in Winter, and Naked in Death.

    So I’ll go with Song in the Silence, by Elizabeth Kerner.  Something about it just… it gets me every time.

  10. sarah says:

    i also have to go with lisa kleypas’ dreaming of you though i do have a special place in my heart for the first romance i ever read: charlotte lamb’s retribution; yes, it’s a category romance, but it’s what got me hooked on romance

  11. Eva says:

    When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn. I’ve read it and reread it more times than I can say. In fact, I’ve actually finished it and immediately started reading it again I love it that much.

  12. Lorraine says:

    My favorite of all time is one of the first romances I read, The Wolf and The Dove.  I know it’s old school, but I read it every few years and love it just as much now as I did the first time.

    spam word again48—shit, I’m old enough to wish I was 48 again…ugh

  13. ghn says:

    A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold. Her writing is truly out of this world (in more than one sense)  😉

  14. Lisa#2 says:

    I kept hearing the praise for Loretta Chase’s Lord of Scoundrels. I finally ran down a copy and it’s been at the top of my favorites ever since. I cannot remember the last time I was actually shocked and surprised by a romance.

  15. Marilyn says:

    Suzanne Brockmann’s Gone Too Far.  I LOVE her series.  And Cherry Adair’s On Thin Ice.  And Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ Natural Born charmer, because it makes me laugh out loud.

  16. The First Year by Lucilla Andrews. I nearly became a nurse because of that one.

  17. KristieJ says:

    I’m going to go with Broken Wing by Judith James.  It’s not perfectly written – but it’s perfect for me.

  18. Tina C. says:

    Best romance ever?  Tough one alright.  Ermmm…even naming my favorite is difficult.  I loved loved LOVED Angel Falls and I thought it was just a flat-out great book.  I can’t call it my “favorite” romance, though, considering that I’ve re-read Krentz’s backlist (specifically Family Man, Silver Linings, Absolutely Positively, and Flash, but most of the others, too) so many times, I almost have some of them memorized.  I don’t know what it is about her books that I find so satisfying, but they just do it for me.

  19. Pam says:

    At this moment in time?  Sylvester / Georgette Heyer

  20. Karen Coombs says:

    Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor, published in 1944 and set in the 1600s, has stuck in my brain for decades. What a heartbreaking ending for a teenage reader. The published book, at 900+ pages was one-fifth of the original manuscript. How great it would be to read the missing pages!

  21. Amanda says:

    Montana Sky by Nora Roberts. My first adult novel from the romance section. I read it at least once a year.

  22. Lil' Deviant says:

    So many of the books I LOVE have already been mentioned I am going to go with one that hasn’t been mentioned.

    Warprize  Elizabeth Vaughn

  23. Lovecow2000 says:

    The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley.  It’s just wonderful.  : )

  24. Grace says:

    Oh goodness.  I’ll just pick one at random from my list of favorites… Almost Heaven (Judith McNaught).

  25. Megs says:

    It would be so much easier to pick a favorite author, because then I could just say Mary Balogh. But forced to choose one novel, I’m going to have to go with Simply Love.

  26. darlynne says:

    SEP’s Natural Born Charmer. Oh, wait …

  27. Jessica says:

    I’m going to have to go with Outlander.  In my class tho (for librarians on adult popular reading), one of my most successful recommendations has been Broken by Megan Hart.  Lord of Scoundrels is definitely making next years list.

  28. Michele H. says:

    I’m with Megs- picking a favorite author is easy (Jayne Ann Krentz in all her forms).

    However, if I have to pick just one book, it would have to be Absolutely, Positively.

    side29- I can come up with this side of 29 favorite books easier than picking just one!

  29. Peyton says:

    Harsh… Hmmm, Jennifer Crusie’s Faking It. It’s a desert island book for me.

  30. Sandra D says:

    I haven’t even read the comments yet because holy crap 148? I’d never finish in time to enter the contest because I’d be stopping every other post to check if my library or Chapters store had each book in stock lol.

    Anyway I have to thank the Bitchery for turning me on to Heyer because my current favourite romance has to be These Old Shades.

  31. Edie says:

    Why is it as soon as someone mentions fav novel, I can not think of one?
    I don’t really have complete and utter favourites, but I guess I would have to go with Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dance With the Devil, as while call it a beyond brilliant book, it does appeal to me, and is one of the very few books that I can re-read and because I can not choose a single SEP title. *grin*

  32. Edie says:

    okay it might be a nap time before going to the second job, the above was meant to read, “as while I can’t call it a brilliant..”

  33. Stelly says:

    Gah!  This was a tough one!

  34. Stelly says:

    I suppose I’ll have to say the Phantom of the Opera in the original French.  I read it for the first time when I was thirteen and fell in love with the characters.  I’ve been a sucker for love triangles ever since.

  35. KiraK says:

    Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase. It remains my golden standard for any and all romance novels. It’s the book that swayed me to the Dark Side of genre reading (where previously I’d only read in SciFi/Fantasy and Horror). I keep trying to persuade my dad into reading it (he calls it “bullying”, but it’s more of a forced persuasion, really…), so he can become as much a Chase fangirl as I am, and he won’t make quite so many snarky comments about the disintegrating dress the lady on the cover is wearing (I make about as many observations about cover art as he does, though, so it’s pretty unlikely he’ll tone it down much, but still.).

    Anyways, Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase, best romance novel I have read (so far).

  36. SoraAGH says:

    Natural Law by Joey Hill

  37. Lorraine says:

    Really tough to choose only one favorite novel. I’d have to say Lord of Scoundrels by the great Loretta Chase.  Crusie’s Bet Me would be a very close second.

  38. Mary says:

    Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold.
    Yes, the book _says_ it is science fiction. However! The love story between Captain Naismith and Captain Vorkosigan is the reason I continually go back and reread Shards of Honor time and time again.

  39. Alex says:

    It would have to be … Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas

  40. Liz in Australia says:

    I find it impossible to chose just one. That’s why I have so many bookshelves so I can read all my favorites over and over 🙂

    Hmmm. A few years back it could have been a three way tie between “A knight in shining armour” by Jude Deveraux, “Flowers from the storm” by Kinsale and “Walking after midnight” by Robards. I have reread all of these more than once.

    These days I think the book I reread the most is “Dance with the devil” by Kenyon. It just resonates. When I’m in a certain mood I love to reread this one. It’s nice and angsty.

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