Happy Sixth Anniversary, All You Smart Bitches!

Today marks the Sixth Anniversary of this here hot pink website. Our first review was posted January 30, 2005 – a review of Sharon Shinn’s Angel-Seeker. Wow, huh? I’m sort of shocked and amazed and ready to party!

The official gifts of the Sixth Anniversary are… wait, don’t have anything liquid in your mouth, ok? … iron, candy, and WOOD.

Oh, this is going to be fun. It’s giveaway time! To celebrate our sixth anniversary, I’m giving away the following prizes:

Book Cover Book Cover Book Cover image

That’s 4lbs of chocolate covered cherries, an iron, a 5lb bag of wood, and a Hello Kitty vibrator (a much better substitute for the wood, because it’s woody-like).

All you have to do is leave a comment and tell me six things you love about reading romance novels, and you’re entered to win. Standard disclaimers apply. Void where prohibited by law. I ship internationally when possible. Take your shoes off. Wash your hands. Any resemblance to iron wood made of candy is completely coincidental. No chocolate was harmed in the creation of this contest.

You have 48 hours to leave a comment, and I’ll select the winners at random. I know you all want that iron, right? RIGHT? Right. Of course!

Happy Sixth Anniversary to us – thank you for being here to make the site as fun and fantastic as it is. I’m so glad to know you visit every day to talk romance, man titty, and general mayhem.

Comments are Closed

  1. Jennifer in GA says:

    1. Happy Endings
    2. Hunky Men
    3. Smart Ladies
    4. Exotic Locales (anything is exotic when you’re in rural south Georgia)
    5. Pirates!
    6. Escaping the everyday, humdrum life for a few minutes.

  2. Six years already?  Hard to believe.

    1. Pirates!
    2. Satisfaction
    3. Wit
    4. Hunky Heroes
    5. Inexpensive get-away for my mind
    6. Talking books with friends

  3. Debbie says:

    I love:
    1. the HEA (seems to be a theme here)
    2. the fact that some people discount me when they hear I read them, only to then learn I’m a medical student
    3. the titles
    4. my favorite part of a novel is when the heroine gets hurt/sick and is rescued by the hero (old skool, I know)
    5. the fact that it is the most prolific genre so I’ll never run out of reading material
    6. that my sister and I share the same taste in books!

  4. mary frances says:

    Things i love about romance novels:
    1- the escapism, they are a vacation in a book.
    2- the witty repartee, seriously sassy flirty dialogue is awesome and mostly in romances
    3- highlanders, vikings, rakes, pirates, shieks, former SEALs, vampires, werewolves, gentlemen, bastards, cops and PIs. ect.
    4- Plot twists, the secret babies, mixed identities, “who’s sebastian?” lines I find pleasure in the contrived conflict. lol
    5- The community of readers

  5. mary frances says:

    Or i could write all 6 lol.

    Things i love about romance novels:
    1- the escapism, they are a vacation in a book.
    2- the witty repartee, seriously sassy flirty dialogue is awesome and mostly in romances
    3- highlanders, vikings, rakes, pirates, shieks, former SEALs, vampires, werewolves, gentlemen, bastards, cops and PIs. ect.
    4- Plot twists, the secret babies, mixed identities, “who’s sebastian?” lines I find pleasure in the contrived conflict. lol
    5- The community of readers
    6- reading about it all on SB!

    congrats on the accomplishment sarah.
    -mary

  6. Genevieve says:

    1. Escape
    2. Live vicariously
    3. Fantasize
    4. Expand my “lovemaking phrases” repertoire
    5. Learn historical facts
    6. The whole reading part is just plain great!

  7. Lisa J says:

    Six things:

    1.  Going places I never get to go in real life.
    2.  The HEA
    3.  The very HOT covers (I’m thinking of Jaci Burton’s The Perfect Play coming out on Tuesday – WOW)
    4.  The imperfect hero or heroine who finds love
    5.  The humor/excellent writing to be found
    6.  The way I lose myself in one and forget all about the dust rhinos under the bed waiting for me.

  8. Blair says:

    1. L-U-V luv.
    2. The inevitable squabbles between the H/H, because you know they don’t hate each other and They Are In Love
    3. The covers. Oh, the covers.
    4. While we’re speaking of it: man titty.
    5. The “holy shit, where did the last five hours go?!” feeling
    6. The people of the romance world. You guys make it all even better.

  9. Diana says:

    I could always use wood, you never know when you’ll need to start a party in the car out in the woods! 

    Six things I love about reading romance novels:
    1) the vocabulary termonology you learn (tumescence, bosom)
    2) the education it provides (do not have sex w/strangers off the street more than once in a lifetime)
    3) the lol entertainment ( her throbbing canal throbbed)
    4) a strong female influences
    5) the range of ethnic backgrounds that promote cultural understanding (sheikhs are people too!)
    6) the really good sexual positions that you will try out on your boyfriend who will ask you for the name of the man who taught them to you and become jealous when you’re too embarassed to tell him the truth and you have a big fight which ends with more really good sexual positions

  10. bassettx2 says:

    1. There are no restrictions as to what controversial topics can be included-disabilities,same sex.
    2. The Heroine – She’s everything we want to be or admire in others.
    3. I love the adventures,the struggles that tug on your heart – The will they won’t they? and how in **** is the author going to get them through all this?
    4. I like to experience the initial rush, the feeling of falling in love over and over.
    5. The hero-because I can fall a little bit in love with him every time I open the book.
    6, And Finally – I just like the sizzling sex as long as it ends in love and frankly,romance just gets me stoked.

  11. Betsy says:

    Six things I love about romance:
    1. dreamy fictional crushes
    2. ridiculous covers
    3. sex, obviously
    4. adventure, suspense, paranormal, or what-genre-have-you wrapped in a HEA blanket
    5. that HEA blanket comfort factor
    6. The feeling I still get, as if I’m reading something naughty with a flashlight past bedtime.

    oh, BONUS: my spam word is, I KID YOU NOT, gives69.  Hell.  Yes.

  12. Emma says:

    1.)  Always having an HEA to look forward to (priceless when I am having a horrible day).
    2.)  Laughing a really awful plot twists (in old skool romance)
    3.)  Being unable to put down a book because the author has made characters so real that I’m almost worried that something might ruin the HEA if I don’t finish the book quickly.
    4.)  Correcting someone about a historical fact and when they say “Where did you learn that?” I know it was from a historical romance novel I read.
    5.)  The fact that, in romancelandia the Strong, Handsome, Intelligent man is attracted (instantly) to the smart heroine.
    6.)  Connecting with other SmartBitches on this website

    Happy anniversary and thanks for the wonderfully entertaining website!

  13. Laura says:

    *tapping chin thoughtfully* Six reasons…

    Hmmm….

    1. Smokin hot men that do not exist in reality *smiles and fans myself*
    2. Women who get to throw themselves at previously mentioned men and use all the pithy dialogue I want to use in RL!
    3. Realizing how many of my girlfriends read the same books I do!
    4. Meeting NEW girlfriends in reading groups!
    5. HEA
    6. My husband’s appreciation of my trashy books!

  14. Nadia says:

    1.  Happy endings
    2.  Snappy dialog
    3.  Vicarious travel and careers
    4.  Sexy time
    5.  Break from the drudge of the everyday
    6.  There’s always a book that will fit my mood:  angsty, funny, dark, fluffy, whatever.

  15. Ashley C says:

    Happy 6th Anniversary!! These are awesome and hilarious prizes by the way… XD

    6 Reasons Why I Love Romance Novels
    1. There’s always a happily ever after
    2. Many of the writers write good solid stories. Romance novels get flack for not being literature but, that’s wrong! Romance novels can be literature depending on the story and the writer.
    3. You can emotionally involved in the story line.  When the books ends and you’re crying the happy tears, you know that it was a wonderful and satisfying read.
    4. There’s a genre of romance novel out there for everyone!
    5. Great steamy sex scenes! *fans myself*
    6. Websites like Smart Bitches that gives the fans a place to have intelligent conversation about the Romance Book Community.

  16. Aimee says:

    Wow, Congrats!  I can’t believe I’ve been reading this blog for almost 6 years, yowza..

    Alright, the things I love about romance novels:
    1. How they take a “predictable” story concept and turn it into an awesome adventure, perspective on characters, or just a great romp down written cliché lane.
    2. The metaphors.  OH THE METAPHORS.
    3. Interesting historical (or faux historical) stories.
    4. The settings, the silly side characters, and THE CLOTHES.
    5. Covers covers covers covers covers!!!!!!!!!
    6. And the sex.  I certainly couldn’t leave out the sexytimes, no matter how over-described, over-orgasmic, unrealistic, borderline-illegal, or just kind of impossible… Girlpr0n is where it’s at.

  17. Kate says:

    1. I love being taken away to another time.
    2. Clever dialogue and characters you fall in love with (or love to hate).
    3. Luscious description of fashion from different eras.
    4. I love looking at the differences in manners and conversational styles from different eras.
    5. Travelling without leaving the house!
    6. Good stories with satisfying endings.

  18. Sarah & Candy, you’ve provided a unique, refreshing perspective to the romance community. Thanks for blogging and keep going beyond heaving bosoms!

    What do I like?
    1.The heaving bosoms
    2.The throbbing manhoods
    3.The inevitable, inexorable breaking of all society’s rules
    4.The Dark Moments
    5.The Happy Endings
    6.The secret and not-so-secret babies

  19. Raine says:

    Happy Anniversary!!! First I would just like to say thank you. I only found this site in the last year or so ago when someone gave me the book (which I still pull out for giggles and one day I will do the cover scavernger hunt). This site is one of my four sites I check everyday and you give me so much pleasure!
    6 things I love about romance:
    1) I like to read about lives that are more screwed up than mine (it makes me feel better)
    2) occasionally they have random bits of factual knowledge that make people say “where in the world did you learn that?” “why, in one of my trashy romance books!”
    3) I can make my husband blush by saying “honey did you know you could do this with fruit?” -actually I don’t think it is a very good idea to mix sugar in your body fluids down there
    4) well written romance can make you feel every emotion in the time it takes you to read one book cover to cover
    5) in your mind you can travel to different places with the characters with out leaving your bedroom/tub/couch (great for homebodies like me)
    6) I like to share good books with friends and bond over our romance book habits

  20. Katrina says:

    Happy birthday! I could totally use a new iron. My old one keeps staining the quilts I make.

    1. I’ve met more romance heroines with interesting jobs than I have in real life.

    2. I’ve made people at dinner parties snort wine out of their noses by telling them about “Did you enjoy your sexual awakening, lizard?”

    3. Romance is cheaper than going to a film and lasts longer.

    4. My husband won’t fit in the bathtub with me, but a romance novel will.

    5. My day job doesn’t guarantee happy endings.

    6. Reading romance led me to write romance, which has been the most creative, enjoyable thing I’ve ever done.

  21. Tina says:

    1) it doesn’t have to be literary (got a degree in that) which means 2) it’s a great escape and 3) it’s just fun to read. But not to forget that 4) it always has hot guys in 5) romantic situations and 6) a happy ending.

  22. Missy Ann says:

    rofl How f’in random – then I saw Hello Kitty. WANT.

    1. Unlike vibrators it’s not illegal to sell romance novels in Alabama. (don’t worry if the winner is from AL you can still ship it to them)

    2. You can steal a line of dialogue to use on your husband and be extra happy when it turns him on as much as it did the Hero.

    3. Girl power. (writing, publishing, reading)

    4. Better than Calgon for taking me away.

    5. I know more about historical lingerie than the average bear.

    6. Love conquers all.

  23. Iron, wood, and candy? I can think of a LOT of ways to use those words together. Nice.

    Congratulations on six years of bitchery!

    (Don’t enter me in the drawing—the last thing I need is more candy.)

  24. Milena says:

    Happy anniversary, and thank you for creating and maintaining this wonderful place!

    1) fun. Not necessarily escapism, not necessarily HEA, but pure FUN.
    2) Heroines. Not just there-as-the-hero’s-romantic-interest, or babes in chainmail, or whatever, but actual, thinking, acting heroines.
    3) Relationships. They may be good or bad, but they’re always there.
    4) Community. I grew up in another fandom, so to speak, but it’s always nice to have a community, and romance offers a great choice of communities, too.
    5) Sex. Female-centered, too. All right, so this may not be deep, but it’s a legitimate reason.
    6) Covers. They make for great conversation starters, really.

  25. susan says:

    HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! What would we ever do without you?
    1. HEA
    2. Alpha males
    3. Beta males
    4. smart women
    5. other places
    6. other times

  26. kristal says:

    off the top of my head…………

    1. escape from the chaotic real world of family and job
    2. getting to have conversations with friends about yummy heros and smart or annoying heroines
    3. getting to visit different locations and time periods
    4. all specimens of alpha males
    5. HEA’s
    6. SEX.

  27. PG says:

    Six things I love about reading romance novels:
    (1) Central female characters.
    (2) Mostly (but not only) female authors writing for mostly (but not only) women.
    (3) Plots about the biggest question once you’ve got basic needs covered: what makes a relationship work?
    (4) Endorsement of the idea that sex should be enjoyable for women, too.
    (5) Endorsement of the idea that if the sex wasn’t enjoyable for all parties, it wasn’t good sex.
    (6) A taste of mine that surprises snooty people who assume highly-educated professionals wouldn’t love *that* genre. See also country music.

  28. Elie says:

    1. The SEXy male characters
    2. The SEXual tension created between characters
    3. The SEXtillion different ways Romance authors use to make me laugh and cry.
    4. The exciting place Romance authors take us like SusSEX.
    5. The great adventures and SEXcapades.
    6. umm, did I mention the SEX?

    Happy Anniversary Smart Bitches!!

  29. Smash Attack says:

    CONGRATS on your success!!!

  30. Six things? Here goes!

    1. The exhilaration of experiencing (if only in my head) exotic places, people, and situations.
    2. The guaranteed HEA
    3. The warm and fuzzies that happen when a good resolution to a satisfying read is found.
    4. Discovering new authors within the genre that make me strive to improve my own craft.
    5. The intense love affair that is both hot and cold and everything in between.
    6. And lastly, because romance is what I cut my teeth on when I was a young girl and there’s something indescribable about the pleasure gained from losing yourself in a good romance. Romantic tension written well makes for sublime reading pleasure!

  31. Virg says:

    Wow, a Hello Kitty vibrator! I thought it was a pen! >:)

    First of all, HAPPY 6TH ANNIVERSARY bitches!

    I love, love, love
    1) the giddy/sappy feeling you get when you’re reading a fab scene,
    2) the covers! the covers! who could resist those man-titties?,
    3) the reviews of books i’ve read and should’ve read,
    4) how it occupies my time and attention so I won’t have to waste any of it by listening to inane chatter of people who think they know better,
    5) feeling superior and thinking “you don’t know what you’re missing out on” when people mock me for what I read,
    6) how romance pushed me in the right direction and led to me meeting Beautiful, Intelligents Talented, Cool, Honey[s] -> I think that one’s a song?

    Cheers to more Bitching Years to come!

  32. Michelle RB says:

    Who can’t use a bag of wood? Or a vibrator 😉

    I read romances for…
    —To escape the exciting world of work and laundry
    —I can either visit the highlands, have my coming out, or whatever else I am in the mood for.
    —The fuzzy feeling at the end with the I love you’s
    —I particularly enjoy series so you can catch snippets of past character lives in future novels.
    —Always has a HEA
    —Just a fun way to spend an afternoon-ESCAPE!! lol

  33. Christina says:

    Happy anniversary!

    1. Knowing SOMEONE’s going to fall deliciously in love
    2. The often-hilarious misunderstandings that keep the leads apart
    3. Palate cleansers for real life
    4. can affirm that, yes, Virginia, good things DO happen to good people
    5. SEXY TIME
    6. good female characters in sci-fi/fantasy

  34. Limecello says:

    Happy Sixth Anniversary, Smart Bitches! Well done Candy and Sarah!

    As for six things I love about romance… 1. the happy ending, 2. the intense focus on relationships, 3. perfect heroes, 4. smart, competent heroines, 5. a wide variety of sub-genres, 6. an overall great community of readers and writers

    Heh – and fitting. My reasons were easy to come up with, and my “code word” was easy39

  35. Marissa says:

    Reading good romance novels provides: 1) escapism
    2) connection with different points of view and 3) places around the world. Can’t forget to mention the 4) HAWT stuff, which can be so awesome. I also like 5) the brooding hero, and 6) the happily ever after.
    Thanks for 6 great years, SB!

  36. 1.  Escapism.
    2.  Travel.
    3.  Learn something new.
    4.  Fun to meet authors at booksignings.
    5.  Empowering.
    6.  HEA

  37. Beth G. says:

    Too fun! Love a good romance novel because:
    1.) I can escape to another time
    2.) I can “live” in another place
    3.) I love love.
    4.) Always a cool hero
    5.) Usually a stong smart woman
    6.) The thrill of the hot stuff! 🙂

  38. LaurieF says:

    1. HEA’s
    2. Talking about the books.
    3. Sharing the books with friends
    4. Living a fantasy for a little while.
    5. Smart, capable female characters.
    6. Male characters I’d like to tear from the pages and make
      them my own. 🙂
    Happy Anniversary Smart Bitches!

  39. Katherine says:

    Happy 6th Anniversary!!
    You’ve found the best prizes to celebrate! (Btw – my 9th anniversary is next week. Is there any way you could help me find a present for my hubs?)

    In no particular order, the 6 things I love about reading romance:
    1. The happy sigh from reading the perfect HEA
    2. Constantly finding new authors, genres and sub-genres. There is always something new to expand my horizons.
    3. Getting new ideas. Especially from erotic romance. ‘Nuff said.
    4. Talking about romance w fellow lovers of the genre (pun intended).
    5. My romance habit accelerated my conversion to ebooks. Now I can read even more, everywhere. And better yet, no one has to know what I am reading.
    6. Romance novels let me escape from the stresses of life. I am transported to another world. Bliss.

  40. Primavera says:

    hi bitches! 🙂 not in any particular order heres my list of six:
    1. escape from reality & leaves me with the feeling of believing that it could or want it to be real
    2. how the man handles the woman or woman handles the man
    3. the vividness of the romance scenes
    4.  photos on the covers you either like it or you don’t & it helps me determine if its a good read
    5. time period & location of novels are always far away, non-existent or other
    6. the best entertainment cost the least

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