Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

Thanking the January Advertisers

Many thanks and high fives to the January advertisers. These are the lovely folks whose support helps underwrite the mayhem and insanity here, and without them there wouldn't be as much Bitchery to go around.

Thanks for advertising with us, and thank you to everyone who has clicked on an ad and learned more about a book being advertised here. You're helping support advertisers who want to reach romance readers directly, and that's excellent. They, and I, thank you big heaping amounts. You rule.

So, What Are you Reading This Weekend?

Time again for me to be nosy and ask, what are you reading this weekend?

I have a list of things to try out, as I just read Truths and Roses in a marathon sprint. I also have a nonfiction book about storytelling arts that I want to read. 

While I was loving At Home in parts, I had to stop reading it for awhile, because the discussion was often so bleak. Here are all these amazing people who invented amazing things that we now take for granted and who have been entirely forgotten by history! Oy. So that'll sit for awhile until I feel like picking it up again. 

What about you? What are you reading this weekend? I hope it's awesome, whatever it is! 

Oh! And is anyone going to see One for the Money this weekend? I don't think it looks "babysitter worthy," but I'm curious!

Feel Like Party Planning?

I received the following very sweet inquiry this week, and thought maybe you'd have some good ideas to help Val out. Val wants to throw a surprise party for her mother in law, and center the party on a romance-novel theme. Here's her message: 

I have no idea how to give my Mother-in-law a surprise 80th birthday party
in April with a romance novel theme.

This has been her quiet hobby for at least the last 4 decades that I have
known her.

She's a widow with eight grown (obviously) children, as well as
grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and almost all of us have given her
romance novels for all occasions, or when she's not feeling well.

I realize this isn't your usual, but would appreciate any input you
have.

I think that is such a nice idea, and so generous! Off the top of my head, if Val could find out what her favorite romances are, each table or different parts of the room could be dedicated to those books, or the settings of those books, especially if they have a setting or theme in… read more »

Friday Videos Wish You Wonderful Music

I found this on Tumblr, and it's an advertisement for the Zurich Chamber Orchestra. Let's all go to Zurich!

 If you can watch it in fullscreen mode, definitely do it. It'll blow your eyeballs and eardrums in a happy way. 

Link! 

There is also a making-of video which is SO COOL.

I hope your weekend is full of creativity that makes you feel like you're flying. 

ZKO Rollercoaster // GREAT EMOTIONS from virtual republic on Vimeo.

Truths and Roses by Inglath Cooper

I found this book because of a Facebook ad. If you follow me on Twitter or are subscribed to the SBTB Facebook page, you saw me talking about it yesterday. Here's the ad:

This ad worked for me so well I was astonished. Hero description, heroine description, briefest plot summary with hints at the tropes to be used.

I WAS SO THERE.

Then I got a look at the cover. Beautiful! Looks…professional!

Add to that the .99c price, and it was not difficult to click the ad, look at the book description, and click to buy. And judging from the link traffic stats, many of you did, too. I hope you enjoyed the book as much as I did.

Classic Romance - Which One First? Judith McNaught Reading List

Judith McNaught is one of the romance authors whose books have been read by so many, for so many years, she's a mainstay in terms of reader best-of lists. Some readers couldn't say enough amazing things about McNaught's novels, while others struggle with the old-skool heroes, particularly those who rely on the "all women are evil" trope to justify some really shitful behavior.

So compiling a list of reader favorites and recommendations for someone who hasn't tried McNaught proved a bit tricky. Based on reader comments, there are some that are loved without reservation - while those same titles are equally hated by other readers. Here's the list of recommended books, and one caution.

Almost Heaven Goodreads | Amazon | BN

Recommended by Daisy, Lauren Willig, and many others. Noelle says, "I cannot live without Almost Heaven, A Kingdom of Dreams and Remember When. I adore most of her historicals and many of her contemporaries, but these three are tops… read more »

Lisa Kleypas Rainshadow Road Winners!

Did you read the thread of t-shirt slogans? Y'all have hilarious apparel. That was totally fun to read.

And now: winners! The following folks have won a copy of Lisa Kleypas' Rainshadow Road. Please email me at sarahATsmartbitchestrashybooksDOTcom with your mailing addresses.

As deteremined by Random.org, here are the winners: 

#289 Laurie F

#102 Nnekacharles718

#17 Holly

#156 Patricia M.

#430 michelle

#253 gob

#134 Barbara Studer

#96 Renee

#114 Awgee

#338 Turtle

Thank you to everyone who entered, as you all have excellent taste in shirts! 

Links and News

Via Publisher's Lunch (Free reg. req.): recipe site AllRecipes was purchased by Meredith Corp for $175 million dollars. Among the final four bidders: Random House and Amazon.com.

AllRecipes is a site I use frequently, and the strength of the community there is based on reviews and commentary on the recipes. I rarely use a recipe that doesn't have reviews and comments, especially from folks who have modified it to suit their tastes.

The strength of AllRecipes is in the community of reviewers and their commitment to critique and improvement more than just the database of recipes, and with the number of times I refer to that site in a week, I'm not surprised it went for $175mm.

Reviews, y'all. They're valuable! Who'd have thought?

What recipe sites do you use? Do you use AllRecipes?

Upcoming Events and Booksignings

It's a New Year, and I've updated the calendar with events in North Carolina, Maryland, and New York City in February. If you're nearby, I'd love to meet you at one of these events, especially if you have books to recommend!

The calendar is online as well, but here's a list of upcoming events, too.

February 1, 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
New York Public Library, Jefferson Market Branch

An evening discussing romance novels, all the things you can learn about relationships from reading romance - and book recommendations, of course! I love hearing what people are reading.

Links, Fun & Games

To follow the proceedings of Digital Book World 2012, the hashtag #dbw12 is a mix of reaction and reporting. Alas, my reporting ended after lunch, as I had to take a break from the conference and go home. I am not sure if I'll be back tomorrow, but the hashtag is full of folks reporting from the different panels.

One highlight today; a full hour in the morning of the opening day devoted to lessons learned from romance ebook publishing, featuring Julie Cummings from AllRomance, Raelene Gorlinsky from Ellora's Cave, Liate Stehlik and Angela James from Carina Press.

The panelists discussed DRM, pricing, and the ways in which digital publishing has created a more adept and flexible publishing model that's better positioned to treat readers as customers and to take charge of their own customer service relationships. Two years ago, romance was part of an afternoon session - this year it was among the first sessions on the main stage. Most excellent.

Player’s Ultimatum by Koko Brown

I received a pitch for this book from the author, and was intrigued by the mix of elements she highlighted in her email: the multi-cultural characters, the use of European soccer clubs as a setting, and the interesting conflict with the heroine posing as the fiancée of her gay best friend while being attracted to his nemesis. I not only bought it but sent a message to Jane at DearAuthor, since she and I both enjoy sports-focused romances.

Alas, this book is poorly edited, suffers from an outright fear of commas, is confused as to how the characters names are spelled, and is published with a lack of formatting that neglected to mark changes in scene or point of view, which made reading downright confusing.

Most bothersome to me, the plot relies on stereotypes to a degree I found offensive. The portrayal of the gay characters turned me off entirely.

Carly Phillips, Reddit, and The Sheltering Suburban Mom Meme

A reader sent me a link to a Reddit thread which reveals that the image used in a popular meme online, Sheltering Suburban Mom, is the author photo of Carly Phillips, bestselling romance author.

Cue long discussion of how romance is porn.

This is a whole new kettle of WTF for an individual like Ms. Phillips, who probably never suspected that her image was being used to portray a meme character. Her identity has been listed at Know Your Meme for awhile, and their article traces the first known usage of Philips' author photo as 5 May 2011.

I don't know if I can successfully explain a meme, but usually it's an image representing a character with various captions attached. For example: judgmental bookseller ostrich, who is that horrible bookseller we've often met who judges our reading choices.

The problem for Phillips: some of the captions are funny, some are sort of meh, and some are painfully racist and homophobic, not to mention the overarching problem of having one's image used as a symbol for hypocritical self-importance.

Not the author brand anyone is looking for.

The Reddit folks… read more »

Lisa Kleypas’ Rainshadow Road: An Interview and a Giveaway!

Lisa Kleypas' Rainshadow Road comes out in February, and her publisher has offered 10 finished copies to give away. Whoo! And not only do we have books to give away, but Lisa Kleypas was kind enough to answer several inane questions from me via email. Hooray - bonus interview!

Rainshadow Road has magical realism while Friday Harbor did not. Why add it to this novel? Did you plan to go this way all along with the series? 

Well,  when I first visited Friday Harbor with Greg and the kids a couple of years ago,  I really felt a sense of "otherness" or magic in the air. It's a misty Brigadoon-type place--but you're probably too young for that reference,  unless you're a show tune queen like me. San Juan Island is unique place--a mixture of steep hills and bluffs, forests, rolling farmland, sandy beaches,  and all of it is protected by the Olympic mountain rainshadow. And I'd read and loved so much magic realism in the past,  including "Like Water For Chocolate" by Laura Esquivel,  and "Garden Spells" by Sarah Addison Allen,  that I really saw… read more »

19. Buying, Reading and Reviewing

This was recorded when I was coming down with the flu and pneumonia, and I'm slightly out of breath - and coughing. I edited out most of the coughing but if I missed one, I apologize.

This episode includes Sarah's nefarious plans for Romantic Times in 2012 in Chicago, reader mail from Sarah's inbox about buying books, picking self published books for review and how we do it, pitching books for review and how not to do it, and reacting and responding to reviews.

Jane also tries to recommend books to Sarah.

Here are the books we discuss in this episode:

And yes - more Peatbog!

The music this week was provided by Sassy Outwater, and the track is called "Nyup" and it's by the Peatbog Faeries from their 2007 album What Men Deserve to Lose. You can find them at their website, or at iTunes.

… read more »

SBTB/DA Bestsellers: 10-18 January 2012

Time for this week's top ten bestsellers from DA and SBTB. 

1. Devil's Bride by Stephanie Laurens | Amazon | BN | Sony | Kobo  
2. Angelfall by Susan Ee | Amazon | BN | Sony | Kobo
3. Sprig Muslin by Georgette Heyer | Amazon | BN | Sony | Kobo | ARE
4. Chain Reaction by Zoe Archer | Amazon | BN | Sony | Kobo | HQN | ARE
5. To Love a Thief by Julie Anne Long | Amazon | BN | Sony | Kobo
6. And Then He Kissed Her by Laura Lee Guhrke | read more »