Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

Her Lucky Catch by Amie Denman

This book was silly, light and very goofy, and I didn't believe any of it was remotely plausible. I didn't connect with the heroine because I didn't believe she was real. I didn't care much about the hero because I didn't think he was plausible either. Ultimately I read to the end to find out how the crazy plot was going to end, and even that was a bit of a letdown. I've been DNFing ("Did Not Finish") a lot of books in the past few weeks, and I'm surprised I made it through this one. The compulsion to find out how the plot mayhem was going to wind up was stronger than my confused disinterest in any of the characters.

Jasmine ("Jazz") Shepherd moved back to (wait for it) the tiny town of Bluegill after finding her husband (now ex-husband) cheating on her. She's a kindergarten teacher in the local Catholic school alongside a passel of nuns who are at times plot points and at other times freaking… read more »

Save the Contemporary: Winner!

You tweeted, you emailed, you tweeted some more, and some of you won copies of the book - and you helped us spread the word.

Really, that’s what this campaign is about: helping us promote a contemporary romance we thought was truly, truly awesome. Thank you for helping us out with that goal.

And now, we have a winner! One person who tweeted, emailed, or helped us promote the Save the Contemporary webpage will win her choice of a nook Touch, a Kobo Touch, or a Kindle with Special Offers (I call it the “Friends with benefits Kindle”) - and that winner is: Brenda Leon!!

Congratulations, Brenda, and thank you for helping us spread the word about excellent contemporary romance!

Romance Bookstores on the Map

This is a project that’s been in the works for awhile, but it remains useful: the collaborative map of romance-friendly bookstores. With the closing of so many Borders outposts, many people are turning to other bookstores, but the problem with many Indie bookstores is that, to be frank, the people inside them can be snobbish asscheesy hosebeasts when it comes to romance. It’s sad, but true. So where do we shop for romance? Have a look:

View Smart Bitches Buy Romance in a larger map

Want to add your favorite romance-friendly bookstore to the map? We welcome used and new bookstores, as long as they have a good selection of romance and welcome romance readers. Here’s how to add your favorite:

Save the Contemporary: Hot Finish by Erin McCarthy

When I read this book, I was so bummed at the time that I couldn’t tell everyone around me about it, because it wasn’t out yet. Now it’s out! And I can tell you! GO READ THIS BOOK!

There, how’s that?

Ok, fine, here’s some more.

Hot Finish is book three in the Fast Track series by Erin McCarthy about stock car racers. If you have preconceptions about car racing books, put them aside and try this series, especially this book. I suspect people will not want to jump into book three because it’s the third of the series, and you don’t have to. McCarthy has done a wonderful job of building the story of Ryder and Suzanne in books one and two, but you don’t have to read them to appreciate their relationship. You get a fuller picture, sure, but the portrait in this one novel is plenty as well.

Ryder and Suzanne are divorced (so she thinks, anyway). They had a passionate whirlwind of a courtship and marriage, and then things fell apart. They… read more »

Borders Knows These Things

You know where you need to go to learn about the facts of life? To Borders.

No, really. Borders. Witness this photograph by Elizabeth of It’s a Wonderful Book:

See? As Elizabeth put it, “Looks like they’re trying to tell our heroines something…” Yes. Beware the salt!

Save the Contemporary Winners!

Hot diggity - the winners for the Save the Contemporary contest celebrating Julie James’ Something About You are up on the Save the Contemporary site.

I loved how many people tried the book based on our recommendation and loved it - that makes me so happy. If you have recommendations for a StC candidate book - and we prefer to highlight brand spanky new books so we’re looking for books that are coming soon - visit our Make a Recommendation page.

Save the Contemporary!

It’s time once again to highlight contemporary romance, which I love, and promote a book I really enjoyed - as did Jayne at Dear Author, and Rowena at Book Binge, Sabrina at Fresh Fiction, Stacy at Stacy’s Place, and Lea at ClosetWriter.

Head on over to Save The Contemporary.com to get the details - books, an iPod Touch, and a fine bottle of red wine are up for grabs if you help us spread the word about Julie James’ Something About You and contemporary romance.

Good luck!

Extra 14% off at eHarlequin

If it’s cold and snowy where you are, and you want books now now now, eHarlequin is having an additional-14%-off sale this weekend only for Valentine’s Day:

Save an additional 14% off and get a free featured book at eHarlequin this weekend! Print and eBook. Much of the time the specials are print-only but I love when they offer both.

The featured book is Sheikh Boss, Hot Desert Nights by Susan Stephens - there’s nothing better than someone’s sensual awakening, right? Question: is there Ambien for someone’s sensual awakening? What happens if there’s an anti-sheikh contingent determined to stop the sheikh-led sensual awakenings all over the desert, spiking all the water sources with sensual sleepening? Awakening the Sheikh’s Soporific Virgin? I smell blockbuster, y’all. Someone get Nonny on that, stat.

And would that be a Presents or an Intrique? Or a Presique?

Ok, clearly I goofed here or got mixed up - I’m sorry! Have some other links:

Too Good to be True by Kristan Higgins is free - thanks to brooksse for the heads up on that.

All the Pretty Girls by J.T. Ellison is free - and thanks to Becky… read more »

The Smart Bitches Test Drive with Sony Readers and Harlequin

Thanks to the fine people at Sony and the very savvy folks at Harlequin, I’m announcing a very cool and unique opportunity. For those of you who have expressed an interest in the Sony Reader 505 and the Sony Reader 700, but were wary of the pricetag, it’s Test Drive Time.

Sony has given me 30 refurbished models - twenty 505’s and ten 700’s - for the Smart Bitches Sony Reader Test Drive. I’ll select 30 Test Drivers, and those folks will have 60 days to use and experiment with their Sony Reader.

But wait, there’s more! We interrupt the awesomeness for a special message from Harlequin: Harlequin invites you to try out our eBooks along with the Sony Reader. To get you started, we’re giving a you an exclusive gift of $25 off Harlequin titles. We’d love for you to enjoy some of the series and authors that you already read and perhaps try out some new series or authors – on us. We’d love to hear your feedback on some of the eBooks… read more »

Rereading an Ebook

I’ve never re-read an ebook before, but holy smoke, I’ve started rereading Instant Attraction and SLURP - I’m sucked right back in.

Which is fine because we had three inches of snow yesterday and the book still makes me want to Google skiing lessons like the dork I am.

[Note: if you won a copy in our contest, those books are on their way to all of you. My friendly neighborhood postage dude, a surly guy who isn’t really friendly now that I think about it, told me that given the storm from yesterday there may be a bit of a delay delivery-wise. Please stand by. Your book arrives soon!]

I know Jane has mentioned to me that she rereads ebooks all the time, while I, with my spatial and crapful memory, will recall where parts of a book’s story are based on where on the page they appeared and whether it was a left or right hand page - impossible to do in an ebook, and hence I didn’t think I’d ever reread one. Oh, boy, was I wrong. Do you reread ebooks? Or do you reach repeatedly for… read more »

Winner: Save the Contemporary Viraly Goodness Contest

Congratulations to Natasha from Natasha News! You spread the good word about Jill Shalvis’ awesome release, Instant Attraction, that will be in stores soon (if it isn’t already) and you won a Flip Video Ultra Series Camcorder and a copy of Shalvis’ fabulous book about the Katie who is learning to live balls out and Cam who is ready to love the same way.

Stay tuned to a new promotion in March for Lisa Kleypas’ Smooth Talking Stranger. If you like Kleypas, this one will go on your keeper shelf.

10 Winners of the Instant Attraction by Jill Shalvis Giveaway

Countess Inurasse here happy to announce the following winning commenters to the Save the Contemporary Campaign featuring the late January release of Instant Attraction by Jill Shalvis. Because I have no idea how to use the software running SB site, you’ll have to live without the category and tags which means you should browse around, kick off your shoes, enjoy yourself.  Who knows what havoc Countess Inurasse could wreak while the cat is gone?

The winners are:

Melissandre ms bookjunkie Kismet rigmarole Delia MerryMey Joan Osborne LJ Courtney M Jen C

I’ve sent an email to the winners requesting a snail mail address so we can ship the books out right away.  For those who did not win, but want to help spread the word and be entered to win the Flip Video Ultra Series Camcorder, don’t forget about our “Save the Contemporary” Campaign widget and gif.

The Spread the Word winner will be announced in 1 week, so tune in on Monday 26 January to see… read more »

Save the Contemporary, Save the World: The Winner!

Our graphic and Sprout widget were spread far and wide, and Jane and I have picked a winner by random drawing.

Congratulations to Carin from heabookclub.blogspot.com! You spread the good word about Victoria Dahl’s awesome release that will be in stores soon (if it isn’t already) and you won an iPod Shuffle, a $75 Gift Certificate to the iTunes store, a copy of Dahl’s super fabulous book about the dirty girl and the police chief she takes home to her lair.

Email Sarah, please, so we can arrange for you to receive your prize winnings!

If you didn’t win, you can buy the book at Borders.com and get $1.00 by entering (HAR1222D at checkout.

Don’t Forget: Save the Contemporary, Save the World

Don’t forget - the deadline for spreading the word for Save the Contemporary, Save the World is Midnight EST 21 December 2008!

Need details? Read on: below is a Sprout widget about our campaign, and a simpler animated graphic. Right-click-and-save the graphic, or grab the Sprout for yourself, and put it on your site. Let us know that you’ve done so .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)—please make sure to use this email address!—and you’ll be entered to win a copy of the book, plus a 1GB iPod shuffle, and a $75 gift certificate to iTunes.

Spread the word, let us know, and you’re entered to win. That’s it.

The Spread the Word winner will be announced on Monday 22 December, so tune in to see who wins a book, an iPod, and some righteous tunage in our quest to Save the Contemporary.

Why? Because if there’s one thing that makes us sad,… read more »

Winners! We have winners!

The book/ebook winners of our Save the Contemporary, Save the World contest are:

Ebooks Jennie M. Tilli

Paper Books PattiR Beadgirl Carol Alicia EchoBeach

Folks, email me with your address so we can get you your books asap.

There’s more to come!

Stay tuned for the big prize announcement next week, wherein someone who has spread the world will win an iPod shuffle, a $75 gift certificate to iTunes, and a copy of the book. If you post the Sproud widget or the graphic on your site, be sure to let us know that you’ve done so .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

You can also still preorder your copy at Borders.com and get $1 off your purchase with coupon code HAR1222D.