“I love the Smart Bitches. They look at romance with clear but loving eyes, they point out all that’s ridiculous and annoying while showcasing all that’s good and valuable, and they do it with wit, style, intelligence, and snark.”
— New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Crusie
Bitchin' Books
Everything I Know About Love, I Learned from Romance Novels
- by Sarah Wendell
- October 2011 - Sourcebooks
Take a dashing hero with a heart of gold and a mullet of awesome. Add a heroine with a bustle and the will to kick major butt. Then include enough contrivances to keep them fighting while getting them alone and possibly without key pieces of clothing, and what do you have? A romance novel. What else? Enough lessons about life, love, and everything in between to help you with your own happily-ever-after. Lessons like...
♥ Romance means believing you are worthy of a happy ending
♥ Learning to tell the prince from the frog
♥ Real-life romance is still alive and kicking
♥ No matter how bad it is, at least you haven't been kidnapped by a Scottish duke (probably)
A Note from Sarah:
I am so proud of this book. I know every author is proud of her books (at least, I hope so) but I am so very, very proud of this one, and I will tell you why. This book is much more than me talking about romance novels. Romance readers and authors shared stories and lessons and reasons why romance is important to them, and each one is amazing. Romances can be a road map of what-to-do and what-not-to-do in real life relationships, and no one knows that better than the readers and writers of the romance genre.
Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches’ Guide to Romance Novels
- by Sarah Wendell & Candy Tan
- April 2009, Touchstone/Fireside
A guide to the most popular and maligned fiction genre, this hilariously sarcastic but always affectionate study of romance novels is perfect for hardcore fans and dabblers alike. Smart and irreverent, the women who founded the popular blog “Smart Bitches, Trashy Books” both mock and pay homage to this highly successful genre. Sure, the authors visit the wild love scenes where the hero/heroine Must Have Sex NOW, but they also speak with famous romance authors and explore how the billion-dollar genre has influenced gender and sexual roles in our society. From insider advice on writing romance novels to discovering your inner Viking warrior, Beyond Heaving Bosoms shows that while some romance novels can be silly, maybe even tawdry, they're also intelligent, savvy, feminist, and fabulous — just like the Smart Bitches.
A Note from Sarah and Candy:
We never expected to write a book about the genre, but when we had the opportunity and realized we had so much we wanted to say that didn't fit the website, it turned into an epic fun project for us. We wanted to write a guide to romance novels for anyone who has ever taken any crap for their love of the genre. Much to our surprise and joy, our book has traveled the world and been placed on the syllabus in courses at Yale, Princeton, and DePaul Universities, and has been cited in Master's and PhD level dissertations. We never would have predicted its audience, and we are so gleeful that people have enjoyed it!