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Books as Luxury Items

Books are being recast as luxury items, which I believe reveals a larger cultural anxiety about reading.

Books as Luxury Items

A dark blue leather and canvas edition of Sense and Sensibility by Jane AUsten with a pink and yellow floral illustration on the front, suspended by a brass hook clasp with a Coach tag

I love the podcast Mess World, which is a collaboration between Emily Kirkpatrick, who writes I Heart Mess, a newsletter about the worst of celebrity fashion, and Jessica DeFino, who writes Flesh World, which is about the beauty industry. Both take very close and critical looks at fashion and beauty, two subjects that are typically dismissed as unimportant – similar to romance fiction, so you can see why their work is my jam, my coulis, … Continue reading Books as Luxury Items

Cover Snark: Burger King and Bobbleheads

Unveiled Desires by J. Wine. A man on a motorcycle. He has on sunglasses. His leather jacket is open reveal a bare chest. His head however looks photoshopped on as it sits low on the neck.

Welcome back to Cover Snark! From M: Another cut and paste disaster. This guy’s head is not only too small for the rest of him, but someone removed his neck. And what the heck are those red circles? Leftover Christmas ornaments? Sarah: I need the Harley community to weigh in on giant red jingleballs on your handlebars. Seems…unwise. And I cannot stop laughing at this poor man’s pasted on head. My God the indignity. His … Continue reading Cover Snark: Burger King and Bobbleheads

Get Rec’d with Amanda – Volume 112

Welcome back! Surprisingly, there’s only one non-fiction title in today’s bunch. There’s also some horror, a retelling, and a new release that harkens back to some animated movie nostalgia. Want to share any good recommendations? Let us know in the comments!

Sunday Sale Digest!

Smart Bitches in a blue typewriter font, and After Dark lit up like hot pink neon

This piece of literary mayhem is exclusive to Smart Bitches After Dark, but fret not. If you’d like to join, we’d love to have you! Have a look at our membership options, and come join the fun! If you want to have a little extra fun, be a little more yourself, and be part of keeping the site open for everyone in the future, we can’t wait to see you in our new subscription-based section … Continue reading Sunday Sale Digest!

Whatcha Reading? April 2026, Part One

Cozy seat in beautiful backyard flower garden

Hey there! It’s April! Here’s what we’re reading right now: Carrie: I’m reading Call Me Traitor by Everina Maxwell – it is SO GOOD. Lara: I’m reading Thistlemarsh by Moorea Corrigan. There is a teeny tiny niche of ‘Fae’ books that I enjoy and I think this book might fall into that niche! So far the writing is just excellent. There’ll be a full review around publication date. Elyse: I’m reading Thistlemarch too! Amanda: I’m … Continue reading Whatcha Reading? April 2026, Part One

Podcast

713. Enemies to Lovers with Alisha Rai

My guest this week is podcast community favorite Alisha Rai! We start off catching up on our history of podcasting together, our life changes, and the challenges of making children wear coats. Then it’s enemies to lovers time! Her new book, Enemies to Lovers is out now, and we both brought the good trowels. We dig into the trope to examine how it works, what the essential elements are, and what can easily go wrong. … Continue reading 713. Enemies to Lovers with Alisha Rai

Lightning Review

The Midnight Show by Lee Kelly and Jennifer Thorne

The Midnight Show

The Midnight Show is a ridiculously immersive and compelling celebrity mystery told through interview transcripts, email messages, texts, and articles as a Rolling Stone journalist and sketch comedy fan researches and compiles a history of a late-night program clearly based on SNL. The journalist, Madeline, interviews all the original surviving cast members, and is attempting to both investigate the history of the first seasons and establish a timeline for the central mystery: what happened to … Continue reading The Midnight Show by Lee Kelly and Jennifer Thorne

Books On Sale

Horror, a KDD, & More

Books on Sale: Deal with the Devil by Kit Rocha & More

Deal with the Devil by Kit Rocha is $2.99! Sneezy reviewed this one and gave it a B:

Despite my confusion regarding some of the worldbuilding, the characters and their relationships are developed beautifully, and the entire story thrummed with the sort of vitality that you can only get from a post-apocalyptic road trip with suped-up BAMFs. I can’t rave enough about the emotional literacy this book is built on, which I find incredibly catnippy.

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