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:
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.
I really want that Hello Kitty vibrator. Just trying to imagine the Hub’s face when I whip it out…
1. Good romances are thrilling and make me happy
2. Bad romance novels provide endless hours of amusement
3. Way more realistic and uplifting than “literary” fiction, which is jam packed with cardboard cutout characters and plots where nothing much ever really happens
4. The great sex is fun to read, and so is the bad sex
5. When Diva’s old enough for YA romance we’ll enjoy reading the same books together
6. So many subgenres I never get bored.
Word: again69…Again with the 69? That’s so 1980s…
I really do need an iron. I assume these are things I love in good romance novels?
1) I love the guaranteed happy ending.
2) I love how they aren’t often romantic in the sense of flowers and chocolate, but in emotions.
3) I love watching people grow together as people.
4) I like the wish fulfilment. I don’t need a man who’s perfect, but I do want one who thinks I am. 🙂
5) I love how they’re really not all the stereotypes any more.
6) I love the variety! If I want historical, or fantasy, or erotic, I can get it.
Happy Anniversary! and many more!
1. HEAs
2. Many of them are like fairy tales: once upon a time in Regency England/otherworld London/alternate New York City with vampires, etc…
3. Male eye candy on the covers and stepbacks (Paul Marron, Jed Hill, Nathan Kamp, etc.).
4. Okay, the women are pretty, too.
5. Loves scenes from the man’s point of view because real guys aren’t that talkative or emotionally descriptive about that.
6. Asking my boyfriend about sex scenes: “is this really possible?”
Happy 6th Anniversary!!!
I have way more then 6 reasons to love romance novels, but here are my top 6:
1. Get taken away into another time, another life, another world
2. Reading them helps remind me that passion is so necessary in my life
3. Feel the excitement of the first touch, kiss, sexual encounter all over again with each novel
4. Let’s my imagination spill over into my real romantic life
5. Always a happy ending…who doesn’t like that?
6. The men are usually so incredibly sexy, it’s nice to picture them naked…yes, I said it, naked
Again, congrats on the 6 years. Here’s to another 6!!!
I love:
1. the moment when the hero realizes he loves her
2. the support by and for women that is inherent in the romance writing world
3. the magnificent writing and world building of people like Joanna Bourne, Nalini Singh, Mary Balogh etc. Too many writers to name!
4. the superiority complex I have from being a romance reader – I mean, let’s face it, we’re just better.
5. the slow unfolding of a relationship
6. having promiscuous sex the safe way – through a book! LOL.
1. Sexy men
2. Strong women
3. Escape from the mundane chores of laundry and cooking
4. Love the settings (beach, mts., jungle, small town)
5. Overcoming something
6. Happy Endings!
Congrats on the 6 years – and here’s to at least 60 more!!
1. The alpha menz
2. Stories that suck you in and make your heart ache.
3. You learn new euphemisms for genetalia
4. Laughing out loud over funny scenes and rereading them over and over again and laughing some more.
5. The excited feeling you get when you buy the book you’ve been waiting for on the release date.
6. The HEA. Who doesn’t look forward that?
Happy Anniversary Smart Bitches!
6 reasons to read romance:
Great stories
Hot heroes
Plucky heroines
Great cars/pets/costumes/places to live
The HEA!!!!
Finding SBTB to talk about them
1. Sheer unadulterated escapism.
2. Strong women and attractive loving men.
3. S-E-X *blushes*
4. The chance to see other people find real happiness. This is rare in a world that often revels in the awful.
5. The opportunity to see inside worlds that I will never be a part of.
6. The unintentional hilarity found between the covers of many a romance novel.
1) HEA
2) the men
3) different places/times
4) the funny and/or supportive friend/sister/aunt/grandmother
5) good sex scenes
6) the men (oh, did I already say that?)
What do I love about reading romance?
Good stories, characters I can care about, a happy ending, sex, hot sex and steaming hot sex!
In that order! =)
Happy Anniversary!
1.) Heroes that respect their woman
2.) Esacaping to another world
3.) Love over everything
4.) Sex that makes me blush
5.) Cool locales
6.) Leaving the world of work and screaming toddlers! 🙂
PS. My other entry didn’t show up!
Wood on any anniversary is a good thing. I’m probably the hundredth person who’s said that! Congrats on six years of SmartBitches!
Six things I love about romances:
1. The happily ever after is guaranteed even if it isn’t written or epilogued in. (Did I just make that a verb?)
2. Hot Heroes be they alpha or beta. I love ‘em all!
3. Heroines who know what they’re about from Fredrica to Annabelle and every one in between.
4. The cheapest, healthiest form of escapism anywhere.
5. Stories that stir you in more ways than one!
6. A community of readers and writers who inspire and uplift. Many who have become treasured friends.
Once again, HUZZAH!
Six things I love about romance:
1) Guarantee of a happy ending
2) Getting to revisit the heady early stages of a romance while still secure in my own committed relationship
3) Even when it’s quiet, calm, and sweet it’s never mundane.
4) Strong heroines and men secure enough to appreciate them.
5) The online romance-reading community.
6) The time-travel escape you get with a really good historical.
1. Uber-hot chemistry that leads to…
2. Uber-hot sex. Sex outside in the gardens…in the phaeton…against a wall…anywhere but the bedroom!
3. Damsels in distress.
4. Damsels *not* in distress, who can defend themselves quite effectively, thank you very much!
5. Damsels who are sharp-tongued and quick-witted, who can one-up the heroes and leave them panting for more!
6. Heroes who look great in a pair of buck-skin breeches and low-strung weapons (a-hem… guns and swords, of course!)
Congrats, and happy anniversary!
J
1. sexy alpha males.
2. smart snarky heroines
3. fabulous locations
4. engrossing plots.
5. sex
6. happy ever after
and maybe not in that order lol. but that is the way they came to mind.
scrtsbpal at yahoo dot com
First time poster long timer lurker. (that sounds wrong somehow)
My top six:
1) As a Black girl I will never be the the popular widow of the ton, but I can read about her.
2) Every once in a while I need a good laugh with an imaginary girlfriend.
3) Every once in a while I need to yell at my imaginary girlfriend for trying to confront the bad guy on her own. ( Having 6’2 200 lbs of backup is a good thing
4) I’ve never been on a horse but I love a hunky cowboy.
5) It is nice to know that most of my real life friends nor I have the messed up family hi-jinks that go on in fiction.
6) It’s nice to know somebody is getting some even if it is my imaginary friend.
Happy 6th Anniversary!!!!
1. Escapism…this is what I love about reading in general but particularly in regards to romances.
2. The HEA…you have a darn good idea there’s a happy ending, but what route is going to take you there is what keeps me reading.
3. Alpha males that have to work to get their woman…what fun is it if she just gives it up (see no. 1). Alpha’s who have to work for her are just better, plus the woman is no push over.
4. The storylines/different genres…same base different kink!
5. The loving (i.e. sex)…yes I can watch porn, but who doesn’t want to create their own images of the porn. Plus…you don’t have to worry about anyone else overhearing it.
6. The Bitchery…last but certainly not least in the 6 reasons. I typically try to research an author prior to purchasing, SBTB has made that research much easier…less research more reading!!!
-I’d actually kinda like the iron. *sheepish grin*
Romance novels celebrate WOMEN’S lives and the emotions and events that are important to WOMEN, a rare thing in our culture.
I checked and I registered here on November 27, 2005 03:25 PM! I had been coming to read here awhile before then so I’ve been along for the ride for awhile! Love the site and it just continues to improve so kudos Sarah and Candy and all the other contributors!
my list.
1. During the years when my children were young, reading romances was pretty much the only adult contact I had for long periods of time and it was ok that the stories were accompanied by the music from Barney and Sesame Street lol.
2. It takes effort to peer over the top of a book to notice the housework that needs to be done so it’s easily ignored till The End.
3.One benefit was kick ass Trivial Pursuit skills from the art and history knowledge gleaned from romance novels. Back when that game was popular I beat the CRAP out of people who thought they were sooo much smarter than me. HA!
4. Going through my divorce romance reading helped remind me that all men aren’t assholes. Kinda.
5. The simple pleasure of reading a passage of a book that reminds me of my youth or of some other happy memory. There’s been a couple that actually gave me goose bumps they were so accurate and nostalgic.
6. Sharing. Having my mom or a friend hand me a book and tell me they know I’d like it. And me reading a book that I can’t wait to pass on to someone that I know will love the book as well.
1. Characters I care about
2. Witty banter
3. Falling in love vicariously
4. Heroines that take what they want without being a bitch about it
5. Sexual tensions
6. Happy endings
1) Smokin’ hot storylines with hot chemistry and even hotter sex!
2) The fact that romance covers practically all genres—comedy, drama, paranormal, suspense, historical, thrillers, even horror—there really is something for every taste.
3) Richly-drawn heroes and heroines who embody fantasies but still manage to feel realistic and down-to-earth.
4) Crackling, witty, and heartfelt dialogue—romantic comedy screenwriters should turn to romance more often to find their inspiration, b/c the crap they’re putting on the screen isn’t cutting it too often!
5) Real emotional impact—it’s a rare romance that can’t evoke SOME measure of feeling from a reader, be it tears, laughter, or even disgust.
6) Most romances are relatively quick and easy reads, so you can devour several of them in a week! (At least, I do!)
Really—what’s NOT to love??
1) The Calgon experience (“Take me away”)
2) The adventure
3) The laughter and the tears
4) The flutter of anticipation
5) The hero grovel
6) The sigh at the end.
Bonus thing 7) The total lack of Hello Kitty Vibrators
Happy Anniversay.
My Six Things:
1. HEA is a big part. Beging able to read across the genre and know whether its a contemporary or historical I’m going to be satisified at the end.
2. That there is so much to chose from in the romance genre. I can ready about dragons one day and a sexy librarian the next. Paranormal, contemporary, suspense what ever your in the mood for you can find a romance to fit your need.
3. Sexual tension. From sweet to schorching sex scenes its in there.
4. Authors. Most of the ones I have met have been so freindly.
5. Camaraderie. Do you know how many people read romance? It’s great to have something in common with people.
6. The covers. I love looking at all those bare chested men.
Thanks for being such entertaining reading. Here’s to six more years…and even more than that!
1) Hot Men
2) Women breaking societies rules to get what they want.
3) Hot sex!
4) Happy endings
5)Alpha Males (is that the same as hot men?)
6) All the misunderstandings and confusion that happens before they happy ending.
1. “Sardonic” Heroes (eyebrows, gazes, laughter, etc.) – I have only seen this word used once in a non-romance format, and I have read a shitload of stuff.
2. Tips and Pointers – I quote, “(sigh, moan) Did you learn that from your book?!”
3. Random Trivia and Knowledge – Do you know what demotic papyri are? Well, I do.
4. Life Lessons – Reading about someone else’s HEA (even if fictional) helps me figure out what I want out of life when I feel like I’m stuck in a rut.
5. Happy Endings – If I want to feel depressed I’ll watch the evening news.
6. Love – Seriously, love is powerful stuff, and all of the awesome karmic sauce that pours out of it brightens up my day.
6. Female protagonists who don’t exist solely to die and motivate the hero to heroic deeds.
5. Light, accessible prose that doesn’t stand in front of the plot and scream, “ZOMG, CLEVER METAPHORS, I HAZ THEM!”
4. The wide variety of themes, plots and sub-genres.
3. The passionate online discussions about said themes, plots and sub-genres.
2. The strong character relationship focus.
1. The knowledge that no matter what, no matter how sadistic the author is with her characters in the middle of the book, this book will end happily.
Don’t enter me in the contest, but I wanted to share my answers.
Six things I love about Romance:
1) The HEA—no matter how bad it gets, I know it’s going to come out all right. I get enough examples of the opposite IRL and in other reading.
2) The fantastic on line community of smart people who discuss the reading I love
3) The emotion a really fine writer can evoke
4) Reminders that men can be caring and loving, too.
5) The reminder that things traditionally thought to belong to women are worthy of respect
6) Being swept away.
(I’m not entering the giveaway, so I’m only posting one reason instead of six.)
Truly—and I’m not kissing up, I swear—my favorite thing about reading romance is this here hot pink palace of Bitchery. I lurk a lot more than I post, but I’ve been hanging around here, reading every single post (and most of the comments) since sometime in 2007. I love it here. The Bitchery is filled with such smart, interesting, funny people—it makes my day to come here and see what’s happening. I love you guys SO MUCH.
</sappiness>
So, uh, how ‘bout those [insert sports team here]?
Happy Anniversary! Love what you’re doing here….much luck for the future.
1. Women have small boobs but none of the men are less than perfectly endowed.
2. No roaches
3. get to have sex in different locales without leaving your area code
4. No commitments required; I can always return books back to the library
5. Fall in love 7-8 times a week
6. Get to laugh during sex and no one is offended
Congrats again.
1. Escapism
2. Humor
3. Romance (the swoony kind)
4. Interesting settings (even if it takes place someplace normally mundane, it’s interesting because it’s in the book)
5. Time consuming (yes, I really like that aspect!)
6. DUH, the sexy parts!
Thanks for the contest and Happy Anniversary!
1. Empowered female characters, going after what they want in a relationship and getting it.
2. Characters who see each other as equal partners, creating a relationship that is good for both of them.
3. A variety of settings (place and time, history and fantasy).
4. Families that come in all shapes and sizes; a diversity of types.
5. Authors who get me, as a reader, and who are often quite amazing people above and beyond the books they write.
6. Being part of a diverse, interesting community of readers with whom I can discuss these terrific books. That never happened to me until I came back to reading romance. It happened here first, for which I will always be grateful to SBs Sarah and Candy!
Escape, adventure, watching how love creates changes in the characters, having all my friends ask me for recommendations—secretly (while little do they know everyone else has done the same,) discussing books on smart bitches, and having my belief reaffirmed that LOVE CONQUERS ALL!!!
The six things I love about reading romance novels:
The comfort of knowing it all works out
The fun of imagining the different settings
The laugh out loud bits (in the dialogue and the sex)
The hot, sexy bits (in the dialogue and the sex)
The ease of immersion
The knowledge that there’s always another one to be read!
Thanks, Bitches.
You know, I could actually use ALL of those things. I don’t have an iron, I love chocolate covered cherries, my pocket vibe broke a while ago and I haven’t replaced it, and I MAKE DIORAMAS. Really!
Six things I love about reading romance novels:
1. Seeing how authors can stay within the genre and yet do SO MUCH anyway.
2. Stumbling on a feminist idea (like, yes, the heroine IS creeped out or annoyed by something the hero does, and she knows she has a right to feel that way), especially when I’m not expecting it from a particular author.
3. How comforting good romances are.
4. Knowing that there are so many women (and some men) all the way around the world reading romances.
5. I love reading about competent, responsible people finding happiness, and there’s a lot of that in romance novels.
6. The emotions: I love how romance novels make me laugh, squeal, tear up, and sigh.
I could go on but you just asked for six!
I think we’re all saying the same things.
What I love about romance novels:
1. happy endings
2. escaping my life
3. living out a fantasy (hot Scotsmen and Navy SEALS)
4. it makes me feel good
5. easy to read – they’re fast reads for me and I rarely put one down before I’m done reading
6. they make me feel something, well the good ones at least
1. Seeing all the marvelous variations on the theme of romance, from werewolves to Regency (not to mention the Werewolf Regency, of which I think there have been some already).
2. Enjoying the journey of the hero and heroine (for us breeder types, anyway) toward happiness through all the obstacles (real ones, not Too Stupid To Live Ones, and yes, I mean YOU, Forever Amber).
3. Enjoying it when the author gets the history right (Roberta Gellis, hail to thee!).
4. Moments that make the heart sing (the thousand cranes in THE SHADOW AND THE STAR, Herbert the bull running loose in LESSONS IN FRENCH. Why, yes, I _am_ a Laura Kinsale fan. However did you guess?).
5. Humor when it’s done right (THE MAD MISS MATHLEY by Michelle Martin, many Regency farces such as AN AFFAIR OF INTEREST by Barbara Metzger).
6. Happily Ever After. If I want real life horror, I’ll read the newspaper, or Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (still have a grudge over Snape dying and Lucius Malfoy walking free as bird? Ya think?). But with romances, you know that the people you love will come out all right, one way or another, even if not on earth. (sobbed like a child over ONE PERFECT ROSE, though I will admit that the Noble Child Misplaced at Birth and Raised as a Commoner is a tad, um, old after a while. What _does_ happen when a noble falls in love with a commoner, anyway? Ans. emigrate to the States or Australia where they don’t care, but you rarely see this solution being brought up—it’s too easy to bring in the Kidnapped by Gypsies routine).
But I love romance anyway.
1 – The (almost always) guaranteed HEA.
2 – A way to escape from whatever and/or whomever I don’t want to deal with IRL.
3 – The chance to “traveL” all over the world.
4 – The opportunity to learn something new.
5 – The plethora of blogs that are dedicated soley to the romance genre
6 – I heart smut! 😉
Anti-spam word : clear69
see #6 on my list.
1.A great storyline
2.HEA
3.Hot love scenes
4.Likable side characters
5.Smart women
6.Getting lost in the pages of a great book.
Happy Anniversary!
Six things I love about reading romance novels:
1. Guaranteed happy endings.
2. The variety within the genre.
3. Well-researched historicals that make me feel as if I’ve traveled back in time.
4. Discussing them with friends.
5. The entertaining escapism they provide.
6. Discovering terrific authors.
Happy Anniversary!