We’re one day closer to our 10th anniversary on January 31st. Ready for more fun? The other giveaways are still open, but here are two more!
Today we have some special things, including a Kate Spade bag, and a rather rare collectible. I haven’t seen any of these on eBay or anywhere in awhile. Oh – and some books! And treats! And an ARC of an April book, and a hardcover that isn’t out for 2 more weeks.
This is so fun, you guys.
Each giveaway will be open until 31 January 2015, and each prize pack is open to international residents where applicable by law. Must be over 18 to win. Void where prohibited.
Here’s our first prize pack!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Included in this giveaway are: a new (with tags!) Kate Spade Beantown Lene grey and black wool crossbody handbag. If you’d like a slightly better picture, here it is: 
Isn’t it cute? Also included: a Smart Bitches flask, a MAC eyeshadow quad in “An Amorous Adventure” from the True Romance collection, a digital copy of Pride, Prejudice, and Popcorn by Carrie Sessarego, a Moleskine hardcover Book Journal, a hardcover notebook from the Harlequin Notable collection featuring the cover for I’ll Bury My Dead by James Hadley Chase. Ready for the next collection? I bet you are! a Rafflecopter giveaway
This giveaway collection includes a somewhat rare (I haven’t seen very many, that’s for sure) Nora Roberts bobblehead doll, a hardcover copy of Obsession in Death by JD Robb, an address book featuring the vintage cover of You’re Lonely When You’re Dead by James Hadley Chase, a hardcover notebook featuring the vintage cover for Anna by Anneke De Lange (“She lived like a wicked little animal.” Oh yes), a digital copy of Pride, Prejudice and Popcorn by Carrie Sessarego, and a small hardcover Moleskine notebook (to record all of your wicked adventures with bobblehead Nora, of course).
Good luck, and thank you for being here!
sometimes, I read reviews with a grain of salt. if I like the author, I will probably love the book, regardless. Sarah MacLean’s No Good Duke Goes Unpunished is an example. Many reviewers didn’t like the plot or heroine. I felt it worked with the book and series; I enjoyed it.
Well, I DNFed Kelley Armstrong’s Bitten after reading about Sarah’s love of that book. Just couldn’t get on board. But i agreed with Sarah’s 50 Shades review. And I’ve done my fair share of squeeing over various Milan and Dare books after reading the squee cannon reviews here. 🙂
Oooooh yes. Coetzee’s Disgrace. So many glowing reviews, and I hated it so much for its rapeyness. On the other hand, an acquaintance once told me how she thought The Gargoyle was the most revolting book ever written, and I loved it. I guess I’m just perverse that way!
i don’t usually read reviews. I just go to the library and read the back cover. However, I do enjoy reading the reviews here!
A recent review I agreed with was the Smart Bitches one for The Rosie Effect. I loved The Rosie Project, second book was a bit of a let down. The first book I devoured but this one I could only read in small chunks. I wasn’t bothered by the social worker point as much as the SB review, but just irritated by Rosie all the way through the book. I know pregnancy does weird things to you, having done it twice myself I vaguely recall some behavior on my part that others could have deemed irrational! If my husband tried to do that meal plan it would not have been pretty…
A review on this website actually led me straight to my favorite romance of all time! Summer of You by Kate Noble got a very positive A review, and I knew I had to read it. I’m so glad I did, because I agreed with the review so hard, and found an author I love!
Gone With the Wind … Scarlet O’Hara was just a complete slapper. Rhett Butler redefined tosser.Ashley Wilkes was a total numpty..& as for Melanie .. really, just how wet do you like your secondary characters to be ?
That was the very first book that I truly hated that others seem to adore, there have been many others over the years,but that one really sticks in my mind (because there’s not enough mental bleach to erase the memory of it !)
There are a lot of books people love that I just cannot get into. For My Lady’s Heart is one I cannot like even though everyone else loves it.
I have stopped reading anything but the 1 and 2 star reviews, because if I am on the fence about a book those reviews will generally tell me if there is a particular trope I hate in the book, so can avoid it. Reviews are just one person’s personal opinion, and we all have different tastes in what we enjoy reading.
I have been following your blog for years, and Smart Bitches is the only romance blog I follow now. Thanks for a wonderful 10 years!
I’ve definitly had a few moments where reviewers have had strong reactions to parts of books that I didn’t bat an eye at. Meljean Brook’s Iron Duke comes to mind.
I trust the recommendations on this and DA’s site, but I’m careful with other review sites. I really read the 1 & 2 star reviews (although the number of one star reviews that loved the book crack me up) in hopes that someone articulate has left good reasons for their lack of stars, and the three star reviews to see if there might be enough to overcome the more negative reviews. I can’t think of any books lately that I felt did not live up to their reviews, mainly because I try harder to find those books that are truer to their reviews.
I trust SBTB not just for romance reviews but for the reviews and recommendations of other kinds of books. You know we are multi-dimensional and engaged with the world.
I know it’s not romance, but this fantasy series called “Wheel of Time” is literally 16 friggin’ books and each is about 1000 pages. It’s really good though. Anyway, the 6th book was pretty terrible, and I read the reviews first, all saying that the book was terrible, as was the cover art, as in “holy crap how did the artist manage to make this person SO HIDEOUS.” I think I blew soda out of my nose when I read that. Either way, the book was indeed miserable, but it was necessary to plod along. Although, I think I still gave it 4-5 stars. I don’t know why…
I don’t know that there was ever a review that I completely disagreed with or completely agreed with either. I think reviews let me think about parts of the book I might not have.
I’ve experienced both on a regular basis. The most recent example of reading positive reviews for a book that I thought was ugh! was for last year’s ‘Queen of the Tearling’, which I found to be a mediocre fantasy novel with shoddy world-building and stereotypical characters, but readers and professional reviewers largely disagreed with my assessment.
Oh, all the time. Most recently the rave reviews for WE WERE LIARS — I can’t fathom the raves for that book, I wanted pretty much every character to LEAVE MY HEAD RIGHT NOW, and they are so thin and shallow that they just blow away on command…
I try to only read reviews of books by people i know have the same tastes as me. i do remember reading a book and hating it, only to read someone else’s review and she found it wonderful and dreamy and freaking unicorns. my thoughts were the book was pedantic, unfunny, barely cohesive, and trite. needless to say, I don’t really trust that other reviewer and I will see eye to eye on other books, either, so I don’t read any of her reviews.
The book I’m thinking of is Shay Savage’s Transcendence which I enjoyed tremendously. I’ve seen positive reviews (with which I agreed), and I’ve seen negative reviews.
Oh, there have been any number of times I have (tried to) read a book with undeservedly good reviews. There have even been times when I have thought that the author may be technically an OK author, but the very thought of opening one of his books just makes me throw up in my mouth. Pardon me if I don’t bother to mention their names.
When it comes to happier reactions, any squees about the Liaden books by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller are well deserved!
Oh, and thank you for considering those of us who don’t do Twitter (or Facebook or …).
Happy Anniversary!
My favorite book of 2014 was My Beautiful Enemy, by Sherry Thomas. I loved the book. After I read it, I saw a couple of negative reviews about it from folks who hadn’t read the prequel novel, The Hidden Blade. These didn’t change my opinion, but I did wish the reviewers had read the first book. (These were blog reviews–I don’t read Amazon reviews.)
I know people love Maya Banks. I tried and I read one book, I forget which one. In said book, one character speaks to another about how suicide is for the weak. Ugh. I hate that phrase and it frustrated me in the book and it does in real life as well. People who are struggling are not automatically weak. The use of the phrase in situ: the hero told the heroine that he should have known she would not “commit” suicide b/c she’s not a weak person… UGH. I can’t trust Maya Banks after that, no matter how amazing her reviews are.
For my last book club everyone else loved What Alice Forgot and I just hated it, I thought the changes in the characters rang so untrue and false. I couldn’t understand how anybody could like it.
I clearly don’t pay much attention to reviews, as I can’t think of a single one that was enough to stick in my mind now. I look at the ratings, usually, and glance at a review or two to make sure there’s nothing egregious about it.
I actually disagreed w/ a SB review of Milan’s The Governess Affair. It was way better for me than for your reviewers, and the scene with the hair pins? BEST. I think because of the abuse she suffered, I really identified with that and her trust issues.
ha! My favorite word is cwtch. It’s Welsh for hug, but a certain kind of comforting hug. And it’s fun to say.
Sarah, your review of Instant Attraction matched my thoughts perfectly. Well, I would have given it an A because I consider it one of my top 5 fav romances, but still…
Thank you for the Gunpowder Alchemy recommendation. I really loved it.
No, not really. If it is a book I want to read badly, I tend to avoid reviews so it doesn’t spoil things for me. I have been very pleased with some of the books I’ve found from this site recently, but my experiences are never exactly the same.
I found Courtney Milan through your reviews, for which I will never be able to properly thank you. I tend to be more forgiving than most reviewers, but there have been a few times when I’ve picked up a book based on reviews and not been able to figure out why everyone loves it.
Lately, any positive review given to a Laurell K. Hamilton move.
You mean besides the whole Twilight/50 Shades thing? Can’t stand either one of them, so I totally scratch my head on the “glowing” reviews….
Usually, I’ll read reviews for entertainment value (like here) or to get an idea for a new book/series I’ve heard tons about (also here). Sometimes I’ll have to hunt down a few reviews simply because the book blurb is so vague and/or confusing that I’m hoping I’ll have better luck with an actual review!
I know you guys love the Sarah Morgan around here, but when I read Suddenly Last Summer, it didn’t work for me nearly as well as it seemed to have worked for you guys. Maybe I’m just not good at contemporaries, I don’t know. Nope, scratch that, because I really like Julie James and Jill Shalvis. I just didn’t care for it.
I read “crazy beautiful” and LOVED it – like want to buy a million copies and make everyone read it loved it so much. Then I went to put my review on GoodReads and hardly anyone else liked it.
I use reviews from SBTB to help me find books I think I’ll like, and that’s generally worked, but I never go back and read the review again. I will say that SB Sarah’s review of Julie James’ “It Happened One Wedding” matched so many of my feels about that book and my love for its heroine.
So I have trouble finding books I love or reviews that come out (and that I can find) before I go to read the book. That said, I find that some of the stuff that Jane Litte says on the DBSA podcast to ring true enough that I will pick up a book that she likes. I have a few reviewers on this site and on Dear Author that I follow and when the TBR pile is low or I’m going on holiday I’ll pick up some of the books that sound great.
I usually read reviews to decide if a book is worth getting and reading. I almost always agree with the Smart Bitchery so it really has helped me with my searches.
I can’t remember a specific title, but sometimes I read a review that is so close to my opinion that I find myself nodding the entire time I’m reading it. I love when that happens! Then I know I can depend on and trust that reviewer. That’s one of the reasons that I keep coming back here and to Dear Author. You both have wonderful and honest reviewers!
I always read the one star review first, if I like what the reviewer rants about then I buy it eyes closed. If the book comes with a recommendation from someone I trust I go for it. I’m that simple.
Thanks so much for coming up with new ideas for the giveaway, Sarah! I haven’t had a chance to enter the giveaways so far because I don’t use Twitter.