It’s been 11 years since the first reviews from the hot pink palace of Bitchery went live, and every year, we like to celebrate with merriment, traditional and modern anniversary gifts, mayhem, and possibly also shenanigans.
Lucky for us, the traditional gift for the 11th anniversary is steel, and the modern gift is jewelry. I thought, hey, this is awesome! STEEL JEWELRY ahoy!
Then RedHeadedGirl said, “Wait. SWORDS.”
Swords?
And everyone else said, “YES. SWORDS.” So this year, we’re giving away jewelry and swords! Happy anniversary to everyone!
Here are the prizes:
Yup, it’s a sword! The Timber Wolf sword is perfect for this giveaway since we’ve got plenty of shifters in romance, plus men and women wielding swords, and who doesn’t need a deep blood groove in their sword, right? And if you’re thinking, “Well, that’s not jewelry…” SURE it is! It’s Jewelry for ALL OF YOUR SELF!
More steel! And more jewelry!
And of course, some steel jewelry for your pocket or purse:
Want to enter? Easy! Just leave a comment below and recommend a romance you loved. You’ll be entered to win one of the prizes. Comments will close around noon eastern, and I’ll select the winners at random on Friday, 5 February 2016. If the item pictured above is not available at time of announcement, a similar alternative will be provided.
Standard disclaimers apply: Void where prohibited. Open to international residents where permitted by applicable law. Must be over 18 and full of steely determination to read. I’m not being compensated for this giveaway except for the opportunity to go sword shopping, which is compensation a-plenty! Crumb coats make the icing look very smooth, but icing is just as good straight from the bowl. Icing is also a legitimately delicious food group. Blanket forts may be constructed for purposes of reading; no prior warning is required.
Thank you for spending time with us. Smart Bitches wouldn’t be as much fun without you, so thank you for being part of our celebration!
ETA: 5 February 2016
Thank you so much for all the anniversary wishes! I am honored that you all come hang out with us each day, and I’m so happy to celebrate our anniversary with you. It’s winner announcement time!
The winner of the sword: L
The winner of the typewriter bracelet: Giddypony
The winner of the reading & tea bracelet: Cerulean
The winner of the reader pendant: Jill B
The winner of the flask: Alaina Keener
Thank you to everyone who entered, and thank you for celebrating with us!
Happy steel-aversary!
I’m going to have to go with Lisa Kleypas’ Then Came You. I love most of her historicals, but that one is a long-time favorite.
I just finished Everything I Left Unsaid by Molly O’Keefe and it was fantastic!
Happy Anniversary Bitchery! I’ve only been here a couple of years, but by goodness do I appreciate you.
I recommend Trisha Ashley’s A Winter’s Tale – older heroine (with child), family drama, stately home to save, wicked cousin, handsome gardner. Boom.
(Also I’m in the UK, so don’t put me in for the sword – the postage would be huuuuuuge and it’d probably get confiscated at the border!)
Indigo by Beverly Jenkins all day I love that book!
Happy Anniversary! Some of my all time favorite romance authors are Janet Dailey and Johanna Lindsey but when I go back I cringe (so many years ago). Recently my favs are Julie James (you hooked me) and Susanna Kearsley (she reminds me of some of my older favorites like Victoria Holt). Thanks for being around! My Kindle reading list has expanded by leaps and bounds.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, you fabulous, fabulous bitches. You’re where I get ALL my romance recs, and you are utterly indispensable.
As for a recommendation, how about YA, since I tend to like the same historical authors everyone else does? I’ve already ranted about the His Fair Assassin trilogy (ASSASSIN! NUNS!) but I’ve just read the first book of a new series, An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir, the former international editor of the Washington Post. Huge advance, optioned for a big movie, sequel forthcoming, and it’s great. Dark. Alternate medieval-y magical universe in which a girl tries to save her brother, who has been kidnapped by the evil empire, by going undercover as a slave to the evil (female) commander of the warrior class. The two main characters are the faux-slave Laia, who spies for the Resistance, and Elias, one of the warriors who has retained his humanity (most of them have a metal mask fused to their faces, but his won’t fuse, and he dreams of escape)..but there’s also Elias’s best friend Helene, another warrior, and Laia’s handler in the Resistance, Keenan. So it’s a love square rather than a love triangle. I’m irked that I read it before the sequel was available because it ends on a cliffhanger and I HAVE TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS.
Thanks for the giveaway. I’m a sucker for Outlander.
Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale, possibly my all-time favorite romance. It has everything – tortured hero, reluctant yet plucky heroine, a REAL conflict, humor, heartbreak, and sensuality/sexuality/eroticism — Bitches, it’s white-hot!
Happy Anniversary!! One of the most recent books I loved was Renee Carlino’s Before We Were Strangers. It’s always iffy to me to read new authors but I’m glad I did. Now I need to check out her backlist.
I just bought The Compass Rose as it was on sale for $1.99. Not a straight one on one romance, but I live the found family that develops.
I love Jessica Clare’s Game series. Especially Wicked Games. I’m a sucker for reality tv and apparently a sucker for reality tv romances!
Happy Anniversary SBTB!
Favorite romance? Too many to count, but one of them, a historical with a beta hero (next big trend?) is Elizabeth Hoyt’s _The Leopard Prince_. Will forever love that book.
First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones is a long time fave. The whole series is fantastic. And anything by Jill Shalvis, Shannon Stacey, Kristen Higgins, and HelenKay Dimon. I love your site. Congrats on the anniversary.
Some random book loves: Shaldor’s Lady by Anne Bishop – dark fantasy/live story; Something About You by Julie James – an awesome contemporary romance; The Friendzone by Kristen Callihan, a New Adult football romance – ignore the title and love the writing and characters.
Happy anniversary!
Devil’s Cub by Georgette Heyer – one of the five books I’d take to a desert island, certainly.
Taking the heat by Victoria Dahl, I loved it! Happy Anniversary. 🙂
Congrats on 11 years!
One of my favorites is WHAT I DID FOR A DUKE by Julie Anne Long. It was funny. It mentioned some artwork which I just HAD to look up. And it had my favorite trope: the idiotic younger brother trope (although the idiotic brother in question wasn’t the heroine’s younger brother, he was the youngest brother in the family).
The Emperor’s Edge series by Lindsay Buroker. The first is actually The Emperor’s Edge and there’s 8 more, not including novellas. It’s a Steampunk/Industrial Revolution series, and there’s romance and adventure and fantastic characters. Sicarius is always in the top three for my “book boyfriend”.
Happy 11th Anniversary and many more to follow :)))
Lately I read a looot of really good romances – mostly thanks to SB recommendations, of course 🙂 – so hard to choose… Well, one of my favorite authors is Courtney Milan and from her books I think “The Heiress Effect”is so far my fav.
Congratulations on 11 years, Smart Bitches! I just finished Eloisa James’ new book, My American Heiress and loved it. There were so many feels. 🙂
One of the first “major” romances I read was “Then Came You” by Lisa Kleypas and still love it!
Radiance by Grace Draven. It is a fantasy romance, and I love how HEALTHY the relationship felt in the book. It was a refreshing read.
I will always recommend Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas, and I also recently read and loved Lady Bridget’s Diary by Maya Rodale. Congratulations on the 11th anniversary and I’m looking forward to plenty of years to come
My top recommendation is still “Summer of You” by Kate Noble, which I discovered through a great review here!
My favorite all time romance is Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Crusie. It’s hilarious and I recommend it to everyone. I myself have read 6 times. It never gets old.
Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie is my all time favorite
Sweet Liar by Jude Devereaux started my love of romance. It was the first non-Harlequin I’d ever read. I was 14 and 17 years later I still love my romance.
Happy 11th anniversary!!! I just finished Wildest Dreams by the super-cracktacular Kristen Ashley and liked it very much.
The Idea of You by Darcy Burke is a romance that really moved me. The rest of the books in her Ribbon Ridge series are very good, but this one had a little something extra.
Congratulations Bitchery! Thank you for the many years of laughs, great book recommendations (uncluding the hysterically bad ones), and general mayhem!
It is just too hard for me to pick “a” favorite, so I’ll heartily recommend two of my recent faves – Jenn Bennett’s Roaring Twenties series & Zoe Archer’s Blades of the Rose series.
Happy birthday, SBTB! Thanks for always fulfilling my need to read and rand about romance when my friends are’t really into it.
I LOVED the (unfortunately titled) Ten Ways to be Adored by Sarah Maclean. I think she’s well liked around here in general but this was my favorite for the bafass female fortress that protected anyone who needed it. Made me wonder/hope that existed in real life.
Also shout out to my eternal fave Courtney Milan.
I’ve started reading all of Colleen Hoover’s romances (more new adult like) so I would have to say the most recent book I absolutely LOVED was “November 9” with a shout out to “Maybe Someday” and “Confess” for having such different and interesting plot lines. I’m rereading as soon as my TBR goes down by a book or two…so it might be awhile.
So many choices! Well, I’ll name the first one that came to mind; I read it in college, many moons ago, and never forgot it. “Wind from the Carolinas” by Robert Wilder. Takes place in the Bahamas. In researching the date of publication (1964) just now, I found this quote on Kirkus: “… the women are fierce and forceful and the men manly.” Yep.
One of my favorite oldie but goodies is Angel by Johanna Lindsey. In fact, I might go grab it off the shelf now…
Happy Anniversary! I recently read and loved “Anything For You” by Kristan Higgins. Her books are my comfort reads.
Just new to your site….really enjoying it! I have become a fan of Elsa Holland.
The Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews is my crack. Actually, everything Ilona writes is my crack. Women who can take care of themselves + action + romance? Why yes, I think I will!
Oh you glorious ladies, how you’ve changed my life. 🙂
I most recently read The Sport of Baronets by Theresa Romain and it was my first by her, and I just GOBBLED it the f up. Granted, it was a novella, so the gobbling took less time than usual, but who cares, gobble gobble gobble. So enjoyable and now I’m just dying to finish my non-romance book (I switch back and forth) so I can read the first one in the series.
Happy Anniversary, you beautiful bitches. 😀
I have no idea what the first romance I read was, probably something I snuck from my mom that was aweful. Most recent favorite was an M/M – The Lightning Struck Heart by TJ Klune. That book was funny as heck and on of the rare ones where I got to the end and immediately started it again. I adored the MC. The author ended the book WITHOUT a cliffhanger and still made me go, “Damnit! Why isn’t there another book?!?!?!?” Looks like it will eventually be a series and it’s going to be an auto buy if and when it gets written.
I’ve got to recommend A Lady By Midnight by Tessa Dare- the book that got me back into romance! Such a fun read!