Happy 12th Anniversary to everyone! The site started on 31 January 2005 with a review for Angel-Seeker by Sharon Shinn and for The Unsung Hero by Suzanne Brockmann, and what a long strange hot pink journey it has been over the past twelve years.
WOW. I’m sort of stunned by that, and I’ve been working on this post for a few weeks now. Twelve years! That’s a long, long time. Thank you for hanging out with us for so many years!
As has become tradition, I went and had a look at the traditional gifts for a 12th anniversary, and behold! Linen! So I played online and shopped for several hours (SUCH A HARDSHIP MY GOSH), and came up with some fun prizes to celebrate our anniversary with a giveaway.
This year, my goal is to accessorize your favorite reading location with adorable pillows that include linen or a blend thereof, and that celebrate reading the books we love.
Ready? We’ve got six to give away!
Have a look!
A typewriter pillow! How cute is that?
But wait, more pillows!
This one has embroidery to make it look like looseleaf paper – I love it.
When my house was staged and it looked like stylish chevron-obsessed aliens lived there with us, this pillow was added to a small grey sofa, and I loved this pillow like mad. I am so excited I found it online and can give one away! The alphabet is embroidered on the front, and it’s just adorable.
Do you read past your bedtime? Of course you probably do. We’re all members of The Bad Decisions Book Club.
It’s always Book O’Clock, right? No question.
And of course, one more pillow:
Can’t leave out The Ladies, right? The front of this pillow has The Ladies – Original Recipe, and on the back it says, “You should be reading.” Because obviously.
To enter to win, leave a comment and tell us your favorite thing about hanging out here at SBTB. HaBOs? Cover Snark? Reviews? What’s your favoritest thing?
Standard disclaimers apply: We are not being compensated for this giveaway. Void where prohibited. Open to international residents where permitted by applicable law. Must be over 18 and ready to lounge and read. Pants are always optional. To keep with the theme of twelve, we recommend reading in two twelve-hour blocks to most efficiently fill your time. All blankets and all readers welcome. Keep books and read on. Comments will close Monday February 6, 2017 around noon ET, and winners will be announced shortly thereafter.
Whatever it is that keeps you coming back to Smart Bitches, thank you. It’s an honor to hang out with all of you from each part of the globe each day, and I’m so glad you’re here. Happy anniversary to us!
Update: Here are our winners in order!
Thank you all so much for being a reader of Smart Bitches! You’re what makes this community great!
Oh God, yes, Cover Snark! Reviews, sales, movies, fellowship!
I love the reviews because they all make thoughtful and useful points and are written in unique voices!
Of course I like the features and the diversity of tastes/life experiences that are represented on SBTB, but the thing I like most is the community. People, especially the readers, are so helpful and supportive. And that support goes way beyond book recommendations, HABOs, sale alerts, gift ideas, and the like. Just look at the discussions on physical/mental health and self-care. And if someone mentions they’re having a tough time, people are always quick to give an electronic hug. Discussions can be frank on occasion, but almost never devolve into sniping, drama, or pile-ons–that’s just not encouraged or tolerated here.
I wasn’t part of SBTB from the very beginning, but I have been visiting the Pink Palace for at least a decade. . . and I hope to be here for another decade! So, thanks to everyone for making this such an informative, fun, and entertaining part of my day!
I like it for reviews and lovehate it for telling me about book sales. This blog is how I found some of my favorite books and I have warm, fuzzy feelings about it for that reason.
Happy twelfth anniversary. May there be twelve gazillion more.
While I adore cover snark, look forward to F reviews, my favorite things are the people in the comments and how supportive and helpful they are. Every time I see my mother she is reading a book recommended by one of you several months ago and I thank God for you all the time.
I love this site for helping me discover new authors (Julie James!) and for mutual squeeing about my all time favorites (Jennifer Crusie!).
I like Books on Sale and HABO. I am hooked on Elyse’s Bachelor summaries even though I have never watched the show.
I love all of the recommendations for everything in my life, particularly the holiday lists (though my bank account doesn’t)!
I have followed you for several years and have found so many new books and authors – so many have become my must reads. Love the Books on Sale, Cover Snark, Rants and so much more! Happy Anniversary!
So many things to love, but I’ll go with reviews.
The cover snark and the reviews, and lately the Bachelor play by play. Thank you for taking that hit and watching it so I don’t have to.
There is nothing guilty about our pleasures here. We are inashamed in our love of trashy books. I love the straight up we love this shit-ness of this site.
I love this site because I love the honest reviews and I’m a romance novel junkie and this gives me a quick fix when I don’t have time to read whole novel. Also, I’ve found some amazing recommendations on this site. It’s like a book club with my gfs.
My favorite thing is the comments: from the HABO to reviews, the SBTB community manages to remain funny, helpful and respectful, which is sadly a rarity in internet communities these days. I mostly lurk, but on the odd chance I have something to add, I always feel safe here!
Happy 12th! Here’s to a dozen more!
P.s. Shanon Shinn’s angel books are my absolute faves!
It is really hard to choose what my favorite thing about the site is. I love the reviews, I love the commenters, I love the posts about “stuff we like”, or “whatcha reading”.
A very happy anniversary to you! You have created a wonderful place for book lovers, and I am so appreciative of all you do.
I love the humor, the political awareness, and the honesty of the reviewers and the community here. I love it that I can find out in seconds whether some good-looking book on sale has an alphahole or other regressive nonsense in it.
The reviews, the snark, the whole package… Thanks Ladies!!!
I love Cover Snark and HABOs the most!
First, Happy 12th Anniversary! I originally came for the cover snark (I was collecting covers way back when and enjoyed seeing them even if I had a different opinion of their quality) but stayed for the intelligence and the community. I think I’ve been reading this at least 10 years but when I discovered the site, I took the time to read all of the previous posts until I caught up. I check in every day. I don’t comment often but I love reading everybody else’s comments. I generally do not read reviews, however, unless I’ve already read the book or I know I won’t ever read it (not a favored trope or has personal trigger issues). I’m so glad you’re providing transcripts of the podcasts since I don’t like to listen but I do like to read. I also really like…oh, rats, it’s like trying to pick a favorite child–I pretty much love it all! Thanks so much for providing this site for us!
I found this site because Eloisa James, Grace Burrowes, and other author sites referenced your fabulousness or were really happy when they were mentioned here. I went to their sites to see what books they recommended when I was new to romance and was led here. I like HABO, and I love cover snark. I also appreciate sale notices and reviews especially of movies and tv. Right now, Elyse is watching the bachelor so we don’t have to is awesome. I know this isn’t an official thing, but I like that you give us trigger warnings.
When my mom was hospitaized a couple times last summer, cover snark and your other entries made hard days easier. Also, I love reading comments here because everyone is so positive and encouraging even if we aren’t in agreement which is unheard of on other sites.
Long may you reign!
I love the community as a whole. I love the unabashed glory with which it approaches the genre and holds up a standard as if to say, “We too are champions of the written word, and you will not make us ashamed for liking what we like.”
Passionate acceptance of all romance readers makes me hang out here online and at the podcast. I am so grateful to have found this community!!!
I come for pretty much everything but my favorites would be Cover Snark and E-Book Deals! Here’s to 12 more years!
I love the reviews and the help finding good deals on ebooks! Thanks for all you do, Bitches. Here’s to many more years! 🙂
Happy Anniversary! I’m hard-pressed to pick favorites. I love (and my wallet hates) books on sale. Cover snark cracks me up every time. I have discovered SO many amazing books and authors through you guys, I don’t know where my reading habit would be without you. Cheers to another twelve years!
I want a reading pillow – I mean, I love the shopping suggestions as I find things I didn’t know I wanted. I love the community, as I found this site when I was unemployed and it was okay to want a happy ending. and I love the HaBO, you ladies are batshit in the best way possible.
Oh, my goodness. This is such a difficult question to answer! I’m going with a 3-way (he he) tie:
1. The Smart Bitches
2. The podcast
3. The wonderful comments from the bitchery.
Did I basically just encompass everything on the site? Oops… (but, accurate!).
Thank you for everything!!!!
The cover snark is what brought me here years ago, but lately the podcasts are what I’m enjoying most. And Elyse. And historical food.
I keep coming back to the Smart Bitches because I know that I can count on their reviews to be very reliable and I know depending on who reviews what book, whether I will like it or not. Also, the HaBOs are full of the awesomest crazy sauce, I love the recipes from the historic kitchen and cocktails, I laugh out loud at EVERYTHING Elyse writes, cover snark is hysterical and most of all, I adore this romance community!! Thanks for all you do, ladies!! Can’t wait to find out what’s coming in the next twelve years!! ❤️❤️
My absolute favorite thing about SBTB are the reviews and recommendations! And the sale posts. I’ve found countless books this way, new favorite authors, and look forward to seeing what’s going on every day!
I am always looking to increase my TBR pile. That is why I stalk your site.
Congrats on 12 great years!
Books on sale. Both wonderful and dangerous! The occasional cover snark lightens my day as well 🙂
Don’t make me choose! Okay, fine. If I had to pick one thing, it would be the podcast. I tell everyone about it, and even make my kids listen to it in the car with me (they’re both teens–boy and girl–and it leads to great discussions). But I also depend on the reviews and love laughing at Cover Snark. Really, it’s all so, so good. Thanks so much for everything!
I think it’s a tie between reviews and cover snark. I’ve forgotten a lot about how bad covers could be since I read mostly on my kindle…
I love that you are constantly surprised that there are worse covers to be found and another F+ book that cries to be reviewed. I also love your wonderful gift suggestions during the holidays.
Aside from the welcoming and intelligent commenters, my favorite part are the recommendations. I always discover the best authors through this group!
Reviews, definitely, but I love that the HaBOs exist.
Congratulations on twelve years!
I pretty much love everything–but some favorite things include the podcast, sale posts, anything knitting related, book reviews, and reading everyone’s comments.
I personally love the New Releases posts. I have a massive FOMO when it comes to books and authors that I like that I might not remember that I liked and knowing that the power of the Bitchery is on it helps calm my anxieties…
SBTB started for me as a place for great romance novel reviews. It has remained that but it’s also a place I feel comfortable now and where I know I’ll find like-minded individuals who care about social justice and fantastic romance. 🙂