Best of 2018 Reviews, Part One!

Smart Bitches Best of 2018 graphic - a stack of books against a sparkly lit background and at the bottom it says thanks for reading with us!NB: This week, we’re taking a look back at some of our favorite and our most popular pieces of writing this year. We’ve got a week of best-of posts to share, with reviews, cover snark, sales, and more. We hope you enjoy revisiting our archives, and most of all, we wish you and yours a wonderful holiday and a happy new year – with all the very best of reading.

By looking at the page views, we’ve found our top ten book reviews of 2018! We love seeing these stats as it tells us what you all like to read about on the site. Of course, there are tons of romances on this list, but I think you’ll be surprised at which books make the top two.

Here are reviews ten through six!

 

Dreaming of You
A | BN | K | AB
10. Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas (August 6)

Review by Amanda

Grade: Squee

The thing is, I have a weakness, and that is any romance pairing that could be filed under “Slytherin falls in love with a Hufflepuff.” There’s just something about a serious, grumpy, ambitious hero and a earnest, too-pure-for-this-world heroine. I live for a hero who begrudgingly accepts the heroine’s presence and then BAM, has an epiphany where he realizes — oh shit — he’s in love. And Dreaming of You is pretty close to that scenario.

 

After the Wedding
A | BN | K | AB
9. After the Wedding by Courtney Milan (May 10)

Review by Carrie

Grade: B+

This book was often repetitive and it wasn’t subtle. Certain phrases are repeated over and over again and certain themes are brought up again and again – this, plus the fact that I don’t think it would be as effective as a stand-alone as it is when read with the rest of the series, is why I give it a B+ instead of an A.  However, it’s a great character study of two people with great chemistry, a great story about a terrible predicament with a happy ending, a good mix of intense emotion and humor, and a seamless continuation of the Worth saga.

 

Courtly Pleasures
A | BN | K | AB
8. Courtly Pleasures by Erin Kane Spock (February 12)

Review by Redheadedgirl

Grade: A

But the real joy for me was the detail in this book. The characters spend a lot of their time dancing, and they dance correctly for the period. My friend Aaron has done quite a lot of work studying renaissance era dances, and when Frances and Henry were doing Italian dance steps, I asked him if Elizabeth would have her court dancing in the Italian style. Of course, he said, she loved Italian dancing, and her favorite dance was the Volta.

 

The Wedding Date
A | BN | K | AB
7. The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory (January 30)

Review by Elyse

Grade: B

The Wedding Date is charming and delightful, and it saved me from getting overly hysterical on a flight to Costa Rica. It’s not a perfect book, and I found myself giving the hero my “WTF” face a few times, but the awesomeness of the heroine thrilled me.

To give you some context, for me, flying is essentially a panic attack from take off to landing. I can take two Xanax to soften the impending misery, but if we hit turbulence I start to cry a little. Or throw up. It’s not great. Yet I was on a five hour flight, and The Wedding Date kept me distracted for most of it; it’s got some powerful charm.

 

 6. The Princess Trap by Talia Hibbert (March 19)

Review by Elyse

Grade: A-

The Princess Trap by Talia Hibbert made me feel really good. It was the read I needed for a crappy day and it went down like a hot cup of tea followed by a cookie. The pacing was a little off at the end, but my appreciation for an emotionally-fluent hero let me overlook that. Also the heroine wears a Dolly Parton tee shirt to bed and fuck yea, Dolly Parton. I do want to add a trigger warning for depictions of child abuse in this book.


So if you want a sexy, fun contemporary romance with a really fantastic pair of main characters, you should totally check out The Princess Trap.

Did you read any of these book this year? Which books do you think you’ll see in part two?

Comments are Closed

  1. Deborah says:

    Which books do you think you’ll see in part two?

    I literally cannot resist a guessing game. They will be my doom.

    You think we’ll be surprised by the top 2, so I now have no confidence in guessing those because my immediate assumption for #1 was Elyse’s “F” review of Lisa Kleypas’s HELLO STRANGER. That just seems an obvious choice because popular author, controversial rating, and important issues being discussed in the review and comments.

    My best guesses for the remaining four reviews, in no particular order:

    GOOD LUCK WITH THAT by Kristan Higgins (DNF’d by Sarah)
    JANE DOE by Victoria Helen Stone (reviewed by Sarah)
    THE KISS QUOTIENT by Helen Hoang (reviewed by Amanda)
    ROOMIES by Christina Lauren (ranted by Carrie)

    …and, yes, I reread Dreaming of You after Amanda’s review and bought (but haven’t read) Courtly Pleasures after RHG’s review.

  2. Lora says:

    I loved After the Wedding! (Although for realsies, Camilla was HOPEFUL so many damn times).

  3. Erica H says:

    I absolutely loved The Wedding Date. I completely related to Alexa’s situation and feelings of being black in a sea of white. The interracial relationship accurately depicted. Easily in my top 5 of books this year and top 25 all-time. Can’t wait to see the rest of this list.

  4. Claudia says:

    Meredith Duran’s The Sins of Lord Lockwood! I was guest reviewer and I really liked it.

  5. Deianira says:

    I’ve been on a contemporary romance kick lately, so I haven’t read #8, #9 or #10. For the others, I’m a big fan of both Jasmine Guillory & Talia Hibbert!

    “The Wedding Date” is one of my favorite reads for 2018. I love Guillory’s writing! It’s a nice bonus that it takes place in a city I’m familiar with. My brother got his PhD at Berkeley, & spent about a decade afterward living in Oakland. And as someone who’s spent I don’t know what you’ve got planned for the top 5 – I see the article is up but haven’t opened it yet – but am frankly surprised this one didn’t rank higher!

    “The Princess Trap” is also in my favorites collection, despite my continued irritation with the heroine’s name – Cherry – and the many, MANY plays on it. Seriously, it’s annoying. Overall, though, this one is both charming & very hot! I really don’t like the new cover, though; I liked the old smirking bad boy with the cigar.

    Now, off to procrastinate & read part 2, because who wants to work the day after Christmas?!

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