Sixteen years ago, the site began.
Smart Bitches launched on 31 January 2005 with a review for Angel-Seeker by Sharon Shinn and for The Unsung Hero by Suzanne Brockmann. We’re still here, discussing romance and everything around it, sixteen years later.
In many states, the site is eligible for a driver’s license. (We won’t discuss how my older child, born the same year as the site, may also be eligible for the same. Shhhh. SHHHH.)
This year, as always: Thank you. Thank you for being part of Smart Bitches.
Our community is still growing, still talking about everything, and still hilarious, welcoming, and warm and wonderful. None of that would be possible without you.
So thank you for hanging out with us each day, for sending us so many great covers for snarking, for telling me bad jokes, for telling us about books you loved, and for being part of our community.
As usual, I took a peek at the traditional and modern anniversary gifts for the 16th year, and what did I find? Wax and silver holloware!
At first glance, I thought the page said “silver halloween,” to which I thought, GAME ON.
No, holloware is something else entirely. But wax?
Oh, YEAH. I knew just what I wanted to do.
We all need a little light in the darkness, right?
There’s nothing like cozy smells and twinkling lights on a dark evening, right?
So to celebrate sixteen years of Smart Bitches, I’m giving away…yup, sixteen candles. The reviewing crew and I put our heads together to find some lovely bookish candles and beautiful scents and colors.
Ready? It’s candle prettiness time! I’m giving one of each of the following candles away!
Want to win a candle? I hope so! I’ve got so many links over here ready to shop!
Just comment below and share one of your favorite Smart Bitches memories.
A book you discovered here?
A cover snark that made you snort laugh?
A HaBO you solved?
The high incidences of random silliness?
Tell us one of your favorite Smart Bitches moments and you’re entered to win.
Standard disclaimers apply: We are not being compensated for this giveaway. Void where prohibited. Open to international residents where permitted by applicable law. If a specific candle is sold out when the giveaway ends, another from this set will be substituted. Must be over 18 and ready to spread light as far as possible. Reading while enjoying the warmth and light also recommended. Comments will close at noon ET on Saturday 6 February 2020 and winners will be announced shortly afterward.
Thank you for being part of Smart Bitches, and thank you for celebrating with us. Happy Anniversary!!
Update: Comments are closed and winners will be emailed shortly. Thank you all for your kind words, comments, and nostalgia!
Thanks to SBTB I discovered Strange Love and I haven’t been the same since. Also shout out to the recent cover men Neil, Kieth, and of course, Poodle.
My favorite smart bitches moment was an article you had years ago about weird vintage romance covers. The cover where the heroine had 3 hands was amusing.
I love the Cover Snark articles, but a major highight of a week is reading the The Bachelor/Bachelorette recaps. I’m not brave enough to watch, but can (usually) manage to read about the many WTF moments throughout without my embarrassment squick kicking in too hard.
I do not need a candle (but I appreciate the concept!)-I just want SBTB to be here another 16 years!
Everyone here contributes to my sanity. Love you all!!!
<3
As many others I first came here for the cover snark. I’ve discovered so many books and authors that I’ve lost count. My favourite moments though are finding kindred spirits mit just in your kind and brilliant articles but also in the comments. Thank you for supporting this community!
While I always have a good laugh on the site, most memorable for me is the “Mad Max: Fury Road Makes Your Rape Arguments Invalid” article. I still link to this article 5+ years later when somebody trots out the “historical accuracy” excuse.
Happy anniversary Bitches!
SBTB got me started on reading romance – it was something I’d always secretly wanted to read but I worried about the stigma (yes I was an idiot) and didn’t know where to start, the choice seemed overwhelming and I wanted well written, smart books with no dubious consent issues. I think this site was recommended on another forum I followed, I started working my way through A+ reviews, found Courtney Milan….and the rest is history. I am now a proud romance reader and can trace it all back to here!
My favourite smart bitches moments were reading the very earliest archives at a really hard time in my life two and a half years ago. The witty, irreverent tone the site had in the beginning was a balm to my heart when I was struggling to keep my head above water.
If I have to cite something in particular, the posts where you had to enter random words and it would generate a silly book outline had me snort laughing. I can’t remember now what they are called but they were hilarious.
It’s not a specific memory – but just a general love for the comment section being one of the only safe places to read comments online thank you all.
Plus Pregnesia. Lol.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
You’re in my RSS feed, saving my life… to paraphrase a classic moment.
I came for the Cover Snark over 10 years ago, I stayed for the awesome. You’ve published my HaBO, a guest review I did once too, and just given me free access to a pink palace of positivity.
Thank you Sarah and Candy and the delightful compatriots you have added since!! (Elyse’s Bachelor reviews are the catnippiest of catnips these days). God bless!
Drawn in by the “Pregnesia” review [if you haven’t read it, you must!], and stayed because the Bitchery is phenomenal. Congrats on an excellent 16; looking forward to the next 16+!
I have fine numerous books on Smart Bitches(bless you!), and one of the most recent was “Hench.” This one is not necessarily in my wheelhouse, and it was definitely not on my radar, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Happy Anniversary, and thank you for so many years of joy!
So many books discovered here! But I owe my love of everything Talia Hibbert has ever written to discovering her on this site!!
For me, it’s not necessarily a specific book, but the *authors* I have discovered here: Tessa Dare, Theresa Romain, Alyssa Cole, Eva Leigh, Jasmine Guillory, and so many more. Y’all have encouraged me to explore beyond my favorite historical romances & sci-fi/fantasy and to reflect even more deeply about what I’m reading and why. I am thrilled that the site has made it to 16 – here’s to (at least) 16 more!
Keep bringing us fantastic books, and snarky cover chats ; ) I’d love a chance to buy a few of these candles!!!
I showed up for a specific podcast episode (one of the Deanna Raybourn ones in the 200 range) and have stayed for the website and all the recommendations.
Here’s to another 16 years! 🙂
I once went to an event y’all advertised on here (and that Sarah was at) and even though I was too anxious to say hi, it was a really cool event and helped make this community feel more real!
Congratulations! 🙂
I always love to see what everyone is reading. I’ve gotten a lot of author/book recommendations from those posts, including Lucy Parker, Jessie Mihalik, and lots of other folks.
Honestly, I just really love The Bachelor/Bachelorette posts! My favorite might be when it was mentioned that ghosts might be lurking about haha.
Happy Blog Birthday!
I’ve been following this site a long time. One of the first memories I have is of the Cassie Edwards plagiarism scandal because I remembered a wildlife expert was involved and he came and ended up commenting…
And then I went and looked that up and it was 2008. Yikes!
Of all the romance/book blogs I’ve followed, this is the one I stuck with, and thank you all for making it such a great place.
I have a lot of good memories linked to this site but one stirring moment was solving a HaBO a year or two ago with the following scenario: a hero sold into slavery has to save his Arabic girlfriend after the villain captured her and put explosive powder into a deteriorating satchel inside her vagina. Can he get to her before the satchel evaporates? (Spoiler alert: she make it through.) I remembered that this alarming scenario was in the book Monsoon by Wilbur Smith. Such pride I felt!
Not necessarily specific posts, but just knowing this site exists and there are like-minded people out there (I live in a very red area of a very red state) is extremely comforting. Here’s to 16 more years! (I just had the uncomfortable realization that in 16 years I’ll be almost 80–but I’m confident that in 2037 I’ll still be ogling cover models and consuming mass quantities of Harlequin Presents.)
My favorite SB moment has to be when my HaBO was solved by the marvelous folks who read this site! I’d been trying to find that book for years and it was driving me mad. But within hours of the post going up, I had an answer. The Bitchery rocks! Happy anniversary, Smart Bitches. <3
I have learned of so many great books/authors here, and the site has encouraged me to step outside of my reading comfort zone. I also love the podcast – I listen every week while I walk to the library to pick up new books!
Picture the scene: a dimly lit communications room inside a hulking grey U.S. Navy warship, in an undisclosed location in the South China Sea, in 2012.
Me, a young Petty Officer Second Class, supposed to be working but actually reading SB Sarah’s review of Savage Moon by Cassie Edwards. The review builds in outrageousness and hilarity until I finally come to this passage:
Cassie Edwards hero: “This is our special night. My woman, I have not even played my flute of love for you.”
SB Sarah: “NO NO NO. DO NOT PLAY YOUR FLUTE OF LOVE.”
My brain breaks. I am literally weeping with convulsive laughter.
Just then, my lieutenant walks in. And I have to try to explain myself, with tears streaming down my face, while completely unable to breathe or speak or function at all. But there is no explaining the Flute of Love. It broke me on a primal level. When the Flute of Love calls you, there is no resisting.
So, thanks, SBTB, for eight years of amazing recommendations, thoughtful commentary, and humor. Also for making my lieutenant think I was an insane sex maniac. 🙂
I found this site when I first started reading romance in the midst of severe PPD 8 years ago, and I can’t thank you enough for all the wonderful books I’ve found through you. I wasn’t sure if I could pick a favorite moment, but I think it was when a bananas HABO was posted (something about a twin taking the place of another one?) and the comments section not only knew the correct book, but several others that could also fit the crazy plot. I added them all to my TBR.
in ur romance, saving ur life… (’nuff said)
I was already a romance reader when I found my way here—in 2008!!!—but I want to thank you for introducing me to Lois McMaster Bujold. I’m also thankful to the bitchery for bringing to my attention so much satisfying-to-romance-readers SFF. Then there’s all the fascinating nonfiction SB Sarah keeps shoving in my face—well, ears—by interviewing the authors… All the things! SBTB expands my horizons.
Not to mention, I so appreciate that SBTB doesn’t shy away from the serious discussions. So. Appreciate!
Happy anniversary, and how can it be sixteen?!!! Weren’t we just at thirteen? (Oh, right. 2020 brain fog.)
I came here for one of the F+ reviews — not Pregnesia! Although I remember that one fondly but not the title of the first one I read. But I would come back again and again and read the “so bad, they’re good” reviews when I was having a bad day. Rolling around in hysterics always made everything better. I was a romance reader already but wanted to branch out beyond paranormals. I’ve discovered a number of new books and some favorite authors including T. Kingfisher, and as a deaf person I always appreciate the podcast transcripts, which is one of the reasons I’ve stayed.
Thank you for brightening the world these past 16 years!
Since my mother passed I haven’t had a romance reading buddy. My best friends are avid readers, but steadfastly NOT romance readers – even when they are reading one. The Outlander addict will sneer at you if you call it a romance. “It’s historical fiction based around a marriage.” While I have always been open about my reading taste, I had long lacked for a good conversation about it. So, coming here and finding people talking, debating, roasting romance with open hearts was a revelation.
This might sound a little self serving, but my favorite moment was seeing my review of When Harry Met Molly posted on the site. I hadn’t reviewed a book for public consumption before. Knowing that I was sharing it with people who weren’t going to preface every comment with a derogatory remark about the genre, that was freeing.
I ended up here in 2012 seeking refuge from a very high stress job. Turns out, the cure for that was romance novels 🙂 I love HaBOs, and I’ve had at least a couple of solves. I spent years googling to try and find the first romance I ever read. I finally managed to figure out Once a Princess by Johanna Lindsey. I know HaBO would’ve gotten it in five minutes, so I’m happy to be here now. Happy Birthday!
I can’t remember how exactly I found The Pink Palace. If been reading romance “undercover” for a while after borrowing from the book exchange closet at my restaurant job. And then looking for more at thrift stores doing what I called romance roulette. And I wanted more recs and more authors. Smart Bitches was (and is) the welcoming home I didn’t know I needed. Now more than ten years later, my novel choices are out in the open. I was just telling my best friend all about Take a Hint Dani Brown with zero shame. I discovered most of my favorite authors here. And the podcast and twitch streams are getting me thru the quarantimes(TM). Thank you for creating such a wonderful online space!
I have a couple. The first time I peeked in was when I first heard about a website that celebrated smart women reading books that my English teacher mother felt were beneath notice.
What cemented me staying and reading was when the site discovered wholesale plagiarism by a well-known author. The determination to do the right thing, including donating to the preservation of the black-footed ferrets in South Dakota, made this a community I wanted to be a part of.
I’d have to go with two specific books that I discovered here: Act Like It by Lucy Parker and The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang. Both authors immediately became auto-buys.
Also, I’d like to give it up to Elyse’s Bachelor recaps as well. I don’t even watch the show. But her recaps make me snort-laugh.
Remedial Rocket Science by Susannah Nix, The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix, and Something About You by Julie James. All have become auto-buy authors!
Don’t put me in the mix for the candles because I live with someone with chemical sensitivity so I can’t burn them. But I did want to say thank you for everything. I love this site and come here at least twice a day to catch up on things.Happy Anniversary!
Happy anniversary!!! I cannot remember how long I’ve been visiting the site. I want to say it’s been at least 13 years. It’s been part of my daily routine for so long! I don’t remember how I discovered you, but I remember at the time I was amazed that there were sites that reviewed mainly romance. My mind was blown! You have introduced me to so many books! So many of my favorite authors are from reviews on the site. Nalini Singh, Lisa Kleypas, Sarah MacLean, Helen Hoang, so many more! Thank you for the work that you do. None of my geographically close friends read romance. So I didnt have anyone to share my book obsessions with. This community provided a much needed sense of belonging and I’m forever grateful for that! Thank you!! Again, happy anniversary!
PS. I LOVE the podcast too!
I think I wandered in a couple of years after you guys opened, and I haven’t left since. As others mentioned, you guys got me reading romance, which I never did before. Thanks for introducing me to so many great authors! And thanks for sharing my obsession with science fiction and fantasy.
Ah, the classics; there’s the Pregnesia review, and the Decadent review, but the review of “Someone to Cuttle” still holds a special place in my heart. Took me down a rabbit hole (hur) of shifter erotica that I did not know existed. I think one my co-workers came to check on me, because I was laughing so hard.
Here I discovered Courtney Milan, which set me on a journey (Bachelor reference) to the wide world of bad ass charters, respectful and consent focused relationships, and one of my most trusted sources for quality book reviews.
Happy 16th, Bitches!!
I recently discovered the joy that is Eurovision: The Story of Fire Saga, and my mom (@DiscoDollyDeb) shared two great posts about the contest and the film. It’s also nice to have a site that shares so many stories and opinions by women, as I’ve noticed in other reading communities that critics often condescend to the female reader and writer. Here’s to 16 more years!
My very own HABO was solved (rather quickly) after years of me searching and trying to remember. Unsurprisingly, I had a few details mixed-up, but I finally was able to re-read a book that was stuck in my mind for 15+ years.