It’s the second night of Hanukkah, and the giveaways continue! I love little wallets like this one.
First: my Hanukkah wishes for you tonight: may your days be sparkly with happiness, and may your nights be full of the very most wonderful sleep.
Gosh, I love good sleep.
I also love carrying a small wallet when I’m out, because I’ve realized that so many of the items I used to carry are now digitized on my phone (even my driver’s license, can you believe that?). As long as I have zipped pockets, I’m happy.
For our second night of Hanukkah, we’re giving away a Kate Spade Glimmer Card Holder in pink!

Sparkly!!
This color is a very festive glitter pink. Here are the specs:
- Measurements: 3.04″ H x 4.08″ W
- Exterior: three card slots on each side, plus larger space in the middle
To enter, please comment and tell us which book you read this year that made your reading experience sparkly-wonderful?
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 grab keys, phone, and wallet and head out the door with arms ready to embrace the goodness of the day or something, possibly also a coffee. May cause increased feelings of delight because it’s so sparkly!
Comments will close 9 December 2023 at or near 11:59pm ET, and winner will be announced shortly afterward.
Good luck, Happy Hanukkah, and thank you for being part of Smart Bitches!
WINNER UPDATE: Congratulations to Jill Q!


The Liz Danger Series by Jennifer Crusie & Bob Mayer – lots of fun
I really loved “don’t forget to write” by Sara Confino!
Loved The Graham Effect by Elle Kennedy.
I read Nevermore Bookstore (Kerrigan Byrne & Cynthia St. Aubin) on a long haul flight this year and it was perfect – sweet, engaging, and fun. Definitely a sparkly wonderful experience ✨️
I loved “Wicked Ugly Bad” by Cassandra Gannon. I don’t know who recommended it, but it really had great sweetness, villainous, found-family vibes.
I’m not sure I read for “sparkle”, but the book I read (and reread….and reread) most this year was Cait Nary’s SEASON’S CHANGE, an m/m hockey romance. I loved everything about it.
A Rake of His Own by AJ Lancaster was definitely a winner for me this year. I kept ignoring other book purchases to reread it!
Finally read The Unlovely Bride and then promptly reread it!
The Comeback, by Lily Chu. I know almost nothing about K-pop, but I was completely immersed in the world of StarLune, and Ariadne and Jihoon’s romance.
I don’t need to be in the draw for this gift, thank you.
FIRST TEST by Tamora Pierce. This is the year that I finally read Pierce’s books, and I’m so glad that I did. I will be gobbling up the rest of her backlist. *happy sigh*
*Fayne* by Ann-Marie MacDonald. Not technically a romance; but so much sparkly-wonderful goodness! It was almost 1000 pages long, and still felt too short.
Several friends recommended “A Marvellous Light” to me recently and I adored it!! I’m on my library’s wait list for the other two books in the series, but to be honest…I might not wait that long!!!
My most recent “sparkly” book was FAKING CHRISTMAS by Kerry Winnfrey. Delightful!
The Bandit Queens
Time to Shine by Rachel Reid
NOTHING TO SEE HERE by Kevin Wilson. It’s not a romance, but it is a book about love, and how children can effortlessly tangle you up in it.
The Graphic Audio adaptations of Ilona Andrews’ Kate Daniels series. The performances are excellent.
I have to say JUST LIKE MAGIC by Jenny Hogle. I loved, loved, loved this funny and magical and quirky and sweet and sexy-if-not-steamy holiday romance, and it definitely brought the worker!
The last two books that I loved were Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood and Wreck the Halls by Tessa Bailey.
The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer was sparkly-wonderful!
I finally jumped on the LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY bandwagon and have no regrets about renewing my Bad Decisions Book Club© membership.
Something Wild and Wonderful by Anita Kelly was an excellent read this year!
Thank you for doing this year after year. It is much appreciated.
I haven’t read a lot this year but I would say Katee Robert’s Dark Olympus series and my comfort rereads of Julie James’ Just the Sexiest Man Alive have definitely helped me throughout the year.
Rachel Reid’s Time to Shine and Beth Bolden’s The Score were both examples of this for me!
Tiny, Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayad: raw, insightful and ultimately hopeful with fiercely determined joy.
Tom Lake
Tessa Bailey’s Wreck the Halls definitely felt sparkly to me!
Loved Kate Canterbary’s “Shucked”. Love-love-loved it!
I adored Time to Shine and I recently found Scarlett Gale’s Warrior Guild series (all 2 of them that are currently available). I’m almost finished with the second book and I’ve been loving every page of it.
“The Dragonriders of Pern”.
It reminded me of the pleasures of opening a wonderful new world space.
I finally got to the The Love Hypothesis this year and I loved it so much. I also just read Christina Lauren’s In a Holidaze and I can’t stop thinking about it.
I just finished in the Event of Love by Courtney Kae. So much sparkly goodness from the holiday lights to Morgan and Rachel’s second-chance romance.!
I read a lot of great books this year, but _We Could Be So Good_ by Cat Sebastian was definitely one that sparkled!
Jana Goes Wild by Farrah Heron was the perfect distraction and balm for a stressful November. Loved the travel, the adult characters who had been through some things together & apart & the pining.
Rereading some of my favorite Agatha Christie novels and discussing them with my friends! I always love AC.
Even though my reading has slowed immensely this year, the books that stand out to me right now are Cambria Hebert’s Westbrook Elite books. I really love to read about her guys on the swim team.
Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld! I loved it so much.
The Duke Gets Even by Joanna Shupe made me ridiculously happy, even if it made me cry a bit.
But for sparkle? Hotel of Secrets by Diana Biller. 1878 Vienna, during the ball season. Wonderful story aside, there’s a scene that takes place as they polish a crystal chandelier. Doesn’t get more sparkly than that!
Definitely Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree
The Sasaki and Miyano Official Scrapbook had cery intriguing stories from guest manga artists! Scratched the fanfic itch, but also plausibly canon, and gave me new series to seek out. The Spy x Family For Your Eyes Only guidebook explains a lot (who knew Franky is an homage to White Collar’s Mozzie?), and is worth it for the foldout of Anya as rock star alone…