Smart Bitches Trashy Books is 21!
Twenty-one years ago, on 31 January 2005, Smart Bitches began.
As we’ve noted, the site launched with a review for Angel-Seeker by Sharon Shinn and for The Unsung Hero by Suzanne Brockmann.
We’ve cover snarked, helped bitches out, talked about what we’re reading, and, as a neat coincidence, Smart Podcast Trashy Books published its 700th episode on Friday 9 January 2026.
(You can watch the video of the episode on YouTube!)
We’ve made some major changes over the year, too!
We launched Smart Bitches After Dark, the community that keeps the site free for everyone (thanks, y’all!).
With their support, we have turned off all external ads on SBTB, upgraded a number of elements of the server side, and fine tuned settings to make the site faster and easier to use.
And speaking of, with the support of the Podcast Patreon, I turned off all dynamic ads before and after the show permanently to avoid ads for ICE and other right-wing propaganda airing with my show.
My goal here is always to create and defend a safe space for us to talk to one another, and even if the internet makes that increasingly difficult, I’m determined to keep our community thriving.
None of that is possible without your being here. Thank you!
The site wouldn’t still be here without you. Our community is welcoming new readers, helping people find the books they want to read, and thriving as a warm and wonderful collection of humans from all over the globe. You let me know when something isn’t working, and you’ve been very effusive with the compliments and kudos, which I appreciate so much.
It’s a very hard time in the online media world, especially in the independent media world like we are, and the offline media world, for so many people. And because we are still talking to one another is an accomplishment and one that I don’t take for granted.
Thank you for hanging out with us, for telling us about all the books you’ve read and liked, and about the books you’ve read and didn’t like. Thank you for supporting our work and telling us jokes, for emailing us exquisite cover art, and for being part of our community.
Usually I look at the modern and traditional anniversary gifts, but 21 is an obvious choice.
For this year’s anniversary celebration, we’re giving away four stemless champagne glasses like this one:
Except they’ll be custom engraved with:
You need a Smart Bitches champagne glass in your life, right? And it doesn’t have to be champagne. Drink juice, cider, a smoothie – whatever your libation of choice, you can enjoy it Smart Bitches style. Each winner will receive one glass.
So, want to win a prize?
Just comment below and share something you love that you found at Smart Bitches.
A book or author you discovered here that you adore?
A cover snark that you re-read and then snort-laugh?
A conversation or review you still think about?
A HaBO you solved or a HaBO you sought?
A comment that blew your mind?
What post or moment do you think of when you think of Smart Bitches? Tell us one of your favorite Smart Bitches memories 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. Must be over 18 and ready to read, and possibly sip fine beverages, with panache and style. Comments will close at noon ET on Thursday 5 February 2026 and winners will be announced shortly afterward.
Thank you for being part of Smart Bitches, and thank you for celebrating with us. Happy Anniversary!!
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Congratulations to our winners: Jess, Heather A., Kareni, and book_reader_ea01sj71r4!
If that’s you, check for an email message from me.
And I noticed the requests for that image to be a sticker – I’m on it.
Thank you so much for celebrating with us!
I’ve found more great authors here than I can recall, but I’ll never forget it was a comment on this blog that got me to finally read Ilona Andrews. They’d been on my TBR for ages, but after seeing a comment that said Rogan is a dragon who believes in consent and the rave review on the blog for it, I had to check out Hidden Legacy. I’m a fan of all things IA now, but that first HL trilogy is my favorite and a frequent reread.
Memorable posts/reviews:
Decadent by Shayla Black (“I’m in ur ass, saving ur life”)
Pregnesia!
Cassie Edwards plagiarism and the black-footed ferrets
(yeah, I’ve been here a while)
(Happy Anniversary!)
JB Hunt did a good job of listing authors that I probably found on the site although I know I found Suzanne Brockmann the old-fashioned way, by browsing in a bookstore.
I particularly remember the the reporting on the imploding of RWA after they did the then unthinkable and tried to oust Courtney Milan, basically for her advocacy of diversity and inclusion in romance. That was a shit storm and RWA lost all credibility and, if it even exists, is a shadow of what it was. Very sad since it did serve to assist romance authors and readers.
I also picked up on many books to read from the Whatcha Reading posts. I know I found one author from DiscoDollyDeb posts. I have bought many a book from this site and my TBR pile would probably take the rest of my life to read.
You highlighted libraries and and Libby. During an economic downturn, libraries were key for me. Now I know that I have access to free books 24/7, and audiobooks and more. Without your posts I may still have had my head in the sand since I am a technophobe.
I used to be a reticent about admitting my love of romance novels (I need a HEA) after years of hearing them denigrated. Now I see this (and other sites) where they are celebrated. I have one of your mugs: Fu*k the Patriarchy, and I was a member of the Bad Decisions Book Club from before you coined the name.
I have totally adored all of the cover snark. I would give an example, but my memory is shorter than it used to be. Neuralgia drugs. But I adore them all!!!
PREGNESIA, you guys. PREG-effing-NEE-ZEE-AH. I’ve been here since 2005, and I’m so glad it’s a corner of the internet and podcast-phere that’s still here and still independent. I’ve learned how to use DISCORD for this group! ILU guys. Congrats on 20 years!
Happy Anniversary! I’m here for the graphics and travel back in time covers. Also love the community and comments.
I think about so many things: being new to romance and finding “Lord of Scoundrels” and “Bet Me” on one of your best romance lists back around 2008-ish, which was also my intro to SBTB. Meeting you at the Richland Library where we watched “Love Between The Covers” together (still a treasured photo, btw) and then reuniting later that year at RT Book Lover’s Con, where you pointed me in Tere Michaels’ direction and I fangirled all over her. Just years and years of wonderful interactions with you. Whenever I see your name in my email inbox or some fantastic romance cover that I know you’d appreciate, it’s always a feeling of “Hey, this is my friend Sarah”.
I’ve been reading and lurking and, more recently, posting in this space for only about a third of the 21 years but the recommendations and conversations here are a highlight of every day. Like many others have said, SBTB has introduced me to a plethora of new books and new-to-me authors. To mention just the most recent discovery, KJ Micciche went from “I never heard of this writer but the SBTB mention is intriguing” to “I’ve read everything this writer has published; when will she write a new book?” in only a few weeks. I’m immensely grateful for that addition to my mostly digital bookshelf, as well as all the other books (and some movies) I’ve added to my endless TBR list because of this fabulous site and its community of readers. Thank you! (Also, the champagne glasses are exquisite.)
Happy 21st Anniversary! And remember to behave responsibly with your newly legal drinking so you don’t wake up with a headache! (And, I do not need to win the champagne glasses though they are wonderful.)
I first came to this site many moons ago, before Sarah’s second child was born, and while Candy was still in law school, because I was searching for book cover pictures with Fabio (yes, I still like to look at men with muscles, long hair, and optional shirts). I read around the pic and loved it so much I went back to the beginning posts over a few weeks and read them all til I caught up. So I feel like I’ve really been around since the beginning. I’ve sent in some cover snarks and made a few comments and I knew a few HABO, though I’m not sure I got the answer in in time (it still counts!). I have found some new authors who I might not have otherwise read (my TBR pile is at least to Jupiter so I try not to pick up too many new authors to keep it more manageable–oh, who am I kidding, it’s never been or will it ever be so), of which Courtney Milan stands out.
I look forward to my daily read! Thank you all for your hard work in keeping this going (and I am including commenters because they’re also an important component). Happy Anniversary to us all!
Romance novels in general (read a lot in high school and college, then fell away in grad school) but especially Lucy Parker. “Act Like It” is still one of my top 5 and I found it here.
Happy 21st Anniversary!!!
An author I have discovered through the Bitchery would be Mariana Zapata. I enjoy her slow burn romances and am grateful to find such a positive community here.
I can’t think of a specific Cover Snark off hand as they never fail to make me choke with laughter as a whole. I do enjoy the Bachelor posts for the humor and the expressive kitty pictures as I would have liked to have my now over the Rainbow Bridge cats enjoy watching shows with me.
Happy anniversary, y’all!
Happy Happy Blogiversary! And thank you for being my favorite corner of the internet. Between the Cover Snark, the Wednesday Links, the show recaps (Poldark, Bachelor/ette, Heated Rivalry, et al) and the no-holds-barred reviews, I always find something here to brighten my day and give me a laugh or a smile. I’ve also found a lot to think about through the insightful articles and thoughtful comments. Thank you for always standing for truth, justice, equality, and inclusiveness. And thank you most of all for creating this wonderful community, where we can all be ourselves and stand up for the things we love without judgement, shaming, or censorship. Here’s to many more years!
So many authors discovered here, especially during the march madness romance off. (I’ll remember the name as soon as I hit publish). Nalini Singh, Patricia Briggs and Ilona Andrews to name a few that are now autobuy.
My favourite post? The ever hilarious “I’m f*cking her in the ass, saving her life”. I can still picture the illustration.
Happy anniversary Bitches – many more!
I started reading Smart Bitches in about 2008, when Sarah talked about romance on NPR. She inspired me to try it again. I learned about so many authors, but would probably have never come across Sharon Lee and Steve Miller and the Liaden Universe.
My favorite early on was the extremely complicated way the site rated Rita contestant books by having multiple members of the Bitchery sign up to write reviews, ending up with ~4/book. I never participated, but came to the conclusion that a I liked the B+’s best.
Oh wow! 21 is an incredible achievement in the seemingly ephemeral internet space. Dis Facebook cene exist then? (I kid.) I’ve been popping in and out since, uh, before Google reader was a thing. So like, a while. Learned a lot about ferrets. And of course a nexus for discovering so many other lovely readers, fans, and authors.
Happy birthday!
I think the author and series that sticks with me the most is Shelly Laurenston’s Honey Badger series. I’ve never been into shifter fantasy, so I brushed off the first recommendation. But y’all kept recommending that series, and I was going on vacation, so I figured it was low risk. And then I got hooked (on the Honey Badgers, at least)!
It was hard for me to get back into reading the second year into COVID (I spent a LOT of time in the beginning with my kids and distance learning, and not being able to read books at all). I discovered that I could read shorter (300 pages or less) romance books, most of them recommended here. So, thank you all for helping me to be able to read books again.
As so many have experienced, I was overjoyed to rediscover a title I’d forgotten through HaBO. Jessamy, by Barbara Sleigh, was written in 1967, and I borrowed it from the library and read it numerous times in the 70s. Then I forgot about it until one day I yearned for it and couldn’t remember the details. I’d moved far away and my old library was long gone, too. I mourned it for years until I found help here. Thank you, Smart Bitches and thank you to your wonderful community of readers.
Happy 21st! Thank you for building this safe corner of the internet for us! I think probably 90% of the authors I read come from recommendations made here, maybe even a higher percentage. I found Smart Bitches soon after I re-found romance. My grandmother fed me a diet of romantic suspense throughout the 80s (Mary Stuart, Victoria Holt) and then I drifted away from romance after she died. I found it again around 2006 and soon after found this site. I’ve been here ever since, usually lurking, but finding like minded readers has been such a support for me over the years. Thank you!
I love cover snark on the regular, Candy’s Heated Rivalry recaps were amazing, Kickass Women, and I also recall the Eurovision recaps are all favorites.
Thanks for all you do
Happy Anniversary SBTB! Martha Wells’s MURDERBOT and Anne Leckie’s ANCILLARY JUSTICE. I realize that neither one of these is a romance and I have most definitely found a ton of romance authors here, but there have been so many that I can’t remember who all they were.
More recently, I discovered the HEATED RIVALRY TV adaptation here. I had no idea that it was being made. And then there were Candy’s reviews and the enthusiastic comments from the bitchery. Without those, I probably wouldn’t have gotten up the nerve to watch a show with that much sex in it, however much I loved the book, and that would have been a great loss. So thanks to both the reviewers and the commenters here. You folks are wonderful.
Happy 21, Smart B*tches! Like so many have already said more eloquently, I’m so grateful for this safe, supportive community where romance readers and readers, period, can share about our reading and life. I’ve loved picking up new books/authors from your reviews and from WAYRs and also love the Wednesday posts that broaden my horizons… I lurked for eons waaaaaaaaay back, and it’s possible that my memory is failing me, but I thought that there were some posts where La Nora commented, which blew my fan-girl mind… Read on, B*tchery!
I’m relatively new to the genre. I think I stumbled across SBTB on Twitter (before it became the Bad Place). Then in the beginning of the pandemic, looking for some escapist reading, I checked out my first genre romance novel – the ebook of Dreaming of You – on 3/30/20 after reading some SBTB reviews, looking for recs. I think I’ve read over 700 romances since that Kleypas. This website is still my #1 go-to for everything romance. Love everything you do here!
SBTB was the first place I truly felt validated as a romane reader. I think I discovered Christina Lauren (OG, not the lighter stuff), Talia Hibbert and Penny Reid here. I’m sure do many others, too. Thanks for existing!
Thank you to everyone past and present in the Pink Palace and to commentators who teach and entertain me. My time with SBTB reached 15 years this month (first post, Call Me, Maybe), and this community was a light that pulled me through.
I started posting during the Cassie Edwards plagiarism days. One of my fondest memories is an early podcast with you and Jane (and silent Angie) talking with Nalini Singh at RT back in 2012 (I think, I know it was before Heart of Obsidian released). Happy 21st anniversary!
I don’t need another glass, but I did want to say thank you. I discovered Smart Bitches around 2008. It has helped me discover new authors for a broader reading experience and become a better writer. Most of all it’s entertained me at some times when I’ve really needed a good giggle or snort laugh.
Realistically, what I found with Smart Bitches was myself. In my eighteen years with you all, I have unabashedly claimed my identity as a romance reader. I have learned to claim what speaks to me and to put aside what is not useful or helpful. I have learned to see hidden misogyny and racism in literature and reject it, to speak out against it. I have gained a sense of companionship with romance readers from many backgrounds. Smart Bitches and the HEAs they promote got me through some dark days. Grateful and hope that I can also contribute in some small way. Oh, and my name has changed – I was posting as Vicki and now, as a member of After Dark, I am Vic Solo which has been a secret identity forever and that I am now claiming.
I discovered Celia Lake thanks to Catherine’s review of Eclipse, and I will be forever grateful. Lake’s gentle romances helped get me through the latter part of the pandemic, and continue to sustain and comfort me in these challenging times.
As others have mentioned, I can’t think of any beloved authors I haven’t learned about on this site! Choosing a favorite is difficult, but I’ll go with Courtney Milan.
Thanks for creating such a warm and welcoming community to discuss a genre that still didn’t get the respect it deserves (even if it’s better than it was 21 years ago)!
Congratulations! And thank you!
I can’t remember how I came to discover your website, but I have been enjoying it regularly for years. Most of the authors I’ve been reading have been recommended here- it’s the best place I’ve found for recommendations for good books (and trashy ones) with strong female (or non-binary) protagonists. I found Martha Wells and Anne Leckie here, as well as Lisa Kleypas, Ilona Andrews, Beverly Jenkins, and others. I can’t tell you how many books I’ve bought on your recommendations, but it’s at least 1500 ebooks. I hope you get your finders fee for that- I’m in the UK and I’ve often wondered.
HBD SBTB!!
I treasure Elyse’s Bachelor-Bachelorette watch-alongs, particularly those with dear, Puddin’, whose sticker has a place of honor on my work laptop. In all honesty, I’ve never watched a full ep of the series, but thanks to Elyse brilliant takes, I can continue my avoidance.
The world is shiitake right now, but I am so grateful to the love and care that goes into keeping this community afloat. Thank you!!!
I found community! reading romance was my private guilty pleasure, and with SBTB I found a community of smart, engaging people who not only read romance but treat it seriously (and humorously). no longer private and no longer guilty – still a pleasure. thank you to everyone involved, the SB’s, the reviewers, and all the members who contribute to this site and help build and sustain the community.
I love every single WAYR! I have found so many good books in the community comments!
I stubmbled across SBTB thanks to a newspaper article, I think it was the NYT talking about romance novels, SBTB and I believe the Beyond Heaving Bosoms book. At that time, my newspaper here had a cooperation with the NYT and had a special insert with articles from them every few weeks. And of course I had to check this blog out and buy the book, because my little Regency-category-romance-reading self had no idea what was going on in the wider world of Romancelandia! I was a reader/lurker for a long time on and off, until 2020 hit…
I’ve gotten many a recommendation from this site, not least also through the comments in the Whatcha reading-posts. First and foremost though – the Game Changers series and Heated Rivalry especially. I was already reading m/m romances, but I did not have icehockey as a subgenre on my radar for this – until I read DDD’s comments! I’ve just re-read them whilst I am hoping I will be able to watch the series somehwere here in Europe soon!
Memorable reviews? Oh yes, especially those that made me laugh. Pregnesia – I bought it because of THAT review! And the Playboy Sheikh’s Stable Girl or what it was called – which I gifted my best friend for a laugh. The title alone sold me. We sometimes give each other weird gifts!
Happy Anniversary to SBTB!! I’ve found so many wonderful books and authors here, but I do distinctly remember reading recommendations for the Troubleshooters series, and that opened my world to the genre of romantic suspense, which I’ve enjoyed since. Although I do have some mixed feelings these days about romances with military or law-enforcement main leads, the troubleshooters series remains one of my favorites and it’s one I’ve gone back to several times over the years as the characters are just so well written and have stuck in my brain. Many thanks to the whole crew who runs this site, I’m so grateful to have a community of supportive, funny, and thoughtful folks who keep me on my romance fix 💜
Like so many others, I have discovered some of my most favorite authors on this site, like Courtney Milan, Tessa Dare, Cat Sebastian, Loretta Chase, and Sarah Maclean. But I also have to give shout outs to two books/series I found out about here and recently devoured: A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland and The Undercutting of Rosie and Adam by Megan Bannen. Go read them! Well, read Book 1 in Bannen’s series first…
So many books and authors I’ve seen here have become favorites, but I have to call out the book I most recently devoured: A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland.
I didn’t actually read the book but I will never forget the review about the triceratops lover. Actually, I probably should read it.
Happy Anniversary! I’m going to comment before I read any of the other comments-or I’ll end up too distracted to make my own!
This site is the only one I check every day. I’ve been on the internet since people used to post “online diaries” back in the early 90’s-and I can honestly say that this site is the best! The only place where I look forward to the comments as much as the posts.
I have loved getting to know the commenters. I know if @DiscoDollyDeb recommends a book-I will be reading it. So many others over the years, if they like a book, I bet I will too.
When I was young I read a lot romance, and then I got away from it. I loved historical and contemporary fiction, and that was my jam. After I starting reading this site, I got back into romance both contemporary and historical. Sports romance? Never read it until reading comments and reviews here-now some of my favorite books are rugby and hockey romances.
In the world today, there are very few places I can go and think “wow, they get it!”. Even if I don’t agree with something, this is a place full of respect and tolerance. I can’t thank you enough for providing this space, that is full of humor and kindness!