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SBTB 2026 Summer Romance Bingo

Grab your TBRs and get ready for Summer Solstice on June 21!

Book Review

Just for the Season by Rachel Griffiths

Just for the Season

The blurb promised me a Regency Bachelorette (like the TV show). What I found was a bit different, but nonetheless a great time. It has been decreed by the powers that be (yes, I’m being vague on purpose) that Charlotte should marry by the end of the summer. She has her own reasons for marrying and can’t see her way out of this ‘decree’ anyway, so her gran invites a series of eligible suitors to … Continue reading Just for the Season by Rachel Griffiths

Get Rec’d with Amanda – Volume 118

Welcome back! We have a very rare, all fiction edition of Get Rec’d. I feel like that rarely happens. However, it is very sci-fi and fantasy heavy. Are there any great recommendations you’d like to pass along? Leave them in the comments!

Sunday Sale Digest!

Smart Bitches in a blue typewriter font, and After Dark lit up like hot pink neon

This piece of literary mayhem is exclusive to Smart Bitches After Dark, but fret not. If you’d like to join, we’d love to have you! Have a look at our membership options, and come join the fun! If you want to have a little extra fun, be a little more yourself, and be part of keeping the site open for everyone in the future, we can’t wait to see you in our new subscription-based section … Continue reading Sunday Sale Digest!

Kickass Women in History: Jacquotte Delahaye and Anne Dieu-le-Veut

This month I give you a buccaneer who probably didn’t really exist and one who probably did. Both of them have come down through history as legendary figures though there’s little actual physical evidence of their lives. Still, never let it be said that I passed up the chance to share a good legend, especially if there’s a chance that at least part of it may be true. A word about words: ‘pirate’ is a … Continue reading Kickass Women in History: Jacquotte Delahaye and Anne Dieu-le-Veut

Hide Your Wallet

July 2026 Queer Romances

Sports have been heating up the courts, fields, and pitches all summer (is this an appropriate place to scream KNICKS IN FIVE!!? No?), so it only stands to reason they’d be heating up queer romance shelves, too, making up three-fifths of this month’s selections.

Friday Videos Wish You a Peaceful Weekend

An image of a VHS cassette with a label that reads FRIDAY VIDEOS Smart Bitches Ep. 21 against a pink crosshatch background

So there are some parties happening this weekend. I’m sort of “meh” about them. I haven’t been a big rah-rah fan of July 4 for several years (since…2016 maybe? Wonder why?) and for several years it was a very stressful holiday for my dogs, and therefore for us. Our solution for our dogs, if you need help: a Bluetooth speaker turned up very loud playing brown noise (the worst name for a pretty good sleeping … Continue reading Friday Videos Wish You a Peaceful Weekend

Podcast

725. Romantic Hero with Kirsty Greenwood

My guest this week is Kirsty Greenwood, whose new book Romantic Hero is out now everywhere, all over the world. Kirsty writes what she calls “speculative romantic comedy,” and I really loved her first book, Love of my Afterlife. We discuss SHOCKING topics like deleting the first book she tried to write, the character journeys in Romantic Hero, dealing with writer’s block, and punching people in the face. Want to watch this episode? Find us on … Continue reading 725. Romantic Hero with Kirsty Greenwood

Book Review

Big Stick Energy by Sarina Bowen

Big Stick Energy

When I read the following scene near the start of Big Stick Energy, I knew I was going to have a good time with this hockey romance. The captain, Eric (our hero) describes his teammates getting off the bus by saying “I watch as they file toward the front, a procession of exhausted millionaires griping like toddlers before nap time.” It made me hoot with laughter. I thought, here was a sports romance that a … Continue reading Big Stick Energy by Sarina Bowen

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