This guest review comes from Lisa! A longtime romance aficionado and frequent commenter to SBTB, Lisa is a queer Latine critic with a sharp tongue and lots of opinions. She frequently reviewed at All About Romance and Women Write About Comics, where she’s on staff, and you can catch her at _@thatbouviergirl on Twitter. There, she shares good reviews, bracing industry opinions and thoughtful commentary when she’s not on her grind looking for the next … Continue reading The Spy and the Nightingale by Lea Hollis→
The SBTB snark pantry is running a little low! I can hardly believe it. For a peek behind the scenes, we have a Cover Snark Slack channel where we drop in covers as we see them. We also input covers we receive from the community along with any included comments. When it comes time to run a Cover Snark, we pick the next four covers in the queue. We’re nearly caught up on our Cover … Continue reading Submit Your Snark!→
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!→
Welcome back to Whatcha Reading! Here’s how we’re kicking off August: Lara: I’m indulging in another instalment (number three) of the Sebastian St. Cyr series by CS Harris. I’m delighted to have so many books ahead of me in this series! Things are getting intense with Kat Boleyn and I’m developing a crush on Hero although my first love will always be Paul Gibson. (P.S. I forced Sarah to reveal the long term love interest … Continue reading Whatcha Reading? August 2026, Part One→
The Fake Mate by Lana Ferguson is $1.99 and a Kindle Daily Deal! Lara reviewed this one and gave it a C:
If this book had maintained its giddy pace all the way through, it would have absolutely delighted me. As it is, it’s a distinctly meh situation that I’m left with. Would I recommend it? Probably not. The first just-over-half is really fun reading, but it falls apart so dramatically after that, I ended up very disappointed.
Happy Friday, everybody!! It’s time to start the weekend and I have a mellow soundtrack for you! I cannot listen to music with lyrics while I’m working. I get distracted by the words, and it interferes with my brain’s ability to produce my own words, which I kind of need to do here and there. Blogging, after all, is was originally a text medium. I also don’t like AI-generated instrumentals, and avoiding them is becoming … Continue reading Friday Videos Love Yellow Cherry Jam→
August’s new romance releases brings a little treat for all different approaches to the month. Whether you’re still celebrating summer, anxious for fall, or just want to enjoy a sweet ‘n sexy vacation, there’s something for you hitting shelves this month.
The re-release of The Luckiest Lady in London has arrived, and Sherry Thomas joins me to talk about the writing of that book more than 13 years ago, how romance and historicals have changed, and how this book is a reflection and subversion of another very, very famous historical romance. Plus, she gives us recommendations of her favorite historical romance authors and some of their books. Note: we had some connectivity issues, so sometimes the … Continue reading 730. Still the Luckiest Lady in London with Sherry Thomas→
The Auction by Sadie Kincaid is $2.99! I mentioned this mafia romance on Hide Your Wallet when it released in the spring. It’s book one in a duology and book two is out in November.
This Rec League was sent in by Sue: In a recent episode with Kirsty Greenwood (maybe it was the bonus episode?), Sarah mentioned that books where the heroine has lost EVERYTHING and has no friends can be irritating, even if they are useful for the book plot. This is a personal pet peeve of mine too, and can keep me from recommending a book after I’ve finished it. Tessa Bailey is maybe the most guilty … Continue reading The Rec League: Supportive Friendships→
