Featured

Books as Luxury Items

Books are being recast as luxury items, which I believe reveals a larger cultural anxiety about reading.

The Rec League: Fantasy and Sci-Fi Mafia Romances

The Rec League - heart shaped chocolate resting on the edge of a very old book

This Rec League request is brought to you, selfishly, by me! I want mafia romances but in a fantasy or sci-fi setting. GET ME OFF THIS PLANET. Elyse: Oh. Now I want that too. Shana: Taken to Kor by Elizabeth Stephens has space pirates. I’m not sure if that counts. It’s a dark romance. I’m not sure how well it would work as a standalone. Susan: Hana Maruko’s Love Gamble With the Mafia is sort-of … Continue reading The Rec League: Fantasy and Sci-Fi Mafia Romances

This Started as a Review and Turned into Something Else…

Featured image for This Started as a Review and Turned into Something Else…

TW/CW: The following post contains discussion of medical procedure, medical anxiety, and chronic illness. I just finished Private Arrangements by Sherry Thomas and it is easily an A+ book. The book took me by the hand and led me through some of the scariest days in my recent life. For the moments that I was reading that book, my external world, hell, even my internal world, was reshaped and replaced by a book so all-consuming … Continue reading This Started as a Review and Turned into Something Else…

Book Review

The Paris Match by Kate Clayborn

Paris Match

I reached 28% before I couldn’t take this story for a second longer. Doesn’t seem all that far in, I know, but it made me think and feel A LOT in that 28% and I want to talk about it. The Paris Match might be the perfect example of ‘your mileage may vary’. I picked this book up for the gorgeous cover. I was so enamoured of the cover and what I assumed the feel … Continue reading The Paris Match by Kate Clayborn

Links: Super Readers, Gaming Tie-Ins, & More

An illustrated image of a desk space with a computer, stack of books, reading glasses, and a mug.

Hello and welcome back! After seeing snow last week, I think I can finally be hopeful spring is here. It’s been in the 60s and 70s lately. My brother and his wife are visiting next month and he does not do well in anything 65 or below. However, spring in New England can be so hard to predict. I’ve had rainy, frigid Memorial Day weekends plenty of times. I told him to start making sacrifices … Continue reading Links: Super Readers, Gaming Tie-Ins, & More

Sign Up for Quarterly Book Recommendations!

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 Sign Up for Quarterly Book Recommendations!

Help A Bitch Out

HaBO: Her Parents Were Activists in the 70s

This HaBO comes from Chioma, who wants to find this romance: I read this African-American romance novel as a kid, and I am trying to find the title and author. It was likely published between 1995 and 2005. It is a standalone book set in the USA, and the cover was definitely an illustrated style—not a real photo. I vaguely remember it having a rose on it, but I could be wrong about that part. … Continue reading HaBO: Her Parents Were Activists in the 70s

Hide Your Wallet

Hide Your Wallet: April 14th Release Week

Happy Tuesday! Have I mentioned yet how busy April is for releases? This week, there’s horror, fantasy romance, mafia romance, and more on our TBR piles. What releases are you excited for? Let us know in the comments!

Transcript Announcement

The Transcript for Episode 713 with Alisha Rai is Ready!

The transcript for Podcast 713. Enemies to Lovers with Alisha Rai has been posted!

Don’t miss Enemies to Lovers by Alisha Rai, out now wherever books are sold! And special thanks to the sponsor for episode 713, Sotto Voce Scents, fine purveyors of candles inspired by romance novels. My favorite: Scoundrelwood, with notes of sandalwood, tobacco, vanilla and leather conjure the dark and luxurious gaming hells and gentlemen’s clubs where you can find your favourite scoundrels Sotto Voce is offering listeners 15% off their order with the code SMART15 … Continue reading The Transcript for Episode 713 with Alisha Rai is Ready!

Continue reading →

↑ Back to Top