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 After Dark at the Movies: Vampires vs. The Bronx →
Swordheart was originally published in 2018. Luckily for me, Tor is republishing it with a gorgeous cover and pretty green edges, so I have an excuse to review it. I was charmed by the characters and the dialogue, but less so by the fact that the book Would. Not. End. for the longest time. The book opens with Halla, our heroine, a 36-year-old, slightly stout widow, being locked in a room by her relatives, who … Continue reading Swordheart by T. Kingfisher →
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 Tarot After Dark: Road Trip →
Ed.note: before you continue reading this review, please be aware that the TW/CW above includes discussion in this review. Reader discretion advised. Victorian Psycho is what would happen if Patrick Bateman and Jane Eyre had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad baby. Protagonist and narrator Winifred Dotty has no ability to experience fear or empathy. She is completely indifferent to physical pain, be it her own or that of others. She has an endless … Continue reading Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito →
Revisionaries: What We Can Learn From the Lost, Unfinished, and Just Plain Bad Work of Great Authors is a fun and interesting book for writers and for readers who like to know how authors work. It imparts twenty-one lessons to writers using the challenges and unfinished writings of classically regarded writers. Easily read and easily digestible, each chapter uses a different author to teach a different lesson. These examples aren’t modern, and the diversity is … Continue reading Revisionaries: What We Can Learn From the Lost, Unfinished, and Just Plain Bad Work of Great Authors by Kristopher Jansma →
The Stars Too Fondly has queer romance, found family, diverse representation, multiple references to Star Trek, and space travel. I love all of these things. I should adore this book. But I found it to be deeply implausible, frustrating, and full of undeveloped emotion, ideas, and characters. A really bad book is fine – I can toss it aside with never a qualm. A really, REALLY bad book that delivers its badness exactly as advertised … Continue reading The Stars Too Fondly by Emily Hamilton →
Tamara Lempicka (also known as Tamara de Lempicka) is having a well-deserved moment. Born in Poland in 1894, she was a painter who was famous during her lifetime for her portraits, her distinctive artistic style, and her personality. Lempicka led a dramatic life. Born Tamara Rosa Herwitz, she had a wealthy Russian-Jewish father and Polish-Jewish mother. They were baptized by the Polish Reformed Church in 1891 and Lempicka was also baptized in 1897. She married … Continue reading Kickass Women in History: Tamara Lempicka →
This book had to work hard to win me over, and darn if it didn’t succeed. I find dishonesty to be deeply triggering. Yet even I was charmed by The Truth According to Ember, a romance in which the main character, Ember, simply cannot seem to tell the truth, creating a cascade of lies, half-truths, and obfuscations ranging from large to small as Ember tries to get ahead in both her personal and professional life. … Continue reading The Truth According to Ember by Danica Nava →
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 After Dark at the Movies: Hundreds of Beavers →
Well this was just delightful. Wooing the Witch Queen revolves around one of my least favorite tropes: The Big Misunderstanding. And yet, it is a delight from beginning to end, with a minimum amount of stupidity and wonderful characters. Here’s the publisher’s description of the plot: Queen Saskia is the wicked sorceress everyone fears. After successfully wrestling the throne from her evil uncle, she only wants one thing: to keep her people safe from the … Continue reading Wooing the Witch Queen by Stephanie Burgis →
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 Tarot After Dark: A Reading for Spring →
