Grab your TBRs and get ready for Summer Solstice on June 21!
RECOMMENDED: You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi is $1.99! This was mentioned in a previous Hide Your Wallet. This was Shana’s favorite read of 2022!
I read this book in snatched moments and stolen hours and I adored it. It features tropes that I’m not all that interested in: single dad, nanny x boss, and small town romance, but the writing is so immersive and rich that these didn’t feel like familiar tropes. They felt original and fresh. Like this was the first nanny on the planet to fall in love with her boss. THAT original. But I’m getting ahead … Continue reading Fundamentals of Being a Good Girl by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone
Welcome back to Cover Snark! Amanda: This gives me Barbie animated movie vibes. Sarah: His head is so big, and his neck is so long, and I’m also confused by the size of her head and the length of her arms. This is giving me the uncanny valley vibes of that one Julie Anne Long Cover – not the smirking git one, the giant head lady one. This one: Sarah: “Head too big, arms too … Continue reading Cover Snark: Lord Gumbert Rubberthwaite
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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!
It’s our first Whatcha Reading of the new year. Here’s how we’re kicking off 2026: Lara: In a move that is surprising to no one in my life, I have just reread Heated Rivalry and I’m toying with reading The Long Game again next, but I might need to try chill on the Ilya/Shane action because I’ve been plotting ways to make Ilya and Shane merch here in South Africa, so … perhaps time to … Continue reading Whatcha Reading? January 2026, Part One
RECOMMENDED: Homemaker by Ruthie Knox and Annie Mare is $2.49 at Amazon! Sarah reviewed this and gave it a B+:
Homemaker is extremely, vibrantly feminist, though Prairie is not so much angry all the time (she is sometimes) as she is fed up and unafraid to point out all of the ways that women’s perceptions, labor, and accomplishments are devalued – unless that women’s work makes the man in her life look good to other people.
Hey Look! It’s a Friday Video! (Shall we bring those back?) This week is Episode 700 of the podcast, and I’ve done both an audio and video version of the show because my guest, Amanda Matta (aka matta_of_fact) and I are examining some old skool romance covers through an art history lens. Amanda has degrees in art history and museum studies, and while she may be more known for her royals commentary, I love her podcast Art … Continue reading Episode 700: The Video!
Happy 700th Episode!! Amanda Matta is a debut author (her book is coming in 2027!), media commentator, royal analyst, and an art historian. I’ve mentioned Amanda, and her podcast Art of History, which I love. In that show, she focuses on one particular piece of art and explains the history, context, symbolism, and even the details of how it was made. I like it. So I thought, why not have Amanda Matta give the Art … Continue reading 700. An Art History Analysis of Romance Covers with Amanda Matta
Consort of Fire by Kit Rocha is $1.99! This is book one in Bound to Fire and Steel fantasy romance series. Book two is also on sale. Have you read either book? What did you think?
