Quantcast
Channel: Smart Bitches, Trashy Booksbeta heroes – Smart Bitches, Trashy Books
Viewing all 7855 articles
Browse latest View live

An Awesome Tee, Plus Contemporary Romances!

0
0

TeeFury has a Doctor Who-themed bookish t-shirt on sale today! It’s $10 off, dropping the price to $12.

Rookie Move

Rookie Move by Sarina Bowen is $1.99 at most vendors and $2.99 at Barnes & Noble! This is book one in the Brooklyn Bruisers series about a hockey team. The second book, which Elyse loved, is discounted a couple bucks. Readers loved the second chance romance in this book, but found the pacing in the first half a big slow.

The first novel in a sexy new series featuring the hockey players of the Brooklyn Bruisers and the women who win their hearts—from the USA Today bestselling author of the Ivy Years series.

In high school they were the perfect couple—until the day Georgia left Leo in the cold…

Hockey player Leo Trevi has spent the last six years trying to do two things: get over the girl who broke his heart, and succeed in the NHL. But on the first day he’s called up to the newly franchised Brooklyn Bruisers, Leo gets checked on both sides, first by the team’s coach—who has a long simmering grudge, and then by the Bruisers’ sexy, icy publicist—his former girlfriend Georgia Worthington.

Saying goodbye to Leo was one of the hardest things Georgia ever had to do—and saying hello again isn’t much easier. Georgia is determined to keep their relationship strictly professional, but when a press conference microphone catches Leo declaring his feelings for her, things get really personal, really fast….

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

This book is on sale at:

Amazon Barnes & Noble Kobo iBooks

 

 

 

Blurred Lines

Blurred Lines by Lauren Layne is 99c! This is a new adult romance with a friends to lovers/friends with benefits plot. I love the way Layne writes dialogue in her romances and many readers seemed to love that in Blurred Lines. However, some felt the heroine had a “not like other girls” characterization, which was a turn off. It has a 4-star rating on Goodreads.

In a novel that’s perfect for fans of Abbi Glines and Jessica Sorensen, USA Today bestselling author Lauren Layne delivers a sexy take on the timeless question: Can a guy and a girl really be “just friends”?

When Parker Blanton meets Ben Olsen during her freshman year of college, the connection is immediate—and platonic. Six years later, they’re still best friends, sharing an apartment in Portland’s trendy Northwest District as they happily settle into adult life. But when Parker’s boyfriend dumps her out of the blue, she starts to wonder about Ben’s no-strings-attached approach to dating. The trouble is, even with Ben as her wingman, Parker can’t seem to get the hang of casual sex—until she tries it with him.

The arrangement works perfectly . . . at first. The sex is mind-blowing, and their friendship remains as solid as ever, without any of the usual messy romantic entanglements. But when Parker’s ex decides he wants her back, Ben is shocked by a fierce stab of possessiveness. And when Ben starts seeing a girl from work, Parker finds herself plagued by unfamiliar jealousy. With their friendship on the rocks for the first time, Parker and Ben face an alarming truth: Maybe they can’t go back. And maybe, deep down, they never want to.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

This book is on sale at:

Amazon Kobo iBooks

 

 

 

Hail Mary

Hail Mary by Nicola Rendell is 99c! This cover made quite a stir in our latest Cover Snark, but readers in the comments said the book is actually pretty good. However, many didn’t believe the heroine didn’t recognize the hero, given that she’s supposed to be his new physical therapist.

At a boxing gym in Chicago, Mary Monahan accidentally knocks out the most handsome man she’s ever met. After she wakes him up with a few slaps and some smelling salts, the very first thing he does is ask her out for ribs and beer. His name is Jimmy. He looks like a Gillette model. And he’s just too hunky to resist.

Jimmy “The Falcon” Falconi is mystified that Mary has absolutely no idea who he is. Mystified and refreshed. He is, after all, not your everyday NFL quarterback. He shops at Costco, has a soft spot for Pinterest, and is in the midst of an epic losing streak.

Jimmy falls for Mary fast and hard, the way he does everything—balls out and like it’s fourth and long. And he realizes he’s finally met his match. That stamina he’s so proud of? Doesn’t stand a chance against her Kegels.

But what they don’t know is she’s also his new physical therapist, recently hired by the Bears to work on his rotator cuff…and groin injury. If she can’t help him, he’ll be traded faster than they can say “offensive penetration.”

In spite of the thousands of internet memes featuring Jimmy’s face with captions like: “HEY GIRL, WANT TO TOUCH MY BALLS?” Mary finds herself falling for him and his unrelenting desire to make her his.

Until a toddler shows up at Jimmy’s door.

And throws their lives into total chaos.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

This book is on sale at:

Amazon Barnes & Noble Kobo iBooks

 

 

 

From Scratch

From Scratch by Rachel Goodman is 99c! This is a Kindle Daily Deal and is being price matched at most vendors. It has a second chance romance and a baking competition! Some readers loved how funny and even touching the book could be, while others found the book sent mixed messages about a woman’s place in society. I’m always wary of giving away spoilers, so definitely consult the Goodreads reviews if you’re on the fence.

A down-home, feel-good debut Southern romance, From Scratch explores one woman’s journey back home to Dallas, Texas, where her family is cooking up a plan that doesn’t quite suit her tastes…

Thirty-year-old Lillie Turner grew up with maple syrup stuck to her skin and bacon grease splattered on her clothes, courtesy of working in the family diner. Thank goodness she escaped all that when she moved to Chicago five years ago. Now a successful strategy consultant and newly engaged to a man who complements her like biscuits and gravy, she has everything she wants.

When an urgent phone call about her father’s health pulls Lillie back to Dallas, she soon learns it was a ruse to bring her home so she can run the diner she’d rather avoid and compete in the Upper Crust, an annual baking competition, with no option to withdraw. Lillie is furious and ready to run back to Chicago, but her father’s haggard appearance makes her wonder if he’s hiding something. Things go from bad to worse when Nick, her handsome ex and the only man she ever truly loved, reappears, looking as scrumptious as ever.

Lillie’s trip home forces her to question the path she’s chosen, find her place in the family she abandoned, and wonder if the life she left behind is what she wants after all.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

This book is on sale at:

Amazon Barnes & Noble iBooks

 

 

 


HaBO: Heroine & Daughter Live Above a Shop

0
0

This HaBO comes from Sabrina, who is trying to help a fellow book club member track down a book. Trigger warning for rape:

My name’s Sabrina and I’m a member of an awesome book club on Facebook called the Old School Romance Book Club, started by Sarah MacLean. On Christmas Day, a member called Jean posted about a book she would like to reread but cannot remember what it is called. I think this post got the most comments EVER! It went over 400 comments and we still couldn’t find the right book. We are now desperate.

This is what Jean told us:

The hero and heroine are very much in love and are engaged to be married. The hero is a very wealthy and powerful duke. The heroine gets raped by a man who hates the duke and gets pregnant from the rape. She doesn’t want the hero to find out, as she is so ashamed and breaks off the engagement. Her family knows about the rape and blames her for it. She is thrown out of her family home and is disowned. She is financially ruined and lives in poverty. An elderly couple take her in and she works in a shop. She lives above the shop with her little daughter. Years later, the hero sees her on the streets of London looking very thin and poor and follows her to the shop. He never stopped loving her.

Jean read it many years ago but doesn’t think it’s from the 80’s or 90’s.

Many of the club members think it sounds super familiar and we threw in some suggestions but none were the right ones. Please help us!

What do you say, Bitchery? Can we help?

Scots, Drunk Kitchens, & More!

0
0

Wake of Vultures

RECOMMENDEDWake of Vultures by Lila Bowen is $2.99! This is a Kindle Daily Deal and is being price-matched! Carrie really liked this book and gave it an A-:

This book succeeds because Nettie is such a compelling character. Nettie is incredibly vibrant, prickly, compelling, flawed, exciting, and interesting. She feels like a real person, with a real personality and hopes and dreams and confused feelings and agendas. She’s incredibly interesting not only because of her unusual racial situation (which, in the Old West, wasn’t actually very unique but has been under-represented in fiction) nor in her genderqueer status, nor in her ability to hunt monsters. She’s compelling because all her experiences and aspects of her personality and her sharp mind come together to create a complex person who you just have to root for.

A rich, dark fantasy of destiny, death, and the supernatural world hiding beneath the surface.

Nettie Lonesome lives in a land of hard people and hard ground dusted with sand. She’s a half-breed who dresses like a boy, raised by folks who don’t call her a slave but use her like one. She knows of nothing else. That is, until the day a stranger attacks her. When nothing, not even a sickle to the eye can stop him, Nettie stabs him through the heart with a chunk of wood, and he turns into black sand.

And just like that, Nettie can see.

But her newfound sight is a blessing and a curse. Even if she doesn’t understand what’s under her own skin, she can sense what everyone else is hiding — at least physically. The world is full of evil, and now she knows the source of all the sand in the desert. Haunted by the spirits, Nettie has no choice but to set out on a quest that might lead to her true kin… if the monsters along the way don’t kill her first.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

This book is on sale at:

Amazon Barnes & Noble Kobo iBooks Audible

 

 

 

My Drunk Kitchen

My Drunk Kitchen by Hannah Hart is $1.99! Hart is a YouTube sensation and started with her My Drunk Kitchen videos, where she would try to cook something while getting tipsy on wine. Several readers recommend being familiar with Hart’s videos before buying, as some didn’t really find the humor to match theirs.

One day, sad cubicle dweller and otherwise bored New York transplant Hannah Hart decided, as a joke, to make a fake cooking show for her friend back in California. She turned on the camera, pulled out some bread and cheese, and then, as one does, started drinking. (Doesn’t everyone cook with a spoon in one hand and a bottle of wine in the other?) The video went viral and an online sensation was born.

My Drunk Kitchen includes recipes, stories, full color photos, and drawings to inspire your own culinary adventures in tipsy cooking. It is also a showcase for Hannah Hart’s great comedic voice. Hannah offers key drink recommendations, cooking tips (like, remember to turn the oven off when you go to bed) and shares never-before-seen recipes such as:

The Hartwich (Knowledge is ingenuity! Learn from the past!) Can Bake (Inventing things is hard! You don’t have to start from scratch!) Latke Shotkas (Plan ahead to avoid a night of dread!) Tiny Sandwiches (Size doesn’t matter! Aim to satisfy.) Saltine Nachos (It’s not about resources! It’s about being resourceful.)

This is a book for anyone who believes they have what it takes to make a soufflé for the holiday party and show up the person who apparently has nothing better to do than bake things from scratch. It also recommends the drink you’ll need to accompany any endeavor of this magnitude. In the end, My Drunk Kitchen may not be your go-to guide for your next dinner party . . . but it will make you laugh and drink . . . I mean think . . . about life.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

This book is on sale at:

Amazon Barnes & Noble Kobo iBooks

 

 

 

Wild Wicked Scot

Wild Wicked Scot by Julia London is 99c! This is the first book in the Highland Grooms series, which came out late last year. The hero and heroine are already married through a marriage of convenience, and many loved the hero. However, some found some inconsistency issues in the romance. Have you read this one?

Wicked intrigue unfolds as an unlikely marriage leads to a path of risky desire in the lush, green Scottish Highlands.

Born into riches and groomed in English luxury, Margot Armstrong didn’t belong in a Scottish chieftain’s devil-may-care world. Three years ago she fled their marriage of convenience and hasn’t looked back—except to relive the moments spent in wild, rugged Arran McKenzie’s passionate embrace. But as their respective countries’ fragile unity threatens to unravel, Margot must return to her husband to uncover his role in the treachery before her family can be accused of it.

Red-haired, green-eyed Margot was Arran’s beautiful bride. Her loss has haunted him, but her return threatens everything he has gained. As the Highland mists carry whispers of an English plot to seize McKenzie territory, he must outmaneuver her in games of espionage…and seduction. But even as their secrets tangle together, there’s nothing to prevent love from capturing them both and leading them straight into danger.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

This book is on sale at:

Amazon Barnes & Noble Kobo iBooks

 

 

 

All of You

All of You by Christina Lee is $1.99! This is the first book in the Between Breaths series and features a tattooed, virgin hero. Catnip, anyone? Readers really loved the writing, but others found it rather boring. People seem to be pretty divided on this book (either one star or five stars on Goodreads), and it has a 3.9-star rating.

Avery has just met her hot upstairs neighbor. He’s irresistible. Tattooed. And a virgin.

Nursing student Avery Michaels wants nothing to do with dating—she’s perfectly happy single. Privy to too many of her mother’s bad decisions and even worse taste in boyfriends, all Avery can handle is a string of uncomplicated hookups whenever the mood strikes.

When she meets smoking hot tattoo artist Bennett, she wants him—for just one night. But he won’t accept a no-strings-attached arrangement. He lives by a straight-laced code of values based on his own troubled upbringing.

Bennett sees something special in Avery and he wants more from her. Way more. As Avery wrestles with her emotions for Bennett, danger and tragedy force them to open up to each other. And Avery must face the terrifying realization that she wants more from him, too.

So she needs to make a choice—let Bennett go or finally let him in.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

This book is on sale at:

Amazon Barnes & Noble Kobo iBooks

 

 

 

It’s the RITA Nominations Call Day!

0
0

Today is the day! Authors everywhere are trying not to look at their phones while they wait for a call to tell them they’ve been nominated for a RITA® or a Golden Heart.

For those of you who are new to the site, the RITA® awards are kind of like the Oscars®, but for romance writers. The award is given out by the Romance Writers of America for books in different genre categories published in the previous year (so for this year, the award is for books published in 2016).

After the nominees are announced, we put together our annual RITA® Reader Challenge, where we let YOU, the readers, review the nominees on the site.

Every year, we try to make the process better than the year before. Last year, we collected email addresses so we could stay in touch regarding review deadlines, and we’ve used a spreadsheet listing all the nominees and the due dates for reviews.

We also received feedback that guidance and suggestions on how to write the reviews themselves would be helpful – and we certainly have ideas about that topic, no question. So this year, we’re using a newsletter. The newsletter will be sent out weekly once the challenge starts and will include reminders for book reviews that are nearing their due dates, along with reviewing tips, suggestions, and advice.

Those who sign up for the newsletter will also get first crack at the review sign up sheet before we post it on the site! And of course, we absolutely solemnly swear that the email addresses we collect will ONLY be used for correspondence for the RITA challenge. We won’t share your email with anyone, nor will we spam you.

For a refresher on the RITA® Reader Challenge, here is a quick and dirty explanation.

Basics:

There are 9 different review deadlines, spanning every ten days. We start with the books that are a little shorter to give those who wish to read longer titles more time to read.

We’re asking readers/reviewers to fill out a short contact form. This is purely to send out deadline reminders. We will not use this information for anything else, and we won’t sell it to or share it with anyone – not even if they promise unlimited book budgets and a lifetime supply of dark chocolate.

We’re limiting the reviews to 2 per book to help keep from flooding the site. These reviews will be posted throughout the week, leading up to the next deadline. If we’ve already reviewed the book on the site, then only one slot will be open for a reviewer.

You can sign up for more than one book, though of course, sharing is caring!

And of course, here is our newsletter sign up! Once the nominees are announced, we will set up the review sign-up sheet.

Good luck to those who are waiting for phone calls today, and thank you to everyone who has asked about this year’s RITA Reader Challenge!

Sign up for the 2017 RITA Reader Challenge!

* indicates required

NB: The form wasn’t confirming submissions earlier, but if you signed up, you should have received an email from Amanda that read, “2017 RITA Reader Challenge: Please Confirm Subscription.”

We use double opt-in to make sure you want to be subscribed. In that email should be a link to confirm your subscription. If you didn’t receive that email, please check your spam, or try signing up again. And if all else fails, please feel free to email Sarah!

HaBO: High Society Heroine Marries, Moves to Country, Gets Sick

0
0

This HaBO request is from Jill, who wants to find this historical romance:

This is a historical romance I read years ago, and I have never forgotten it.

Heroine has been a “society bitch” and ruined various marriages. She gets caught in a compromising situation and has to marry and live in country. Of course, she hates it all. She then gets very sick, her head is shaved as part of her treatment, and takes a long time to recover. Her recovery changes her – she learns to love her new husband, the country, and that beauty is not everything.

This sounds like a historical more on the dramatic side, rather than light and fluffy.

Looking Inside by Beth Kery

0
0

B+

Looking Inside

by Beth Kery
November 1, 2016 · Berkley
Erotica/Erotic Romance

Looking Inside is one of the best erotic contemporaries I’ve read in a really long time. It’s not a perfect book, but it worked for me on every level. I devoured it. Basically if I had to take a shot for every one of the Elyse-catnip elements that shows up in this book, I’d be on the floor singing “Red Solo Cup.” If you put this book under a box being held up by a stick, it would be an effective Elyse Trap.

It’s so much amaze that  I’m calling on Our Ladies of Music to help me tell you about its awesomesauce.

The book opens with Eleanor Briggs staying at her sister’s downtown Chicago condo. (Chicago is my favorite city ever. Take a shot.) When she stays in her sister’s guest room she can see the man in the apartment across the street having sex with the various women he brings home (apparently dude doesn’t know what curtains are, but okay). Said man is super hot, gives lots of orgasms, and is into dominance and submission. She watches him, fascinated and aroused.

Cut to a year later. Eleanor’s sister has tragically died and on her deathbed made Eleanor promise to try and come out of her shell and live a little. Eleanor views herself a mousy librarian (librarian heroine, take a shot), not very sexual or interesting, either – she’s a preservation and conversation librarian at a historical museum.

Eleanor! That’s super interesting! Also librarians are hella sexy. Honey, go to Tumblr, enter librarian in your search bar, and make sure you’re not at work cuz the pr0n will overwhelm you. Men and women totally make passes at girls who wear glasses.

Beyonce slowly removes a pair of black cat eye glasses.
I feel like if Beyoncé decided to shift careers and become a librarian, we’d be the most literate country in the world. Also there would a draft for English teachers that would rival the NFL.

So anyway, Eleanor decides to come out of her shell. She does a little light stalking and finds out that Smexy Dude is Trey Riordan, who is like a Myspace billionaire or something. Except he has a lot of free time for sex and working on his abs. Trey is going to be at a reading event sponsored by the museum where people show up for a few hours, ditch their tech, and commit to just sitting and reading a book (I want this. Take a shot). Eleanor shows up all sexified and reads an erotic novel while giving Trey a boner from across the room.

What is Trey reading? Pride and Prejudice because every woman he knows loves the book and he wants to see what the fuss is about. (Don’t bother with the shot glass. Take a swig right outta the bottle.)

On her way out, she drops off a note for him to be watching out his bedroom window at eleven that night. Trey does as she asks, and Eleanor puts on an incredibly sexy striptease for him. Trey is surprised that 1. sexy girl lives next door and 2. she’s doing an erotic striptease for him. He’s also SUPER INTO IT. Now he must know everything about this mysterious siren!

The book progresses to Eleanor and Trey having a sexual relationship. Much of it starts with Eleanor putting on a show for Trey and then him coming to her apartment to finish with sex. I found the voyeurism/ exhibitionism portions of this book to be fascinating, mostly because it’s a kink I don’t read a lot about. I would have thought that voyeurism would have been a passive thing, but it plays into the power dynamic Trey and Eleanor are exploring. Trey is into dominance and submission (mostly just being bossy – there’s a little spanking and bondage, but not much). When Eleanor starts her dance for him, he is forced to be the passive player and she is assuming control of their scene. Later that is reversed when they engage in sex and he assumes control.

A black and white shot of P!nk singing while the words "Let's Play Pretend" scroll below.

More importantly, Eleanor’s exhibitionism is a way for her to communicate without words her desires to Trey so that he can then make those a reality. It allows her to start the scene in control, from a place she feels safe, communicate what she needs, and then for Trey to fulfill that.

Man, that got kind of clinical and killed the sexiness a bit. Here’s Rihanna doing that effortless combination of hot, adorable, and charming:

Rihanna dances on a beach.

Another element I enjoyed was that while they are exploring their sexuality together, Eleanor and Trey also explore Chicago together. They both acknowledge that even as residents, they don’t know or enjoy their city enough (travel romance, take a shot).

So where’s the conflict? That’s why this book gets an B+. Trey’s conflict is weak at best. Not unlike a lot of erotic romance heroes, his issue is that he doesn’t do commitment and all the relationships he’s had before have made him feel like women were trying to trap into a commitment he didn’t want.

Right. We’re all trying to cage your magic penis, Trey. Get over yourself.

Eleanor’s conflict is legit. She’s mentally cast herself in the role of boring librarian, and she feels like the sexually liberated person that she is with Trey is an act. It’s major imposter syndrome (take a shot).  She’s afraid that if Trey discovers that she’s not this hyper-sexual, perfectly made up person all of the time he won’t want her. Like if he sees her in the stacks pushing her glasses up her face his boner will permanently die. She’s only comfortable in their relationship as Sexy Eleanor not Actual Person Eleanor.

ELEANOR YOU CAN BE BOTH!

Eleanor’s journey is learning that you don’t have to be sexy all of the time. You can be sexual and mysterious and a femme fatale, and also a “normal” person. You get to be complex and nuanced and don’t have to apologize for shit. It doesn’t help that Eleanor’s family and friend’s don’t know what to make of her new persona or clothes and feel like it may be  a byproduct of grief from the loss of her much more extroverted sister.

Also there’s the usual erotic romance plotline of “we started this as just sex and now we have feelings HALP.”

In summation, we have a heroine who is on a journey of self realization that she gets to be both sexy and powerful and still fundamentally the person she always was. We get lots of erotic sexytimes. We get a hero who reads Pride and Prejudice. We get Elyse passed out on the floor from too many shots.

Reader:

Destiny's Child sits around a table while the words I Bought It flash overhead

 

Historical Romances with Princesses, Earls, & More!

0
0

TeeFury is just killing it with great shirts lately. Today’s shirt features Hermione from Harry Potter and her love of books!

Seducing Charlotte

Seducing Charlotte by Diana Quincy is 99c! This is the first book in the Accidental Peers series, and you can grab all four books in the series for less than $10. This is an opposites attract romance with a heroine who’s described as a “social reformer.” Some readers felt there was no real tension, while others like the North & South vibe they got from it.

Opposites attract…

Even if he is the catch of the season, Charlotte Livingston has a low opinion of the wildly handsome Marquess of Camryn. He’s an industrialist who thinks nothing of replacing workers with machines, depriving them of an honest living. Camryn is everything a social reformer like Charlotte detests. Besides, her loyalty belongs to another man.

Worlds Collide…

Yet, as a violent machine-breakers rebellion rages across England, an undeniable attraction flares between the passionate adversaries. Camryn vows to destroy the rebel movement, unaware that the spinster who has captured his heart, harbors a secret – a shocking connection to one of its leaders that could shatter them both.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

This book is on sale at:

Amazon Barnes & Noble Kobo

 

 

 

His Wicked Heart

His Wicked Heart by Darcy Burke is 99c at Amazon and Kobo! This is the second book in the Secrets & Scandals series. The rest are also on sale, including the first book for free! While readers mention it’s not the most realistic of historical romances, they say it’s an absorbing book with a to-die-for duke. Have you read this one?

It’s hard to be respectable…

Jasper Sinclair, Earl of Saxton, made a bargain with the devil—his father—to marry in one month’s time. But instead of declaring his intentions for an acceptable debutante, he indulges his long-buried baser needs by joining a fighting club and pursuing a delectable woman who may not be what she seems. Soon he finds himself battling addictions that threaten his already wicked heart.

When you’d rather be wicked

Orphaned seamstress Olivia West wants the chance to lead an honest, respectable life, but the arrogant Earl of Saxton launches a daunting campaign to make Olivia his mistress. Destitute and desperate, Olivia agrees to one night with the dangerous peer, and draws upon her mother’s courtesan experience to seduce him. After binding and blindfolding him, she brings him to the edge of release, only to switch places with an actual prostitute. However, Jasper detects Olivia’s deception and vows to claim what he’s owed— not his money, her.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

This book is on sale at:

Amazon Barnes & Noble iBooks

 

 

 

Some Enchanted Evening

Some Enchanted Evening by Christina Dodd is $2.99! This is book one in the Lost Princesses series and readers say that if you’re looking for historical accuracy, this isn’t the series for you. But other readers really enjoyed the heroine. It has a 3.7-star rating on Goodreads.

Once upon a time . . .

in a kingdom high in the Pyrenees, three young princesses were forced to flee the chaos in their land—vanishing without a trace and lost to their people . . . until the day a courageous prince can bring the princesses home.

One of Scotland’s most dangerous men, Robert MacKenzie is dazzled by the enchanting beauty who rides into the town he is sworn to defend. Though he is wary of the exquisite stranger, Clarice stirs emotions within him that Robert buried deeply years before. And now he must have her at any cost, vowing to gain her trust through the powers of his sensuous seduction.

Torn between her need to protect her secrets and her aching desire for the dark, tormented earl of Hepburn, Clarice is pulled into Robert’s glamorous world . . . and into his perilous plan for justice and revenge. And with the winds of treachery swirling around them, a runaway princess must draw Robert’s heart from the shadows and make him believe in happily-ever-after.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

This book is on sale at:

Amazon Barnes & Noble Kobo iBooks

 

 

 

My Fair Lily

My Fair Lily by Meara Platt is 99c! Yes, that is an Old English Sheepdog (or as I like to call them The Little Mermaid dog) on the cover. If you like that breed, definitely check out Rocco Roni on Instagram. Some thought the character development needed some work, but others loved the science-loving, scholarly heroine. It has a 3.9-star rating on Goodreads and other books in the series are on sale.

Ewan Cameron, estranged grandson of the Duke of Lotheil, is in London because of a deathbed promise made to his father and has no intention of staying beyond his three month obligation. Nothing can tempt him to remain, not even Lily, the beautiful bluestocking determined not only to restore relations between him and his grandfather, but to turn Ewan into a proper gentleman. Ewan, proud of his Scottish heritage, refuses to admit that Lily, a blue-eyed, English girl, has claimed his heart. It doesn’t matter that his big lump of a sheepdog is madly in love with her. Nor is it significant that Ewan can always tell Lily apart from her identical twin sister. Always.

Lily Farthingale, the scholarly twin, dreams of becoming the first female member of the Royal Society. She grabs at the chance when the elderly Duke of Lotheil approaches her with a proposition – he’ll admit her into the Royal Society, if she helps him to establish a relation with his estranged grandson, Ewan Cameron, a very rough-around-the-edges Scotsman who hates everything English. Between shootings, explosions, and Lily’s abduction, Ewan ends up falling in love with Lily in this Pygmalion-inspired story.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

This book is on sale at:

Amazon Barnes & Noble Kobo iBooks

 

 

 

Links: Free Reads, Indiegogo, and Sailor Moon

0
0

Workspace with computer, journal, books, coffee, and glasses.Welcome to Wednesday Links! This is where we share some pretty neat things that we’ve found floating around the internet. We hope these provide a nice moment of distraction!

Sarah backed this project on Indiegogo and wants to share it with all of you! Bookseller Noëlle Santos wants to bring a bookstore to the Bronx! Shockingly, the borough doesn’t have any. It’s been fully funded so far, but it can always use more support.

Just a reminder that we currently have an ARC giveaway for THE ROMANCE READER’S GUIDE TO LIFE by Sharon Pywell going on! The giveaway ends this Friday at noon EST.

Harlequin’s yearly video campaign is back. This year, the theme is #MakeADateWithHarlequin! What they wanted to do was take a romance hero on a date into the city. Their first video captures the reactions of bystanders as they notice a woman on a date with a viking!

Additionally, Harlequin is also offering 17 free ebooks over a TryHarlequin.com!


Laptop Cord Winders

I have one of these from Above the Fray, and it's great for keeping my MacBook cord contained and safe from being pulled or frayed. There are earbud winders, too! -SW


I was emailed several times about this scifi/fantasy flash fiction collection at Tor.com entitled Nevertheless, She Persisted. Thank you to everyone who brought it to my attention!

The collection includes stories by Seanan McGuire, Alyssa Wong, and more!

I grew up watching Sailor Moon in the mornings. I’m also obsessed with talented makeup artists on Instagram, but my makeup routine consists of trying not to make myself look like a mashed potato.

Picturresque on Instagram has brought the Sailor Scouts to life with a variety of makeup looks and they’re all freaking gorgeous! Be sure to check out her account for close-ups and other Sailor Moon collages.

Don’t forget to share what super cool things you’ve seen, read, or listened to this week! And if you have anything you think we’d like to post on a future Wednesday Links, send it my way!


The Rec League: Neurodivergent Romance

0
0

The Rec League - heart shaped chocolate resting on the edge of a very old bookThis Rec League request was spawned by a comment from Dread Pirate Rachel. Here’s the request:

Is there a Rec League for romances with neurodivergent heroines? There aren’t many that I can think of. A Desperate Fortune, by Susanna Kearsley, comes to mind, as the contemporary storyline features a heroine with Asperger’s. It was nice to see the representation, but unfortunately I felt like all the conflict and tension of her plot was due to that, which wasn’t great. The historical plot was so awesome that I still rated the book at 5 stars, but I found myself skipping through the contemporary parts as they seemed heavy-handed to me.

For this post, we’re using the definition of “neurodiversity” from the National Symposium of Neurodiversity found on the neurodiversity Wikipedia page:

…a concept where neurological differences are to be recognized and respected as any other human variation. These differences can include those labeled with Dyspraxia, Dyslexia, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Dyscalculia, Autistic Spectrum, Tourette Syndrome, and others.

Amanda: One of the books featured in the sale post mentioned above was Water Bound by Christina Feehan ( A | BN | K | iB ). The heroine has autism and has a magical connection with the ocean, and I’d definitely classify it as a paranormal romance.

The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie
A | BN | K | iB
Sarah: The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie, I think.

Redheadedgirl: The Lady Hellion, maybe? ( A | BN | K | G | iB | Au )

SarahThe Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion . There’s a scene in that book where the hero is venting about something that happened (he’s the narrator) and he says, “And THIS is the world I have to live in!”

Oh – The Witness, Nora Roberts. The heroine is neurodivergent, I believe, in a way that isn’t clearly explained if I recall, but fits a number of patterns.

The Witness
A | BN | K | iB
Redheadedgirl: Unveiled by Courtney Milan, the hero has dyslexia. ( A | BN | K | G | iB )

The Duke’s Holiday ( A ) has a duke with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and I know I read the book, but I can’t tell you how well it’s handled.

Sarah: When Beauty Tamed the Beast by Eloisa James! ( A | BN | K | iB )

Amanda: Seconding The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie. It’s one of my favorite historical romances.

Know any romances with neurodivergent heroes and heroines? Give us your recommendation in the comments!

 

Guest Review: Romance’s Rivals by Talia Schaffer

0
0

A

Romance’s Rival

by Talia Schaffer
February 2, 2016 · Oxford University Press
Nonfiction

NB: We have another guest review that will be right up the Bitchery’s alley, as it combines romance and historical research. Aw, yeah! This review is from Katherine M.

Katherine M. is a postdoctoral researcher of Victorian literature. She researches plots about awkward adolescents and their friend groups (some of which lends itself to interesting romance).

Do you love the sexy stranger…or the boy next door? Thalia Schaffer’s Romance’s Rivals: Familiar Marriage in Victorian Fiction tracks the history of the friends-to-lovers plot. This book will be interesting to those who wants to know about the history of marriage, how that history influences the popularity of certain storylines, and how standards of what’s romantic (or not) have changed in a century many of us love to read about. If you like to chew over Jane Austen and the Brontës, there’s much food for thought here.

Schaffer tracks the development of two types of heroes. She starts with the usual rake/romantic stranger. This hero appears in a phase of British history where men gain greater mobility through trade or the army. The stranger arrives suddenly and whisks the heroine away from the world she’s known. He is focused on the passion of consummation, and not necessarily marriage or emotional intimacy. As we know, the romantic stranger is sexy, but he’s also threatening. If the heroine’s whisked away, then where is she going to end up? What if she doesn’t want to go anywhere at all?

Schaffer’s much more interested in men who allow women to be fuller versions of themselves. Enter the “suitor of rational esteem”; this guy is sensible, but not sexy. The heroine can respect him, but cannot allow herself to love him (consider Elinor’s regulation of her feelings in Sense and Sensibility or Jane Eyre’s rejection of her cousin St. John Rivers). Far better is the familiar suitor.

The familiar suitor, when he becomes the hero, borrows from both the romantic stranger and the “suitor of rational esteem.” He not only provides intimacy and marriage, he reconnects the heroine into the world she desires, which could include access to a family, a community, a career.

Schaffer follows the familiar suitor into four different plots popular in Victorian literature. First, there are novels where a woman about to lose her home marries a wealthy neighbor (Pride and Prejudice, anyone?). Second, there are novels that show a woman recognizing her love for an attractive relative (usually a cousin or foster-sibling). This one is interesting, because Schaffer takes us through the ways our attitudes towards who counts as marriageable changed in the nineteenth century. Cousin marriage started off being very normal, so when and why did attitudes change? Third, Shaffer highlights the popularity of novels about disability in marriage and the sexy ethics of care. In this section, we learn that disability in the Victorian novel is very, very common and actually reinforces the sensuality and physical aspect of the relationship. Lastly, there is the section on “vocational marriage” and plots where women look for men who give them access to careers.

In each chapter, Schaffer considers when and why these storylines work – and when they don’t. But the last chapter is especially poignant in tracking failed happy endings. In the novels before the mid-century, many women work while looking for love (Jane Eyre is only one of many). However, Schaffer notes how the rise of liberal feminism between the Matrimonial Causes Act (1857) and the Married Women’s Property Act (1870) paradoxically made certain types of romantic plots impossible. In order to make a legal case for women’s rights, authors wrote books where women couldn’t have it all. In order to advocate for women’s rights, heroines had to be portrayed as tragic victims of society, not as people who could make wrangle satisfying compromises. This section is really interesting, because it shows how George Eliot, for example, changed her source material so that her heroines couldn’t have it all. For example: Dinah, the kick-ass Methodist preacher in Adam Bede gives up her career when she marries, but she was based on Eliot’s aunt, who defied the 1803 ban on female preaching and went on speaking tours with her husband. That sounds like a novel waiting to be written!

This book is meticulously researched and engagingly written (for literary criticism, so there’s big doses of history if that’s what you like). It makes me want to read some more romance RIGHT NOW.


For some reason, the ebook is around $60, so be sure to check your local library!

M/M Romance, a Southern Gothic Thriller, & More!

0
0

Fortune Favors the Wicked

RECOMMENDED: Fortune Favors the Wicked by Theresa Romain is $1.99! This is a Kindle Daily Deal and is being priced matched. There’s a treasure hunt, a blind hero, and a former courtesan heroine. Talk about catnip! Redheadedgirl gave this an A grade in a Lightning Review:

What I found the most interesting about this book was how the blind hero was written. He hadn’t always been blind – he was struck by a disease while he was in the Navy – and the narrative describes with abundant detail how he moves through a world he can’t see, but he still perceives. And I really appreciated that she doesn’t magically cure him of his blindness. Love doesn’t cure all things, and this is a part of who he is now.

INDECENTLY LUCKY

As a lieutenant in the Royal Navy, Benedict Frost had the respect of every man on board—and the adoration of the women in every port. When injury ends his naval career, the silver-tongued libertine can hardly stomach the boredom. Not after everything—and everyone—he’s experienced. Good thing a new adventure has just fallen into his lap…

When courtesan Charlotte Perry learns the Royal Mint is offering a reward for finding a cache of stolen gold coins, she seizes the chance to build a new life for herself. As the treasure hunt begins, she realizes her tenacity is matched only by Benedict’s—and that sometimes adversaries can make the best allies. But when the search for treasure becomes a discovery of pleasure, they’ll be forced to decide if they can sacrifice the lives they’ve always dreamed of for a love they’ve never known…

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

This book is on sale at:

Amazon Barnes & Noble Kobo iBooks

 

 

 

Fair Game

Fair Game by Josh Lanyon is 99c! This is a m/m romance with some suspense elements and a second chance romance. Readers liked the murder mystery element and thought the book was well-paced. However, others mention that the romance really doesn’t go anywhere until the second half of the book. Have you read this?

A crippling knee injury forced Elliot Mills to trade in his FBI badge for dusty chalkboards and bored college students. Now a history professor at Puget Sound university, the former agent has put his old life behind him—but it seems his old life isn’t finished with him.

A young man has gone missing from campus—and as a favor to a family friend, Elliot agrees to do a little sniffing around. His investigations bring him face-to-face with his former lover, Tucker Lance, the special agent handling the case.

Things ended badly with Tucker, and neither man is ready to back down on the fight that drove them apart. But they have to figure out a way to move beyond their past and work together as more men go missing and Elliot becomes the target in a killer’s obsessive game…

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

This book is on sale at:

Amazon Barnes & Noble Kobo iBooks

 

 

 

Of Beast and Beauty

Of Beast and Beauty by Stacey Jay is $1.99! This is a YA, dystopian-esque retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Readers thought the world-building needed some work, while others were really taken with Jay’s writing. It has a 3.9-star rating on Goodreads.

In the beginning was the darkness, and in the darkness was a girl, and in the girl was a secret…

In the domed city of Yuan, the blind Princess Isra, a Smooth Skin, is raised to be a human sacrifice whose death will ensure her city’s vitality. In the desert outside Yuan, Gem, a mutant beast, fights to save his people, the Monstrous, from starvation. Neither dreams that together, they could return balance to both their worlds.

Isra wants to help the city’s Banished people, second-class citizens despised for possessing Monstrous traits. But after she enlists the aid of her prisoner, Gem, who has been captured while trying to steal Yuan’s enchanted roses, she begins to care for him, and to question everything she has been brought up to believe.

As secrets are revealed and Isra’s sight, which vanished during her childhood, returned, Isra will have to choose between duty to her people and the beast she has come to love.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

This book is on sale at:

Amazon Barnes & Noble Kobo iBooks

 

 

 

Speak No Evil

Speak No Evil by Tanya Anne Crosby is 99c! I’m really loving the new covers created for this book and the rest of the Aldridge Sisters series. This is a mystery/thriller with romantic and gothic elements. Readers warn there’s a toxic mother figure and the mystery is a bit dark. You can buy all three books for less than $8!

Lifting the veil of secrecy on a grand Southern family in decline, author Tanya Anne Crosby explores the lives of Caroline, Augusta, and Savannah Aldridge, three sisters who share a dark past and an uncertain future…

Caroline Aldridge was surprised by the number of mourners at her mother’s funeral. Evidently the newspaper heiress who had caused her children so much pain was well-loved by everyone else in Charleston. Now she was gone, leaving behind countless secrets-and a few demands: Caroline and her sisters must live together for one year or lose their inheritance. And Caroline must take over “The Tribune.” But a killer is making headlines, and Caroline may have unwittingly stepped into the crosshairs…

A series of kidnappings and murders resurrect the sisters’ memories of their brother’s disappearance as a child-and Caroline fears she may be next. Yet in the midst of her turmoil, she may be rekindling a romance she’d extinguished long ago. With Jack back in her life and the tattered bonds of sisterhood slowly mending, Caroline hopes the family can restore its position in Charleston society-unless a sinister force beyond their control tears them apart forever…

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

This book is on sale at:

Amazon Barnes & Noble Kobo iBooks

 

 

 

239. Leftover Meatloaf: Elyse and Leah & Bea from The Ripped Bodice Discuss The Bachelor

0
0

After an impromptu greeting from Mr. Fitzwilliam Waffles, Sarah and Elyse chat with Leah and Bea from The Ripped Bodice about the most recent season of The Bachelor. They’re all fans of the series, and have a lot of perspective on it, on the multiple storylines presented in each season, and on what is going on beneath the surface, behind the scenes, and between all the people who tune in every week.  If you’ve never watched it, don’t worry – things are explained, especially to Sarah, who can’t watch cringe-tv so reality programming is right out.  They talk about the most recent season, the way the show frames sex, relationships, wealth, and the entire concept of reality, and what The Bachelor and romance fiction have in common. Plus, Elyse gives a quick squee about the new Beauty and the Beast movie.

NB: There’s a bit of uneven audio volume that I tried to fix – my apologies. There’s also some scuffing noises on the microphone, but that was a cat, and I know that cat is not sorry.    

Listen to the podcast →
Read the transcript →

Here are the books we discuss in this podcast:

Oh, here come links, so get ready!

If you like the podcast, you can subscribe to our feed, or find us at iTunes. You can also find us at PodcastPickle and on Stitcher, too. We also have a cool page for the podcast on iTunes.

Thanks to our sponsors:

More ways to sponsor:

Sponsor us through Patreon! (What is Patreon?)

What did you think of today's episode? Got ideas? Suggestions? You can talk to us on the blog entries for the podcast or talk to us on Facebook if that's where you hang out online. You can email us at sbjpodcast@gmail.com or you can call and leave us a message at our Google voice number: 201-371-3272. Please don't forget to give us a name and where you're calling from so we can work your message into an upcoming podcast.

Thanks for listening!


Podcast Sponsor

The podcast this week is brought to you by author Tracy Ewens, whose new book Exposure comes out March 28, 2017. Tracy knows you like romance, so she’d like you to know her latest contemporary romance has the following excellent pieces of catnip:

  1. A wildlife photographer heroine – Meg – who has recently moved back to San Francisco. She wants a life with more stability, where she can see her family more than once a year, and indulge in owning a toaster and using a full-sized tube of toothpaste.
  2. A famous hero with secrets! Westin is a famous actor known best for blockbuster movies in which he drives a menagerie of exceedingly fast cars. But West would kind of like his fifteen minutes of fame to be over: he misses his privacy, and in real life, he’s a terrible driver.
  3. A fake relationship! A media frenzy erupts after a very simple kiss on the cheek, and when they’re thrown together in public, Meg discovers the real person behind the photographs. West begins to wonder how he can live his real life without her in it.

Nothing is simple when it seems like the world is watching. You can pre-order/find Exposure wherever ebooks are sold. And thanks to Tracy Ewens for sponsoring this episode!

Remember to subscribe to our podcast feed, find us on iTunes, via PodcastPickle, or on Stitcher.

Podcast 239, Your Fantasy Suite is Ready

TeeFury & If I Was Your Girl

0
0

TeeFury is just crushing it with bookish shirts this week. Today, they have an adorable and colorful graphic with the text, “We lose ourselves in books. We find ourselves there, too.” 

Here’s what it looks like:

T-shirt that says, "We lose ourselves in books. We find ourselves there too."

If I Was Your Girl

RECOMMENDEDIf I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo is $2.99! This is a Kindle Daily Deal and is being price-matched, yay! This book was recommended during our Transgender Romance Rec League. It’s a YA novel and has won several awards. The book does deal with some serious issues, like bullying and depression, so I’m throwing out a trigger warning.

A new kind of big-hearted novel about being seen for who you really are.

Amanda Hardy is the new girl in school. Like anyone else, all she wants is to make friends and fit in. But Amanda is keeping a secret, and she’s determined not to get too close to anyone.

But when she meets sweet, easygoing Grant, Amanda can’t help but start to let him into her life. As they spend more time together, she realizes just how much she is losing by guarding her heart. She finds herself yearning to share with Grant everything about herself, including her past. But Amanda’s terrified that once she tells him the truth, he won’t be able to see past it.

Because the secret that Amanda’s been keeping? It’s that at her old school, she used to be Andrew. Will the truth cost Amanda her new life, and her new love?

Meredith Russo’s If I Was Your Girl is a universal story about feeling different—and a love story that everyone will root for.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

This book is on sale at:

Amazon Barnes & Noble Kobo iBooks

 

 

 

The Burning World by Isaac Marion

0
0

A-

The Burning World

by Isaac Marion
February 7, 2017 · Atria/Emily Bestler Books
Science Fiction/FantasyYoung Adult

Back in 2012 I was completely amazed to fall madly in love with Warm Bodies, the novel by Isaac Marion that tells the story of a zombie named R who falls in love with a young woman named Julie. I didn’t think I was going to like “zombie romance,” but it drew me in. I liked the movie as well although I’m still upset that they whitewashed one of the characters. The book was marketed as a science fiction YA, but it worked just fine for me as a straightforward romance novel.

Finally we have a sequel, The Burning World. The Burning World deals with the aftermath of the events of Warm Bodies (in other words, SPOILERS AHEAD FOR WARM BODIES). A core group of survivors including the characters we met in Warm Bodies lies in a sports stadium and struggles to survive. Thanks to the events of the previous book, zombies are slowly starting to wake up, which creates many problems. For one thing, their wounds become fresh and life threatening, and Julie’s best friend Nora spends all her time trying to heal them. As R can attest, waking is a slow process, and R struggles with eye-hand coordination, breathing, eating food, and talking. He also struggles to repress memories of his past life, wishing to start completely over.

Challenges aside, things are coming along nicely when a rival group, Axiom, invades the Stadium in which most known survivors live. Suddenly Julie, Nora, and R are running for their lives, along with their reluctant ally Abram and his young daughter, Sprout. As they try to figure out whether to fight or keep running, and as their group gets bigger, R remembers more and more of his past life and his own role in bringing about the zombie plague.

This book is much more action and “fight the dystopia” oriented than romance oriented. Julie and R are a solid couple – indeed, one of the most satisfying elements of the book is seeing how solid they are. The conflicts are not romantic ones. Instead, the conflict involves surviving current dangers, overthrowing the status quo, and dealing with trauma and loss — something every major character in the book has to do in order to move forward.

The Burning World has plenty of touching moments, but it lacks the overall poignancy of Warm Bodies. On the other hand, it’s a satisfying dystopian novel. By introducing a state partway between zombie and living human, the entire zombie dynamic that readers are accustomed to is shaken up. When humans kill zombies, it feel less like the gratifying mayhem of The Walking Dead and more like a terrible, if sometimes necessary, tragedy. The action scenes are exciting and there’s a sense that even though bad people exist and do bad things, there are also good people everywhere. It’s a hopeful book despite many moments when all seems lost.

Like many YA dystopian books before it, The Burning World ends on a cliffhanger. The sequel, The Living, is supposed to be coming sometime this year (2017).

When I say that The Burning World is not a romance, that’s because there’s no major romantic arc; R and Julie start the book together, face trouble as a team, and end the book together. However, there is a wonderful aspect to their story. R and Julie fell in love with each other when they didn’t know much about each other. R couldn’t remember his pre-zombie life, so he was sort of a blank slate. He idolized Julie, which is especially obvious in the movie adaptation where her personality is “pretty” and she didn’t have to acknowledge any character flaws of his, because he had no past. His personality was based on loving her.

In this book, R and Julie grow together as more complicated people. This quote is from the very end of the book, so I’m marking it as a spoiler. It’s one of the grittiest and yet most romantic things I’ve ever read:

Click for spoilers!
Julie is staring out the side window, oblivious to my gaze, so I let it wander her face and body, from her matted hair to her stained clothes, fresh wounds, and old scars. Despite my romantic flights of fancy, she is no spotless angel. She is no standard of perfection by which to measure myself. I think of her rage in Detroit, gunning down three people with barely a blink, the ice in her eyes as she shot [redacted] once, then twice, looking ready for a third. I think of all her tales of drugs and razors and blacked-out fucking in alleys, ugly truths she was never afraid to share with me. Was I afraid to listen? Have I ever really known this woman, or did I paint an image that inspired me and prop it up in front of her? Did I glamorize her defects, give her pain a glow of noble tragedy, and cheerfully omit whatever I couldn’t beautify?

I feel something dissolving between us. A hazy film of mythology and abstraction. I see her in the unflattering sharpness of reality: a fragile human being with neuroses and psychosis, smelly feet and greasy hair, who acts rashly and contradicts herself and fumbles her way forward in the dark.

She has never looked so beautiful.

I love that quote because it’s about the real, mature, unconditional love that involves truly seeing another person and allowing love to help each person grow as an individual as well as a couple. It’s why I love this story, even though if you had told me prior to 2012 that I’d be so invested in zombie romance I would have scoffed. The romance between R and Julie, the friendships that they have with others, and the changes that those relationships cause keep this series heartwarming and fresh despite the fact that so many other zombie stories feel nihilistic and played out to me. It’s a sign that a genre can always surprise you and that love can be found in the strangest situations.


Kindle Daily Deal: This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab

0
0

This Savage Song

This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab is $1.99 at Amazon! Unfortunately, this is a Kindle Daily Deal and isn’t being price-matched just yet. I know several people (my roommate included) who love Schwab’s writing and essentially will read anything she publishes. But while the description seems really original, some readers were disappointed by how generic it was. Have you read this one? Let us know what you think in the comments!

There’s no such thing as safe in a city at war, a city overrun with monsters. In this dark urban fantasy from acclaimed author Victoria Schwab, a young woman and a young man must choose whether to become heroes or villains—and friends or enemies—with the future of their home at stake. The first of two books, This Savage Song is a must-have for fans of Holly Black, Maggie Stiefvater, and Laini Taylor.

Kate Harker and August Flynn are the heirs to a divided city—a city where the violence has begun to breed actual monsters. All Kate wants is to be as ruthless as her father, who lets the monsters roam free and makes the humans pay for his protection. All August wants is to be human, as good-hearted as his own father, to play a bigger role in protecting the innocent—but he’s one of the monsters. One who can steal a soul with a simple strain of music. When the chance arises to keep an eye on Kate, who’s just been kicked out of her sixth boarding school and returned home, August jumps at it. But Kate discovers August’s secret, and after a failed assassination attempt the pair must flee for their lives. In This Savage Song, Victoria Schwab creates a gritty, seething metropolis, one worthy of being compared to Gotham and to the four versions of London in her critically acclaimed fantasy for adults, A Darker Shade of Magic. Her heroes will face monsters intent on destroying them from every side—including the monsters within.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

This book is on sale at:

Amazon

 

 

 

Smart Bitches Movie Matinee: Love & Basketball

0
0

Sarah: One of the reasons we started this feature was to both explore romantic comedies, a film genre that isn’t appearing in theatres much at all anymore, and to explore the films we love to see if they still hold up. With this film, so many people I know and respect adore this movie that I know it should be very good.

“Can I play?”

“You nice?”

Redheadedgirl: “I told you I was nice! I’m gonna be the first girl in the NBA!” I love her already.

Sarah: I could have started a lot of friendships that way.

Redheadedgirl: A mayflower moving truck! That brought back a bunch of childhood memories and I’m not sure why.

Sarah: I’d also appreciate Google:Play not buffering every three minutes. (Autocorrect just tried to accuse Google:Play of “buggering,” which is not entirely incorrect.)

I love how spare the storytelling is with one look, or one pan of the camera across a room telling a lot.

And then there’s the spare single expression acting of Alfrie Woodard – and Gabrielle Union, and Omar Epps, and ok, everyone in the cast is terrific.

“I don’t like flowers. How bout Twinkies?”

I love this person. She knows where she is going in life in every way. I wish I had that much knowledge of myself when I was her age.

Quincy and Monica as kids

Redheadedgirl: Hey it is important to get your post-sports career prospects sorted out. These family dynamics are fascinating!

HA she’s fake sports nerding him! Twinkies are way better than flowers, it’s true.

CarrieS: I kinda love their 2 minute long childhood romance.

Sarah: Me, too!

Redheadedgirl: “You stupid, and your dad plays for the worst team in the NBA!” OUCH. That was a very short-lived romance.

CarrieS: “You’d be real pretty if you’d do something with your hair.” Alfrie, ma’am, the girl is played by Sanaa Lathan. She’s pretty.

Redheadedgirl: I think these scenes of Lena doing Monica’s hair are my favorite so far.

CarrieS: I know I should be furious with the mom for persistently ignoring how important basketball is to her daughter but it’s impossible for me to feel that hostile to someone who brings a Toni Morrison book to a game.

I love all the themes of family relationships – the sisters, and the relationships between husbands and wives and parents and kids.

Redheadedgirl: I do note that his mama is warning him about these “fast-ass girls” but not telling him to be respectful of them.

It is awful to be able to hear your parents have having a knockdown drag out fight when you want to sleep. Luckily, he lives in this word where you can just hop out your window. And crashing on her floor has happened so much that they have a routine. That’s making my heart sad.

Sarah: Oh, my gosh, and the scenes with no dialogue. She lets him sleep on the floor of her room because his parents are fighting, and clearly that’s happened before so it’s no big deal and oh my heart just got all smushy.

Wordless deep understanding that cuts under all the bickery BS conversations. This movie is going to slice my heart nine times before it’s over, huh?

Redheadedgirl: This dance is SO very 80s. (Also that dress shows off Monica’s arms to PERFECTION holy shit) This date is so awkward!

CarrieS: GIRL! DO NOT LIE ON THE GRASS IN THAT WHITE DRESS! Luckily it has magic movie powers and remains spotless, while I cannot wear any item of clothing without staining it with some substance or other within seconds.

Redheadedgirl: Q gives this whole body gesture when she’s talking about how her college boy date was kissing on her, and I just love gestures like that convey so much conflicted emotion.

Sarah: Oh my gosh, the scene where she takes the top of her dress off, and she’s wearing pearls and he’s wearing his number on a chain… how much does that one shot contain.

(Answer: MULTITUDES.)

A teenage Quincy with his shirt open and his basketball number on a chain. Monica is in a white dress and pearls.

CarrieS: College. Aww they are so cute, icing each other post practice!

Redheadedgirl: HIS AND HERS ICING. That’s love.

CarrieS: Strip basketball is clearly the best kind.

This movie feels like it was just made yesterday. Not dated at all.

Sarah: You’re so right. This could be yesterday. Or tomorrow. It’s got this weird almost timeless sense of story and emotion – even with the fashion and the music that’s so specifically dated.

And I love the contrast between the first-time scene and the strip-ball scene where they are so comfortable with themselves, with each other, with their bodies… it’s so many layers of intimacy in one game. BIG HAPPY SIGH is what I’m saying here.

CarrieS: “When I ignore you – then you worry.” Great line. Great little scene.

Oh God that break-up scene. Not cool, dude. Not cool.

Sarah: My insides are burning from that scene. Oh, gosh. Ow.

CarrieS: I had no idea that Women’s Basketball was so big in Europe, that’s awesome!

Sarah: Isn’t that part cool? I loved going to basketball games when I was an exchange student. American athletes were a huge deal when I was there – and that was 1991 and 1996. So a bit before this was made, but totally real.

I do have to say, though, she’s in Spain seven months, playing on a team and living in Barcelona, and she doesn’t know enough Spanish to get the gist of a coach’s speech? That seems odd to me, but I’m a full-on language nerd (ask me about how I tried to learn Hawaiian, Norwegian, and then Icelandic greetings using Mango on the same evening!).

Redheadedgirl: Coaches sound the same in all languages.

CarrieS: Omar’s dad is such a shitty guy but he’s such a good dad. “How come you can’t be the man you tried to make me?” Welcome to parenting, honey.

Redheadedgirl: Okay, Mr. Big Shot, you say that Q’s mom was 19 when she got pregnant, and “he wasn’t ready for marriage” but HEY GUESS WHAT ASSWIPE. It’s 19 years later. You’ve had some time to mature. You know, IF YOU WANTED TO.

Sarah: That hit me square in all the parenting feels. Ouuuuuch.

CarrieS: Monica looks smoking hot in that red shirt.

Sarah: Sanaa Lathan’s deltoids. Mercy. I have envy.

CarrieS: I will be so disappointed if Tyra doesn’t smize at least once.

Redheadedgirl: TYRA! We were all rooting for you! (That waggle of the engagement ring is a bit much…)

CarrieS: Jeez Tyra, why don’t you just pee on him already?

Quincy's fiancee waving her engagement ring around

Sarah: I also have envy of her family kitchen, too, if I’m being honest.

CarrieS: “Find out where they’re registered and send them a gift.” I can’t help it, I just love her even though she’s been so horribly unaccepting of her daughter. It’s like she wants to be a great mom, but she can’t see the daughter that she actually has, so she doesn’t know how to parent her and meanwhile Monica doesn’t recognize the contributions of her mom. As a stay-at-home mom I think that character represents the fears that a lot of stay at home moms have about being condescended to or unappreciated.

But I also like the hope they represent that they can get to know each other as adults. I love Mom telling Monica that the thing that most drove her crazy about her daughter was also the thing she most admired and envied.

Sarah: They’re both so convinced that the other is ashamed of them. And they don’t understand each other at all.

Redheadedgirl: This fight has been a long time in coming. Mothers and expectations and all of it.

CarrieS: Hey Quincy, we have matching knee scars! Represent!

Redheadedgirl: Bro, you fucked up your knee by grandstanding? Honestly. At least when I tore my ACL I was trying to do an actual thing, not hanging off a basket for no reason.

CarrieS: I’m unclear on how Monica is the bad guy begging for Quincy’s love after what he did to her in college. Having to leave at 11 on one night does not equal not being there for someone.

ERMEEGARD THAT BABBY THO

Redheadedgirl: WRIGHT-MCCALL BABY “Go mommy!” SO CUTE.

That was ADORABLE. I liked the complicated parental relationships, and the parts where your high school/college relationships are messy and no one is really their best self (which is fine, honestly- this is part of growing up) and how changes to yourself and your life can make those relationships functional.

Quincy and his daughter watching Monica playing basketball

CarrieS: I would give this movie an A but I am waffling a bit because he’s such an asshole to her in college and somehow that gets flipped around as though she was the asshole even though she was as considerate of him as she could possibly be.

Sarah: I am with you exactly. There’s a lot of water, so to speak, under that bridge and I wanted more about how they’d… I don’t know, work out the absence and resentments? Figure out all the discord?

Though the ending made it clear that they did.

And holy wow. I’m just blown away by Gina Prince-Blythewood’s writing and directing. All the subtle touches in different scenes, like Omar Epps wearing a backwards cap in the end, and of course it’s a USC cap, pointing behind him while he’s looking across the yard at her darkened window.

And the way their relationship reflected and contradicted the roles they played in their families, and their parents’ marriages. I get why people love this film – you can watch it fifty times, I bet, and see more details each time, catch nuances that reveal themselves with familiarity – like their relationship.

Seriously, I have no objectivity at this moment. I’m sprawled on the floor mentally rolling in squee. Why the hell did I wait so long to see that movie?

CarrieS: I agree about rewatching! Even on a single watch, I found myself watching the movie in a lot of different ways. As the stay-at-home mom of an athletic daughter, I watched it through the lens of a parent. I watched it as a romance. I watched it as a coming of age story. There’s so many angles to see it from.

The ending though – every time I think about it I get more and more angry. He treated her like shit during that break up. I truly don’t think she did anything to deserve it, and I DO think she was there for him. So after all her growth, to see her begging for his heart while he acts like he has the high ground just made me furious.

Which would not stop me from watching the movie 500 more times, because all of it was so good except that one thing.

Redheadedgirl: The soundtrack to this movie is PERFECT.

Also Omar Epps is a fine looking dude.

For those who watched the movie, what did you think? Was Quincy being a total jerk? Was he worthy of Monica? Let us know in the comments!

Awesome Kindle Daily Deals, Plus a Paranormal Romance

0
0

The Kindle Daily Deals today are amazing! We’re going to feature a few of them today so you don’t miss out while they’re on sale, but be sure to check out the rest of the books discounted!

Year of Yes

Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes is $2.99! This is a Kindle Daily Deal and it’s bring price matched. I’ve had this recommended to me several times, especially on audio. Even most people who don’t normally read memoirs or self-help enjoyed this one. However, some admittedly found it to be slow and without direction.

The mega-talented creator of Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal and executive producer of How to Get Away With Murder chronicles how saying YES for one year changed her life―and how it can change yours, too.

With three hit shows on television and three children at home, the uber-talented Shonda Rhimes had lots of good reasons to say NO when an unexpected invitation arrived. Hollywood party? No. Speaking engagement? No. Media appearances? No.

And there was the side-benefit of saying No for an introvert like Shonda: nothing new to fear.

Then Shonda’s sister laid down a challenge: just for one year, try to say YES to the unexpected invitations that come your way. Shonda reluctantly agreed―and the result was nothing short of transformative. In Year of Yes, Shonda Rhimes chronicles the powerful impact saying yes had on every aspect of her life―and how we can all change our lives with one little word. Yes.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

This book is on sale at:

Amazon Barnes & Noble Kobo iBooks

 

 

 

Cream of the Crop

Cream of the Crop by Alice Clayton is $2.99! This is another Kindle Daily Deal and features a dairy farmer hero who looks like Jason Momoa. Clayton’s books are usually hilarious, but light on angst if you’re a reader who likes their drama. I also made a salted caramel White Russian to go along with the books release!

New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Alice Clayton brings her trademark blend of funny and sexy to this second contemporary romance in the brand-new Hudson Valley series!

Manhattan’s It Girl, Natalie Grayson, has it all: she’s a hot exec at a leading advertising firm, known industry-wide for her challenging and edgy campaigns. She’s got a large circle of friends, a family that loves her dearly, and her dance card is always full with handsome eligible bachelors. What else could a modern gal-about-town wish for? The answer, of course, is…cheese.

Natalie’s favorite part of each week is spending Saturday morning at the Union Square Farmer’s Market, where she indulges her love of all things triple cream. Her favorite booth also indulges her love of all things handsome. Oscar Mendoza, owner of the Bailey Falls Creamery and purveyor of the finest artisanal cheeses the Hudson Valley has to offer, is tall, dark, mysterious, and a bit oblivious. Or so she thinks. But that doesn’t stop Natalie from fantasizing about the size of his, ahem, milk can.

Romance is churning, passion is burning, and something incredible is rising to the top. Could it be…love?

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

This book is on sale at:

Amazon Barnes & Noble Kobo iBooks

 

 

 

The Coincidence of Coconut Cake

The Coincidence of Coconut Cake by Amy E. Reichert is $1.99 and part of today’s Kindle Daily Deals! I’ll be honest; this book sounds delightful and delicious. I know I’ll be taking advantage of this sale. Readers loved the writing, but some found themselves wanting more in terms of the romantic aspects. It has a 3.7-star rating on Goodreads.

YOU’VE GOT MAIL meets HOW TO EAT A CUPCAKE in this delightful novel about a talented chef and the food critic who brings down her restaurant—whose chance meeting turns into a delectable romance of mistaken identities.

In downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Lou works tirelessly to build her beloved yet struggling French restaurant, Luella’s, into a success. She cheerfully balances her demanding business and even more demanding fiancé…until the morning she discovers him in the buff—with an intern.

Witty yet gruff British transplant Al is keeping himself employed and entertained by writing scathing reviews of local restaurants in the Milwaukee newspaper under a pseudonym. When an anonymous tip sends him to Luella’s, little does he know he’s arrived on the worst day of the chef’s life. The review practically writes itself: underdone fish, scorched sauce, distracted service—he unleashes his worst.

The day that Al’s mean-spirited review of Luella’s runs, the two cross paths in a pub: Lou drowning her sorrows, and Al celebrating his latest publication. As they chat, Al playfully challenges Lou to show him the best of Milwaukee and she’s game—but only if they never discuss work, which Al readily agrees to. As they explore the city’s local delicacies and their mutual attraction, Lou’s restaurant faces closure, while Al’s column gains popularity. It’s only a matter of time before the two fall in love…but when the truth comes out, can Lou overlook the past to chase her future?

Set in the lovely, quirky heart of Wisconsin, THE COINCIDENCE OF COCONUT CAKE is a charming love story of misunderstandings, mistaken identity, and the power of food to bring two people together.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

This book is on sale at:

Amazon Barnes & Noble Kobo iBooks Audible

 

 

 

The Leopard King

The Leopard King by Ann Aguirre is $2.99! This is the first book in her paranormal romance series, Ars Numina. And man, that cover is amazeballs. Readers loved the emotions the hero and heroine experienced, but some wished there was a bit more information about the world and setting. I also totally bought this one the last time it was on sale.

Proud. Imperious. Impassioned.

Until three years ago, those words applied to Dominic Asher, the leader of Ash Valley. His family has ruled the feline branch of the Animari for hundreds of years, guiding the pride through perilous times. Unspeakable loss drove him into seclusion, a feral beast nobody can tame. Now he’s wrecked, a leopard king in exile, and he wants nothing more than to die.

Fierce. Loyal. Determined.

Fortunately for Dom, those words still apply to Pru Bristow, his dead mate’s best friend. She’s had her heart broken too, but she never quits. With the conclave approaching, alliances with the Pine Ridge pack and Burnt Amber clans on the verge of collapse, she’s prepared to do whatever it takes to drag their leader back, before his second can start a war.

At best theirs seems like a desperate alliance, but when their mate bond turns hot and fierce, there’s no end to the questions and the doubts. Neither of them expects to fall in love. But sometimes people don’t know what they’re looking for until they find it.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

This book is on sale at:

Amazon Barnes & Noble Kobo iBooks

 

 

 

Cover Snark: Horrible Guy, Great Fingers

0
0

Most of these covers are safe for work, except for the facial expressions and half-open shirt of the first one. Enjoy!

I Only Like the Fingers of the Guy I Hate by Ryo Akiduki. This is a manga and more of a title snark because...what? The cover has an illustrated couple. The woman's mouth is wide open and her shirt is unbuttoned. She seems pretty surprised.

Amanda: Methinks something is lost in translation.

Sarah: Um. Yes?

Where did you find that majesty?

Elyse: I just did an actual spit take

Amanda: I was searching for I Hate Fairyland Vol 2 and that’s what came up. Clearly not the same thing.

BUT SHE ONLY LIKES THE FINGERS, NOTHING ELSE.

Fingers or gtfo.

Sarah: Dare I ask where and WHY the fingers?

Redheadedgirl: You know where and why the fingers.

He’s clearly talented with them.

Sarah: So if you like a guy, do you have to cut off his fingers?

Maybe his fingers are the problem.

Amanda: Well maybe if it didn’t have those sweet, sweet fingers, she could go back to hating him.

Redheadedgirl: I kinda want to read it.

I do want to read it.

The Unforgettable Wolf by Jane Godman. A woman looking over her shoulder, but there's a bright red outline of a wolf superimposed over her body.

Amanda: This looks like it’d be in 3D if you had those glasses.

Carrie: I admit it – I like the colors.

But it looks less like she’s part wolf and more like she skinned the wolf and made a cape.

Sarah: Is that Amy Adams?

Redheadedgirl: No, it’s Isla Fisher.

Sarah: They’re the same 43% of the time.

Elyse: It looks like the title card from an 80s movie where they slowly superimpose the wolf over here and techno music plays in the background.

Amanda: Or like an Animorphs cover!

Redheadedgirl: It looks like it should be one of those changeable hologram thingies.

Next to Me by Jodi Watters. A headless dude. His shirt is unbuttoned and he has a hairy chest. But his abs look concerning, like something about to bust through.

Sarah: From Jill, without comment.

Is what’s next to me a food baby?

OR THE ALIEN FROM ALIEN?

Alien Alien food baby?

Redheadedgirl: Hello my baby, hello my darlin’…..

Sarah: Hello distended aaaaaabs

Amanda: Definitely looks like a food baby to me.

But can I also say that it’s always nice to see a dude without a waxed chest on a cover.

Sarah: I was just thinking that. Points for nice chest hair.

Elyse: I like a hirsute man

Sarah: Roger that.
Brooklyn Streets Meet Wall Street by James Jimmy Richardson. A man and a woman embracing at the top of some stone steps while a bull and a bear are fighting below.

Amanda: BEARS ARE LOOSE! Watch out!

Carrie: We told you to keep guns off wall street but no, you had to keep attacking bulls instead. Now look at this mess.

Sarah: There is so much cut and paste and the light is coming from three different directions and it’s the end of the world because the animals are fighting each other and I need to go lie down now.

Women’s History Month: Our Favorite Biographies

0
0

Last year for Women’s History Month, we discussed some of our favorite women in history. This year we’d thought we’d bring you some of our favorite biographies and biopics.

RHG: Television has given us some lavish biopics of Royal women recently – Victoria (about Queen Victoria) and The Crown, about Elizabeth II. Like all biopics, there’s some fast and loose history at play, but the concept of how these two young women become Queen and how they learn to balance their personal lives with the public demands of their position is fascinating. Also, both series are GORGEOUS.

Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management
A | BN | K | iB
I am currently reading a biography about Isabella Beeton, the “Mrs. Beeton” that wrote the handbook that British Victorian women used to run their households. Even though she died four years after the initial publication of Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management, it continued to be updated and a best seller until the early 20th century. It’s still in print (I have a copy).

But as for who the actual Isabella was, well, that’s been a lot of work for her biographers due to family fights and the lack of documentation of a young woman’s life in general. But the effect she and her work has had on women and their lives is basically incalculable. For good and for ill, her’s was a book that tells you ALL THE THINGS you should know to run a household, but also lists ALL THE THINGS you should be doing to run your household. Nevermind that for the vast majority of this book’s publishing history, no one was doing all of these things. All the pressure!

Another biography I enjoyed in much the same vein (you may notice a theme?) is Stand Facing the Stove: The Story of the Women Who Brought America the Joy of Cooking. Irma S. Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker were mother and daughter, and it’s the story of a woman who originally just wanted to self-publish a cookbook to help support her family. What you get is the story of a mother-daughter relationship, through MANY ups and downs, and a book that changed how America cooks. In terms of social history, The Joy of Cooking is one of those watershed moments, and so often we don’t get the story of the women who changed the world.

Elyse: I am always interested in the history of a maligned women — the actual history, not the bullshit history we’re all taught. I found The Witches by Stacy Schiff fascinating. It can be a little dry at times (and if you’re looking for a definitive “why” the Salem witch hysteria happened, you won’t get it here). Schiff explores how the accusers, mostly young women, assumed a role of tremendous power in a community that didn’t value them as much beyond a commodity. It’s a really in depth look at gender politics in 1692 New England.

If you’re really into Netflix’s The Crown, you might try Elizabeth The Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch by Sally Bedell Smith. Smith makes Queen Elizabeth a more approachable figure than she appears in the media and also offers a glimpse in the daily life of royalty.

If you prefer fictionalized biographies, then I recommend Empress Orchid by Anchee Min. It’s a first person account of the life of Empress Dowager Cixi as she first comes to marry the emperor. It’s part love story, part auto-biography and deeply satisfying. Empress Dowager Cixi effectively rule China from 1861 to 1908, and she’s a controversial figure –some blame her for the downfall of the Qing dynasty, and others claim that had she been a man, she wouldn’t have been so criticized. Min continues her story in The Last Empress.

Sarah: I love documentaries in so many ways, and keep a list of ones I want to see in a notebook. I add to the list constantly. Alas, a number of the documentaries I encounter via streaming services I already pay for feature dudes. Lots of dudes.

For example, I watched one, Baristaabout the national barista competition. Look at the cover image, and you can see why I was curious. But alas, it featured mostly dudes, even though, for me, the most compelling person was easily Eden-Marie Abramowicz.

On my list to watch that I haven’t seen yet: Sophia Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow, about Sophia Loren; Anita, about Anita Hill; Vessel, about Rebecca Gomperts, a doctor who sought to perform safe abortions to women aboard a ship thereby avoiding restrictive laws in several European countries; A Ballerina’s Tale, about Misty Copeland; and Miss Representation, about the media’s pervasive sexism – not technically a biography, though it is about all of us.

Also in the “about a lot of women not just one” category is the documentary Dark Girls, about the prejudice faced by women with dark skin. One of my closest friends from college just completed her MFA with a project on images of Black women in the media, and she used this documentary as part of her thesis.

And while I have exactly zero objectivity for this one, I also recommend Love Between the Covers, a documentary about the romance genre (which I’m in briefly).

RHG: Carrie has done a series of posts of Kickass Women in History, which I highly recommend you check out. Some of the names were familiar, but a lot more were new to me!

Carrie has also reviewed a number of biographies, and I asked her to pick her three favorites.  After some gnashing of teeth (“NO I LOVES THEM ALL”) she made her choices:

  1. Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy by Karen Abbott, about four women who were spies and undercover soldiers during the Civil War.
  2. Charity and Sylvia by Rachel Hope Cleves, about two women who functionally formed a same-sex marriage in Early America
  3. The Secret History of the Mongol Queens by Jack Weatherford, which covers the history of women who led the Mongol Empire from 1206 to 1509.

Other bios Carrie has reviewed include multiple Brontes, Lady Byron, Shirley Jackson, and the women who worked at the Harvard Observatory.

We’ve also reviewed a number of biopics about women in our movie reviews:

What about you? What are your recommendations? What bios, either literary or visual, have you loved and want more people to read or see?  

Viewing all 7855 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images