Bitchin' Blog Posts
: Smart Bitches Sizzling Book Club
February 01, 2012 | Wednesday at 12:02 am | 17 Comments
Time to announce the February Book Club Pick! If you tuned into the chat Tuesday night, you heard this already, but it's worth repeating with MORE WORDS!
The February book club pick is: Indigo by Beverly Jenkins. This book is so well-reviewed everywhere you look, and there's a very good reason for that. It's amazing. It's also a classic and one of the best historical romances.
Here's the summary: As a child Hester Wyatt escaped slavery, but now the dark skinned beauty is a dedicated member of Michigan's Underground railroad, offering other runaways a chance at the freedom she has learned to love.
When one of her fellow conductors brings her an injured man to hide, Hester doesn't hesitate even after she is told about the price on his head. The man in question is the great conductor known as the "Black Daniel" a vital member of the North's Underground railroad network, but Hester finds him so rude and arrogant, she begins to question her vow to hide him.
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January 30, 2012 | Monday at 3:49 am | 0 Comments
Tonight at 9pm ET, the window below will go live with book chatting, mayhem, shenanigans, and much Smite discussion. I hope you'll join us for the book club chat about Courtney Milan's Unraveled.
The chat will be from 9-10pm, and Milan will join us at 10pm for a Q&A session. I cannot wait to hear what you thought of this book.
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January 10, 2012 | Tuesday at 1:19 pm | 3 Comments
Time to name some Unraveled Winners!
The winners of three print copies of Unraveled are:
Kate KF
Kate Gomberg
Julie
And the winners of the three digital copies of Unraveled are:
Sally
Katherinelynn 04
Ashley
Winners, please email me at sarahATsmartbitchestrashybooksDOROTHYcom with your mailing address or email address, so I can get you your winnings! Congrats!
Thanks to everyone who entered, and I really hope you enjoy it. I cannot wait to hear what you think of the book at the end of January.
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January 03, 2012 | Tuesday at 2:10 pm | 15 Comments
It's fun to read a trilogy and see the complete story of all the featured characters, so I'm making this month's selection the Courtney Milan Hat Trick: Unraveled, better known as "Smite's Story."
RedHeadedGirl already gave it an A, but I know so many of you want to discuss the book, so let's read and discuss, shall we?
Here's the summary: Smite Turner is renowned for his single-minded devotion to his duty as a magistrate. But behind his relentless focus lies not only a determination to do what is right, but the haunting secrets of his past—secrets that he is determined to hide, even if it means keeping everyone else at arm’s length. Until the day an irresistible woman shows up as a witness in his courtroom…
Miranda Darling isn’t in trouble…yet. But she’s close enough that when Turner threatens her with imprisonment if she puts one foot wrong, she knows she should run in the other direction. And yet no matter how forbidding the man seems on the outside, she can’t bring herself to leave. Instead, when he tries to push…
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December 22, 2011 | Thursday at 3:18 am | 3 Comments
Tonight at 9pm, the window below will go live and we'll be discussing Sandra Hyatt's Lessons in Seduction. I hope you'll join us, as it should be fun.
Because Ms. Hyatt passed away last August, there won't be a Q&A portion, and I'll be ending the chat a bit earlier than normal. But during the chat I am aiming for mayhem, merriment, and a great discussion of this book, which I really enjoyed. I hope you did, too.
Talk to you tonight!
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December 18, 2011 | Sunday at 12:04 pm | 3 Comments
Friendly reminder! The Sizzling Book Club Chat will be 22 December 2011 at 9:00 pm ET. We'll be discussing Sandra Hyatt's Lessons in Seduction, and I cannot wait to chat with you about it.
There will also be seasonal merriment and mayhem, and I welcome any and all holiday libations. It'll be martini time for me as we raise a glass to Ms. Hyatt's memory.
Need a handy button to put this on your calendar? Here you go:
See you then!
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December 03, 2011 | Saturday at 12:43 am | 5 Comments
Sounds like I'm giving away action lessons in seduction. HA! Not.
I'm giving away five copies of Sandra Hyatt's Lessons in Seduction, this month's book club pick - and it's time to select the winners. Thanks to the magical random integer generator, the five winners are:
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Kathleen O'Donnell
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Shiny
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Anony Miss
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Kate Gomberg
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Abby Normal
Please contact me at sarahATsmartbitchestrashybooksDOTcom with your choice of digital format or paper copy, and your email or mailing address as appropriate.
Thanks and I hope to see you all at the book club chat on the 22nd!
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December 01, 2011 | Thursday at 12:06 am | 43 Comments
Karina Bliss contacted me to tell me that Sandra Hyatt's posthumous last novel for Harlequin Desire will be published this week, and that she and other authors were trying to promote it for her in her memory, and to bring forth the royalty fairy for her family. I'd read Hyatt's previous book and liked it a good bit so I grabbed a copy and read it this week.
OH MY GOSH YOU GUYS. SERIOUSLY.
This book is. So. Adorable.
Remember the scenes in Some Kind of Wonderful where Watts is driving Eric Stoltz and Lea Thompson around as their chauffeur for their date, knowing the whole time that while she coaches her friend to get this girl he likes, she's costing herself her closest friend?
It's LIKE THAT.
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November 30, 2011 | Wednesday at 7:50 am | 3 Comments
Time for the Sizzling Book Club Chat for Courtney Milan's Unclaimed. I have seen a few people talking on Twitter and Facebook about how much they liked this book - and that they can't wait to talk about it. ME TOO.
The window below the fold will go live at 9pm ET with chatting and mayhem, and Courtney will join us for Q&A at 10pm. I hope you'll bring a glass of wine and yourself to the chat tonight, as it promises to be a fun and lively discussion.
See you then!
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November 01, 2011 | Tuesday at 3:39 pm | 14 Comments
If you tuned in to last week’s book chat, you know that our November book club selection is Courtney Milan’s Unclaimed!
Unclaimed is the sequel to Unveiled, our February book club selection, and it’s as marvelous as the first book in the Turner series.
Here’s the summary: Handsome, wealthy and respected, Sir Mark Turner is the most sought-after bachelor in all of London—and he’s known far and wide for his irreproachable character. But behind his virtuous reputation lies a passionate nature he keeps carefully in check…until he meets the beautiful Jessica Farleigh, the woman he’s waited for all his life.
But Jessica is a courtesan, not the genteel lady Sir Mark believes. Desperate to be free of a life she despises, she seizes her chance when Mark’s enemies make her an offer she can’t refuse: seduce Mark and tarnish his good name, and a princely sum will be hers. Yet as she comes to know the man she’s sworn to destroy, Jessica will be forced to choose between the future she needs…and the love she…
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October 26, 2011 | Wednesday at 12:05 pm | 6 Comments
Tonight at 9pm EDT, the window below will go live and we’ll be discussing Sea Change by Darlene Marshall. Pirates! Cross dressing! Women practicing medicine!
I seriously cannot wait to chat with you, especially after the discussion of cross dressing, gender, and women in history living publicly as men. Author Darlene Marshall will join us for a Q&A at 10pm EDT. I hope you’ll stop by and join us as well! Talk to you soon!
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October 18, 2011 | Tuesday at 10:01 am | 106 Comments
Cross dressing is an old and familiar plot trope in romance. We’ve talked about it here before, and there’s a pretty thorough list at AAR of all the cross dressing romances they’ve cataloged.
I joke (A LOT) about how oddly easy it is for heroines to easily pass as boys. So many romance heroines years past puberty have grabbed some boys clothing, possibly from a well-hipped stable lad, I presume, and shoved a cap on their heads and presto! Everyone thinks she’s a boy.
Yet there is an amazing history of “passing women,” women who “passed” as men, often marrying other women and living publicly as males, even practicing male professions such as medicine. Cross-dressing was a favorite plot device of many a writer, including Shakespeare.
NB: I may be incorrect in my terminology here. I *thought* “passing women” referred to women who lived outwardly as men, but I’m also finding references to individuals who “passed” as another race. I’m referring here to gender and if I’m using the wrong term, I apologize.
…
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October 01, 2011 | Saturday at 10:30 am | 41 Comments
It’s time for the October book club pick - and we’re going to be reading another historical, but a More Different Historical. The Caribbean! Pirates! AND cross dressing!
ETA: I’m opening the contest for an additional day since the site was down this weekend - have at it!
The October book is Darlene Marshall’s Sea Change. Here’s the summary: American privateer Captain David Fletcher needs a surgeon for his wounded brother. But when he captures a British merchantman in the Caribbean, what he gets is Charley Alcott, an apprentice physician barely old enough to shave. Needs take priority over skill, and Captain Fletcher whisks the prisoner aboard his ship with orders to do his best or he’ll be walking the plank.
Charley Alcott’s medical skills are being put to the test in a life-or-death situation—Charley’s life as well as the patient’s. Even if Charley can save the captain’s brother, there will still be hell to pay, and maybe a plank to walk, when Captain Fletcher learns Charley is really Charlotte Alcott.
A war is raging on the world’s oceans,…
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September 29, 2011 | Thursday at 10:18 am | 5 Comments
Ahoy! At 3pm today, Eastern time, this window will go live with the discussion of An Unwilling Bride by Jo Beverly. This book can generate some strong feelings on the part of readers, so this promises to be a lively discussion. Jo Beverly will join us from the UK at 4pm ET to answer questions. I hope you’ll join in!
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September 27, 2011 | Tuesday at 10:45 am | 0 Comments
It’s book club chat time! Tonight at 9:00pm ET, the window below will go live with discussion about this month’s election, Mistress by Marriage by Maggie Robinson.
I hope you’ll join us to discuss this book and romangst as well!
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