Posted by Amanda

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2025/04/doctors-a-boxed-set-more/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=143619

Any Duke in a Storm

Any Duke in a Storm by Amalie Howard is $1.99! This is book four in the Daring Dukes series. The heroine is a spy trying to apprehend a duke. Have any of you read this series?

Historical romance takes to the high seas. Famed spy Lady Lisbeth Medford is on a ship bound for the West Indies, and the only thing more dangerous than her mission is the elusive Duke she’s trying to capture.

Lady Lisbeth Medford, Countess of Waterstone and famed international spy, is caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. She’s determined to infiltrate a notorious smuggling ring in the West Indies while on a covert mission as a ship’s captain. But even when her identity is compromised and she’s forced to flee, the men chasing her are still hot on her heels.

The trouble in front of her, however, might be even worse. Raphael Saint, the Duc de Viel, is her ship’s new aggravating and dangerously charming sailing master, who might very well be part of the smuggling ring Lisbeth must bring to justice. But when a new deadly threat on the high seas looms, the only way out of danger is to face it…together.

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You can find ordering info for this book here.

The Dare and the Doctor

The Dare and the Doctor by Kate Noble is $3.99! This is the third book in the Winner Takes All historical romance series. This was also mentioned in a Hide Your Wallet post way back in 2016.

Dr. Rhys Gray and Miss Margaret Babcock are friends—strictly friends. But over the course of the year, as they exchange dozens of letters, they share personal details that put them on the path to something more. When Dr. Gray helps Margaret realize her dearest dream and she comes to his defense in the uproar that follows, it seems that their connection cannot be denied. But will their relationship stand the scruples of society and jealous intendeds, or are they destined to be only friends, and nothing more?

The perfect novel for fans of Regency Era romance, The Dare and the Doctor is a clever and passionate love story worth sharing.

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You can find ordering info for this book here.

The Only Purple House in Town

The Only Purple House in Town by Ann Aguirre is $1.99! This is book four in the Fix-It Witches series and is the first to breakaway from the previous cover designs in the series. We mentioned this on Hide Your Wallet in summer 2023.

Iris Collins is the messy one in her family. The “chaos bunny.” Her sisters are all wildly successful, while she can’t balance her budget for a single month. It’s no wonder she’s in debt to her roommates. When she unexpectedly inherits a house from her great aunt, her plan to turn it into a B&B fails—as most of her plans do. She winds up renting rooms like a Victorian spinster, collecting other lost souls…and not all of them are “human.”

Eli Reese grew up as the nerdy outcast in school, but he got rich designing apps. Now he’s successful by any standards. But he’s never had the same luck in finding a real community or people who understand him. Over the years, he’s never forgotten his first crush, so when he spots her at a café, he takes it as a sign. Except then he gets sucked into the Iris-verse and somehow ends up renting one of her B&B rooms. As the days pass, Eli grows enchanted by the misfit boarders staying in the house…and even more so by Iris. Could Eli have finally found a person and a place to call “home”?

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You can find ordering info for this book here.

Before the Coffee Gets Cold: A Toshikazu Kawaguchi Book Set

Before the Coffee Gets Cold: A Toshikazu Kawaguchi Book Set by Toshikazu Kawaguchi is $4.99! These are works in translation, originally published in Japanese, and have magical realism elements. The set contains three books.

What would you do if you could travel back in time? Discover the internationally bestselling novels of Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s Before the Coffee Gets Cold series, now a worldwide phenomenon and BookTok sensation, in this special new box set. Step inside Tokyo’s whimsical Café Funiculi Funicula and travel back in time with a cast of unforgettable characters, including:

– Before the Coffee Gets Cold: estranged sisters, a newly pregnant customer, and the wife of a man with early onset Alzheimer’s

– Tales from the Café: a detective with a gift, a son with regrets, and a man chasing “the one who got away”

– Before Your Memory Fades: a comedian with big dreams, a grieving sister, and childhood lovers

For new and longtime fans alike, this boxed set is the perfect collection of heartwarming, uplifting tales that remind us we “don’t have to live burdened by regret” (New York Times). Translated from Japanese in the signature prose of Geoffrey Trousselot, each installment of this series brings new adventure that has captivated millions of readers around the world.

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You can find ordering info for this book here.

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Posted by Carrie S

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2025/04/tarot-after-dark-road-trip/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=143060

This piece of literary mayhem is exclusive to Smart Bitches After Dark, but fret not. If you'd like to join, we'd love to have you!

Have a look at our membership options, and come join the fun!

If you want to have a little extra fun, be a little more yourself, and be part of keeping the site open for everyone in the future, we can’t wait to see you in our new subscription-based section with exclusive content and events.

Everything you’re used to seeing at the Hot Pink Palace that is Smart Bitches Trashy Books will remain free as always, because we remain committed to fostering community among brilliant readers who love romance.

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https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=143060

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Posted by Carrie S

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/reviews/victorian-psycho-by-virginia-feito/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?post_type=reviews&p=142647

B+

Victorian Psycho

by Virginia Feito
February 4, 2025 · Liveright
Fantasy/Fairy Tale RomanceRomanceScience Fiction/Fantasy

TW/CW GALORE SRSLY BEWARE

TW: Where should I even start? This book contains (and the review mentions) child abuse, spousal abuse, infanticide, religious and secular hypocrisy, animal death and abuse, gore, murder, suicide, self harm, self-immolation (twice!) and a teensy tiny whiff of incest. And quite possibly some other things that I forgot.

Ed.note: before you continue reading this review, please be aware that the TW/CW above includes discussion in this review. Reader discretion advised.

Victorian Psycho is what would happen if Patrick Bateman and Jane Eyre had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad baby. Protagonist and narrator Winifred Dotty has no ability to experience fear or empathy. She is completely indifferent to physical pain, be it her own or that of others. She has an endless fascination with corpses. She has a compulsion to both plan crimes and to commit them on impulse. Naturally, she is employed as a governess.

Winifred’s recollections of her life take us through a kind of Haunted House of Victorian Horrors, including spousal abuse, child abuse, religious hypocrisy, baby farming, and a boarding school in which disease runs rampant through the starved and frozen student population. She tells these stories of her past while she fulfills her duties as a governess by day and roams the house in the night. Yellow wallpaper makes an appearance, as does the following:

Crawling through the child-size doorway, I ascend a set of cramped stairs to a secret garret. The room is windowless and bare but for a rusted tin tub. This must be where the Poundses have stowed their generations of female hysterics through the ages.

I can’t tell you how much I love the idea that a secret attic for madwomen is a standard household feature for the rich.

Winifred is an unreliable narrator who experiences vivid hallucinations. Are bodies really “piling up in the attic” as she says? I know that the attic must be cold in winter but sooner or later you’d think they’d start to smell. So we are never quite sure of her actual body count, only that by the end of the book it is indisputably considerable.

This is a short, gruesome, fast-paced thriller with nary a drop of romance in it. I can’t even honestly say that it’s full of female rage, because for the most part Winifred views the world around her with a dispassionate eye, regarding the havoc she wreaks with a kind of distant, academic interest. You’d think a character with literally not one single redeeming quality (other than a positively wicked intelligence and the deadest deadpan snark in history) would be dull, but I was fascinated by her, constantly turning the pages to see what would happen next.

One cannot fully rely on Winifred to provide a cathartic feeling of justice, since Winifred murders and otherwise causes suffering to the innocent and guilty alike – infants, small children, servants – the rich and the poor, she kills them all. And yet I found myself reading with a kind of appalled admiration – she is so very, very beyond any kind of rules that she has a certain outlaw appeal, and because we are in her head, we can’t not root for her at least a little bit.

There is also considerable humor if you like humor that has passed beyond gallows humor and pitched straight into the grave. Here’s a passage that manages to contain a sharp commentary on hypocrisy, an interesting and disturbing peek into how this particular psychopath thinks, and, if your sense of humor is grim enough, a bit of deranged hilarity:

Over dinner, Mr. Pounds, the magenta in his face flourishing after a few glasses of wine, discusses the controversial Factory Act, implemented to improve conditions for children toiling in the factories. Mr. Pounds praises the security of working children. ‘Children’ – he swallows a belch – ‘must be protected.’ (At least two hundred under ten died in his own mills before the act was introduced.)

I wonder what all the fuss with children is about. They’re only people, albeit smaller. Why care about people when they’re small if no one cares about them when they’re grown?

I’m also fond of this conversation between two houseguests regarding phrenology:

“Come now, John, how can you justify their claims that his organs of benevolence and conscientiousness also happened to be ‘Extremely large?'”

“Well, to be fair, he didn’t commit any murders until his thirty-sixth year -”

“Didn’t he eat his own children with a spoon?’”asks Marigold’s husband.

This book is clever, ruthless, funny, and violent. Half of the readers in the world will love this book. The other half will be utterly appalled. A few of us will meet in the middle, like a penny dreadful Venn diagram.

At what point in my life did I find it possible to read about the murder – described graphically on page – of a baby? And yet I must say that Winifred’s reaction to her impulsive action is hilarious. Covered with blood, with a corpse on her hands, in a house full of people in broad daylight, she ruminates, “I didn’t think this through.” The hell you say!

Grading this book is virtually impossible, but the tight story, clever mix of horror, humor, and social commentary, and Victorian tropes is fantastic. I did feel that there was an over abundance of fat shaming and that brought the grade down. Apparently I can tolerate the murder of dozens of people of every age, gender, and social class but I draw the line at fat shaming. Winifred would find this to be very amusing.

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Posted by Amanda

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2025/04/lisa-kleypas-fantasy-romance-more/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=143567

That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon

RECOMMENDED: That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon by Kimberly Lemming is $2.99! I love the new covers! Carrie reviewed this one and gave it a B:

This book was perfect entertainment for my stressed out brain, and I was definitely rooting for those two wacky kids to have their HEA.

Spice trader Cinnamon’s quiet life is turned upside down when she ends up on a quest with a fiery demon, in this irreverently quirky rom-com fantasy that is sweet, steamy, and funny as hell.

All she wanted to do was live her life in peace—maybe get a cat, expand the family spice farm. Really, anything that didn’t involve going on an adventure where an orc might rip her face off. But they say the goddess has favorites, and if so, Cin is clearly not one of them.

After Cin saves the demon Fallon in a wine-drunk stupor, Fallon reveals that all he really wants to do is kill an evil witch enslaving his people. And who can blame him? But now he’s dragging Cinnamon along for the ride whether she likes it or not. On the bright side, at least he keeps burning off his shirt.…

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You can find ordering info for this book here.

The House at Watch Hill

The House at Watch Hill by Karen Marie Moning is $1.99! This is a Gothic romance and the first in a trilogy. Elyse mentioned this in a previous Whatcha Reading.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Marie Moning is back with a gripping, imaginative, and seductive new series in which a young woman moves to Divinity, Louisiana, to inherit a large fortune and a Gothic mansion full of mysteries and ominous secrets…

Zo Grey is reeling from the sudden death of her mother when she receives a surprising call from an attorney in Divinity, Louisiana, with the news she has been left an inheritance by a distant relative, the terms of which he will only discuss in person. Destitute and alone, with nothing left to lose, Zo heads to Divinity and discovers she is the sole beneficiary of a huge fortune and a monstrosity of a house that sits ominously at the peak of Watch Hill—but she must live in it, alone, for three years before the house, or the money, is hers.

Met with this irresistible opportunity to finally build a future for herself, Zo puts aside her misgivings about the foreboding Gothic mansion and the strange circumstances, and moves in, where she is quickly met by a red-eyed Stygian owl and an impossibly sexy Scottish groundskeeper.

Her new home is full of countless secrets and mystifying riddles, with doors that go nowhere, others that are impossible to open, and a turret into which there is no visible means of ingress. And the townspeople are odd…

What Zo doesn’t yet know is that her own roots lie in this very house and that in order to discover her true identity and awaken her dormant powers, she will have to face off against sinister forces she doesn’t quite comprehend—or risk being consumed by them.

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You can find ordering info for this book here.

Chasing Cassandra

Chasing Cassandra by Lisa Kleypas is $1.99! Ellen reviewed this one and gave it a C+:

Overall, even though I did enjoy reading most of this book, I was left feeling kind of lukewarm due to the stalling plot and not quite satisfying romance. I think if you have been reading and liking the series so far there is plenty to like here, especially if you are interested in spending more time with the characters we have already been introduced to.

Everything has a price…

Railway magnate Tom Severin is wealthy and powerful enough to satisfy any desire as soon as it arises. Anything—or anyone—is his for the asking. It should be simple to find the perfect wife—and from his first glimpse of Lady Cassandra Ravenel, he’s determined to have her. But the beautiful and quick-witted Cassandra is equally determined to marry for love—the one thing he can’t give.

Everything except her…

Severin is the most compelling and attractive man Cassandra has ever met, even if his heart is frozen. But she has no interest in living in the fast-paced world of a ruthless man who always plays to win.

When a newfound enemy nearly destroys Cassandra’s reputation, Severin seizes the opportunity he’s been waiting for. As always, he gets what he wants—or does he? There’s one lesson Tom Severin has yet to learn from his new bride:

Never underestimate a Ravenel.

The chase for Cassandra’s hand may be over. But the chase for her heart has only just begun…

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You can find ordering info for this book here.

The Starlight Heir

The Starlight Heir by Amalie Howard is $1.99! I believe this is Howard’s first fantasy romance. It released earlier this year. Have any of you read this one?

A bladesmith blessed by the stars. A prince with a dangerous secret. A god bound in shadows. From USA Today bestselling author Amalie Howard comes a scorching new romantasy that will leave you spellbound.

“His Imperial Majesty King Zarek requests your presence as his esteemed guest.”

When the gold-dusted court invitation arrives at Suraya Saab’s forge, she believes it’s a joke. Nobles might seek her skills as a bladesmith—one of few who can imbue her work with precious jadu, the last source of magic in the realm—but she has no qualifications as a potential bride for the crown prince. Still, the invitation is the chance at adventure, and the means to finally visit the capital city her late mother loved.

But what awaits her in Kaldari is nothing she could have imagined—and fraught with danger. It’s not the crown prince, but his impossibly handsome, illegitimate half-brother, Roshan, who captures her interest…and her ire. The invitation isn’t a quest to find a suitable bride, but a veiled hunt for the Starkeeper—a girl rumored to hold the magic of the stars in her blood. And across the city, unrest is brewing between the noble houses and the rebel militia.

When the rebels attack, Suraya and Roshan find themselves on the run, trying to deny their simmering attraction and the knowledge that Suraya herself might be the Starkeeper. But Roshan is guarding secrets of his own. And with no control over the power stirring within her, Suraya has drawn the attention of a dark god, an immortal whose interest might be the biggest threat of all.

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You can find ordering info for this book here.

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2025/04/lisa-kleypas-fantasy-romance-more/

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Posted by Amanda

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2025/04/habo-heroine-interferes-with-duel/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=143563

This HaBO comes from Steph, who wants to find this historical romance:

Please help! I’m trying to find this title – I feel like it’s a bit older from a well-known writer.

It’s definitely a rake romance; the heroine interferes with a duel at the beginning of the novel, thusly meeting the hero. He is injured, and because she arrives late, she is fired from her position, at – I believe – a dress shop, and ends up as his housekeeper/caretaker. I think she’s in London after escaping scheming relatives…

Can we find this one?

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Posted by Amanda

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2025/04/hide-your-wallet-april-15th-release-week/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=143560

Happy Tuesday!

It’s a short and sweet release week for SBTB HQ. Only a trio of books are on our radar and they’re all mysteries of a sort. Perhaps your own TBR pile feels the same.

What are you excited for this week? Let us know in the comments!

Murder by Cheesecake

Author: Rachel Ekstrom Courage
Released: April 15, 2025 by Hyperion Avenue
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Series: Golden Girls #1

The first novel in the all-new Golden Girls Cozy Mystery Series!

When Dorothy’s obnoxious date is found dead in a hotel freezer, it not only ruins a gorgeous cheesecake but threatens the elaborate St. Olaf–themed wedding Rose is hosting.

Things are heating up, and not just because of Blanche’s hot flashes. Rose’s cousin is eloping to Miami, and Rose is playing host. If she can’t balance the groom’s family’s snobbery against the traditional St. Olaf wedding week guidelines, her hometown may never accept her cousin again!

Dorothy quickly realizes she needs a date with whom she can exchange wedding-related wisecracks. Turning to a newfangled VHS dating service, she believes she’s found the ideal conversationalist. Unfortunately, what looks good on TV can actually be a total jerk in real life. It seems she’ll just have to enjoy the company of Sophia, Blanche, and whomever Blanche has targeted for a hookup.

As the Girls all pitch in, Rose is thrilled that the tea-and-fish-themed kickoff event is perfect, not a herring out of place. That is until Dorothy’s date is found dead—face-planted in an otherwise scrumptious-looking cheesecake. With every guest a suspect (especially Dorothy) and a marriage on the line, the four besties must ID the real killer, get the should-be-happy couple down the aisle, and make sure nobody from St. Olaf gets lost in the wilds of Miami. It’s up to the Golden Girls to sleuth out a way for friendship and love to win the day!

Sarah: I’m intrigued!

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Want this book? We can help: buy links ahoy!.

One Death at a Time

Author: Abbi Waxman
Released: April 15, 2025 by Berkley
Genre: Mystery/Thriller

“Abbi Waxman is both irreverent and thoughtful.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Giffin

A cranky former actress teams up with her Gen Z sobriety sponsor to solve the murder that threatens to send her back to prison in this dazzling new mystery novel from the USA Today bestselling author of The Bookish Life of Nina Hill.

When Julia Mann, a bad-tempered ex-actress and professional thorn in the side of authority, runs into Natasha Mason at an AA meeting, it’s anything but a meet-cute. Julia just found a dead body in her swimming pool, and the cops say she did it (she already went to jail for murder once, so now they think she’s making a habit of it). Mason is eager to clear Julia’s name and help keep her sober, but all Julia wants is for Mason to leave her alone.

As their investigation ranges from the Hollywood Hills to the world of burlesque to the country clubs of Palm Springs, this unconventional team realizes their shared love of sarcasm and poor life choices are proving to be a powerful combination. Will secrets from their past trip them up, or will their team of showgirls, cat burglars, and Hollywood agents help them stay one step ahead? Are dead piranhas, false noses, and a giant martini glass important clues or simply your typical day in Los Angeles? And will they manage to solve the crime before they kill each other, or worse, fall off the wagon? Trying to keep it simple and take it easy is one thing—trying to find a murderer before they kill again is a whole other program.

Amanda: A cranky actress has a Gen Z sober coach? Sounds like a lot of fun in an “odd couple” sort of way!

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The Raven Scholar

Author: Antonia Hodgson
Released: April 15, 2025 by Orbit
Genre: Mystery/Thriller, Science Fiction/Fantasy
Series: Eternal Path Trilogy #1

From an electrifying new voice in epic fantasy comes The Raven Scholar, a masterfully woven and playfully inventive tale of imperial intrigue, cutthroat competition, and one scholar’s quest to uncover the truth.

Let us fly now to the empire of Orrun, where after twenty-four years of peace, Bersun the Brusque must end his reign. In the dizzying heat of mid-summer, seven contenders compete to replace him. They are exceptional warriors, thinkers, strategists—the best of the best.

Then one of them is murdered.

It falls to Neema Kraa, the emperor’s brilliant, idiosyncratic High Scholar, to find the killer before the trials end. To do so, she must untangle a web of deadly secrets that stretches back generations, all while competing against six warriors with their own dark histories and fierce ambitions. Neema believes she is alone. But we are here to help; all she has to do is let us in.

If she succeeds, she will win the throne. If she fails, death awaits her. But we won’t let that happen.

We are the Raven, and we are magnificent.

Amanda: The whiff of mystery has me quite interested.

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Want this book? We can help: buy links ahoy!.

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2025/04/hide-your-wallet-april-15th-release-week/

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Posted by Amanda

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2025/04/magical-realism-royals-more/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=143523

Lucy Undying

Lucy Undying by Kiersten White is $1.99! Thanks for everyone who let us know about this sale; fingers crossed it carries through the week. I thought Carrie reviewed this one, but perhaps she mentioned it on Whatcha Reading or something.

A vampire escapes the thrall of Dracula and embarks on her own search for self-discovery and true love in this epic and seductive gothic fantasy from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Hide.

Her name was written in the pages of someone else’s Lucy Westenra was one of Dracula’s first victims.

But her death was only the beginning. Lucy rose from the grave a vampire and has spent her immortal life trying to escape from Dracula’s clutches—and trying to discover who she really is and what she truly wants.

Her undead life takes an unexpected turn in twenty-first-century London, when she meets another woman, Iris, who is also yearning to break free from her past. Iris’s family has built a health empire based on a sinister secret, and they’ll do anything to stay in power.

Lucy has long believed she would never love again. Yet she finds herself compelled by the charming Iris while Iris is equally mesmerized by the confident and glamorous Lucy. But their intense connection and blossoming love is threatened by outside forces. Iris’s mother won’t let go of her without a fight, and Lucy’s past still has Dracula is on the prowl once more.

Lucy Westenra has been a tragically murdered teen, a lonesome adventurer, and a fearsome hunter, but happiness has always eluded her. Can she find the strength to destroy Dracula once and for all, or will her heart once again be her undoing?

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You can find ordering info for this book here.

The Royals Upstairs

The Royals Upstairs by Karina Halle is $1.99! This is a second chance romance between a royal bodyguard and a royal nanny. Have any of you read this one?

He’s the royal bodyguard. She’s the royal nanny. The annoyingly hot attraction that simmers between them—that’s a royal pain.

James Hunter has made a tactical error. His new role as protection officer to Prince Magnus of Norway was supposed to be an exciting change. Instead he’s marooned on a royal estate in the middle of nowhere charged with chasing after demon children and dodging the machinations of meddling staff. And the crowning jewel in this little drama—the children’s nanny is none other than Laila Bruset. The woman whose heart he broke. The woman who still holds his.

When Laila took the job as a nanny for the Norwegian royal children in order to be closer to her ailing grandmother in Oslo, the last thing she expected was to have her life turned upside down—again. But as much as James gets on her nerves, he’s also getting under her skin, and the tension between them sizzles just as devastatingly as before.

As undeniable sparks turn James and Laila’s battle royal into a more serious game of hearts, nanny and bodyguard will have to decide just how much they’re willing to risk for a second chance at love.

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You can find ordering info for this book here.

Ghosts

Ghosts by Dolly Alderton is $1.99! This is one where I can’t decide it’s a tried and true contemporary romance, or if it’s more fiction with romantic elements. Please sound off in the comments if you have the answer!

A smart, sexy, laugh-out-loud romantic comedy about ex-boyfriends, imperfect parents, friends with kids, and a man who disappears the moment he says “I love you.”

Nina Dean is not especially bothered that she’s single. She owns her own apartment, she’s about to publish her second book, she has a great relationship with her ex-boyfriend, and enough friends to keep her social calendar full and her hangovers plentiful. And when she downloads a dating app, she does the seemingly impossible: She meets a great guy on her first date. Max is handsome and built like a lumberjack; he has floppy blond hair and a stable job. But more surprising than anything else, Nina and Max have chemistry. Their conversations are witty and ironic, they both hate sports, they dance together like fools, they happily dig deep into the nuances of crappy music, and they create an entire universe of private jokes and chemical bliss.

But when Max ghosts her, Nina is forced to deal with everything she’s been trying so hard to ignore: her father’s Alzheimer’s is getting worse, and so is her mother’s denial of it; her editor hates her new book idea; and her best friend from childhood is icing her out. Funny, tender, and eminently, movingly relatable, Ghosts is a whip-smart tale of relationships and modern life.

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You can find ordering info for this book here.

Water Moon

Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yamboa is $2.99! This released in January. Elyse mentioned it on Hide Your Wallet because it sounded cozy and magical.

A woman inherits a pawnshop where you can sell your regrets, and then embarks on a magical journey when a charming young physicist wanders into the shop, in this dreamlike and enchanting fantasy novel.

On a backstreet in Tokyo lies a pawnshop, but not everyone can find it. Most will see a cozy ramen restaurant. And only the chosen ones—those who are lost—will find a place to pawn their life choices and deepest regrets.

Hana Ishikawa wakes on her first morning as the pawnshop’s new owner to find it ransacked, the shop’s most precious acquisition stolen, and her father missing. And then into the shop stumbles a charming stranger, quite unlike its other customers, for he offers help instead of seeking it.

Together, they must journey through a mystical world to find Hana’s father and the stolen choice—by way of rain puddles, rides on paper cranes, the bridge between midnight and morning, and a night market in the clouds.

But as they get closer to the truth, Hana must reveal a secret of her own—and risk making a choice that she will never be able to take back.

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You can find ordering info for this book here.

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2025/04/magical-realism-royals-more/

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Posted by Guest Reviewer

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2025/04/robert-mcginnis-1926-2025/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=143326

This guest post is from Steve Ammidown. You may remember hearing him recently on Episode 618. The Romance Reader’s Handbook with Steve Ammidown, where we discussed another piece of romance history, The Romance Reader’s Handbook, and from his recent post about romance memorabilia and ephemera.

Steve is the co-host of the Black Romance Has A History podcast, and occasionally writes about his romance collection at RomanceHistory.com.

Please be advised: Some of these images are NSFW!

…

The family of legendary artist Robert McGinnis has shared that he passed away on March 10th of this year, at the age of 99. Even if you haven’t heard of Robert McGinnis before this moment, you probably know his work.

One of the most prolific illustrators of his generation, McGinnis is known to have done more than 1400 book covers, as well as some of the most iconic movie posters of all time. Audrey Hepburn with her cat and cigarette? Jane Fonda as Barbarella? James Bond? All McGinnis.

Live and Let Die illustration showing Roger Moore in the center surrounded by mostly bikini clad women standing in front of playing cards. In front of them are cars and planes and guns Breakfast at Tiffany's illustrated poster featuring Audrey Hepburn in an updo, with a long cigarette holder and little black dress and a cat on her shoulder Barbarella poster starring Jane Fonda - a large blonde woman in short red pants and knee high boots holding a gun while standing on a tilting planet

After graduating from Ohio State with a degree in fine art, where he also played football, McGinnis made his way to the advertising scene in New York in the late 1950s. Like many of his peers, McGinnis also began designing covers for the now booming paperback industry. From his first Mike Shayne covers for Dell, his talent for drawing women made him a fast favorite in the pulp detective world.

Call for Michael Shane by Brett Halliday - an illustration of a woman in a backless dress looking over her shoulder Mike Shayne's Shoot the Works featuring a pulp illustration of a woman with 60s hair with a pink headband looking over her shoulder. She is wearing a tiny black bikini and a translucent black top

His style for these covers was so distinctive that his femme fatales became known as “The McGinnis Woman”, with sensuality practically jumping off the cover and only as much clothing as editors required.

The Gilt Edged Cage - an illustration of a naked blonde white woman from the back sitting in front of an ornate mirror holding her hair up and looking over one shoulder

As one of the house artists for Avon (alongside other legends like H. Tom Hall) Robert McGinnis was present for the birth of the modern romance novel. The simple but effective McGinnis cover for Kathleen Woodiwiss’s The Flame and The Flower took his work into millions of homes and was just a hint of what was to come from this master.

Through the 1970s, McGinnis and H. Tom Hall traded off romance covers for “The Avon Ladies”- Woodiwiss, Rosemary Rogers, and Bertrice Small among others, with McGinnis providing the evocative cover of Small’s first novel, The Kadin:

But it was in 1977 that Robert McGinnis entered into the partnership he is most known for within the romance genre. Beginning with her first novel, Captive Bride, McGinnis would illustrate the first 13 books by Johanna Lindsey.

Captive Bride - a mostly purple cover with an illustration of a man and a woman on horseback. She is across his lap wearing a long white flowy gown

A PIrate's Love - a red cover with an illustration of a blonde man embracing a blonde woman with long flowing hair that defies gravity with a pirate ship in the background

While Captive and its follow up A Pirate’s Love followed Avon’s standard small illustration/big text format, McGinnis’s cover for Lindsey’s third book, Fires of Winter (1980), broke all the rules. In an illustration occupying the whole page, we see a barely-clothed dark haired woman lying down vertically on the page, in between the legs of a clearly naked man, on a white background.

Fires of Winter - an overhead illustration of a white woman with long black hair reclining into the bent legs of a blonde man who is kneeling behind her

While women in various levels of undress had become the standard for historical romance since the mid 1970s, McGinnis’s naked man was something new. And it wouldn’t be the last time.

Over the next ten Lindsey books illustrated by McGinnis, nine featured naked men. Robert had turned his expertise in the female form, which he used to such great effect for detective novels, on its head, providing sensual, detailed, nearly naked eye candy for the straight women who were seen as the primary market for Lindsey’s books.

Brave the Wild Wind - a muscular White couple with dark hair embracing on some water and rocks (ow) she is wearing a diaphanous purple gown and he is naked

Glorious Angel - a dakr haired white woman in a pink teddy kneels between the knees of a naked dark haired man

Heart of Thunder - a red haired woman in a purple dress with white ruffles reclines in the arms of a very muscular man with no clothes on

A blonde woman seems to collapse in the arms of a naked blonde guy in a sea of blue flowers. She is wearing a pale lilac gown . he's starkers

All of Johanna Lindsey’s books made the New York Times bestseller list, so it’s not that surprising that a couple of McGinnis’s illustrations caught the eyes of censors. It’s reported that the woman on the original Fires of Winter cover was also nude (but tastefully covered), but Avon made Robert add clothes.

That was nothing compared to Tender Is The Storm (1985), though.

The first printing of Tender Is The Storm featured a side shot of a fully naked man, with a well-dressed red headed woman leaning up against him in, a, um, titillating way.

This was too much for some, and the second printing featured what appeared to be a hastily added speedo on the man’s hip. Speedos of course being very prevalent in the 1800s West, the publisher thought better and replaced it in the third printing with a giant starburst sticker proclaiming the book’s best seller status.

A Gentle Feuding - a red haired woman with her back arched leans into a muscular naked dude

The Spanish cover has more of the illustration, where you can see his naked backside and bent leg where he is kneeling in front of the woman - much more salacious

Tender wasn’t McGinnis’s first use of naked man hip on a Lindsey book, though. Two years earlier, the cover of A Gentle Feuding featured a man sitting in a sort of The Thinker pose, with a woman at his feet. Most of the editions cut the man off at the mid-thigh, but one of the South American editions shows us that there was more of a full moon quality to the original painting!

When Love Awaits - naked man with dark hair embraces a swooning woman with purple flowers in her hair and a pink Tudor gown

Love Only Once - a dark haired woman in a white nightgown reclines on a bunch of cushions while yet another naked dude bends over her

The publication of A Heart So Wild, which doesn’t have a naked man on the cover, in 1986 would mark the end of the McGinnis/Lindsey partnership. From that point on, Lindsey worked with Elaine Duillo, leading to the Fabio era.

Robert McGinnis eventually retired from illustrating, devoting himself to the fine art painting he’d loved early on. He kept painting well into his 90s, long enough to see his old artwork come back into style thanks to retro pop culture like Mad Men. A 2017 Vanity Fair profile shows him as quiet and unassuming, but still hard at work- hardly the type of fellow you’d expect to have produced some of the most sensual romance covers ever made.

With Robert McGinnis’s death, we reach a sort of end of an era. Elaine Duillo, H. Tom Hall, and their contemporary artist colleagues are gone as well, as are all of the Avon Ladies that McGinnis helped make famous.

Especially at a moment where oil painted covers are gone along with most outward sensuality on covers thanks to the combination of book bans, TikTok, and an expressed dislike of sexually provocative cover art among a certain segment of romance readers, it’s important to remember the visual vocabulary of romance that these artists made.

In many ways, it’s what made the genre the behemoth it is today.

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2025/04/robert-mcginnis-1926-2025/

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Posted by Amanda

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2025/04/cover-snark-gargoyle-jesus/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=143532

Welcome back to Cover Snark!

From Syntha: This dude’s face.

Sarah: He looks so…bored?

How is he both creepy AND bored?

Elyse: What is the situation with his hair? Is it glowing?

Sarah: So many people wanted Instagram filter faces, and now the trend has moved into Photoshop Outer Glow Hair.

Amanda: I’m full on guffawing at 8am.

Sarah: Omg that guy’s face

Amanda: I know!

His bottom half is a gargoyle and I’m picturing this like a Beauty and the Beast transformation where he’s really disgusted and bummed out by his human form.

Elyse: Pulling magic out of Gargoyle Jesus’s butt

Sarah: “OH NO I’m like…That Guy”

Elyse: Reminds me of this.

Amanda: Elyse, thanks I hate it.

Free for Adventure by Viola Grace. A model of woman as if it were made in poser walks along a beach. She has on a white skirt and a purple bikini top. Butterflies surround her as a manta ray jumps from the waves behind her.

From Anonymous: I can’t get past the cover to read the blurb, so the why will remain forever a mystery.

Elyse: That ray is feeling itself though.

Sarah: Is Wine Mom Font the new Scriptina? I’m not sure I’m ready for that.

BE FREE RAY BE FREE

Her Holiday Heartthrobs by Lisa Cullen. A man and woman with dark hair stand close together. Both are dressed in white. Two other men, scruffy and also dress in white, gaze down upon them from the upper half of the cover.

From MegCat: It might be just in the thumbnail for this cover, but the guy in the top left looks like he’s already seen what everybody else is staring at and it’s horrified him.

Amanda: Personally, I want less people around me during the holidays. Not more. Also the top right man has Hugh Jackman vibes.

Elyse: love that the guy in the upper left is oblivious and is just like “want to see my favorite nipple?”

Sarah: Top Right Hugh is so DONE with all these people, and clearly wants to leave the holiday party and go put on his sweats, shove his hand down his pants, and watch tv. Top Left Hair Dude looks like he forgot how buttons work?

All of them have Soap Opera hair, too, so you know the product selection in their bathroom is exceptional.

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2025/04/cover-snark-gargoyle-jesus/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=143532

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Posted by Amanda

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2025/04/get-recs-with-amanda-volume-88/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=143478

Welcome back, everyone!

Shockingly, we only have one non-fiction title this week. We also have a historical fantasy, a contemporary Gothic, and a historical with a mix of mystery and romance.

Have you received any good book recs lately? Want to impart a recommendation of your own? Let us know in the comments!

A Bloomy Head

This one comes recommended from the romance slack at my office job. (Hello, if any of you are reading!) It’s a queer historical mystery with some romance. I do wish the cover were a bit better.

Army surgeon Thomas Holyoke never planned to return to Shropshire, to a life and a gender forced upon him. But after a terrible accident leaves him injured and feverish, he has no choice but to return to England with his faithful surgical assistant.

Newly widowed Kate Easting is determined to save her family’s failing farm with her cheesemaking skills. However, she must also contend with an unnerving number of chaotic siblings and the handsome, difficult doctor her twin brought home for her to nurse back to health.

When a decapitated body is found near the farm, Kate and Thomas find themselves at odds. Investigating the murder might bring dangerous attention to Thomas and Kate’s family, but letting a murderer roam free may have even more dire consequences. To make things more complicated, a spark of mutual respect and desire kindles between lonely doctor and cheesemaker. But what future can they possibly build together, when old secrets threaten to destroy them both?

Historical mystery romance, trans m/cis f.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

Dark City Dames

Have any film buffs if your life? I took a film noir class in college and it was honestly one of the best courses I took.

In this revised and expanded edition of his essential volume Dark City Dames, Eddie Muller—Turner Classic Movies host and author of Dark Cityand Noir Bar—offers a uniquely intimate look at the women who defined film noir, now featuring updated text, photos, and 10 new star profiles.

Film noir was the dark side of the movies’ happily-ever-after mythology. Sinister and sexy, it forged a new the tough, independent dame. Determined, desirable, dangerous when cornered, she could handle trouble—or deal out some of her own. If you thought these women were something special onscreen, wait until you meet the genuine articles. In Dark City Dames, acclaimed film historian Eddie Muller takes readers into the world of six women who made a lasting impression in this cinematic terrain—from veteran “bad girls” Audrey Totter, Marie Windsor, and Jane Greer to unexpected genre fixtures Evelyn Keyes, Coleen Gray, and Ann Savage. The book provides in-depth profiles of these formidable women during the height of their careers, circa 1950, as they balanced love and career, struggled against typecasting, and sought fulfillment in a ruthless business. Their personal stories—teeming with larger-than-life characters like Howard Hughes, Louis B. Mayer, Robert Mitchum, Otto Preminger, and John Huston—offer a fascinating counterpoint to their movies. Then Dark City Dames revisits each woman fifty years later, to witness their hard-won—and triumphant—survival. On every page their own voices ring through, reflecting on their lives with as much passion, pain, intelligence, energy, and humor as any movie script.

Muller conducted far-ranging interviews with the original six women profiled in Dark City Dames, in the process becoming a friend and confidante to each. In this revised and expanded edition, he updates their stories and shares illuminating, never-before-told memories of his time with them. This edition also includes compelling new profiles of ten additional women who left an indelible mark on film noir, including Joan Bennett, Gail Russell, Rhonda Fleming, and Claire Trevor—all packaged in a stunning redesign that offers the ultimate look at performers who helped define a still-resonant and inspiring epoch of Hollywood history.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

Greenteeth

Blurbed by T. Kingfisher! I also believe Carrie might be reviewing this one if you need to know more.

From an outstanding new voice in cozy fantasy comes Greenteeth, a tale of fae, folklore, and found family, narrated by a charismatic lake-dwelling monster with a voice unlike any other, perfect for fans of T. Kingfisher.

Beneath the still surface of a lake lurks a monster with needle sharp teeth. Hungry and ready to pounce.

Jenny Greenteeth has never spoken to a human before, but when a witch is thrown into her lake, something makes Jenny decide she’s worth saving. Temperance doesn’t know why her village has suddenly turned against her, only that it has something to do with the malevolent new pastor.

Though they have nothing in common, these two must band together on a magical quest to defeat the evil that threatens Jenny’s lake and Temperance’s family, as well as the very soul of Britain.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

The Warbler

Sarah Beth Durst’s books have been previously reviewed and enjoyed on the site. However, this is more of a contemporary fantasy with Gothic elements, rather than an original fantasy setting like most of her previous books.

From the author of The Lies Among Us comes a magical tale about mothers and daughters, choices and consequences, and the real meaning of home when every place feels like a cage.

Ten months. That’s the longest Elisa has stayed anyplace, constantly propelled by her fear that if she puts down roots, a family curse will turn her into a tree.

But she’s grown tired of flitting from town to town and in and out of relationships. When she discovers a small town in Massachusetts where mysterious forces make it impossible for the residents to leave, she hopes she can change her fate.

As Elisa learns about the town’s history, she understands more about the women in her family, who seem doomed to never get what they want. Now she believes she’s stuck, too—is that a patch of bark on her arm? But her neighbor’s collection of pet birds sings secrets that Elisa can almost understand—secrets she must unravel in order to be truly alive.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2025/04/get-recs-with-amanda-volume-88/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=143478

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Posted by Amanda

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2025/04/sunday-sale-digest-26/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=143307

This piece of literary mayhem is exclusive to Smart Bitches After Dark, but fret not. If you'd like to join, we'd love to have you!

Have a look at our membership options, and come join the fun!

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2025/04/sunday-sale-digest-26/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=143307

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Posted by Amanda

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2025/04/whatcha-reading-april-2025-part-one/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=143438

Keukenhof flower garden, also known as the Garden of Europe. One of the world's largest flower gardens. Lisse, the Netherlands. Welcome back to Whatcha Reading! Here are the books kicking off our April:

Lara: I’ve been dying to tell people about the book I’m reading: Serial Killer Games by Kate Posey. I’m obsessed with it! Full review coming.

Elyse: Oh that’s on my TBR! So excited it’s good!

Lara: I recommend going into it as blindly as possible because the reveals are great! My favourite thing: each layer of the onion peeled back beautifully

Carrie: I just finished The Antidote by Karen Russell ( A | BN | K | AB ) – what an amazing, powerful book. Not a romance, lots of very painful and tragic events, but overall it felt hopeful thanks to the bonds that characters made with each other and their commitment to the truth.

A | BN | K | AB

Elyse: I read that one too and it didn’t work as well for me.

Click for spoilers

It’s about the power of memory and how White people created the dust bowl by pushing out Indigenous communities and not keeping their knowledge of how to farm this particular land…but there’s not a single Indigenous character in the book. They are literally only visible on the horizon.

I think it has to be a deliberate choice, but I’d love to talk to Russell or her editor about it because I don’t understand it.

Carrie: That was interesting – I know from the introduction and afterword that she worked closely with Indigenous consultants but I haven’t read any interviews so I don’t know why she structured the book the way she did.

Elyse: Yeah that’s why I kind of want an interview or something to explain it better.

Shana: I’m reading Pleasure Activism by adrienne maree brown. I don’t always agree with the book provocations but I’m finding it an easy read.

A | BN | K | AB

Sneezy: I’m reading one of WB Yeats’ folklore collections. I’ve become a baby DnD player, and I built a character that’ll let me play with fae stuff. So far most of what I’ve found about fae stuff in DnD lore has been this over bleached mush of the original folklores with disappointing moral binaries, so I’m hoping the book gives me some inspiration and guidance.

(And… fae probably don’t care about table top games, but it still can’t hurt to check if they have any no fly zones. )

“How did you get cursed?”

“My DnD play pissed off Tinkerbell.”

Susan: I have read so much manga since the start of March, so much, including accidentally falling into a rich vein of “Oh no I have been reincarnated as the villainess of this book/video game, better change the plot so none of the main characters notice me!” and it’s given me a craving to go back to the first one of those I ever saw. Soooooo I’m finally reading My Next Life As A Villainess: All Routes Lead To Doom! ( A | BN | K | AB ) after adoring the anime. Katarina, the protagonist, is so blissfully oblivious to the fact that she’s acquired a bevy of love interests! I love her!

I’ve also started reading The Decagon House Murders, ( A | BN | K ) because I fancy a proper manor house mystery, but all of the male characters are obnoxious so far.

Whatcha reaching? Let us know in the comments!

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2025/04/whatcha-reading-april-2025-part-one/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=143438

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Posted by SB Sarah

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2025/04/episode-662-heres-your-transcript/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=143387

The transcript for Podcast 662. What’s Deeanne Gist Been Up To? With Dakota Lacoy has been posted!

This podcast transcript was handcrafted with meticulous skill by Garlic Knitter. Many thanks.

❤ Click here to subscribe to The Podcast →

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2025/04/episode-662-heres-your-transcript/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=143387

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Posted by Amanda

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2025/04/beauty-and-the-beast-historical-romance-more/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=143454

I’m Only Wicked with You

I’m Only Wicked with You by Julie Anne Long is $1.99! This was mentioned in a Hide Your Wallet post and a Cover Snark post. How often does that happen?! This is book three in the Palace of Rogues historical romance series.

USA Today bestselling author Julie Anne Long continues her Palace of Rogues series with a brand-new romance about an ambitious American and a headstrong British heiress.

He’s the battle-hardened son of a bastard, raised in the wilds of New York. She’s the sheltered, blue-blooded darling of the London broadsheets, destined to marry a duke. Their worlds could only collide in a boardinghouse by the London docks…and when they do, the sparks would ignite all of England.

Nothing can stop Hugh Cassidy’s drive to build an American empire…unless it’s his new nemesis, the arrogant, beautiful, too-clever-by-half Lady Lillias Vaughn. The fascination is mutual. The temptation is merciless. And the inevitable indiscretion? Soul-searing—and the ruination of them both. Hugh’s proposal salvages Lillias’ honor but kills their dreams for their futures…until they arrive at a plan that could honorably set them free.

But unraveling their entanglement inadvertently uncovers enthralling truths: about Lillias’ wounded, tender heart and fierce spirit. About Hugh’s stunning gentleness, depth, and courage. Soon, Hugh knows that as surely as he’d fight a thousand battles to win her…the best way to love Lillias means breaking his own heart.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

By the Book

By the Book by Jasmine Guillory is $1.99! This is a Beauty and the Beast inspired contemporary romance and we’ve had the cover on Cover Awe before. Have you read this one?

A tale as old as time—for a new generation…

Isabelle is completely lost. When she first began her career in publishing right out of college, she did not expect to be twenty-five, living at home, still an editorial assistant, and the only Black employee at her publishing house. Overworked and underpaid, constantly torn between speaking up or stifling herself, Izzy thinks there must be more to this publishing life. So when she overhears her boss complaining about a beastly high-profile author who has failed to deliver his long-awaited manuscript, Isabelle sees an opportunity to finally get the promotion she deserves.

All she has to do is go to the author’s Santa Barbara mansion and give him a quick pep talk or three. How hard could it be?

But Izzy quickly finds out she is in over her head. Beau Towers is not some celebrity lightweight writing a tell-all memoir. He is jaded and withdrawn and—it turns out—just as lost as Izzy. But despite his standoffishness, Izzy needs Beau to deliver, and with her encouragement, his story begins to spill onto the page. They soon discover they have more in common than either of them expected, and as their deadline nears, Izzy and Beau begin to realize there may be something there that wasn’t there before.

Best-selling author Jasmine Guillory’s reimagining of a beloved fairy tale is a romantic triumph of love and acceptance and learning that sometimes to truly know a person you have to read between the lines.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

An Heiress at Heart

An Heiress at Heart by Jennifer Delamere is $1.99! This is book one in the Love’s Grace historical romance series. The heroine is posing as her late friend. It sounds like the hero is the late-friend’s brother-in-law, which definitely complicates things.

A youthful indiscretion has cost Lizzie Poole more than just her honor. After five years living in exile, she’s finally returning home, but she’s still living a secret life. Her best friend Ria’s dying wish was for Lizzie to assume her identity, return to London, and make amends that Ria herself would never live to make. Bearing a striking resemblance to her friend, and harboring more secrets than ever before, Lizzie embarks on a journey that tempts her reckless heart once again . . .

A committed clergyman, Geoffrey Somerville’s world is upended when he suddenly inherits the title of Lord Somerville. Now he’s invited to every ball and sought after by the matchmaking mothers of London society. Yet the only woman to capture his heart is the one he cannot have: his brother’s young widow, Ria. Duty demands he deny his feelings, but his heart longs for the mysterious beauty. With both their futures at stake, will Lizzie be able to keep up her façade? Or will she find the strength to share her secret and put her faith in true love?

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

Vanishing Treasures

Vanishing Treasures by Katherine Rundell is $2.99! This non-fiction title was mentioned on Get Rec’d and several of you mentioned this in the Hide Your Wallet comments. Regardless of the content, I need to know more about this little guy on the cover.

From the award-winning author Katherine Rundell comes a “rare and magical book” (Bill Bryson) reckoning with the vanishing wonders of our natural world

The world is more astonishing, more miraculous, and more wonderful than our wildest imaginings. In this brilliant and passionately persuasive book, Katherine Rundell takes us on a globe-spanning tour of the world’s most awe-inspiring animals currently facing extinction.

Consider the seahorse: couples mate for life and meet each morning for a dance, pirouetting and changing colors before going their separate ways, to dance again the next day. The American wood frog survives winter by allowing itself to freeze solid, its heartbeat slowing until it stops altogether. Come spring, the heart kick-starts itself spontaneously back to life. As for the lemur, it lives in matriarchal troops led by an alpha female (it’s not unusual for female ring-tailed lemurs to slap males across the face when they become aggressive). Whenever they are cold or frightened, they group together in what’s known as a lemur ball, paws and tails intertwined, to form a furry mass as big as a bicycle wheel.

But each of these extraordinary animals is endangered or holds a sub-species that is endangered. This urgent, inspiring book of essays dedicated to 23 unusual and underappreciated creatures is a clarion call insisting that we look at the world around us with new eyes—to see the magic of the animals we live among, their unknown histories and capabilities, and above all how lucky we are to tread the same ground as such vanishing treasures.

Beautifully illustrated, and full of inimitable wit and intellect, Vanishing Treasures is a chance to be awestruck and lovestruck, to reckon with the beauty of the world, its fragility, and its strangeness.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2025/04/beauty-and-the-beast-historical-romance-more/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=143454

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Posted by SB Sarah

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2025/04/what-ever-happened-to-deeanne-gist/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=143149

A | BN | K | AB

Recently in an episode of RT Rewind, we came across a review for Deeanne Gist’s novel Tiffany Girl, which was a favorite here at SBTB HQ.

We wondered at the time, Whatever happened to Deeanne Gist? Is she still writing?

We had no idea – but then, I got an email from someone who could answer that question and wanted to do so on the podcast.

And so this week’s podcast episode features two surprise guests – Dakota Lacoy and Deeanne Gist.

I’ll be honest with you: editing three voices can be tricky, but thankfully, Deeanne and Dakota are the same person!

Yup – you can get all the details in the episode, but Deeanne Gist, bestselling and award-winning author of historical romances is also Dakota Lacoy. As she put it, ”

In 2016, at the height of my career—with over a million copies sold across trade, audio, foreign, and special editions, and fresh off winning the RITA for Best Historical—I walked away from the industry. Or so it appeared.

As Dakota Lacoy, she’s been writing fun, contemporary romantic comedies set in the fictional (and pun-filled) town of Honky Tonk, Texas.

Dakota reached out to me to do this interview to try to get the word out to her many, many Deeanne Gist readers who have been asking for years now, “When are you going to write another book?”

And specifically, as she discusses in detail in the episode, she wanted those readers, some of whom seek out her books specifically because there wasn’t any swearing or sex on the page, to know that her Dakota Lacoy books are not the same thing – they’re “a little bit naughty- still closed-door, but [the]characters swear, sleep around, and do all the things.”

Heck, yeah, all the things!

The decision to start again under a new pen name isn’t new, and neither is choosing a different name when the genres are very, very different. In the late 2000s/early 2010s, it was common for authors whose books had exploded in the YA genre to have a different pen name if they were writing erotic or contemporary romance with sex on the page.

In this case, Deeanne seemed to disappear, and now that Dakota is heading to reader conventions, she’ll absolutely be recognized — she was a presenter at RT and RWA for years, and a featured author at many different conventions. She didn’t want her Deeanne readers to find out from rumors from conferences, and wanted to have space to explain the differences in content, and why she went incognito.

In the episode we discuss the transition from deeply-researched historical romances to contemporary comedies, and what it was like to move from a very successful traditional publishing career to starting over from scratch as an indie author.

Also, I say this in the episode and I’ll say it here – her Dakota Lacoy website is nifty. Do not miss the store names in the town square map.

So if you’ve been missing Deeanne Gist novels, good news: the detail, world building, and dialogue are all there in her Dakota Lacoy books.

I hope you enjoy the episode, and if you’re a Deeanne Gist reader who arrived here looking for information, welcome!

Did you read Deeanne Gist’s books and did you have a favorite? Have you read Dakota Lacoy?

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2025/04/what-ever-happened-to-deeanne-gist/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=143149

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Posted by SB Sarah

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/podcast/662-whats-deeanne-gist-been-up-to-with-dakota-lacoy/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?post_type=podcast&p=143196

What happens when a bestselling and award winning author of historical inspirational romances decides, after a break of a few years, to write spicy contemporary?

If you’re Deeanne Gist, you start over from scratch as Dakota Lacoy.

Amanda and I were just asking recently what had happened to Deeanne Gist, who wrote some SBTB favorites like Tiffany Girl and Fair Play. Well, as Dakota Lacoy, she’s been busy setting up a series of hot contemporary romantic comedies set in Honky Tonk, Texas, a small town with a sordid history and the greatest pun-filled business names.

So my guest today is both Deeanne Gist and Dakota Lacoy, and we’re going to talk about everything – from writing historical inspirationals to figuring out how to introduce her old readers to her new name.

Listen to the podcast →

Read the transcript →

Here are the books we discuss in this podcast:

You can find Dakota Lacoy at her website, where you can buy all her books and sign up for her newsletter.

Dakota is also on Instagram, too.

The illustrator for Dakota Lacoy’s website is Axana Zasorina, who is on Instagram.

Music: Purple-planet.com

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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!

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

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/podcast/662-whats-deeanne-gist-been-up-to-with-dakota-lacoy/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?post_type=podcast&p=143196

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Posted by Amanda

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2025/04/horror-fantasy-romance-more/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=143288

The Strawberry Patch Pancake House

The Strawberry Patch Pancake House by Laurie Gilmore is $1.99! This released last month and is the fourth book the Dream Harbor small town romance series. We’ve featured at least one previous book in the series on sale before.

As a renowned chef, single-dad Archer never planned on moving to a small town, let alone running a pancake restaurant. But Dream Harbor needs a new chef, and Archer needs a community to help raise his daughter, Olive.

Iris has never managed to hold down a job for more than a few months. So when Mayor Kelly suggests Archer is looking for a nanny, and Iris might be available, she shudders at the thought. But in need of money she reluctantly agrees.

As Archer and Iris get used to their new roles, is it possible that they might have more in common than they first thought, or is Olive just determined to play match-maker…

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

This Cursed House

This Cursed House by Del Sandeen is $1.99! This Gothic horror released last October, which is very fitting. We mentioned this on a previous Hide Your Wallet.

In this Southern gothic horror debut, a young Black woman abandons her life in 1960s Chicago for a position with a mysterious family in New Orleans, only to discover the dark They’re under a curse, and they think she can break it.

In the fall of 1962, twenty-seven-year-old Jemma Barker is desperate to escape her life in Chicago—and the spirits she has always been able to see. When she receives an unexpected job offer from the Duchon family in New Orleans, she accepts, thinking it is her chance to start over.

But Jemma discovers that the Duchon family isn’t what it seems. Light enough to pass as white, the Black family members look down on brown-skinned Jemma. Their tenuous hold on reality extends to all the members of their eccentric clan, from haughty grandmother Honorine to beautiful yet inscrutable cousin Fosette. And soon the shocking truth comes The Duchons are under a curse. And they think Jemma has the power to break it.

As Jemma wrestles with the gift she’s run from all her life, she unravels deeper and more disturbing secrets about the mysterious Duchons. Secrets that stretch back over a century. Secrets that bind her to their fate if she fails.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

Heavenly Bodies

Heavenly Bodies by Imani Erriu is $2.99! We featured this on Hide Your Wallet when it received a trade release, but it was popular in the indie/self-pub space before that. It’s the first in a fantasy romance series.

A runaway TikTok sensation, Heavenly Bodies is the first book in a dazzling new romantasy series that blends mythology and shadow magic with a tantalizing enemies-to-lovers romance that will rewrite the stars.

“You know the most dangerous kind of villain? A woman with nothing left to lose.”

In a world ruled by the cruel and merciless Stars, Elara has been cursed by fate. A prophecy promises she will fall for a Star, but that it will kill them both.

So when Ariete, Star of Wrath, War and Chaos, descends to wreak havoc on Elara’s kingdom, she flees her home—the Kingdom of Night—for the neighbouring Helios, Kingdom of Light.

And strides straight into the arms of an enemy prince.

Fearing that Ariete might turn his sights to Helios next, Prince Lorenzo is forced to train Elara as a weapon—one worthy of battling against the tyrannical reign of the Stars. But there are shadows even within the Kingdom of Light—and they threaten to reveal the darkness in Lorenzo’s past and the ancient magic that slumbers in Elara’s veins.

And with it all comes an undeniable, star-crossed pull between Elara and Lorenzo that neither can seem to resist…

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

Hope for Cynics

Hope for Cynics by Jamil Zaki is $3.99! I mentioned this one in Get Rec’d. The recommendation actually came from a bookish friend, who suggested this for post election dread. I shelved it, but certainly wasn’t in the headspace to commit to such a book

Cynicism is making us sick; Stanford Psychologist Dr. Jamil Zaki has the cure—a “ray of light for dark days” (Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author).

For thousands of years, people have argued about whether humanity is selfish or generous, cruel or kind. But recently, our answers have changed. In 1972, half of Americans agreed that most people can be trusted; by 2018, only a third did. Different generations, genders, religions, and political parties can’t seem to agree on anything, except that they all think human virtue is evaporating.

Cynicism is a perfectly understandable response to a world full of injustice and inequality. But in many cases, it is misplaced. Dozens of studies find that people fail to realize how kind, generous, and open-minded others really are. Cynical thinking worsens social problems, because our beliefs don’t just interpret the world—they change it. When we expect the worst in people, we often bring it out of them. Cynicism is a disease, with a history, symptoms—and a cure. Through science and storytelling, Jamil Zaki imparts the secret for beating back hopeful skepticism. This approach doesn’t mean putting our faith in every politician or influencer. It means thinking critically about people and our problems, while simultaneously acknowledging and encouraging our strengths. Far from being naïve, hopeful skepticism is a more precise way of understanding others, and paying closer attention re-balances how you think about human nature. As more of us do this, we can take steps towards building the world we truly want.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2025/04/horror-fantasy-romance-more/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=143288

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Posted by Carrie S

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/reviews/revisionaries-what-we-can-learn-from-the-lost-unfinished-and-just-plain-bad-work-of-great-authors-by-kristopher-jansma/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?post_type=reviews&p=143296

B+

Revisionaries

by Kristopher Jansma
October 15, 2024 · Quirk Books
GothicHorrorHistorical: European

Revisionaries: What We Can Learn From the Lost, Unfinished, and Just Plain Bad Work of Great Authors is a fun and interesting book for writers and for readers who like to know how authors work. It imparts twenty-one lessons to writers using the challenges and unfinished writings of classically regarded writers. Easily read and easily digestible, each chapter uses a different author to teach a different lesson.

These examples aren’t modern, and the diversity is limited. There’s a nice mix of male and female and Black and White authors, but other than the Brazilian writer Clarice Lispector there are no Latinx authors. No Asian or Indian authors are represented. I would have liked a more widely inclusive list.

Having said that, the authors selected provided a nicely varied set of well-matched lessons. For instance:

Octavia Butler teaches us that “Geniuses Get Blocked.”
Sylvia Plath demonstrates the struggles that authors, especially women, face in nurturing a creative life in the face of daily pressures in “Geniuses Still Have to Do the dishes.”
F. Scott Fitzgerald teaches that “Geniuses Write Bad Drafts.”

I especially appreciated the thoughtful discussion of the myth that genius causes insanity and/or that geniuses must be insane. This book uses the troubled life of David Foster Wallace (TW for abuse as he was abusive to many women in his life) to argue that artists such as Wallace and Plath are geniuses in spite of, not because of, mental illness.

I would have liked it if this book delved deeper into systemic reasons why artists struggle, especially as pertains to women and people of color. And, as I mentioned, I would have lived a more inclusive selection of authors in general. However, I did enjoy what the book offered. Its small sections make it what I call an excellent Bathroom Book, which, as I’m sure my fellow IBS sufferers will understand, is high praise. Twenty-one pep talks does not leave a lot of room for in depth analysis, but I appreciated what I got, so I enjoyed this peek into the lives of authors.

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/reviews/revisionaries-what-we-can-learn-from-the-lost-unfinished-and-just-plain-bad-work-of-great-authors-by-kristopher-jansma/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?post_type=reviews&p=143296

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Posted by Amanda

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2025/04/links-libraries-ferrets-more/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=143329

Workspace with computer, journal, books, coffee, and glasses. Happy Wednesday!

We finally have a break from the rain in my area, though I think it’s due to start back up again tomorrow. On the plus side, a couple friends and I are doing a reading and crafting weekend. We’ve rented a cute beach house, divided up the meals, and I’m so looking forward to just getting cozy. I’m hoping that being away from my computer will allow me to make some progress on a couple books and my cross stitch project.

Time to check-in with y’all! How are we doing this week?

…

This link came from Cori:

I wanted to share a link for a cause deep in the DNA of SBTB. Almost twenty years ago now (wow!) the whole Cassie Edwards controversy got us all interested in Black Footed Ferrets, some of the cutest critically endangered little guys around. Unfortunately they are still in deep trouble, and some significant conservation projects have been cut off at the knees by the freezing of federal funds. This fundraiser is focusing on ferret conservation efforts on tribal lands and maintaining the experts that are helping lead that process. Also there are cute ferret pictures!

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Goodnight Moon postage stamps on coming out at the beginning of May! They’re super cute.

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From JCP:

I wanted to alert you of the online petition at ALA for your American followers to fight against the federal cuts to libraries & museums in the US. Once you put your name and address in and press submit, it goes automatically to your US representatives. I also hope everyone is able to get library card if they do not have one already because numbers make a difference. If you’re able, please call your representatives!

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After coming out in defense of using AI last year, NaNoWriMo has announced it will be shutting down. Their statement on the closure is quite…interesting. (To me, it gives “RWA declaring bankruptcy and blaming DEI” vibes.)

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Don’t forget to share what cool or interesting 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!

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2025/04/links-libraries-ferrets-more/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=143329