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smartbitches_feedHey all! We’re a little over halfway through our first ever SBTB Unhinged Bingo!
By now, you might have knocked out a few easier spaces, but if you’re having trouble, we’re here to help!
Here’s a card refresher:
This rendition of bingo is definitely a bit trickier and up for interpretation.
Are there any categories you’re struggling with? Let’s brainstorm in the comments!
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oursin'I'm so glad I didn't die with the measles when I was little!'
Thinking a bit further about that education meme and the line You were in relatively good physical and mental health.
Well, on the one hand, I had my vaccinations for smallpox, diphtheria and whooping cough all in order at a young age.
I did, however, get measles, chickenpox and mumps once I started school and they were going around. And in those days if you had an infectious disease you were obliged to stay off school for a designated quarantine period (and return your library books to the Public Health Department for fumigation).
I think scarlet fever was still around though rare, and I have a vague recollection of some child at the school actually dying from it?
Polio vaccination only came in when I was 7 or 8.
I suffered from severe tonsillitis until they removed them when I was 6, I am not at all sure, in the light of present thinking on the subject, that this was necessary, but it was very common.
In less dramatic health interventions, I mention the free codliver oil, orange juice and milk bestowed by a munificent government.
I am a little surprised, in retrospect, that my short sight wasn't picked up through testing at school, but in fact my mother noticed me squinting at things and took me for an eye-test.
I feel that I had fair amounts of time off from school being ill one way and another (besides the aforementioned epidemic diseases and operation) - not to mention the appendectomy and its after-effects when I was at uni - but that this didn't have any major adverse impact.
At the grammar school I was tagged for remedial exercises to do with the way I walked (on the outsides of my feet?): am not sure this had any effect whatsoever.
My migraines were not identified as such.
Period pains were after the way of womanhood, pretty much.
On the whole, relatively good health. A certain amount of mental stress, especially at uni.
smartbitches_feed
Detective Aunt by Uzma Jalaluddin is $1.99! This is book one in the Detective Aunty Investigates series. Book two in the series is out in May. We’re big fans of Uzma over here!
When her grown daughter is suspected of murder, a charming and tenacious widow digs into the case to unmask the real killer in this twisty, page-turning whodunnit—the first book in a cozy new detective series from the acclaimed author of Ayesha at Last.
After her husband’s unexpected death eighteen months ago, Kausar Khan never thought she’d receive another phone call as heartbreaking—until her thirty-something daughter, Sana, phones to say that she’s been arrested for killing the unpopular landlord of her clothing boutique. Determined to help her child, Kausar heads to Toronto for the first time in nearly twenty years.
Returning to the Golden Crescent suburb where she raised her children and where her daughter still lives, Kausar finds that the thriving neighborhood she remembered has changed. The murder of Sana’s landlord is only the latest in a wave of local crimes which have gone unsolved.
And the facts of the case are Sana found the man dead in her shop at a suspiciously early hour, with a dagger from her windowfront display plunged in his chest. And Kausar—a woman with a keen sense of observation and deep wisdom honed by her years—senses there’s more to the story than her daughter is telling.
With the help of some old friends and her plucky teenage granddaughter, Kausar digs into the investigation to uncover the truth. Because who better to pry answers from unwilling suspects than a meddlesome aunty? But even Kausar can’t predict the secrets, lies, and betrayals she finds along the way…
RECOMMENDED: It Takes Two to Tumble by Cat Sebastian is $1.99! This is book one in the Seducing the Sedgwicks series and Carrie gave it a B:
This is a great romance for readers who want something fairly short, beautifully written, and not too angsty.
Some of Ben Sedgwick’s favorite things:
Helping his poor parishioners
Baby animals
Shamelessly flirting with the handsome Captain Phillip Dacre
After an unconventional upbringing, Ben is perfectly content with the quiet, predictable life of a country vicar, free of strife or turmoil. When he’s asked to look after an absent naval captain’s three wild children, he reluctantly agrees, but instantly falls for the hellions. And when their stern but gloriously handsome father arrives, Ben is tempted in ways that make him doubt everything.
Some of Phillip Dacre’s favorite things:
His ship
People doing precisely as they’re told
Touching the irresistible vicar at every opportunity
Phillip can’t wait to leave England’s shores and be back on his ship, away from the grief that haunts him. But his children have driven off a succession of governesses and tutors and he must set things right. The unexpected presence of the cheerful, adorable vicar sets his world on its head and now he can’t seem to live without Ben’s winning smiles or devastating kisses.
In the midst of runaway children, a plot to blackmail Ben’s family, and torturous nights of pleasure, Ben and Phillip must decide if a safe life is worth losing the one thing that makes them come alive.
Fool Me Once by Ashley Winstead is $1.99! This is a contemporary romance and the first in a series. However, there is a political (in Texas) element. I know I personally don’t love reading about politicians, government officials, and anything tangentially related since about 2016. Funny that.
In this fierce and funny battle of the exes, Ashley Winstead’s Fool Me Once explores the chaos of wanting something you used to have.
Lee Stone is a twenty-first-century woman: she kicks butt at her job as a communications director at a women-run electric car company, and after work she is “Stoner,” drinking guys under the table and never letting any of them get too comfortable in her bed…
That’s because Lee’s learned one big lesson: never trust love. Four major heartbreaks set her straight, from her father cheating on her mom all the way to Ben Laderman in grad school—who wasn’t actually cheating, but she could have sworn he was, so she reciprocated in kind.
Then Ben shows up five years later, working as a policy expert for the most liberal governor in Texas history, just as Lee is trying to get a clean energy bill rolling. Things get complicated—and competitive—as Lee and Ben are forced to work together. Tension builds just as old sparks reignite, fanning the flames for a romantic dustup the size of Texas.
Don’t miss The Boyfriend Candidate, Ashley Winstead’s next laugh-out-loud rom-com about learning to embrace living outside your comfort zone!
The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner is $2.99! This one has dual timelines and perhaps some slight magical elements. I remember it was pretty buzzy when it came out. Did any of you read it?
In this addictive and spectacularly imagined debut, a female apothecary secretly dispenses poisons to liberate women from the men who have wronged them—setting three lives across centuries on a dangerous collision course.
Rule #1: The poison must never be used to harm another woman.
Rule #2: The names of the murderer and her victim must be recorded in the apothecary’s register.
One cold February evening in 1791, at the back of a dark London alley in a hidden apothecary shop, Nella awaits her newest customer. Once a respected healer, Nella now uses her knowledge for a darker purpose—selling well-disguised poisons to desperate women who would kill to be free of the men in their lives. But when her new patron turns out to be a precocious twelve-year-old named Eliza Fanning, an unexpected friendship sets in motion a string of events that jeopardizes Nella’s world and threatens to expose the many women whose names are written in her register.
In present-day London, aspiring historian Caroline Parcewell spends her tenth wedding anniversary alone, reeling from the discovery of her husband’s infidelity. When she finds an old apothecary vial near the river Thames, she can’t resist investigating, only to realize she’s found a link to the unsolved “apothecary murders” that haunted London over two centuries ago. As she deepens her search, Caroline’s life collides with Nella’s and Eliza’s in a stunning twist of fate—and not everyone will survive.
With crackling suspense, unforgettable characters and searing insight, The Lost Apothecary is a subversive and intoxicating exploration of women rebelling against a man’s world, the destructive force of revenge and the remarkable ways that women can save each other despite the barrier of time.
smartbitches_feedThis HaBO request was submitted by Dionne, who wants to find this historical romance:
A bit of a long shot I’m trying to find the title and author of a book. I’ve gone through all my books and fear it may have been lost in a house move.
It’s a regency historical that was steamy/open door.
I only have a sketchy memory of it being about a book worm heroine who doesn’t need to look for a husband because she has a substantial inheritance so marriage isn’t anything she wants. She meets the hero at a house party that is being held for a week or two at a country estate. They are both guests. She’s there with an aunt or some relative.
He sees her reading in the gardens, behind a bush I think. She is avoiding socialising at the house party as much as possible to avoid fortune hunters. They converse back and forth.
They begin a secret affair whilst at the house party and he falls in love but she is adamant their time together is only for the duration of the house party. When it is time for him to leave he scoops her up out of bed and attempts to kidnap her after failing to persuade her to either marry or be his mistress. I can’t remember which one, but his sister, who is also in attendance at the house party discovers her in the carriage before he can get away…it’s an extremely funny scene…not sinister at all.
I remember the sister opens the door of the carriage, begins to get in, see’s the heroine gagged, bound and wide eyed in the corner of the carriage, pauses then backs out to speak to her brother.
I hope someone else remembers this book.
Can we HaBO?
larryhammersmartbitches_feed
Happy Tuesday!
We have a decent of new releases this week to close out February! What a month! March is also shaping up to be equally as exciting.
What new releases are on your radar this week? Let us know in the comments!
Author: Shana Abé
Released: February 24, 2026 by Kensington Books
Genre: Historical: European, Literary Fiction
A sumptuously vivid and poignant account of the Lusitania’s fateful last days, drawn from the true story of an extraordinary young actress who survived the unthinkable—for fans of Marie Benedict, Louis Bayard, Fiona Davis, Kate Quinn, and HBO’s The Gilded Age.
In turn of the century England, the Jolivet family lives a charmed existence. Daughter of a wealthy vineyard owner and a French pianist, vivacious Marguerite, the eldest of three, loves spinning stories and entertaining her family’s well-connected friends. No one is surprised when she announces, at 18, that she intends to become an actress. Her sister, Inez, a virtuosa violinist, moves to London with her. Soon the two beauties are being celebrated in the highest social circles.
Marguerite takes the stage name Rita, and quickly draws the attention of legendary theater producer Charles Frohman. From the West End to Broadway, and then in the new medium of silent film, Rita is known for her “sultry eyes, her mystic smile,” and her star burns brighter with every role. While filming in Italy, she’s courted by a charismatic aristocrat and Rita feels on the verge of a life even better than her dreams. Inez, meanwhile, has already found love, and travels the world with her adored husband.
Yet soon, war is raging across Europe. Rita, in New York for the premiere of Cecil B. DeMille’s The Unafraid, receives word from Inez that their brother is about to enlist. Hoping to see him before he departs, Rita books a ticket on the fastest steamer the RMS Lusitania. But the ship sails under a British flag, and the German government warns that all such vessels are fair game. Few believe Germany would risk attacking a ship carrying Americans, certainly not one as swift and imposing as the Lusy.
Once aboard, Rita is delighted to discover both Charles and her brother-in-law as fellow passengers.The days pass in a haze of parties and pleasurable pursuits, and the comforts of the luxury ocean liner are almost enough to calm Rita’s ripples of unease. But as the ship nears Liverpool, every assumption will be tested, and Rita, her family, and the world, will be changed forever by the voyage’s infamous and catastrophic end . . .
Amanda: I wouldn’t normally gravitate towards this, but it’s Shana Abe and she wrote one of my favorite historical fantasy romances, The Smoke Thief.
Author: Shain Rose
Released: February 24, 2026 by Kensington Books
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Romance
Series: Kept in Paradise #1
In the first standalone of her sizzling new series, bestselling author Shain Rose welcomes you to Paradise Grove, a luxurious, ultra-private billionaire enclave-where the stakes are high, and the secrets are buried deep . . .
He’s the forbidden enigma I wanted to ignore . . . but instead I’ll be forced to share a home with him.
Jameson Knight arrives at precisely the same time every day to pick up his young daughter from school, smiling as she runs into his open arms.
It’s the only time I see him smile.
I don’t ask questions because it’s not my place. I’m just his daughter’s favorite teacher, nothing more. . . . Until the first bullet flies by us at recess.
Suddenly, I’m risking my life to protect her. And then Jameson drags me back to his estate, claiming it’s a matter of life-or-death.
Now I’m in the most beautiful home I’ve ever seen, faced with an offer from a man who’s just as gorgeous: Be the temporary live-in nanny until he can ensure my safety and find a more permanent solution. It’ll be easy, he promises.
Yet, the arrangement is anything but simple.
Not when Jameson’s hungry stare is all consuming and his touch pulse racing.
And definitely not when I find that nothing in this neighborhood is as it seems, including Jameson.
He may be powerful, possessive, and protective. But he’s also dangerous, demanding, and calculating.
As more of his secrets come out, I should run but . . .
How do I escape the enigma of Jameson Knight if he’s already captured my heart?
Get ready for a rollercoaster of love, power, and betrayal in Paradise-where the stakes are high but the secrets are buried bone-chillingly low.
Amanda: I’m still very much on my dark romance kick!
Author: Catherine Coulter
Released: February 24, 2026 by A John Scognamiglio Book
Genre: Gothic, Historical: European, Mystery/Thriller, Romance
A brilliant young innovator with a mysterious past and a boldly sharp-witted Lady uncover deadly secrets in #1 New York Times bestselling author Catherine Coulter’s thrilling, new Victorian-era romantic mystery filled with daring escapes, exciting twists, witty humor, and characters you won’t soon forget.
When Alex Ivanov was 12, someone tried to kill him. Now, 11 years later, they still want him dead.
England, 1842. Queen Victoria reigns, Buckingham Palace is overrun with rats, and the streets of London are filled with intrigue.
Alex Ivanov is a brilliant young innovator, designing cutting-edge train engines. But Alex has a secret—he isn’t really Alex Ivanov. As a boy, he was pulled from the Thames, presumed drowned, with no memory of who he was. Rescued and raised by the formidable Ryder Sherbrooke, Alex has built a new life, but his past is catching up with him.
Lady Camilla Rohman has problems of her own. Trapped by a scheming stepmother and a family determined to see her married off, she is as clever as she is desperate. When fate throws her into Alex’s path, their connection is undeniable.
But as their whirlwind romance turns into marriage, danger follows. On their honeymoon, a series of deadly attacks make one thing clear—someone wants Alex dead. As they race to uncover the truth, old enemies and long-buried secrets come to light, leading them to a shocking revelation that will change everything…
Elyse: A new Coulter AND a gothic? Yes please!
Author: Amy Spalding
Released: February 24, 2026 by Kensington Books
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA, Romance
Series: Out in Hollywood #4
For fans of Casey McQuiston, Alexis Hall, and Meryl Wilsner, an actually hilarious, sweetly sexy, gloriously relatable, second chance, sapphic rom-com from the acclaimed author of For Her Consideration, starring a franchise Hollywood actress aims to prove her chops in a theatrical production directed by her ex whose heart she broke a decade earlier.
Hollywood actor Tess Gardner is not the kind of famous she set out to be. She’s ready to show she’s more than Princess Platinum of the Vindicators series, a pretty face with CGI superpowers that literally sparkle. Tess wants to prove herself as an actor and that means theatre—the true calling of her thespian heart. But just when Tess lands a part working with an acclaimed stage director, a brewing scandal forces him out. His replacement? None other than hip, buzzy director Rebecca Frisch. The same Rebecca Frisch whose heart a firmly closeted Tess broke over a decade ago during summer stock . . .
As Tess wrestles with her lingering guilt and attraction to Rebecca, she also finds herself struggling to rein in her superstar status backstage. When things unexpectedly reignite with Rebecca, Tess bristles even more against the walls of her A-list life. Since the industry’s made it clear that girl-next-door superheroes can’t also be gay, coming out isn’t realistic for Tess. And ultimately, Rebecca will head back to New York and likely seek out a less complicated relationship anyway.
Will the curtain close on her chance for happiness or will Tess finally take a leading role in her own life?
Amanda: I’ll be talking to Amy about her latest release tomorrow at All She Wrote Books! Can’t wait!
Author: Sarah K.L. Wilson
Released: February 24, 2026 by Orbit
Genre: Fantasy/Fairy Tale Romance, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
Series: The Fisher King #1
A desperate queen makes a deal with the gods to save her land in this spellbinding romantasy debut from Sarah K. L. Wilson.
Queen Coralys rules the Kingdom of the Five Isles, but when disaster strikes, killing her husband and destroying half her nation, she pleads with the gods for salvation. And they do save her, turning back the terrible winds and tide and snatching her islands from the brink of destruction.
But the gods have a wicked sense of justice and they demand an exchange for their Coralys must marry the first man to set foot on her pier. Coralys expects the fleet of a neighboring country to come to rescue her people, led by its prince, a loyal ally. What she gets instead is a fisherman so sunburnt and stinking that her court can barely keep their breakfast down.
Coralys marries the fisherman just as she promised the gods, and sets out with him in his unkempt dinghy, with nothing but hopes of revenge against the gods to keep her from despair. But what she does not know is that the fisherman is actually the god of the sea. And he stepped on her dock for a reason.
His own kingdom besieged, his body terribly wounded, and his place as a god threatened, the fisherman has plans to turn the tides set against him and finally offer a place of refuge for his people. But working the magic he needs will require the help of the one woman bent on his destruction.
Amanda: I’ve started this one already and it’s sooooo good.
Author: Helen Gaskell
Released: February 26, 2026 by HQ Digital
Genre: Historical: European, LGBTQIA, Time Travel, Romance
The Holiday meets Lost in Austen, with a sprinkling of Bridgerton steam… A gloriously witty, escapist and heartwarming romantic comedy about love, finding your people and living life to the full
***
Etta Moore expects nothing more from a Tuesday than another dull day in the office. But when her morning commute ends in Regency England, she is forced to accept the she and her ancestor Miss Henrietta Bainbridge – or ‘Mad Hetty’, as she’s known amongst the ton – have switched bodies.
Suddenly Etta and Hetty must get to grips with the new worlds they find themselves in. For Etta, it’s goodbye to dating apps and the daily commute and hello to the list of things ‘Ladies Do Not’ do. Luckily the dashing Lord Stanhope is on hand to aid her through even the most shocking of faux pas.
Meanwhile Hetty, who has always felt unseen and unknown, finds her truest self blossoming with the help of 21st century medicine and the most welcome attentions of her rather beautiful Adult Learning teacher, Stella.
Two hundred years away from everything they’ve ever known, might Etta and Hetty have actually found a place where they each truly belong?
Elyse: A Freaky Friday switch with an Austen-era ancestor. I’m excited to see how the historical characters manages the present day.
oursinAnd I'm not at all sure it's culture-neutral, hmmmm?
Okay, I had parents who had books in the house and read to me and once I could read took me to the local library to get tickets for the children's department.
No children's museums that I recall but visiting the rather dull local one attached to the public library, and visits to local sites of historical interest.
My primary school was not, I think, particularly distinguished - suspect that the year there were a whole four of us passed the 11+ was Memorable - but there were some good teachers.
I don't know how one calibrates into all this my mother knowing the teacher of Infants 1 and asking her about whether I could go to school once I had turned 5 (having an autumn birthday) and her saying, oh, send her along, on account of my mother thinking I was entirely ready.
And then the Head saying I should do the 11+ technically a year early - (which was not a given, people did get kept back)
Going to a fairly academically-intense girls' grammar school, where I did get the odd spot of class-hassle, I realise in retrospect (including from horrid Mrs B of the really weird ideas about sex), where I was marked out as university material and my parents exhorted to keep me on the sixth form -
Which they were entirely happy to do.
So yes, I was I suppose supported on my academic journey. But some of that was external factors, like the existence of that extinct phoenix, full student grants.
smartbitches_feed
RECOMMENDED: Lucky Bounce by Cait Nary is $2.99 and a KDD! Lara reviewed this hockey romance and gave it a B+:
If you’re looking for a book that will make you swoon from the giddiness of falling in love, then this book will hit the spot. Just don’t be too surprised when it ends abruptly.
“Lucky Bounce is a funny and charming hockey romance that I couldn’t put down.” – Rachel Reid, USA Today Bestselling author of Time to Shine
A single dad pro hockey player falls for his biggest fan—who just happens to be his five-year-old daughter’s teacher—in this fun, flirty romantic comedy from Cait Nary
Ezekiel Boehm is no stranger to teaching kids with famous parents. But when the pro hockey player he’s been thirsting after walks into the Rittenhouse Friends School gym hand in hand with a tiny kindergartener, he figures he must be hallucinating. Spencer McLeod is a lot of things—Zeke’s favorite winger on the Philadelphia Liberty; a menace on the ice; a mumbling, reluctant but somehow captivating-as-hell postgame interview—but he’s not a dad. Except he is. Apparently.
Zeke can be chill about this. He can.
Surprisingly, the more time he spends with Spencer, the easier this becomes. School volunteer events turn into reserved seats at games, turn into…more. And even though Zeke is 100 percent committed to ignoring Spencer’s blush, to ignoring the way he looks in that one pair of gray sweatpants, he can’t take his eyes off him.
This can never work. Can it?
Love Interest by Clare Gilmore is $1.99 and a KDD! Gilmore’s 2025 release was my best book of the year and I rated it 5-stars on Goodreads. I’ll probably pick this one up, just to explore her backlist a bit more!
Casey Maitland has always preferred the reliability of numbers, despite growing up the daughter of two artistic souls. Now a twenty-four-year-old finance expert working in Manhattan, Casey wonders if the project manager opening at her company – magazine powerhouse LC Publications – is a sign from the universe to pursue a career with a little more sparkle. That is, until she’s passed over for the job in favor of the board chairman’s son.
Alex Harrison is handsome, Harvard-educated, and enigmatic. Everybody loves him – except for Casey. But when the two are thrown on the same project, they both have something to prove. For Casey, it’s getting tapped for a transfer to the London office and fulfilling her dreams of travelling. For Alex, it’s successfully launching a brand that will impress his distant father.
As work meetings turn into after hours, Casey and Alex are drawn to each other again and again, but neither can avoid the messy secrets and corporate intrigue threatening to tear them apart. What they discover about their own company might change everything – including the dreams each of them is chasing.
The Re-Write by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn is $1.99 and a KDD! This came out in August and was mentioned on Hide Your Wallet. It’s a second chance romance with some reality TV elements. (Not full one set on a reality TV program, but the hero got the villain edit on a reality TV show.)
In this lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers rom-com, two exes are faced with one deadline. Will they make it to the end?
Temi and Wale meet in London. They flirt, date, meet each other’s friends.
Then they break up. And Wale goes on a reality dating show.
Instead of giving in to heartbreak, Temi throws herself into her writing. She’s within touching distance of a book deal that would solve all her problems. But publishers keep passing on her novel and bills still have to be paid. So, when the opportunity to ghost-write a celebrity memoir arises, Temi accepts.
And, of course, the celebrity turns out to be Wale…
Will Temi and Wale repeat the patterns of their past? Or can they write a whole new story?
Tangled Up in You by Christina Lauren is $1.99! This is the only non-KDD. This is book four in the Meant to Be Disney retellings series. I believe I’ve heard this one has some slightly darker elements than what you’d think, specifically about the heroine’s upbringing.
She has a dream. He has a plan. Together they’ll take a leap of faith.
Ren has never held an iPhone, googled the answer to a question, or followed a crush on social media. What she has done: read a book or two, or three (okay, hundreds). Taught herself to paint. Built a working wind power system from scratch. But for all the books she’s read, Ren has never found one that’s taught a woman raised on a homestead and off the grid for most of her twenty-two years how to live in the real world. So when she finally achieves her lifelong dream of attending Corona College, it feels like her life is finally beginning.
Fitz has the rest of his life mapped out: graduate from Corona at the top of his class, get his criminal record wiped clean, and pass himself off as the rich, handsome player everyone thinks he is. He’s a few months short from checking off step one of his plans when Ren Gylden, with her cascading blonde hair and encyclopedic brain, crashes into his life, and for the first time Fitz’s plan is in jeopardy.
But a simple assignment in their immunology seminar changes the course of both their lives, and suddenly they’re thrown out of the frying pan and into the fire on a road trip that will lead them in the most unexpected directions. Out on the open road, the world somehow shifts, and the unlikely pair realize that, maybe, the key to the dreams they’ve both been chasing have been sitting next to them the whole time.
larryhammercmcmck.) Webb was a novelist and poet best known today as one of the authors parodied by Cold Comfort Farm.smartbitches_feedWelcome back to Cover Snark! These covers were all sent in by the community!
From Jane Buehler: At first glance (small thumbnail) I thought he was shooting out a laser beam from his chest!
Sarah: That’s an interesting place for a stigmata.
Amanda: Why is he so grainy, like his skin is the texture of a basketball.
Sarah: Wait. WAIT. Whatever this cheetah-print thing is, it is both above and below his pec. What IS that?! Why is it partially encircling his pec? Why is it shooting out pink silly string? WHAT IS THIS.
And this is only the first cover. God help me with this set.
From Jen: My cousin introduced me to you guys a while back. We have a regular cousin chat about your Cover Snark because it cracks us up.
Recently I was at a gift shop and saw this gem. I immediately shared it to the cousin chat and they encouraged me to submit it!
Thanks for giving us all so many laughs.
Sarah: At first glance this looks unremarkable, but the more I looked the tiltier my head got. Why does his chest hair patch match the small patch of hair on his arm? I’m presuming the Yankee’s logo is backwards on purpose but also ????
And her boobs are going in very different directions – unless she’s got one of those bathing suit tops that only holds in one tit and the other is free to roam. I Hate suits like that. Also she’s reading a book called HOWL and that’s very funny.
There are a lot of stylistic choices that I really like, and also some details that I do not get.
Claudia: I have one question — why he doesn’t seem to have eyes?
Sarah: I was wondering that, too! It looks like they got blurred or something? Why does she have features while he does not?
Amanda: Why are we not talking about the fact that he’s a satyr?!
Sarah: A satyr in that shirt!
From Marianne: This popped up in my edelweiss+ pre-approved and I had to embiggen because what was I even looking at? Who wears light beige jeans with their chaps???
Sarah: WHAT is WITH the cowboy-hat-hides-the-faces trend? Do people not like drawing faces? Or is kissing difficult (I imagine it is) to draw?
And WHY would anyone wear light jeans with chaps. I get that it’s a Look, but also it’s a Laundry.
Amanda: It reminds me of when you’re in middle school and you draw people with their hands in their pockets or behind their back so you can avoid it.
Sarah: “Where’s your teal and white cow print cowboy hat?”
“Why?”
“I need it for reasons.”
From Deborah: Is he giving himself a simultaneous breast and pelvic exam under the watchful eyes of Dr Giant Tree Wolf?
Sarah: That’s a very intimidating way to do a breast exam.
Amanda: It also looks like he’s checking his crotch. Perhaps he’s just making sure everything is where it should be.
Sarah: So many cover models do that. Should we be worried?
onceandfuturecityoursinThis week's bread was a Standen loaf, strong brown/buckwheat flour, maple syrup, malt extract - but due to electric scale going weird and giving strange readings, the proportions got very odd and it turned out larger and a lot denser than usual, if still edible.
Friday night supper: Gujerati khichchari, with pinenuts.
Saturday breakfast rolls: adaptable soft roll recipe, 4:1 strong white/buckwheat flour, a touch of maple syrup, dried cranberries, turned out rather well.
Today's lunch: Scottish salmon tail fillets baked in foil with butter and lime slices; served with La Ratte potatoes boiled with salt and dill and tossed in butter, buttered spinach and baked San Marzano tomatoes.
smartbitches_feedThe latest bestseller list is brought to you by nostalgia, Girl Scout Cookies, and our affiliate sales data.
I hope your weekend reading was fabulous!
onceandfuturecityoursinBooks and screens: Everyone is panicking about the death of reading usefully points out that panic and woezery over reading/not-reading/what they're reading etc etc is far from a new phenomenon:
We have been here before. Not just once, but repeatedly, in a pattern so consistent it reveals something essential about how cultural elites respond to changes in how knowledge moves through society.
In the late 19th century, more than a million boys’ periodicals were sold per week in Britain. These ‘penny dreadfuls’ offered sensational stories of crime, horror and adventure that critics condemned as morally corrupting and intellectually shallow. By the 1850s, there were up to 100 publishers of this penny fiction. Victorian commentators wrung their hands over the degradation of youth, the death of serious thought, the impossibility of competing with such lurid entertainment.
But walk backwards through history, and the pattern repeats with eerie precision. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, novel-reading itself was the existential threat. The terms used were identical to today’s moral panic: ‘reading epidemic’, ‘reading mania’, ‘reading rage’, ‘reading fever’, ‘reading lust’, ‘insidious contagion’. The journal Sylph worried in 1796 that women ‘of every age, of every condition, contract and retain a taste for novels … the depravity is universal.’
....
In 1941, the American paediatrician Mary Preston claimed that more than half of the children she studied were ‘severely addicted’ to radio and movie crime dramas, consumed ‘much as a chronic alcoholic does drink’. The psychiatrist Fredric Wertham testified before US Congress that, as he put it in his book Seduction of the Innocent (1954), comics cause ‘chronic stimulation, temptation and seduction’, calling them more dangerous than Hitler. Thirteen American states passed restrictive laws. The comics historian Carol Tilley later exposed the flaws in Wertham’s research, but by then the damage was done.
Moving on: on another prickly paw, I am not sure I am entirely on board with this model of reading as equivalent to going to the gym or other self-improving activity, and committing to reading X number of books per year (even if I look at the numbers given and sneer slightly): ‘Last year I read 137 books’: could setting targets help you put down your phone and pick up a book?:
As reading is increasingly tracked and performed online, there is a growing sense that a solitary pleasure is being reshaped by the logic of metrics and visibility. In a culture that counts steps, optimises sleep and gamifies meditation, the pressure to quantify reading may say less about books than about a wider urge to turn even our leisure into something measurable and, ultimately, competitive.
Also at the sense that the books are being picked for Reasons - maybe I'm being unfair.
Also, perhaps, this is a where you are in the life-cycle thing: because in my 20s or so I was reading things I thought I ought to read/have read even if I was also reading things for enjoyment, and I am now in my sere and withered about, is this going to be pleasurable? (I suspect chomping through 1000 romances as research is not all that much fun?)
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Book Beat aims to highlight other books that we may hear about through friends, social media, or other sources. We could see a gorgeous ad! Or find a new-to-us author on a list of underrated romances! Think of Book Beat as Teen Beat or Tiger Beat, but for books. And no staples to open to get the fold-out poster.
Author: Daphne Fama
Released: August 12, 2025 by Berkley
Genre: Gothic, Horror, Mystery/Thriller
A young woman is drawn into a dangerous game after being invited to the mazelike home of her childhood friend, a rumored witch, in this gothic horror set in 1986 Philippines.
In this game, there’s one rule: survive.
Orphaned after her father’s political campaign ended in tragedy, Josephine is alone taking care of the family home while her older brother is off in Manila, where revolution brews. But an unexpected invitation from her childhood friend Hiraya to her house offers an escape….
Why don’t you come visit, and we can play games like we used to?
If Josephine wins, she’ll get whatever her heart desires. Her brother is invited, too, and it’s time they had a talk. Josephine’s heard the dark whispers: Hiraya is a witch and her family spits curses. But still, she’s just desperate enough to seize this chance to change her destiny.
Except Ranoco house is strange—labyrinthine and dangerously close to a treacherous sea. A sickly-sweet smell clings to the dimly lit walls, and veiled eyes follow Josephine through endless connecting rooms. The air is tense with secrets and as the game continues it’s clear Josephine doesn’t have the whole truth.
To save herself, she will have to play to win. But in this house, victory is earned with blood.
A lush new voice in horror arises in this riveting gothic set against the upheaval of 1986 Philippines and the People Power Revolution.
Gothic horror with Filipino folklore!
Author: Ursa Dax
Released: July 9, 2024 by Peace Weaver Press Inc.
Genre: Western, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
Series: Cowboy Colony Mail-Order Brides #1
A quiet alien cowboy, a human woman on the run, and one very messy marriage of convenience. What could possibly go wrong?
In debt and on the run from a crime lord whose nose I may or may not have broken, I take the first ticket off-world that comes my way. It’s an all-expenses-paid, one-way trip to an isolated ranching outpost.
The only catch?
I have to marry an alien cowboy.
My plan is simple enough. Shack up with my groom Silar and convince him to keep me during the first month of our marriage. As long as he doesn’t decide to send me packing after the thirty-day trial period, I’ll be safe.
But maybe my plan isn’t so great after all. Silar talks more to his animals than he does to me, seems perplexed by every wifely duty I try to perform for him, and goes to offensively great lengths to avoid touching me.
Other than his eyes glowing bright white every time he looks at me, I have no idea what’s going on in my new husband’s head. Meanwhile, he shows me in subtle, wordless ways just how good a man he can be when he thinks that no one’s watching.
Yup. My plan officially sucks. Because now, it’s not just my life at risk if Silar sends me away after thirty days…
It’s my stupid human heart.
Welcome to the cowboy colony planet, where men outnumber women ten to one and cattle outnumber them all…
I’m getting Ice Planet Barbarians but make it Western.
Author: Natasha Pulley
Released: March 19, 2024 by Bloomsbury Publishing
Genre: LGBTQIA, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
A compulsively readable queer sci-fi novel about a marriage of convenience between a Mars politician and an Earth refugee.
Named a Best Book of 2024 by The Washington Post * Amazon * Book Riot * LitHub * Paste Magazine * HuffPost
In the wake of an environmental catastrophe, January, once a principal in London’s Royal Ballet, has become a refugee in Tharsis, the terraformed colony on Mars. There, January’s life is dictated by his status as an Earthstronger-a person whose body is not adjusted to lower gravity and so poses a danger to those born on, or naturalized to, Mars. January’s job choices, housing, and even transportation are dictated by this second-class status, and now a xenophobic politician named Aubrey Gale is running on a platform that would make it all worse: Gale wants all Earthstrongers to naturalize, a process that is always disabling and sometimes deadly.
When Gale chooses January for an on-the-spot press junket interview that goes horribly awry, January’s life is thrown into chaos, but Gale’s political fortunes are damaged, too. Gale proposes a solution to both their problems: a five year made-for-the-press marriage that would secure January’s future without naturalization and ensure Gale’s political success. But when January accepts the offer, he discovers that Gale is not at all like they appear in the press. They’re kind, compassionate, and much more difficult to hate than January would prefer. As their romantic relationship develops, the political situation worsens, and January discovers Gale has an enemy, someone willing to destroy all of Tharsis to make them pay-and January may be the only person standing in the way.
Un-put-downably immersive and utterly timely, Natasha Pulley’s new novel is a gripping story about privilege, strength, and life across class divisions, perfect for readers of Sarah Gailey and Tamsyn Muir.
Elyse posted about this one in our slack with just the words “Queer fake marriage ballet sci fi.” What a lovely combo of words.
Author: L.K. Steven
Released: July 29, 2025 by Del Rey
Genre: Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
Series: Silvercloak Saga #1
In this addictive new fantasy series set in a world where magic is fueled by pleasure and pain, an obsessive detective infiltrates a brutal gang of dark mages—knowing that one wrong move will get her killed. . . .
“A dazzling (and frequently sizzling) new fantasy.” —Kiersten White, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Lucy Undying
Two decades ago, the Bloodmoons ruthlessly murdered Saffron Killoran’s parents, destroying her idyllic childhood. Hell-bent on revenge, she lies her way into Silvercloak Academy—the training ground for her city’s elite order of detectives—with a single goal: to bring the Bloodmoons to justice.
But when Saff’s deception is exposed, rather than being cast out, she’s given a rare opportunity: to go undercover and tear the Bloodmoons down from the inside.
Descending into a world where pleasure and pain are the most powerful currencies, Saff must commit some truly heinous deeds to keep her cover—and her life. Not only are there rival gangs and sinister smuggling rings to contend with, but there’s also her growing feelings for the kingpin’s tortured son, with his vicious pet fallowwolf, his dark past, and the curious prophecy foretelling his death at Saffron’s hand.
With each day testing her loyalties further, Saff finds her web of lies becoming harder to spin. And when one false step could destroy everything and everyone she’s ever loved . . . the detective who’s dedicated her life to vengeance just might die for it.
Book One of the Silvercloak Saga
“Magic is fueled by pleasure and pain” gives me slight Kushiel’s Dart vibes, and I see that as a good thing.
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