Smart Podcast, Trashy Books: Reviews, Interviews, and Discussion About All the Romance Novels You Love to Read

Hooray! Thanks to Politics and Prose on the Wharf, I have the audio of the November 29, 2017, panel with Alisha Rai and Alyssa Cole. We talk about their favorite scenes in one another’s books, and which character is an homage to Alisha’s dating life (heads up for the Alisha Rai Dating Story Fans, we have a great one in here). We also discuss joy, romance, and the ambition of happiness as elements of resistance, how to persevere with happiness when things around you are bleak, and what happens when you Google “sexy grilled cheese sandwiches.”

Amanda, Carrie, Elyse, Redheadedgirl and I look forward to many, many things in 2018, most of them books. Amanda has a recommendation for a book she really liked that came out on January 2, but I made her wait for the 2018 podcast because I’m terrible. We take a quick glance at the current rankings of the Chris list, Redheadedgirl takes a look at the movies she’s very much looking forward to, and we discuss the best options at Michael’s to keep your collection of hearts on display. And then, Linus, Amanda’s cat, makes his first very quiet guest appearance.

Amanda, Carrie, Elyse, RedHeadedGirl and I sit down to look back at 2017, the things we enjoyed and treasured, and the books we loved that got us through the year. We talk a little about the high-grade, high-potency medicinal romances we discovered this year, and what authors we count on for that kind of read. We cover movies, music, and other uplifting pieces of entertainment that give us a lift this year. Expect many recommendations!

Sarah and Amanda take on your reader rec requests! We’ve got historical romances, historical fantasy with knitting, Jewish protagonists, heroines who save the hero, terminology to find the books you’re looking for, romances about single mothers, and historical erotica with menage. Amanda asks after Sarah’s romance writing, and, as expected, we talk about a lot of books. A lot. Of Books. Chance of cat and dog during the podcast? 85%!

Author Sonali Dev is back with us to talk about her new book - and here are some words in a very tempting order: a retelling of Rapunzel set in Mumbai. Her latest, A Distant Heart, comes out on 12/26, and we talk about the story, the angst level, and how these two characters came to be. We also discuss the common elements between this book and her last novel, A Change of Heart, and what she’s working on now. There’s a great odd moment when I misread the cover art immensely, but apparently I’m not alone in that misreading - and it is a gorgeous cover, too.

This week, I have a long conversation with prior guest of the podcast and Romance Writers of America President-elect HelenKay Dimon, who is also the author of more than fifty romances. We talk about what exactly RWA is, and what it does, what it means to be on the board, and what it means to be President-Elect. We discuss the changes in recent years and what the goals of the organization are, and we talk about some of the more problematic books that have been RITA finalists over the past few years as well. And of course, we cover what books she’s reading, writing, and buying immediately due to Twitter and Facebook recommendations.

Amanda and I talk about the behind the scenes elements of running Smart Bitches, and what parts we love most of all. We discuss our favorite features and how some of them came to be. We also talk a little about how we organize our reading for SBTB and for other outlets (SPOILER: There are spreadsheets involved - and I’ll link to mine in the show notes) and how we schedule and track our reading when we get books way, way, way in advance. We also talk about being infused with the power of dairy, and my frustration with entrepredudebro productivity guides. Then, I answer a question about pitching yourself for the podcast. I’ve had a few questions about this via email, and I’m planning the 2018 season now, so I hope this is helpful.

This week, we are saying thank you to the authors who wrote books that made our lives better. This episode was inspired in part by Tom Petty. After Tom Petty died, I saw and heard so many people online and off talking about how much his music had meant to them. And reading those tributes and others this year me think about the people who have created things I value and treasure, and how I might want to thank them while they have the opportunity to hear it. We live in a time when we are connected to so much art, so much music, so much writing, and much of it makes a minute or a day or an hour better or at least survivable. So I wanted to give a few of our recent guests, some of my friends, and the ladies here at Smart Bitches an opportunity to say thank you. Generally, I try to keep the work and creator separate, especially as a reviewer, but so many books and writers have gotten us through the past year or two or more that I thought right now, this week, we will make time for us to say thank you. So this week, we have an assortment of guests! We have the ladies of Smart Bitches, the ladies of The Ripped Bodice, New York Times Bestselling authors, NPR editors, romance readers, children, podcasting librarians - basically, as many people as I could reach with a microphone. Sometimes the phone rings, sometimes I’m in a restaurant, sometimes we have a crunchy international connection, sometimes it’s quiet, and sometimes it’s silly, but there are many writers we want to thank for many books that made our lives better. CONTENT WARNING at around 49:15, as Amanda is discussing Asking For It by Lilah Pace.

Grab your earbuds for this one. Nancy C suggested this interview in the comments to a recent episodes, and I’d been eager to set one up as well because, well, several reasons. Today I’m talking with Thien-Kim Lam, founder and owner of the Bawdy Bookworms subscription box service, which pairs erotic romance with sex toys and accessories. Thien-Kim recently attended a trade show all about sex toys in Vermont, and brought samples and new products to show me. So while we’re talking about sex positivity, toys, accessories, and general bawdiness, we also do some show and tell. Do not worry, I have pictures! You don’t want to miss the unicorn part. There are a number of unintentional puns, a lot of discussion of misinformation about sexuality and intimacy, and a lot of toys to talk about.

Elyse, Amanda, and I discuss building a reading habit - by which we mean the habit of regular reading. We discuss reading as self care and a ritual of restorative practice, and the practical and nonessential things that get in the way of reading time. We start by talking about listening to audiobooks in the Starbucks drive through and the challenges of heroines who need to be redeemed (instead of the hero, for example), and then move into discussing the various ways each of us approach reading time, and the ways in which each of us reads and consumes stories - and how our pets help us out. We also talk about some of the things that get in our way, such as the expectation that we should be working All The Time, and other work culture fallacies. Maybe this is you, too?

In this episode, I sit down for cake and podcasting with Alisha Rai. In a prior interview in episode 229, we talked a lot about dating and romance - both the concept and the genre. In this episode, we take a deeper look at dating as a romance author. We discuss seducing men with dad jokes, and why so many guys are into telling you they’re kinky in their third or fourth text. We also cover the identification of romance heroes and villains in real life people, the upside and downside of being a romance writer in the dating world, and they were is really, truly, no such thing as “leagues.” Plus, Alisha shares a truly lovely story of a good date. So many listeners contacted me to let me know how much they enjoyed hearing Alisha talk about the intricacies of modern dating from the point of view of someone who is fluent in the romance genre. I’m so pleased to bring you a follow up interview! Trigger warning: mention of Trump and his comments on sexual assault at 36:45.

Amanda, Carrie, Elyse, RedHeadedGirl and I talk about ghost tours, starting with the 1.5 ghost tours she went on in York recently. We discuss what makes a good ghost tour guide, and which stories were the best (and creepiest). Amanda shares her recommendation for ghostly, creepy television shows (don’t worry, of course we have links!). She also talks about a ghost tour she took in school (!) in fourth grade (!!) as part of her Florida state history curriculum (!!!). Elyse explains why creepy stuff has to work really hard to impress her, and Carrie talks about all the ghostly stories in northern California that she knows - and the lessons we can learn from them. Bonus: Elyse takes us on a tour of the creepy things on her Kindle. TW for discussion of murder and violence intermittently when talking about who haunts what, where, and why they might be doing that. And there’s a special background appearance of a meeping Wilbur cat, who wanted to lend atmosphere to the show.

This is something of an all-in-one episode. Ready? We begin with one last recommendation request for Amanda and me, and then we squee! Amanda and I both read a book we loved, and want to tell all of you about it. We go on at length, too, so be ready. It’s got magic and mystery and a terrific heroine. But because I know so many of you immediately grab the next book when you begin a new series, I wanted to include a little information about book 2, which I DNFd after a scene that really irritated me. THEN, I have an email from an anonymous listener who wanted to share some information based on episode 257, where we discussed BDSM and chronic pain. This is some fascinating stuff, so stay tuned for that.

We are back with part two of our RecReq time! Sarah asked the Patreon supporters what types of books they’re looking for more of, and what they’d like to read next. This time, we talk about sexually inexperienced characters, pseudo-virginity, the presence of nuts in baked goods (we are divided on this very important topic), and romances with food porn, big families, trains, and science fiction and fantasy with excellent world building. Plus, you get to hear the very strange way in which my brain works when it’s trying to remember something. (It’s pretty embarrassing.) This is a multi-part conversation, and last week we tackled a whole collection of historical recs. If you like historical romance, be sure to look up that episode, too.

It’s RecReq time! I asked the podcast Patreon supporters what types of books they’re looking for more of, and what they’d like to read next. Now, Amanda and I answer many of your book recommendation requests! So we start with reader requests for romances with beta heroes, friends to lovers, intelligent heroines, virginal characters, mystery romances and heroines in disguise. Along the way we talk about post-therapy food indulgences and both of our Very Large Cats who assisted during this episode. This is a three-part conversation, so come back next week for even more fun and amazement at Amanda’s excellent memory.