![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmith posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
birdfeeding
nanilacosmolinguistI ended up stepping in to read out the questions and answers for a Christmas quiz at work today, a colleague made it but then lost her voice so needed someone else to do the talking. She got two someone elses, R and me. We traded off asking the questions, and one of R's was the name of the Wallace & Gromit movie that came out on Christmas Day in 2024.
At which point I quietly muttered "two years ago already, gosh" and R said "Erik, that was last year."
Oh! Yeah! It was! It's only 2025 now!
"It has been a long year," he said kindly, and as he's basically acted as project manager for the reports I've written he knows as well as anyone how long my year has been at work!
![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
smartbitches_feed
The Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean is $1.99! Fingers crossed this deal lasts. I think this was her contemporary debut. Did any of you pick it up? What did you think?
New York Times bestselling author Sarah MacLean’s first foray into contemporary fiction, with a sharp, sexy novel about a wealthy New England family’s long-overdue reckoning with hidden desires, destructive secrets…and one week that threatens to tear them apart
Alice isn’t like the other Storm siblings. While the rest stayed to battle for their parents’ approval, attention, and untold billions, she left, building her own life beyond the family’s name and influence. Nothing could induce her to come back, except the shocking death of her larger-than-life father. Now back on the family’s private island off the Rhode Island coast, she plans to keep her head down, pay the last of her respects, and leave the minute the funeral is over.
Unfortunately, her father had other plans. The eccentric, manipulative patriarch left his widow and their grown children a final challenge–an inheritance game designed to humiliate, devastate, and unravel the Storm family in ways both petty and life-altering. The rules of the game are clear: stay on the island for one week, complete the tasks, receive the inheritance.
One week on Storm Island is an impossible task for Alice. Every corner of the sprawling old house is bursting dysfunctional chaos: Her older sister’s secret love affair. Her brother’s incessant mansplaining. Her sister-in-law’s unapologetic greed. Her younger sister’s obsession with “vibes”. Her mother’s penchant for stirring up competition between her children. And all under the stern, watchful gaze of Jack Dean, her father’s enigmatic, unfairly good-looking, second-in-command. It will be a miracle if Alice manages to escape the week unscathed.
A story about the transformative power of grief, love, and family, this luscious novel is at once deliciously clever and surprisingly tender, exploring past secrets, present truths, and futures forged in the wake of wild summer storms.
When the Marquess Was Mine by Caroline Linden is $1.99! This is part of the Wagers of Sin historical romance series and features a hero with amnesia. If the cover looks familiar, we featured it on Cover Snark because of the hero’s missing belly button.
In the game of love…
Georgiana Lucas despises the arrogant and cruel Marquess of Westmorland even before learning that he’s won the deed to her friend Kitty’s home in a card game. Still, Georgiana assures Kitty the marquess wouldn’t possibly come all the way to Derbyshire to throw them out—until he shows up, bloody and unconscious. Fearing that Kitty would rather see him die, Georgiana blurts out that he’s her fiancé. She’ll nurse the hateful man back to health and make him vow to leave and never return. The man who wakes up, though, is nothing like the heartless rogue Georgiana thought she knew…
You have to risk it all
He wakes up with no memory of being assaulted—or of who he is. The bewitching beauty tending him so devotedly calls him Rob and claims she’s his fiancée even as she avoids his touch. Though he can’t remember how he won her hand, he’s now determined to win her heart. But as his memory returns and the truth is revealed, Rob must decide if the game is up—or if he’ll take a chance on a love that defies all odds.
Hitwoman by Elsie Marks is 99c! This a mix of romance and suspense – a romantic suspense if you will. This is a recent release, but opinions seem to be mixed on review sites. Have you read it?
An action-packed, hilarious enemies-to-lovers thriller for fans of Butcher & Blackbird, The Fall Guy and Hitman. She always gets her man … but has Maisie Baxter met her match?
Maisie Baxter has a particular set of skills honed over a very successful career.
She’s determined not to let her job at a boutique, ethical assassin agency get in the way of her social life, but it’s tough when your hours are extremely unpredictable and you can’t share any details of your day.
So she can’t tell her friends about the guy that keeps showing up on her missions. Will. He’s cute – really cute – and he’s desperate to speak to her.
Maisie is sure Will works for the competition but it soon becomes clear that a much greater danger stalks them both. And they’re going to have to put aside their professional rivalry and their budding sexual tension if they have any hope of uncovering a conspiracy that goes all the way to the top.
How the Hitman Stole Christmas by Katie Reus is FREE! This is a holiday novella with a hitman hero and an explosives expert heroine. And they’re neighbors!
‘Tis the season for a grumpy-sunshine romance with a side of murder and mayhem!
She hates Christmas and everything that goes with it…
Explosives expert Elliana hates Christmas—and the only good thing about this holiday season is that her gorgeous neighbor seems allergic to shirts and clothes in general. She knows because she’s been watching him for months with her drone. She’s never stalked anyone before, but he not only doesn’t seem to mind, he puts on nightly strip shows just for her. When she finally works up the courage to talk to him, she stumbles right into a murder—that he’s committed.
But this holiday is one she’ll never forget…
According to him, the whole murder thing is no big deal—the dead guy needed killing. And while her hot neighbor wants her, protecting her is his main priority. So when she’s targeted, this cinnamon roll hitman kidnaps her for her own good. With a deadly threat hunting them and a hot hitman who keeps handcuffing her to him “for her own protection”, Elliana is starting to reconsider her grinchy stance on the holidays. And when everything finally comes to a head, the results are bound to be…explosive.
antisoppistOn Christmas Eve morning I woke up early and ran down to the kitchen in my nightie to see if it was still untidy. But instead it was beautiful! There were new rag carpets on the floor; there was red and green and white curled tissue paper round the iron pole by the stove; there was a Christmas cloth on the big folding table; and all the copper kettles were polished. I was so happy that I gave Mother a big hug. Lars and Pip came rushing in right after me, and Lars said that even his stomach felt Christmassy when he saw the rag carpets.
[...]
When we got home Lars and Pip and I decorated our tree. Father helped us. We got the red apples that we were going to use on the tree out of the attic, and then we hung some of our ginger snaps on it. We put raisins and nuts in the Christmas baskets we had made of coloured paper. We also hung up the cotton angels that Mother had used on her tree when she was little – and then, of course, a lot of flags and candles and sweets. The tree looked very pretty when it was finished!
Then it was time to “dip in the pot”. Mother have us large slices of rye bread that Agda had baked, and we dipped them in the broth that the ham had cooked in. It was very good. Then there was nothing to do but WAIT. Lars said that times like those hours in the afternoon of Christmas Eve, when you don’t do anything but wait and wait, are the kind of things people get grey hairs from. We waited and waited and waited, and from time to time I went to the mirror to see if I had any grey hairs yet. But strangely enough, my hair was just as yellow as ever. Pip hit the clock now and then, because he thought that it had stopped.
When it got dark, it was time at last to take our presents over to North Farm and South Farm. You can’t do that when it’s light because it wouldn’t be exciting at all. Lars and Pip and I out on our red Santa Claus caps and Lars took the Santa Claus mask that he was going to wear later in the evening. (It’s Lars who is Santa Claus at our house nowadays. When I was little I thought that there was a real Santa Claus, but I don’t think so any more.) Then we took our packages and slipped out into the dark. The sky was full of stars. I looked towards the forest, standing so dark and still, and imagines that perhaps there was a real Santa Claus living there who soon would come, pulling a sled loaded with Christmas presents. I almost wished that it were true.
sabotabbyoursinPeople asking me last night 'what do you/are you working on?'
Duh. I flannelled and gave the general field, rather than saying: I completed my PhD over 30 years ago, I have published 6 books, 3 co-edited volumes, and getting on for 70 articles and chapters, have done assorted meedja appearances, have lost count of the reviews I've done -
Not to mention the website, the blog, the assorted things that fall into the category of other -
'My Deaaar, it's all a long story and rather complicated' and my most recent publication was not even in my field, it was being a sort of Litry Scholar.
Thing is there were some persons of maturer age there who were, I gathered in conversation, getting back into the academic swing, so I might have been doing that, rather than trying to get back up out of something of a trough?
Did mention, apropos of cute cuddly spirochaete, that I had worked on History of Loathsome Diseases of Immorality: but gee, I am large, I contain multitudes, and I have been going a long time.
ETA
Not that I consider the organisers of 'prestigious World Conference on Women’s Health, Reproduction,and Midwifery, scheduled for 08-10 June 2026, in Paris,France' to really Know Who I Am since they are begging and pleading for my attendance on the basis of my 'remarkable work' a recent review of a book on the history of abortion.
Okay, they do offer partial support for accommodation and registration, and brekkers and lunch at the conference (this implies, o horrors, breakfast sessions).
smartbitches_feed
The year is coming to an end, but publishers have saved some good ones for last! Whether you’ve been naughty or nice, treat yourself to a book or two this holiday season and enjoy!
Author: Leah Johnson
Released: December 2, 2025 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA, Romance, Young Adult
From New York Times-bestselling author George M. Johnson and USA Today-bestselling author Leah Johnson comes a revolutionary new holiday romcom for fans of Lynn Painter, Alice Oseman, and Nicola Yoon.
Andy was supposed to shed her too-serious student journalist persona and reinvent herself on New Year’s Eve. Instead, she puked on her crush, dropped her phone in a fish tank, and managed to get her car stolen. Now, she only has the first day of the year to stop the gentrification that’s threatening her family’s business right her wrongs from the night before, and figure out why she feels so drawn to the electric new-girl-next-door. . How can Andy find her voice when everything’s being turned upside down?
Dominique is an influencer on the verge of securing a major brand deal that will ensure his future and family legacy. But when he runs into his former best friend, unresolved feelings emerge — and in a small town, there’s nowhere to hide. Not from his cousin, Andy, who has always seen him for his true self, not from his busybody manager, Kim, whose favorite color is money green, and certainly not from himself. When all the world’s a stage, can Dominique rise to superstardom without leaving the ones he loves behind?
There’s Always Next Year is a dual POV, double love story about what it means to nearly blow your life up, and race to put it back together before your time runs out. And if they fail? Well, there’s always next year.
This YA novel gives two beloved authors for the price of one, combining the brains behind All Boys Aren’t Blue and You Should See Me in a Crown for a pair of romance storylines wrapped in family and community and perfect for the holidays.
Author: Zakiya Jamal
Released: December 2, 2025 by Berkley
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA, Romance
A late bloomer thought a visit to a sex club might jump start her love life, but instead makes an instant connection that turns her whole world upside down, in this adult debut from author Zakiya N. Jamal.
When Stella Renee Johnson’s roommate invites her to a sex club party but bails at the last minute, Stella decides to use the opportunity to finally cash in her V-card. But just when things are heating up between Stella and a sexy stranger, they realize they don’t have protection and Stella, taking it as a sign this wasn’t meant to be, flees.
Frustrated in more ways than one, Stella is shocked to learn that the digital media website where she works is partnering with an AI company. She’s even more shocked when the alluring man from the previous night walks in. Max Williams is the CEO’s brother and the creator of the AI program now threatening her job.
Despite the conflict of interest, Stella and Max can’t resist their magnetic attraction toward each other, and agree to keep their personal lives separate from what’s happening at work. But the more similarities they discover at home—both Black, book smart, and bisexual—the more they butt heads at work. Stella and Max must decide whether to think with their heads and walk away from their budding relationship, or follow their hearts and take a chance on love, no matter the cost.
It’s one thing to launch a queer debut, but it’s an entirely other incredible thing to launch queer debuts in two different categories in one year, and Jamal has nailed it. Just eight months after releasing her sweet Sapphic Romance, If We Were a Movie, Jamal has gone decidedly adult with this sexy bi4bi m/f that also tackles working in a creative industry going all in on AI.
Author: Alexis Hall
Released: December 9, 2025 by Sourcebooks Casablanca
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA, Romance
Series: Winner Bakes All #3
A charming new LGBTQIA+ romcom from the bestselling author of BOYFRIEND MATERIAL.
Audrey Lane is perfectly fine. Really. So what if she left her high-powered job as a Very Important Journalist—and her even higher-powered long-term girlfriend—to live a quiet life as a reporter for the second-biggest newspaper in Shropshire? And so what if she keeps hearing that same higher-powered long-term now-ex-girlfriend in her head night and day, constantly judging just how small Audrey’s allowed her life to become?
She’s fine. She’s happy. She’s perfectly within her groove. Do not-in-their-groove people get weekday drunk and impulsively apply for the UK’s most beloved baking show?
All right, so maybe she’s not completely fine, but being on Bake Expectations is opening her world again in ways she never anticipated. First through fellow contestant Doris, whose personal story of queer love during WW2 captures Audrey’s heart, imagination and journalistic interest like nothing has in ages. Then through Jennifer Hallet, the most foul-tempered (and fouler-mouthed) producer, woman, and menace Audrey has ever met. Jennifer should be off-limits, but her fire lights something unexpected inside of Audrey, making her want to burn back a million times brighter. A million times hotter. A million times more herself than she’s been in a long, long time.
It’s been three years since the last installment of the Winner Bakes All series, Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble, and after m/f and m/m pairings, we’re finishing up with an f/f that takes us back to Bake Expectations with a forbidden romance.
Author: Georgia Beers
Released: December 16, 2025 by Bold Strokes Books
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA, Romance
Opposites attract, and Riley Shaw stands no chance of resisting Hannah Kramer’s magnetic pull. But opposites know just how to drive each other crazy…
How it starts: Her best friend Kyle suggests Riley take a job at Poptacular, his grandmother’s gourmet popcorn shop. Spending the summer mixing caramel and cheddar sounds like fun, right?
Spoiler alert: It’s not fun.
Enter Kyle’s little sister Hannah and her stubborn refusal to try any ideas that aren’t her own. Their working styles are completely different. In short, she is infuriating. And hot. Why does she have to be hot?
How it’s going: Years have passed, and Riley’s no longer a victim of her teenage hormones. She’s a high-powered consultant who travels from city to city, helping struggling businesses. Distance weakens a magnetic field, and Riley doesn’t think about Hannah Kramer. Not ever.
So, when Kyle calls to say Poptacular is in trouble and on the brink of closing its doors, her first thought definitely isn’t of Hannah. No, heading back to her hometown is not on her bingo card. But for Poptacular’s co-owner, popcorn is Hannah’s whole life, and Riley can’t stand to see her dream fail.
How it ends: With the Great (hot and buttery) Popcorn Romance, of course.
I don’t know how Georgia Beers does it, but this is her third (?) Sapphic romance of the year, and each one sounds cuter than the last. Best Friend’s Brother is such a huge trope in hetero romance, but few things hit like the much rarer lesbian Best Friend’s Sister. Plus, a popcorn shop! How adorable is that??
Author: Tara Pammi
Released: December 16, 2025
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA, Romance
Series: Bollywood Dance & Drama Society #2
PINKY
I blew up my life like it was a lab experiment gone wrong.
Broke off my engagement. Dropped out of med school. Moved back home.
Now I’m planning my twin’s wedding while being smothered by five overprotective older brothers—and the only thing keeping me sane?
The other maid of honor—Sarangi Rao—beautiful, sexy, intimidatingly accomplished. A total ice-queen. Or so I think until I get to know her a little.
When we agree to fake-date through the wedding madness to get everyone off our backs, it feels like I can finally breathe again. Between choreographing first dances and coordinating floral crises,
we become partners—in planning, in dancing & in bed.
Soon, my fake feelings turn very real and this time, it won’t just be my future I lose—but my heart.
SARANGI
Fake-dating Priyanka Thomas is the last thing I need.
She’s chaos in a crop top—messy, magnetic, and entirely too tempting. But saying yes buys me freedom from the pressure cooker of family expectations. And it’s just for a few months, right?
But then, she moves into my house, gets under my skin. And makes me believe in love all over again.
What if Pinky only wants me for a fake, fun fling… while I’m falling in love for real?
A prolific author of hetero Harlequin romances, we don’t often get to see the Sapphic side of Pammi’s work, so I was thrilled to see her return to the Bollywood Dance & Drama Society series for the first time since 2021’s When Tara Met Farah. And this one sounds deliciously tropetastic… Fake dating! Opposites attract! Forced proximity! Wedding themes! Ice queen! Ah, what a delight.
conulyswan_tower
ysabetwordsmith posting in followfridayHere's the plan: every Friday, let's recommend some people and/or communities to follow on Dreamwidth. That's it. No complicated rules, no "pass this on to 7.328 friends or your cat will die".
nanila posting in awesomeerssmartbitches_feed
We’re back with more Holiday Wishes! This week we’re talking with Garlic Knitter, Claudia, Christine, and Jo.
A few notes:
First, my voice is not great. Some of these were recorded when I had a dreadful cold, so I apologize in advance.
Second, if you’re a sympathetic crier like I am, please know that when Christine and I are talking, we both get a little choked up while talking about grief and the infuriating unfairness of American healthcare. It’s an emotional conversation and a beautiful one – thank you for sharing so much of yourself, Christine.
Updates? Updates!
Thanks to your Patreon pledges, we have reached our goal with the F’ICE campaign, and all dynamic ads will be turned off permanently for everyone who listens. Thank you so much!
AND! The Smart Bitches Candle Collection is LIVE! I partnered with Wax Cabin Candle Company, an independent small chandlery, to offer two limited edition candles just for the holiday season!
They are on sale now through early January, and you can buy one or both in a gift set! And they are going very fast!
The Smart Bitches 20th Anniversary candle is an 11 ounce hand poured soy candle with notes of sea salt, book pages, sandalwood and jasmine.
The Bad Decisions Book Club candle, also 11 ounces, is designed to be the perfect pairing for late night reading, with scents of sweet tobacco, book pages, leather, rose, and sandalwood. I had a marvelous time picking out the scents.
So if you’re looking for the perfect gift for yourself or the book lovers in your life, check out the 2025 Smart Bitches Candle collection. You can shop small, support the site, and spread light and warmth this year.
Listen to the podcast →
We also mentioned:
And, a visual joke from Jo:
The fact that Marie Curie’s notebooks and tools are still radioactive and sealed in lead boxes.
If you like the podcast, you can subscribe to our feed, or find us at iTunes. You can also find us on Stitcher, and Spotify, too. We also have a cool page for the podcast on iTunes.
Sponsor us through Patreon! (What is Patreon?)
What did you think of today's episode? Got ideas? Suggestions? You can talk to us on the blog entries for the podcast or talk to us on Facebook if that's where you hang out online. You can email us at sbjpodcast@gmail.com or you can call and leave us a message at our Google voice number: 201-371-3272. Please don't forget to give us a name and where you're calling from so we can work your message into an upcoming podcast.
Thanks for listening!
ysabetwordsmith in birdfeeding - Birdfeedingsovay - No one who can stand staying landlocked for longer than a month at mostnanila - The Friday Five on a Fridaycosmolinguist - What's my age againminoanmiss - Mighty Harvestssmartbitches_feed - Caroline Linden, a Freebie, & Moreminoanmiss - call me cyclopschoco_frosh - (no subject)james_davis_nicoll - Utopias of the Third Kind by Vandana Singhantisoppist - Advent calendar 5sabotabby - podcast fridayandrewducker - Interesting Links for 05-12-2025oursin - Large, contain multitudes, do not wish to bragsmartbitches_feed - December 2025 Queer Romancesoursin - (no subject)conuly - Today's coworker is in college in the hopes of increasing her earningsswan_tower - New Worlds: A Brief History of Scienceysabetwordsmith in followfriday - Follow Friday 12-5-25nanila in awesomeers - Just One Thing (05 December 2025)smartbitches_feed - 695. Holiday Wishes III with Garlic Knitter, Claudia, Christine, and Jotimeasmymeasure
