695. Holiday Wishes III with Garlic Knitter, Claudia, Christine, and Jo

695. Holiday Wishes III with Garlic Knitter, Claudia, Christine, and Jo

Author: Sarah Wendell December 5, 2025 Duration: 59:07

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! You can gift a Patreon membership if you'd like! It's easy and very flexible.


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.

 


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If you’ve ever felt a little defensive about loving romance novels, or just want to dive deeper into the books you can’t put down, Smart Podcast, Trashy Books: A Romance Novel Podcast is your perfect companion. Host Sarah Wendell approaches the genre with a critic’s sharp mind and a fan’s enthusiastic heart, creating conversations that are as thoughtful as they are joyful. This isn’t just author interviews, though you’ll hear brilliant voices like Ilona Andrews, Sarah J. Maas, and the wonderfully unique Chuck Tingle. The scope of the podcast is deliberately wide, bringing in reviewers, librarians, editors, and publishing professionals to examine every facet of the romance world. You’ll get honest talk about tropes and trends, the business behind the books, and why these stories resonate so powerfully with millions of readers. Regular appearances from Amanda Diehl add another layer of camaraderie and insight. Listening feels like being part of a smart, welcoming book club where no opinion is dismissed and passion is a given. It’s a celebration of a genre that dominates fiction, explored with humor, intelligence, and genuine curiosity. Whether you’re a longtime devotee or a curious newcomer, this podcast offers a rich, engaging, and deeply human look at the stories we love.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Smart Podcast, Trashy Books: A Romance Novel Podcast
Podcast Episodes
624. Academic Research about Romancelandia with Christine M. Larson [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 44:25
Christine M. Larson is the author of the new book Love in the Time of Self-Publishing: How Romance Writers Changed the Rules of Writing and Success, published by Princeton University Press. This book is NIFTY - it’s abou…
623. RT Rewind: December 1997 Reviews [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 54:56
The book reviews in 1997 may be fewer in number but they are ample in wtfery.Prizefighter younger sons getting kicked out of brothels on their wedding night!Nicknames that follow you around the globe in the 1880s!Regency…
622. The Love of my Afterlife with Kirsty Greenwood [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:59
Kirsty Greenwood’s book The Love of My Afterlife is out now, and it’s bubbly and charming and funny, with a lot of emotion, so we’re going to talk all about it. We also talk about making friends as an adult, and how ther…
621. RT Rewind: September 2002 Ads & Features [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:05:16
We’re going back in time to look at the ads and features of the September 2002 issue of Romantic Times!This issue left us with many questions, such as:What the hell is Tart Noir?Are reviewers elsewhere too mean? (Not us…
620. Romance and Kickstarter with Oriana Leckert [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 54:31
Oriana Leckert is the Head of Publishing at Kickstarter, and works with the many, many authors who are finding community support on Kickstarter. They’re hosting a celebration all this month, Heartstrings & Hardbacks: Kic…
619. RT Rewind: September 2002 Reviews [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:58
We asked our Patreon community to vote on this month’s issue, and September 2002 won by a wide margin. So let’s dive into the book reviews, shall we?There are strange subcategories and overlapping genres, and also color-…
618. The Romance Reader’s Handbook with Steve Ammidown [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 55:02
In June 1989, Kathryn Falk published The Romance Reader’s Handbook, a 354 page spiral bound collection of everything a romance reader would need to know. Steve Ammidown leads us on a brief tour of this artifact of romanc…
617. A Romance Soundtracks Sampler [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 39:57
In episode 611, we talked about the ads and features in the April 2005 issue of Romantic Times, and there was an ad on the back cover for Romance Soundtracks. We could not find anything about them, but Malaraa in our Pat…
616. Reading Rubrics with Shana [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:04
In a review for Never Cross a Highlander, Shana came up with the ACAB scale, or the Alyssa Cole Anti-Slavery Book Scale, which ranks how central the horror of slavery is to the storyline. I asked her to tell me all about…

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