Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches' Guide to Romance Novels by Sarah Wendell

Dec 08, 2009 FlibBityFLooB rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, made-me-laugh, read-in-2009, witty-i-am-not

4.5/5 stars. This was an inane and silly guide to romances, albeit immensely funny at times. I wasn't sure what to expect going in, but I was pleasantly surprised to find myself laughing so hard I had tears at a few points. On the other hand, the humor in this book is definitely not for everyone, and it can be downright juvenile at certain points.

There was lots of surprises to this book. In addition to literary analysis, there was mad-libs, choose your own adventures, board games, coloring, and...more

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Aug 09, 2010 Karla (Mossy Love Grotto) rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: people who love new romance over old

Shelves: non-fiction, contemporary-romance, historical-romance, 2-stars

Meh. Maybe I'd have appreciated it a bit more if I was into the current romance trends and all that. I find the SMTB blog of erratic interest at best, anyway (omg, just shut up with the epub techno wankfests). The snark got old, and the same authors and titles mentioned over and over didn't show much breadth of opinions and options. In the end, it all seemed pretty narrow and shallow.

Plus there's the difficulty I have staying interested in ANY humor-based book. Not that I don't love the lulz, bu...more

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Apr 17, 2009 Michelle R. rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: man-titty-discussions, good-wang

5 stars, if you like that sort of thing. :)

This is an awesome book for romance novel fans or readers The Smart Bitches, which would be a huge overlap.

For critics of the genre and people who just don't get it, I imagine it's educational and might make them come away with a better upstanding, but this is -- first and foremost -- for readers in-the-know.

Why does it make a reader's heart go pitter-patter when a book is mention that she's read? Even more so when the book is praised. Since there are...more

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Apr 23, 2009 seton rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

The good news is that for lovers of the Smart Bitches blog, it's the same irreverent snarky humor that we all know and love.

The bad news is that these are not blog posts but a book. And the book has a bit of a multiple personality.

There are games.
There are serious essays on the cultural aspects of all things in Romance Reading History with lots of citings to famous essays in the field of academic study of romances.
There are lists.
There are more games.
There is cover snark.
There are intervie...more

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Apr 13, 2009 Cynthia rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read it straight through, and some parts dragged, but it was fun overall. So much was on the mark.

Also, I don't really care what parts were boring, because you get the feel that the authors know and love the genre as much as you do (or the person that forced you to read the book does), so it's more like listening to your smart, bitchy, wordy (and often hilarious) friend ramble.

Parts I liked:

1. Old School vs New School flowchart - comprehensive and amusing

2. Summary of Old School was interesti...more

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May 05, 2009 Sherwood Smith rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: discussing-fiction

This book had me cracking up so hard I nearly fell off my chair a couple of times. I did wish it delved more deeply into just what is so satisfying about romance reading for such an enormous variety of women across generations and socio-economic strata, but they are generous with mentions of more scholarly books, and in short, it's a delightful, in-your-face dare to diss romance just because women write it and read it.

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Apr 07, 2013 Lee rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013-read

I'm new to reading romance novels and I admit that I avoided anything that was even remotely marketed as "romance". Over the past few years, I've learned to distrust marketing genres and to stop judging books by their covers. The authors very delightfully play fun with all the "joys and woes of the genre", including the cover art. There are "Mad-Lib" style, fill-in the blank stories, a flow chart to help guide you through the differences between "Old Skool vs New Skool" romance novels, and a hel...more I'm new to reading romance novels and I admit that I avoided anything that was even remotely marketed as "romance". Over the past few years, I've learned to distrust marketing genres and to stop judging books by their covers. The authors very delightfully play fun with all the "joys and woes of the genre", including the cover art. There are "Mad-Lib" style, fill-in the blank stories, a flow chart to help guide you through the differences between "Old Skool vs New Skool" romance novels, and a helpful definition of characters, situations, and plot devices. There's even a "choose your own romance" in the style of the "choose your own adventure" books.

Examples of the humor:
"Hero: He who gets the milk for free only to find he must have the cow as well, for he cannot get it up for any of the other dairy maids."
"Heroine: She who could be given a direct map to fulfillment and happiness, but would still find a way to get lost."
"Rake: A species of attractive and sexually promiscuous male; scientists postulate the rakes exhibited strong antibacterial properties, as they were capable of copulating with anything and everything on two legs without falling prey to venereal disease."

But it's not just humor; there is a lot of intelligent analysis of types of heroines (from the "Too Stupid to Live" to "Antiheroine" and others), the Hero (distinguishing between those that are Alphas vs those that are "alpholes"), a whole chapter on "Rape in Romance", and a plea for authors to stop including certain sexual misinformation in their stories (i.e. the hymen is on the OUTSIDE, guys over the age of 17 need a certain amount of recovery time, and simultaneous orgasms are like perfect bodies--everyone has them except for you.)

The book is US-centric, and I don't know how much of their analysis holds up against non-US cultural attitudes. I would have liked it if the authors could have included a chapter on the evolution of the "romance novel". Most of the discussion contrasts "Old Skool" vs "New Skool" romances, which I believe follows the publishing trends in the US. (According to them, the Old Skool genre begins with the publication of The Flame and Flower by Kathleen E Woodiwiss in 1972 and last through the late 1980s, and New Skool is from the late 80s to today. This doesn't quite make sense to me. What about Georgette Heyer and Barbara Cartland?)(less)

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Jan 02, 2013 Ana Mardoll rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Beyond Heaving Bosoms / 1416571221

I don't really read romance, but I love the writing styles of Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan as seen on their website "Smart Bitches, Trashy Books". When one of my online friends mentioned they were reading this book, I couldn't snap up a copy fast enough, and I finished it in a day. It's that good.

This isn't just a book for romance fans, although I'm certain that romance fans will enjoy the heck out of it. But even for non-romance readers like me, it was eye-open...more Beyond Heaving Bosoms / 1416571221

I don't really read romance, but I love the writing styles of Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan as seen on their website "Smart Bitches, Trashy Books". When one of my online friends mentioned they were reading this book, I couldn't snap up a copy fast enough, and I finished it in a day. It's that good.

This isn't just a book for romance fans, although I'm certain that romance fans will enjoy the heck out of it. But even for non-romance readers like me, it was eye-opening to see just how much the genre of romance has informed and influenced the non-romance books that I do read. Probably 90% of the fiction books I read have at least some romance and/or sexual tension in there alongside the 'main' plot, and as the romance genre has grown and evolved, their cousins in other genres have grown in similar ways.

If you're a fan of genre-deconstruction and trope discussions, I think you will love this book as much as I did. The parsing of Old Skool and New Skool romances was particularly informative for me, and I love the chapters which discuss hero-and-heroine archetypes and motivations. There is an entire chapter devoted to rape in romance, where it came from as a trope, why it is dying out now, and how it is being in some ways sublimated into non-consensual paranormal transformations in some sub-genres, and the whole chapter is extremely well written and handles this delicate topic well -- the authors don't flinch from calling rape "rape" while still acknowledging that the issue is more complicated than it might appear from the outside. And the discussion on romance covers and why they are the way they are was fascinating for me; I hadn't realized that many of the "classic" covers were made to appeal to male book distributors rather than female buyers.

I really, highly recommend this book if you're interested in the history of genres and the tropes that inform it. However, while "Beyond Heaving Bosoms" isn't getting out of here without a recommendation, I have a few caveats. One, there's a lot of hilarious salty language in here that may not be hilarious to all readers. Check the website before you buy and see if you like that sort of thing, would be my suggestion. Two, the e-book version of this excellent book makes me very sad and a little ragey at points -- the publisher should be ashamed of themselves for butchering an e-book like this. Issues confined to the e-book include:

* None of the images-with-text in this e-book are remotely readable. (This includes the Old Skool / New Skool Flowchart, the Big Misunderstanding Game, the Sweeping Genre Generalizations matching game, and the Spot The Bullshit Regency Term answers.) The issue is not with the e-reader, but with the images included in the e-book -- even if your unit lets you zoom in, the pictures are such a low resolution that you'll just get blurred gibberish.

* The columns in this e-book (and there are many, including the mix-and-match Virginity & Neurosis heroine chart and the Shady vs. Legit Publisher columns) are almost unreadable because of formatting issues. Column contents have been set to justified text rather than left-oriented, and with no white space between columns, which means that the whole column looks like a jumble of random words on a page and it's up to the reader to try to determine which words go where.

* Similarly, the Write Your Own Romance section at the end has justified text (as opposed to left-oriented text) on the "Foreign term of endearment: _______ " fill-in-the-blanks which wreaks havoc on the final result.

* The silly footnotes in this e-book -- and 99% of all the footnotes are a variation on "pun intended!" -- have been retained. This sort of thing is sort of cute in a paper book where the reader just has to glance down, but in an e-book where following the footnote means linking to the end and back, it means a roughly 10 second delay before the reader can get back to what they were reading. It breaks the reading flow, and I wish digital publishers would realize that and transform the "funny" footnotes into in-line parenthetical statements.

* There are a number of typos and missing words in this version of the book that may or may not be present in the print edition. I don't usually even notice typos, but in this case there were at least 1-2 flow-breaking ones per chapter, and that was enough for me to notice. Some of these appear to be OCR errors due to a conversion process that wasn't thoroughly checked over afterwards, but I can't be sure.

As I said before, "Beyond Heaving Bosoms" isn't getting out of here without a strong recommendation from me. I can really only read e-books, and so I'm glad that this book exists in electronic form even if the publisher couldn't be arsed to treat the book like the lady it is. But if you prefer print books to electronic ones, I recommend going that route so that you can enjoy all the lovely pictures.

~ Ana Mardoll(less)

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Jan 03, 2012 Meg rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I've long been an admirer (in a snort your coffee out of your nose sort of a way) of the "Smart Bitches Trashy Books" blog, so I was thrilled to find Beyond Heaving Bosoms in my Christmas Stocking. If you're look for an academic examination of the romance genre this book is not it. If you're looking for a reference work written by sharp, sincere and wickedly witty fans who are both passionate champions and open-eyed critics, look no further.

Written by two romance fans for romance fans, Beyond H...more

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Jul 29, 2011 Elizabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: romance, writing

A hilarious read from the ladies at Smart Bitches, Trashy Novels, a new favorite website of mine. They do an excellent job of providing a very humorous overview of the history of romance novel. They make no apologies for loving romance novels and do a good job of debunking common complaints and concerns about the genre.

A few things bothered me at times, however.

* The constant use of cute little phrases like "man titty." The book has a very "insider" feel to it (as does the website). Crisp, hu...more

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Jul 13, 2010 Jessi rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, romance

As a romance reader since my tween years, I truly appreciated this book. I was definitely a closet reader through my time as an English major, but I discovered a passion in myself to protect the reading preferences of all people in library school. In particular, I was influenced by a class I took about genre fiction, in which we had to read a book from each of the major genres. Many of the other library students were a bit on the snobby side against romance, and it was really the first time I st...more

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Oct 11, 2009 Ciara rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2009, feminist-y-books

it's a book about the cultural phenomenon & assorted genre staples of the romance novel, written by two big-time romance novel readers who also seem to have a pretty solid grasp on feminism & lit crit. personally, i am not into romance novels. i think i have read exactly one, when i was taking an advanced genre fiction class in college & had to read a romance novel & write a paper about it. i read a book called the sheik's ransom, predictably all about a white explorer lady abduc...more it's a book about the cultural phenomenon & assorted genre staples of the romance novel, written by two big-time romance novel readers who also seem to have a pretty solid grasp on feminism & lit crit. personally, i am not into romance novels. i think i have read exactly one, when i was taking an advanced genre fiction class in college & had to read a romance novel & write a paper about it. i read a book called the sheik's ransom, predictably all about a white explorer lady abducted by an angry mideastern sheik who intends to hold her for ransom, i think so cultural anthropologists will stop disturbing his subjects or something. but of course he falls in love with her, & she resists until she can resist no longer & they make sweet cross-cultural desert music in his tent or something. my paper was about the way the first gulf war influenced the characterization of mideastern characters in romance novels & the sudden new specialty industry that sprang up to support books about swarthy, demanding sheiks.

my other connection to romance novels is that i used to be responsible for maintaining the romance novel selection at powell's flagship store in portland, oregon. i spent eight hours a day for an entire year facing out the latest johanna lindsey books & shipping huge stacks of sandra brown books out to languish at the airport store. i really wish i could have read this book when i was working there (even though it didn't exist yet) because it taught me a lot about the romance novel industry & what different authors specialize in. i would have been so much better-equipped to field customer questions! i was regularly paged to talk to women who told me how much they loved the most recent maeve binchy & was there something similar i could recommend? i was just guessing based on the cover designs & i cringe to think how many women i directed to authors who specialize in erotic romance when they were after something that was more likely to be turned into a feature film starring minnie driver.

there were A LOT of aspects of this book that i just didn't get because i am not a romance novel reader. there were a lot of inside jokes & certain topics seemed to be culled directly from the wider world of online romance novel fandom. as such, i was confused, couldn't follow the text that well, & couldn't help but feel that the authors were grinding a not-terribly-important axe sometimes. then again, i'm not the target audience & i'd probably feel quite different if i was. one extra little treat for me was that some of the book's illustrations were drawn by a woman i was friendly with when i lived in portland, a good friend's girlfriend. i didn't realize that until i read the authors' acknowledgments, but when i looked at the drawings again, i recognized her style right away. (less)

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Oct 04, 2009 Lexie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: genre-fandom, review-blog, genre-romance, books-owned, autographed

I am a relatively new convert to SBTB followers. I only picked up on the site about a year ago and wasn't sure what to make of it. I wasn't a closet romance reader--I've always been very open about reading romances, even when I was thirteen years old toting around a bag full of 80's Harlequin titles with subject matter most 13 year olds wouldn't think about in relation to 'romance' (like revenge sex, never heard of that until I read Harlequin). When my friends would deride me for my tastes in re...more I am a relatively new convert to SBTB followers. I only picked up on the site about a year ago and wasn't sure what to make of it. I wasn't a closet romance reader--I've always been very open about reading romances, even when I was thirteen years old toting around a bag full of 80's Harlequin titles with subject matter most 13 year olds wouldn't think about in relation to 'romance' (like revenge sex, never heard of that until I read Harlequin). When my friends would deride me for my tastes in reading material (amongst everything else they chided me about) I'd just shrug and ask them what they knew about romance.

To say I enjoyed reading this book is an understatement. When I picked it up at the bookstore to flip through a few months ago I was texting my twilight friends the definition for 'vampire' before I got to the last word, storing away information about the various archetypes of heroine to compare against my favorites and thanking god that I knew enough about the female anatomy before I read my first romance that I never believed in the magical hymen that every romance heroine has.

There were some portions that I skimmed over quickly--parts of the chapters labeled 'Corset' (about heroines) and 'Codpiece' (about heroes), 'Bad Sex' (about rape in romance) and 'Love Grotto' (about sex scenes) had sections where I just skipped them to the next header for whatever reason. Like any other Fandom meta-essay analysis book (which if you're into the Buffy, Battlestar Galactica, or Star Trek fandoms you will have read at LEAST one meta-essay book, in my case I read them like a thirsty man needs water) some of it can just be very dry and 'well I knew that'.

This book though I think is good for anyone who has a friend (male or female) who constantly teases them for liking books about 'women who swoon at men's feet and have sex willy-nilly' (I hear this a lot). Now you can pull this book out, flip to the section they just accused you of enjoying and have them read just how wrong they are. This isn't a comprehensive guide to romance books, this is a guide for the genre itself told in a witty, intelligent and easily understandable way. There's illustrations (of Mavis, the romance reader stereotype), ridiculous 'Create the Perfect Title for Your Lordly Hero' (because every historical hero needs a title that conveys his dark, brooding self) and the 'Oh Honey What's Your Problem?' (involving some of the more ridiculous reasons heroines are still virgins) games and best of all--its funny. It takes its subject matter seriously, but makes fun of all the tropes, stereotypes and plots that make the genre hard for outsiders to swallow.(less)

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Jun 09, 2009 Liz rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Beyond Heavy Bosoms: The Smart Bitches’ Guide to Romance Novels.

In the fifth chapter of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey (which you should go read), the author take time to define the novel as “in short, only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humor, are conveyed to the world in the best-chosen language.” The novel, at the time, was view...more Beyond Heavy Bosoms: The Smart Bitches’ Guide to Romance Novels.

In the fifth chapter of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey (which you should go read), the author take time to define the novel as “in short, only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humor, are conveyed to the world in the best-chosen language.” The novel, at the time, was viewed with the same contempt as the romance novel is now.

Once only available on their website www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com, you can now have Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan’s opinions on romance novels in print, suitably bound with a nice picture on the cover of a man clutching a woman to him.

Romance is the most popular and least respected genre. Wendell and Tan know this, but instead of taking it lying down, they started their own website where they give honest appraisal of the many, many romances they read (If you think I’m bad, you’ll be appalled). They cover a variety of topics, the oh-so-perfect heroine with a Magic Hoo-Hoo, the tall, dark, and handsome hero with his Wang of Mighty Lovin,’ the cringe-worthy covers, and the standard plots (secret babies).

They also explain how despite all of its flaws, why they and many others love the genre. Why, even if we know they’ll end up together, we still root for the couple and often finish a book feeling happy that things worked out.

While those who read their website know that profane language is their preferred method of expressing themselves, the swearing does get a little old, it seems as though it’s used so the readers know they aren’t taking this too seriously, they aren’t really romantics.

It might be of interest to those who followed the brouhaha in 2007 & 2008 that they also have a chapter on plagiarism and how they inadvertently ended up on the frontlines of a battle after a friend pointed out that a famous author had lifted several passages on black-footed ferrets from books and articles without citing them as sources. They told the readers of their website and things went haywire.

This book had me laughing out loud several times and I’m sure my friends are already tired of me citing it. If you love romance novels and get tired of the rude comments on it, this will definitely give you some pointers on how to defend the genre.
(less)

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Apr 24, 2009 Sheila rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Shannon , Shelley, thefourthvine,

My poor roommate. I keep sending her texts and emails saying things like, "I bought four new books today! ...I'm sorry?" I'm supposed to be catching up on my TBR shelf (shelves), but--it's a clever, hysterically funny, profanity-filled book on romance novels! I finally found it at a local bookstore today, grabbed it and a Mother's Day present for my mom (hi, mom) and a random Regency, and read it tonight after finishing The Millionaire's Inexperienced Love-Slave. (It seemed only appropriate.)

Now...more

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Apr 18, 2010 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Hilarious and interesting this is a wide eyed look at the romance genre, the good, the bad, the ugly and absurd. I laughed out loud in recognition, was intrigued by the statistics and ashamed that I didnt even think to add my several shelves of romances to my goodreads shelf.
While I haven't picked up a Mills and Boon type book in (quite a few) years, in my late teens/early twenties they were all I could afford being that they were usually only 20c each at the charity shops and with little time b...more

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Aug 02, 2012 Andrea Semiche rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: shamelessly-shameful

This book. My goodness. Rarely do I snort/giggle/guffaw while reading, but it couldn't be stoppered in this case.
Their assessment of the romance genre was almost entirely spot-on, and you can tell not only by their dissections, but by their delivery that the authors really are "smart b**ches."

That said, I couldn't quite go for five stars because on more than one occasion I would get to the end of a section and wonder what it had to do with where we started in that section. They get so enthusias...more

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Feb 21, 2012 Annalea rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: romance novel fans, people who read the SBTB blog

Shelves: kindle, nonfiction, romance

I check up on the Smart Bitches, Trashy Books blog occasionally, so I decided to grab the book and give it a read even if I was a little late to the party. I should have written this review sooner after reading, when the details were fresh in my mind. It's too late for that now, unfortunately, so this will be a very general review.

It was never clear to me whether this book was trying to present romance novels as a serious literary interest or to mock some of the more over-used tropes of the gen...more I check up on the Smart Bitches, Trashy Books blog occasionally, so I decided to grab the book and give it a read even if I was a little late to the party. I should have written this review sooner after reading, when the details were fresh in my mind. It's too late for that now, unfortunately, so this will be a very general review.

It was never clear to me whether this book was trying to present romance novels as a serious literary interest or to mock some of the more over-used tropes of the genre. Perhaps it was both.

It's not bad to poke fun at something we love. And just because something is mockable doesn't mean it can't also be taken seriously. However, if you want to present something for serious consideration, then it is probably best to keep the mocking to a minimum. This book didn't do that and felt disjointed because of it. The tone switches were abrupt, arbitrary, and often confusing.

That said, the parts of the book that mocked romance tropes ranged from chuckle-worthy to hilarious. (One part nearly had me in tears from laughing.) People who don't lurk around romance review blogs might miss some of the in-jokes, but just about any romance reader will be able to recognize and appreciate the stereotypes and tropes discussed. The sections of literary criticism and analysis were sometimes insightful and always interesting.

If this one book had been split into two, both would have been enjoyable for different reasons. Smashed together as it was, the authors almost seemed liked they were undermining themselves--but they were having a great time doing so.

I want to mention one final criticism, though not of the book itself. The formatting for the ebook was absolutely terrible. The book used quite a few tables, which were all practically unreadable, and all of the illustrations were too small to view. I only mention this because if you are interested in picking this one up, I would suggest going with a hard copy--especially since the ebook price was relatively high.(less)

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May 04, 2009 Tammy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009-reads, humor

Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches' Guide to Romance Novels is a hilarious and intelligent examination of the romance genre. It includes a brief history of the genre. An overview of commonly used tropes, plots, and cliches'. A comparison of Old Skool vs. New School, complete with flowchart. And predictions for future trends.

It's full of the snarky humor and clever insights that I expected, as well as serious essays and citings to famous works in the field of romantic academia.

It also cont...more

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Apr 23, 2009 Lara Amber rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

A hilarious read for anyone familiar with romance novels and full of surprising facts (that romance novels basically pay for the rest of the publishing industry) and snarky comments about the genre. It's a honest look by people who love the books, but don't think they are perfect. It's a good quick weekend read and will definitely make you laugh aloud.

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May 22, 2013 Sarah Eiseman rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Originally posted on Sarahsbookshelf.com:

If you haven’t figured it out already, I’m a huge fan of the Romance genre. It took me a very long time to be able to admit this publicly, because there is much stigma associated with this genre. Besides the fact that it produces sales of nearly $1.4 billion and is read by millions of both women and men, the genre persists in being misunderstood and negatively labeled by non-readers. Even folks in my library program take issue with the genre at times, whi...more Originally posted on Sarahsbookshelf.com:

If you haven’t figured it out already, I’m a huge fan of the Romance genre. It took me a very long time to be able to admit this publicly, because there is much stigma associated with this genre. Besides the fact that it produces sales of nearly $1.4 billion and is read by millions of both women and men, the genre persists in being misunderstood and negatively labeled by non-readers. Even folks in my library program take issue with the genre at times, which makes me a little sad. But as with any topic that I want to be prepared to defend, I decided to read a little non-fiction on the subject matter and get myself more educated, so I may educate others. Enter the Smart Bitches.

A few years ago I attended a conference in Denver that was put on my readers of the Romance genre and hosted many authors. RomCon was my first experience meeting many other like-minded readers and it was so much fun meeting so many authors in person. If you are a fan of the genre and ever get the chance to go, I highly recommend it. While I was there, I learned about the Smart Bitches blog, which is one of the most trusted Romance blogs out there right now. There are a few others, but SMTB has consistently stayed true to their mission of giving it to readers straight, no holes barred. This, clearly, has made some folks uncomfortable, which is one of the topics that authors Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan discuss in their book.

These two discuss–very informally–the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to Romance novels. What we love and what we love to hate, what has made the industry great, as well as some of the controversies that have made the genre very weak and stereotypical in the eyes of haters. I highly recommend reading this book if you work in a public library or bookstore where you deal with readers of the genre–especially if you yourself have never or don’t like to read Romance novels. The notions that all Romance novels are one-size-fits-all models or even formulaic are discussed in this book in a very funny and informal way. Wendell and Tan take on some meatier issues like plagiarism, racism, and new types of romance (M/M, F/F, etc), many of which are heavy and current issues within the industry. It’s got some funny pictures and games within it to keep it interesting.(less)

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Aug 31, 2009 Sandy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

If you're at all fond of romance novels, you'll get a kick out of "Beyond Heaving Bosoms", an affectionate but thoroughly snarky look at the genre's ups and downs, written by the owners of the blog at smartbitchestrashybooks.com.

I don't think this is necessarily a book for people who don't already read romance novels, because a lot of the humor comes from nodding along at how well they peg the tropes and analyze both the wacky (like, why are romance covers so cheesy? turns out there's actually k...more

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Jul 25, 2009 Nicole Marie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: romance, non-fiction

For those who are fans of the romance genre, reading this is feels like the cherry on top of a delicious sundae. The Smart Bitches translate what makes their blog successful into the book format. It features games (Choose Your Man Titty was one of my favorites), serious discussions about the history of romance, the romance community and the future of the genre, hilarious vocab (mighty wang of lovin') and witty snark to fill your daily quota and more.

For those who don't get it, I think it's highl...more

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May 17, 2013 Heidi rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, nonfiction

Smart Bitches, Trashy Books is one of my favorite blogs, and I'd been meaning to read this book for quite a while: I'm so glad I finally found the time. As usual, the Smart Bitches are profane and laugh-so-hard-your-drink-comes-out-your-nose funny, but more than that, they are smart, feminist, and right-on-the-money. Beyond Heaving Bosoms reviews the history of the romance genre, from "old skool" 1970s-80s era romance with its "alphole" heroes (alpha/asshole) who invariably rape the heroine so...more

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Apr 12, 2012 Jacqueline rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Anyone who has a brain, and sense of humor.

Shelves: genre-humor

Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan are comedic geniuses. Aside from occasionally feeling as though my face were going to crack in half from smiling so friggin' hard during the absorption of this publication, my brain learned, like, whoa. Beyond Heaving Bosoms is truly a definitive...no, the definitive work on all-things-romance in fiction. I seriously doubt any writer has delved into the deepest pits of both the good, and bad, aspects of romance novels.

The single most enjoyable aspect to this work, ho...more

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Jul 19, 2010 Niki rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

smart bitches who run the blog that turned into this book often give the books they review C's. the list of A and B ratings is pretty small, so i don't want this 5 star to seem meaningless and like one girl giving other girls a good rating for getting their "babies" published. this really is a good book.

the authors strive to defend the genre to those who also enjoy the genre. their witty banter is enjoyable, and their breaking down of the romance genre useful when looking at the ways cultural ti...more

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Dec 30, 2009 ஐ Briansgirl (Book Sale Queen)ஐ marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: other-nonfiction, romance, humor

I have just started this book but it's intense strong foul language is turning me off. For instance, on page 7 they write...utter shittastic fuckcakes of crap. Humorous yes, but that doesn't mean I want to read 291 pages of language like this. I hope the book improves enough to overcome language like...cuntmonkey.

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Feb 21, 2013 Lizabeth S. Tucker rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, romance

Sub-titled The Smart Bitches' Guide to Romance Novels, this is an indepth look at romance novels, good and bad, by two women who truly love the genre. It's a funny, irreverent, and fond discussion of the much maligned genre. It is also filled with profanity, so beware.

Although done with humor and great love for the genre, the authors discuss some serious topics, such as the portrayal of rape in the earlier books, certain code scenes on the book covers, and the types of trends that cycle through...more

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Nov 16, 2011 Lesley rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011

The only problem with this book is that it ended. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I wasn't quite sure what to expect. While researching books to for our book club, I came upon this site that suggested that I follow certain people/organisations on Twitter as they are all book related and one of the co-authors (Sarah Wendell) is one of them.

A few weeks ago she was promoting her most recently book Everything I Know about Love I Learned from Romance Novels (I believe is the title, it's been short...more The only problem with this book is that it ended. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I wasn't quite sure what to expect. While researching books to for our book club, I came upon this site that suggested that I follow certain people/organisations on Twitter as they are all book related and one of the co-authors (Sarah Wendell) is one of them.

A few weeks ago she was promoting her most recently book Everything I Know about Love I Learned from Romance Novels (I believe is the title, it's been shortened to EIKAL) so I figured since our library system doesn't have a copy (yet, I'm hoping to rectify that) I wanted to see if she had written anything else. I was ever so excited when I saw this that I never bothered to do any research or to even read the spine label (where I would have realised it was a non-fiction book) or subtitle before cracking open the book.

Within the first several pages I was hooked. Not to give away any of the details, but it delves into anything and everything you've ever wanted to know about romance novels and even some of the details you didn't even consider. Everything from Old School Romance to Paranormal and everything in between and before you think it's just all dry and factual, I can assure you it's anything but that. I found myself laughing out loud and having to share segments with whomever was nearby (who also shared in the laughter) and that was the case for about 90% of the book.

If you enjoy romance novels, this book is for you. If you're curious about romance novels, they make some good suggestions (hey Sarah, thanks for giving me 30+ new books to read, as if my to-read list isn't hurting enough LOL!). If you're in need of a good laugh and are meh about romance novels, this is a good book to read. Now if you're curious about how many names they come up with for the mighty-ho-hoo box or the almighty schlong, you've got to read it with pencil and paper.

And if you're still in doubt and enjoyed the BDB (Black Dagger Brotherhood) series, that's considered romance, even if they're not considered traditional romance. Plus, Sarah is as funny in person (caught a segment of her on tv) and via twitter as she is in this book.(less)

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Jul 17, 2009 Sbuchler rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, romance, read-in-2009

Genre: Nonfiction? Comedy? Analysis of the Romance Genre? Some of all of the above?

A lot of this book is a very tongue-and-cheek look at the romance genre of the last 20 years or so, including many of the tried and true tropes of the genre - such as the innocent (and 99.9% of the time virginal) heroine and the playboy hero who gets one taste of the heroine and swears off his wicked ways in favor of luv tru luv. There is a lot of raunchy language in the book - along with much talk about the hero...more Genre: Nonfiction? Comedy? Analysis of the Romance Genre? Some of all of the above?

A lot of this book is a very tongue-and-cheek look at the romance genre of the last 20 years or so, including many of the tried and true tropes of the genre - such as the innocent (and 99.9% of the time virginal) heroine and the playboy hero who gets one taste of the heroine and swears off his wicked ways in favor of luv tru luv. There is a lot of raunchy language in the book - along with much talk about the hero's Wang of Mighty Loving (she comes every time, and it's always ready for more!) and the heroine's Magical Hoo Hoo (once you have it, you'll never be satisfied with anything else ever again, amen.) which had me rolling on the floor laughing. On the more serious side, there is an entire chapter looking at the history of rape in the genre and it's whys and wherefores (which always bothered the heck out of me, and left me scratching my head about what it was doing in books about romance, especially when it's not usually the villain doing the raping, it's the hero. Go figure.) The chapter on nit-picking the clinch covers is pure fun - plus I finally understand why there are so many scantily clad large-breasted women on the covers of the novels - originally it was to sell them to the (then) predominately male distributors and wholesalers, not to the actual purchaser.

I was amused by the choose-your own adventure at the end (or at least the punch line for the paranormal romance version - but then, I've read enough of that sub-genre to really _get_ what they were poking fun at). However, I could have done without the other joke sections, like the mad-libs style write-your-own-romance and the coloring book page. I agree with one reviewer I read who really would've liked a list of all the novels they mentioned - as there were a number of pointers to books I might enjoy reading (based on heroine archetypes, plot trends, favorite heroes, etc.) but they're so scattered though the book that it's hard to find 'em again to create a list of books I might want to read.

If you enjoy romance novels, and you don't mind raunchy language (I'm not sure how else they could talk when discussing the nuts and bolts of a sexually explicit genre...) this is a hilariously funny read that I highly recommend.
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