Carla Cassidy – Grace Under Fire Personified.

If you’ve ever hung around Smart Bitches Trashy Books much, you’ll know that their reviews of romance novels are usually screechingly funny, and at the same time horribly awful to watch. If you’re an author, you read them and your stomach clenches, and you think “I’m never going to offer myself up to them for that sort of butchery!”

But the fact is, the blog is one of the busiest on the intenet, and the owners two of the most respected authorities in the romance world. Candy and Sarah just published their own non-fiction book about romance novels, Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches’ Guide to Romance Novels, that discusses the romance novel phenomenon that never dies, and it has some piercing insights into the industry. They’re usually right on the money when it comes to dismantling a romance novel, too — their reviews may be like watching a traffic accident in slow motion, but the bloodshed is usually well deserved. They don’t tolerate crap.

This morning, Carla Cassidy’s new Harlequin Intrigue, Pregnesiacame under fire — even the name got beaten into submission (and you gotta admit, it deserved it). The review itself is a howler.

But the more impressive part of the entire exchange is the fact that Carla Cassidy herself hopped into the fray with one of the wittiest comebacks I’ve ever seen. I can’t link directly to her comment, alas, but I have linked to the comments section, and if you scroll down to 8:10am, you’ll find hers. Read it. You’ll see an author show grace and charm, and a sense of humour.

From the rest of the comments that follow, I get a sense that Carla had sold a ton of copies based purely on her comeback. Good for her. I’m tempted to pick up a copy from Fictionwise, just to find out what the “massive hole in the plot” is that the reviewer referred to, that even Carla herself wondered about.

If you’re not a Smart Bitches follower yet, wander over and have a look at this review, at least. Carla deserves a salute.

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