The RITA for Best First Book goes to:
- Beautiful Disaster by Laura Spinella (Berkley Publishing Group; Leis Pederson, editor)
- How to Marry a Duke by Vicki Dreiling (Grand Central Publishing Forever; Michele Bidelspach, editor)
- First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones (St. Martin's Press; Jennifer Enderlin, editor)
- Hourglass by Myra McEntire (Egmont USA; Regina Griffin, editor)
- The Devil in Disguise by Stefanie Sloane (Ballantine Bantam Dell; Junessa Viloria, editor)
- Warped by Maurissa Guibord (Delacorte Press; Michelle Poploff, editor)
- The Darling Strumpet by Gillian Bagwell (Berkley Publishing Group; Kate Seaver, editor)
- I'm Not Her by Janet Gurtler (Sourcebooks Fire; Leah Hultenschmidt, editor)
