Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

Deep Freeze by Merline Lovelace and Midnight Assignment by Victoria Dahl were two of my favorite novellas last year. 

I loved many of the other runner ups listed above as well. I’ve read all the contemps and far more of the other runner-ups listed than the books that actually are in the DABWAHA. 

Probably for the best not every book I enojoyed made the DABWAHA or choosing the brackets would have been that much harder.

Was there a number 4 in the novellas?

I haven’t read a single one!! Oy!!

I’m feeling pretty pleased with myself - I only nominated books in 3 categories and 2 of them made the finals!  *polishes fingertips on lapel*  (Magic Bleeds & All I Ever Wanted). 

This may well be the only “win” I get in the DABWAHA so I’m taking every chance to celebrate!!

Well, I’ve read most of the PNR list and both Lisa Kleypas books. And a lot of these will probably end up in my TBR pile. My poor budget…

I’m so disappointed Richelle Mead didn’t have a stronger showing.  She’s my fave!!!!!!

Mockingjay, happy Ever After, and Savor the Moment.  with a few others already on my TBR.  I’m ashamed to say I’ve never heared of most of these :(

What an interesting list! Interesting too, to see that some of the books reviewers disliked are in fact loved by readers!, or the writers did a bit of canvassing (moi? Cynical? Perish the thought!) I won’t do DABWHA because I’m leaving for San Francisco part way through it and I’ll be at the mercy of hotel Internet.
Not making any list soon, though, my TBR is stacked already! I’ve either read them or passed them by.

Connie Willis’ duo Black Out and All Clear were among my favourite reads last year, but they’re not romance!

Lynne Connolly - just out of curiosity, which of these books did reviewers dislike?  I’d be interested in checking them out.

Sycorax - I just missed your post.  I read those two Connie Willis books in one long, quit-my-job-so-I-can-read-all-day kind of rush.  My bones are still vibrating from the experience.  It’s been a long time since the ending of a book made me cry.

I’m totally happy to see Ilona Andrews on top - Magic Bleeds is an awesome book.  I can’t wait to see where the next one takes us!

I need more coffee.  Had to look twice when I read a title as:

The Admiral’s Penisless Bride.

@ Lynne Connelly “or the writers did a bit of canvassing “

More likely fandom did. I see several books in series that are well into the downward spiral, but never let it be suggested a beloved author has been phoning it in for the past couple of books.

Hey, I made it into the runners-up!  It’s an honor to be almost-nominated!

Ok, what does it say about me that I have read more of the reader nominated books than the ones on the chart?

I need to keep a list so I can do a better job of nominating my favorites.
Magic Bleeds all the way.!!!!!

Yay for Sarah MacLean’s “Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake” and Kristan Higgins’ “All I Ever Wanted”.  I loved both of those.  After reading these comments, I’m adding Connie Willis’ “All Clear” to my TBR pile.

I loved Duck!, and I’m happy to see I’m not the only one, even if it didn’t win a spot.

It’s a shame that Silver Borne had its vote split into two different categories.  If everyone agreed on what it was and voted in the same category, maybe it would have made the finals.

Does this mean that if a book was nominated by readers it was ineligible for the rest of the bracket? Or did you remove books nominated by readers that you had already selected from the “reader nominated” category?  So - for example, if you had 100 readers writing in nominating the Iron Duke, 50 for Magic Bleeds and 40 for The Last Queen, the Iron Duke is removed from the list and Magic Bleeds wins with 50 votes?

Like Zoe Archer, I say it’s a ridiculous honor to be almost nominated! So excited to see my name up there. :) Loves my readers!

Warrior, by Zoe Archer, was wonderful! Not only did she go ahead and set it in Mongolia, but she actually got Mongolia right, thereby combining one of my favorite genres with one of my favorite places. Heaven!

Wow! My TBR list is enormous! Thanks for posting these. I usually don’t read novellas, but some of these look so good I think I will. So, yay, something new!

Loved Love in the Afternoon and Midnight Assignment. Enjoyed the Jennifer Crusie and Eloisa James novels.  Adding the Connie Willis and Zoe Archer’s Warrior to my list.  And the Sharon Shinn from the actual bracket list.

Thanks Sarah! I think I am the one who asked for this so I appreciate you posting the lists! Sorry to anyone who know has an exploded TBR list! ;-)

Wow!  My book The Vampire’s Kiss was a runnerup, that is way cool.  Thanks to my readers to even putting my name forth.  Totally unexpected.

I’m with Zoe and Maisey! That runner-up list is packed with my contemporary romance idols, so it’s a thrill to be on there at all. Best of luck to the finalists!

More likely fandom did. I see several books in series that are well into the downward spiral, but never let it be suggested a beloved author has been phoning it in for the past couple of books.

I think that’s true. I know I’ve been guilty of clinging to a series long after the magic has left. I still buy J. R. Ward books even though I haven’t rated one higher then 3.5/5 since book 4, and even though they are now released in hardcover at twice the price. Sigh…

I’ve read a whole bunch of these and liked many of them, though there’s nothing in there that I thought was exemplary or excellent.  I am particularly surprised to see Kleypas’s “Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor” on there because it got consistently bad reviews and was more of a novella.

My TBR pile doesn’t thank you. :)

From under the GBLT banner, wasn’t Life After Joe by Harper Fox in the bracket too?

Also, I figure this is a good time to ask - how is it decided who wins each bracket? Based on the number of people who picked each book? A separate voting committee?

Thanks Sarah - I thought the request for reader nominated titles came well before the brackets were announced, but it is year-end craziness at work and obviously my brain is scrambled!  Am eagerly waiting for the voting to begin and my brackets to be smashed, holding hope for a longshot and quite ready to jump ship midstream if the voting bribes make it worth it.  Authors - my vote can be bought.  I may have voted for Iron Duke to win it all, but if there is block voting to be had to bring down the juggernaut, I can be swayed for the price of an ARC!

Oops, you spelled my name wrong in your list. But I’m thrilled to be a finalist in the Crossover category!!

what about romantic suspense as a category? or am I the only one who reads romantic suspense these days?things

I love that the nominations become recommendations for books to read (‘cause my TBR pile is not big enough!). I am totally intrigued by Song of Scarabaeus by Sara Creasy, which I don’t think I would have found except for this list and the DABWAHA tournament. I can’t wait to read it.

On the other hand, I’m still trying to figure out how Ruthless by Anne Stuart did not make the original nominations list. And then to see that it didn’t even make the readers’ top-10 nominations! (I am shocked I tell you, shocked.) Am I totally alone in loving this book?

No erotic romance category? How RWA of you.

@ Lauren Willig
All Clear is the sequel to Black Out - believe me, it would make no sense read alone. It’s basically one huge book chopped in half. Also, I’m in the middle of your Pink Carnation series at the moment and enjoying it. I’m a little sad about the change of audiobook reader in book 5, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it.

@ Kai - I know! I took a while to recover from that read. Have you read To Say Nothing of the Dog, set in the same universe? It’s a comedy and doesn’t have the scope and intensity of Black Out, but it’s hilarious and my favourite of hers. Doomsday Book is the first of the Oxford time travel books, and it’s pretty good too, if horribly depressing. A book mostly set during the bubonic plague will never be upbeat.

@Sycorax
I loved both Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog.  Didn’t realize that Black Out and All Clear were set in the same world.  I just reserved both at the library - hoping Black Out comes in first. 

That’s what I love about this blog - I find out all sorts of things about favorite authors, both in and out of traditional romance.

@ Cleo
Black Out features Colin from Doomsday Book - all grown up! It has the occasional reference to the other books too, which is kind of awesome.

@Sycorax, is it better to start with “Domesday Book” or “Black Out”?  Thanks for the heads-up about series order!

I’m so glad you’re enjoying Pink!  I’m happy to be able to tell you that the Book Five reader is just Book Five—we switched back to Kate Reading for all the later ones.

I love Connie Willis to an embarrassing degree.  Most of her stuff isn’t “Romance” but I’d say that “To Say Nothing of the Dog” absolutely qualifies, and it is hilarious to boot.  Be warned that her other stuff will rip out your still beating heart - but it’s so good that you won’t mind a bit.

I didn’t catch this in time to nominate anything, but I like how these lists came out! Happy Ever After by Nora Roberts has to be one of my favorites. It’s so “formula” (Millionaire type-a personality heiress falls in love with her James Dean-esque car mechanic?!?!) BUT I loved every moment. As a fan of romances, I truly believe that the extent to which “formula” is used or not doesn’t matter. If it’s done well—if you’re glued to the page screaming “Just kiss him already!”—that’s the part that counts.

No Clockwork Angel in YA? :-( oh well

I’m sharing the Connie Willis love. Love all of her books! I read Blackout when it was first released and freaked out at the end, then read her acknowledgments, in which she thanks the people who helped her when she realized the book had to be split in two. I’m looking forward to All Clear. I usually recommend To Say Nothing of the Dog to romance readers.

@HollyY Erotic romance used to be a separate category, but this year (after a lot of feedback last year, IIRC) it was decided to consider erotic books as part of the other categories where they best fit; historical, contemporary, GLBT, PNR. Suspense is handled the same way, which is why Pamela Clare’s fabulous Naked Edge, for instance, is in contemporary. 

There are many ways to slice and dice this big beautiful genre (not to mention the cross-over books), and it’s amazing to see how many books were worth considering to get to the 64.  In historical, for instance, I can think of several books I loved that aren’t even in the runners-up.

@Zoe—I was afraid you ‘d have multiple books nominated that would split your vote. I waffled over which of yours to nominate myself—went with Scoundrel because it was the book club pick. I guess that’s the price you pay for writing FOUR fabulous books! *mwah*

Oh, I soooooo heart me “Stay”!! Wonderful, wonderful book on many levels. Everyone I’ve handed my copy to with the admonition, “Sit! ‘Stay’! READ!” has felt the same way about it.

I can honestly say I did not want that book to end.

wv: Effort76. It was so not an effort to read this book, let along 76 of them!

Sarah: Thanks. I feel like I should have known that (I did this before) but I was blanking on how. 

becca: I totally still read romantic suspense. In fact I’m very much looking forward to Brockmann’s book, and I just finished reading Stephanie Tyler’s SEAL trilogy.

@ Lauren Willig
You don’t need to have read Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog before Black Out. While there are occasionally references to events in previous books, each of them is designed as a stand alone. Yes, Doomsday Book is first, but if you have no interest in the 1348 bubonic plague, you may as well start with one of the others. I usually recommend To Say Nothing of the Dog as the best place to begin.

I’m very glad to hear Kate Reading is back in book 5. :)

@becca:  Romantic suspense is probably my favorite sub-genre, so here’s another reader.  I’d say Pamela Clare’s book qualifies as RS, so must be fitting them under contemporary. 

@Craven Coward:  I’m a big Anne Stuart fan, I enjoyed Ruthless, but I think I liked Reckless best of the three. 

I was surprised by the lack of Tessa Dare on the list.  Very much enjoyed the Stud Club trilogy, especially “Twice Tempted by a Rogue.” 

But I never did put my vote in, always thinking “Oh, I need to get to that,” so I guess I can’t say too much, LOL.

@Sycorax - yes, I absolutely loved both Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog.  It’s funny—up until Blackout and All Clear, I had Connie Willis books divided into two categories in my reading brain—the brilliant, rip-out-your heart ones like Doomsday Book,  Lincoln’s Dreams, and Passage, and the brilliant, laugh-out-loud funny ones like To Say Nothing of the Dog, Bellwether, and some of the amazing short stories in Miracle and Impossible Things.  But with these two new books, I felt like she crossed over somehow, the humor and tragedy so intertwined I couldn’t separate them.  (And there’s real romance in this one, too:).  I actually think her purest romance is Bellwether—I also think that’s her funniest book.  I still laugh out loud whenever I think about the sheep…

Wow! So excited to be listed. Thanks for the shout-out! :-)

@SB Sarah: Thanks. My name gets misspelled all the time but I’ve never seen it quite like that before!

OMG, how awesome is this? I’m thrilled to have been almost nominated ;)

@Kai - if you’re still reading this!

I agree that she broke new ground with these two - that they were more ambitious and of a grander scope. On the other hand, the main ideas were in her other two - being lost in history and being afraid you’d irrevocably changed it’s course. Still, she managed to do the latter differently than in To Say Nothing of the Dog, and of course in All Clear it had a gravitas and tragic potential it lacked in TSNotD. I’m not sure about there being ‘real romance’, though. It got so little page time and it was such a fragile thing at the end, that I finished the book really hoping that it would work out rather than assuming it would. Can’t say more for fear of spoilering, but I find even thinking about the ending painful as well as beautiful. The ending to such a book had to be, though.

I agree that Bellwether is the most traditionally a romance, but my ultimate favourite remains To Say Nothing of the Dog. Maybe it’s because I’m a history geek rather than a science geek, and I loved all Ned’s time lagged ramblings about incongruities and consequences. Have you read Three Men in a Boat? Another hilarious read, and it links into TSNotD, or course.