I had a request for the runners up in the reader nominations for the DABWAHA, so here are the top ten books, with the finalist and the nine runners up as nominated by readers in each category. An asterisk denotes a tie.
YA
1. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (Finalist)
2. Matched by Ally Condie
3. Linger by Maggie Stiefvater
4. The Reckoning by Kelley Armstrong
5. The Duff by Kody Keplinger
6. Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly
7. The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
8. The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa
9. Princess of Glass by Jessica Day George
10*. Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead
10*. Forget You by Jennifer Echols
Series
1. Her Best Friend by Sarah Mayberry (Finalist)
2. A Little Consequence by Amy Knupp
3. Marrying the Royal Marine by Carla Kelly
4. LA Cinderella by Amanda Berry
5. The Admiral’s Penniless Bride by Carla Kelly
7. The Vampire’s Kiss by Vivi Anna
7*. America’s Star-Crossed Sweethearts by Jackie Braun
7*. His Virgin Acquisition by Maisey Yates
7*. Poisoned Kisses by Stephanie Draven
7*. A Bride for Jericho Bravo by Christine Rimmer
PNR/SF
1. Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews (Finalist)
2. The Last Queen by Christine McKay
3. Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs
4. Touched By An Alien by Gini Koch
5. Lover Mine by JR Ward
6. Warrior by Zoe Archer
7. Scoundrel by Zoe Archer
8. Play of Passion by Nalini Singh
9. Maybe This Time by Jennifer Crusie
10. Pleasure of a Dark Prince by Kresley Cole
Novella
1. Storming the Castle by Eloisa James (Finalist)
2. The Ice Princess by Elizabeth Hoyt
3. Deep Freeze by Merline Lovelace
5. Midnight Assignment by Victoria Dahl
6. Unwrapped by Jaci Burton
7. Honeybone by AJ Llewellyn
8. Friendly Fire by Megan Hart
9. Little to Hex Her by Janet Mullany
10. Midnight Confessions by Robyn Carr
Crossover
1. Song of Scarabaeus by Sara Creasy (Finalist)
2. Embers by Laura Bickle
3. Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs
4. City of Ghosts by Stacia Kane
5. All Clear by Connie Willis
6. The Native Star by MK Hobson
7. 32 Candles by Ernessa T. Carter
8. Stay by Allie Larkin
9. Changeless by Gail Carriger
10. Truly, Madly by Heather Webber
Contemporary
1. All I Ever Wanted by Kristan Higgins (Finalist)
2. The Search by Nora Roberts
3. Happy Ever After by Nora Roberts
4. Slow Heat by Jill Shalvis
5. The Darkest Hour by Maya Banks
6. Backstage Pass: Sinners On Tour by Olivia Cunning
7. Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor by Lisa Kleypas
8. Just One Taste by Louisa Edwards
9. The Next Best Thing by Kristan Higgins
10. Savor the Moment by Nora Roberts
Historical
1. The Forbidden Rose by Joanna Bourne (Finalist)
2. Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean
3. The Mischief of the Mistletoe by Lauren Willig
4. Love in the Afternoon by Lisa Kleypas
5. Married by Morning by Lisa Kleypas
6. Wicked Intentions by Elizabeth Hoyt
7. The Betrayal of the Blood Lily by Lauren Willig
8. Ten Things I Love About You by Julia Quinn
9. The Heir by Grace Burrowes
10. A Kiss at Midnight by Eloisa James
GLBT
1. Double Blind by Heidi Cullinan (Finalist)
2. Keeping Promise Rock by Amy Lane (Finalist)
3. Duck! by Kim Dare
4. Life After Joe by Harper Fox
5. Starting from Scratch by Georgia Beers
6. The Angel of 13th Street by Eden Winters
7. Somebody Killed His Editor by Josh Lanyon
8. The Pearl by Geoffrey Knight
9. The Gentleman and the Rogue by Bonnie Dee and Summer Devon
10. ePistols at Dawn by Z.A. Maxfield
So, which of these have you read? Which is first on your newly-reorganized TBR list?
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.
As I was building the list I checked out some of the titles. 32 Candles sounds so interesting to me. I might have to go get that one soon.
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.
@becky re: Silver Borne. I double checked and in either category it would not have made the finals by combining the votes – I did catch that it was split across two categories. I also cross-checked to make sure there weren’t duplicate entries for the same book under two different titles. Made data compiling a little tricky, especially with books that have series numbers in the title (e.g. Bayou Werewolf: Book 3 of the Swamp Thang series).
@ahlison:
I *think* I understand your question, so let me try to answer. The brackets were selected before the reader nominations were opened, and announced during the nomination process. So the brackets were set first, and the nominations added last to give readers the most time to nominate after seeing the 7 finalists. If a book was already in the bracket and was reader-nominated it was disregarded because we’d already placed it in the bracket. So if a slew of people nominated a book that’s already in, we went to the next one on the list.
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!
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?
@orangehands – OOPS. Missed one. Thank you.
And how is it decided who wins each round? There’s VOTING. Crazy voting! Voting begins tonight at midnight CDT, and is hosted at the dabwaha.com site. Part of the challenge is picking who you think will win the reader voting, and you have to factor in the vote mongering that goes on.
So in a nutshell, reader voting determines the winners of each book vs. book matchup, and the books advance along the bracket until one is declared the winner in the final voting matchup. Bracket winners are determined by whose bracket is the most accurate in predicting the winners of the voting rounds.
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.