Tuesday, February 03, 2009

AAR Readers Poll for Best Book of 2008

Oh look. Lookit! Lookit! Lookit!!

I got nominations or interim results or something. But Lookit!!

The AAR Readers Poll. I'm mentioned. Somebody likes me.

Here.

Even if I don't get anything in the final results, this is so cool.



EDITED TO ADD

Ok.
*jo hyperventillates*

Turns out I didn't have to rush in and post the interim results
so I could brag about the nominations.

I get to brag about WINS !!!!

*happy dance*

This is so wonderful.
Look. It's here.

I'm going to quote some of it because it's so nifty I can't help myself.

Ahem:

This year's break out winner was The Spymaster's Lady by Joanna Bourne. It was the overwhelming winner for Best Romance, earning a stand-alone win. In addition to Best romance, Ms. Bourne won Best Historical Romance Set in the U.K., Best Heroine, and Best Couple, also recieving an Honorable Mention for Best Hero. Ms. Bourne's My Lord and Spymaster also received votes in a number of categories ...


See. That's me. Spymaster's Lady. Me. My book.!!!!
How did this happen?


OK. Just so I can still fit into my favorite fishing hat, let me quote another line:

Every one of the top books in the Best Romance category also had at least a few votes for Worst


Oh. Oh. Let me put in everybody who won, because they are all great books.


Best 2008 Romance Novels

Best Romance.......................The Spymaster's Lady, Joanna Bourne

Best Contemporary Romance..........Blue-Eyed Devil, Lisa Kleypas

Best Romantic Suspense.............Death Angel, Linda Howard

Best Paranormal Romance............Lover Enshrined, J.R. Ward
(Honorable Mentions - tie)................Mine to Possess, Nalini Singh
..........................................Dark Desires after Dusk, Kresley Cole

Best Hist Rom Set in the U.K.......The Spymaster's Lady, Joanna Bourne
(Honorable Mention).......................Private Arrangements, Sherry Thomas

Best Hist Rom Not Set U.K..........Your Scandalous Ways, Loretta Chase

Funniest Romance...................Not Another Bad Date, Rachel Gibson
(Honorable Mentions - tie)................Like No Other Lover, Julie Anne Long
..........................................The Lost Duke of Wyndham, Julia Quinn
..........................................Just One of the Guys, Kristan Higgins

Biggest Tearjerker.................Blue-Eyed Devil, Lisa Kleypas
(Honorable Mention).......................Broken Wing, Judith James

Best Love Scenes (tie)..............To Seduce a Sinner, Elizabeth Hoyt
....................................Your Scandalous Ways, Loretta Chase
(Honorable Mention) .........................To Taste Temptation, Elizabeth Hoyt

Best Debut Author...................Sherry Thomas

Best Series Romance.................A Most Unconventional Match, Julia Justiss

Best Chick Lit/Women's Fiction......Just One of the Guys, Kristan Higgins
(Honorable Mentions - tie)...................Queen of Babble Gets Hitched, Meg Cabot
.............................................Remember Me, Sophie Kinsella

Best Erotica........................Wicked Burn, Beth Kery
(Honorable Mention)..........................Dangerous Secrets, Lisa Marie Rice

Best Romance Short Story..........From This Moment On in It Happened One Night, Candice Hern
(Honorable Mention).......................Spellbound in It Happened One Night, Mary Balogh

Guiltiest Pleasure Romance.........Lover Enshrined, J.R. Ward


Best 2008 Characters


Best Romance Hero................Hardy Cates in Blue-Eyed Devil, Lisa Kleypas
(Honorable Mention).....................Robert Grey in The Spymaster's Lady, Joanna Bourne

Best Romance Heroine..............Annique in The Spymaster's Lady by Joanna Bourne

Best Romance Couple...............Annique and Grey in The Spymaster's Lady, Joanna Bourne

19 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:17 PM

    Lots of people like you! You are there in lots of categories...DLS

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  2. Wow, Jo. Lots and lots of people like TSL. With good reason. When do they post the final results?

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  3. BTW, I read some of the reviews of MLAS you posted links to at the right. The negative ones...pay them no mind. One of the (many) things I loved about MLAS was Jess's idiosyncratic voice. And the little phrasings that one of the reviewers found distracting--well, they are just part of your wonderfully unique and sophisticated voice, which some folk are obviously ill-equipped to appreciate. So there.

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  4. Yep, voted all the way!! I'm waiting for the golden lady statue noms, too.

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  5. I posted the nominees in the AAR poll because I don't necessarily expect to make it to the finals in ANY category. So I will bask in the nominations while I can.

    It is a way-coolness to know there are readers out there who like the book enough to nominate it.
    It is beyond way-coolness.

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  6. Hi Beth -

    Oh, (grin).

    I'll admit I was trying to inject a thin, residual cockney underlay to Jess' voice. She's far beyond dropping her aitches, of course, but I wanted a trace of East London left, mainly in her internals.

    (sigh)
    I may not have done this very well.

    But 'ell, mate, I dinnin wahnta lay it ahn too bluiddy theck.

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  7. Jo,

    On the contrary, you did it beautifully. Some readers are just hearing impaired, as it were. Or maybe tone deaf.

    It is a way-coolness to know there are readers out there who like the book enough to nominate it. It is beyond way-coolness.

    I remember quite well how I felt when my story landed on the Nebula prelim ballot. My feet didn't touch earth for a good long time. So yeah -- it's Out There, all right. [g]

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  8. Hi Beth --

    Congrats on the Nebula prelim. I didn't know. Was this for part of Knife?

    Well deserved, in any case.

    As to dark and disparaging comments ...

    Y'know --
    The way I see it, lotsa folks aren't going to like what we do, no matter how hard we try.

    Now, Wise writers don't read reviews. Not good, bad or indifferent. And they don't get their heads all messed up.

    I'm not strong enough. Can't leave 'em be. Can't do it.
    Especially if somebody brings 'em to my attention.

    The good side of this is I see people liking the book and I get all helium-filled and floating, which is nice.

    The downside is the occasional Bite in the Butt. Ouch.


    In other news, I spent several hours last night renewing my uneasy acquaintance with ionic bonding and lattice energies. WHAT are they teaching in High School these days? I didn't get this till college.

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  9. Dear Joanna,

    I've enjoyed following your blog and just finished reading Spymaster's Lady. I couldn't put it down and finished in one day. How do you come up with the book covers? Do you choose them or does the publisher? Do you have input.

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  10. Hi Mary Ann --

    Thank you so much for liking Spymaster's Lady. It really makes me feel good to hear that.

    Covers ...

    One of the special moments reserved for authors, I believe, is seeing your cover for the first time and going ... "Oy vey."

    Authors don't actually have any say in the covers. It's all done by crack teams of marketing experts.

    How it works ...
    The Marketing Department at the Publishing House asks the editor, 'What do the characters look like?' and 'Where does this take place?' and 'When?'

    The editor asks the author.

    Now me, I agonized over this and and sent back careful descriptions and, y'know, pictures.

    The editor passes this description stuff along to Marketing who, as near as I can tell, immediately loses it. They may even have a specialist in charge of this part of the production process -- losing whatever the author sent over.

    So, anywy, Marketing says to the Art Department something along the lines of -- "It's one of those Regency Historicals. I think it's in France. Or Italy. Or not."

    The Art Department then commissions a cover artist, and tells her, "It's Regency."

    In my case they comissioned A Most Excellent Cover Artist -- Judy York -- and a Rather Famous Cover Model -- Nathan Kamp.

    They used the same artist and model for Meredith Duran's Duke of Shadows, btw, but I think her's is a prettier cover. (Cover jealousy rears its ugly head.) Judy York also did the C.L. Wilson Lord of the Fading Lands covers which are just beautiful, if you go look at them.

    And Duran and Wilson are just catspajama writers. Cool, huh?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Dear Joanne,

    Oh vey is right. I wonder if they had more subtle covers if it wouldn't attract more reader. Yikes, some of the covers-well, even the convenience stores put boards over Playboy and Hustler.

    Sorry if I sound critical. The artists and models do a lovely job but I find myself looking for a paper bag to make a new jacket so I can read in public.

    Mary Ann

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  12. @ Mary Ann --

    I figer Marketing picks designs that have been proved to sell.
    Who can understand marketing?
    *bewildered shrug*

    And I know many folks love sexy covers.
    I hope those who don't aren't too dismayed by them. Maybe I should be selling plain brown wrappers on the website.
    *g*

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  13. Oh, drat. I missed this post and the voting. Spymaster's Lady is listed on my blog as one of my favorite books. Your description of how marketing deals with cover images is funny. Wow, 'thingmen' is my word verification widget. What 'thing' might it mean?

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  14. Hi Lynne --

    Oh. You are so kind to say that.

    It's OK that you didn't vote. LOTS of people didn't vote. Entire States of the Union and English-speaking countries didn't vote.

    But I got wins.
    !!!!!!!
    I got wonderful wins.
    !!!!!!

    I'm going to go edit in a link in this message so everybody can see.

    I am so proud.

    That ping, ping, ping sound is me busting my breeches.

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  15. Anonymous9:20 PM

    Congratulations! What a lovely sweep--and well deserved.
    DLS

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  16. Anonymous12:16 AM

    Congratulations! I adored both of your books and the wins are well deserved. :)

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  17. Jo, such fabulous-fabulous news!!!!! Huzzahs!

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  18. As you can see, I'm way, way behind on my blog reading. So I just saw this:

    Congrats on the Nebula prelim. I didn't know. Was this for part of Knife?

    No, it was for a story I wrote for an anthology. Very obscure anthology from a very small press. But it had a couple of Names in the Table of Contents (Tanith Lee was one) and one of the contributors liked my story and recommended it. There's an involved process in rising through the Nebula ranks (and the rules have now been changed), but my story made it as far as preliminary ballot, which was very cool because that list gets published all over the net.

    But that's not at all impressive compared to how well your books have done. Not that I'm surprised at their success.

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  19. Hi Beth --

    I had not known about the anthology. Or had forgotten. My mind is like a beautiful pea green boat in that it is so full of owls and pussycats that I cannot get very much thinking done.

    Congratulations on the nomination. Not just chance, but a sign of good work, I should think. And the first of many.

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