So, Have You Read Any RITA Winners?
The 2012 RITA winners were officially announced on the last full evening at the RWA convention, on July 28, 2012. Many of us like to compare the winners to what we have already read and AAR reviewers are no exception.
Here are the RITA winners:
Best Paranormal Romance –Dragon Bound by Thea Harrison
Best Romance Novella –I Love the Earl by Caroline Linden
Best Novel with Strong Romantic Elements – First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones
Best Historical Romance – The Black Hawk by Joanna Bourne
Best Inspirational Romance – The Measure of Katie Calloway by Serena Miller
Best Contemporary Series Romance: Suspense/Adventure – Soldier’s Last Stand by Cindy Dees
Best Contemporary Single Title Romance – Boomerang Bride by Fiona Lowe
Best Regency Historical Romance – A Night to Surrender by Tessa Dare
Best Young Adult Romance – Enclave by Ann Aguirre
Best Contemporary Series Romance – Doukakis’s Apprentice by Sarah Morgan
Best Romantic Suspense – New York to Dallas by J.D. Robb
We started discussed books that all of us at AAR had read, and Leigh started off by saying that,” I can’t say that I have paid big attention to the RWA but this year it was fun and more real after I signed up to follow Lynn and Blythe on my dormant Twitter account. Sunday night I signed in again … to discover that the RITA winners had been posted.
Normally I have read one or two, but this year I was batting zero causing me to shoot off an e-mail to the AAR staff stating ‘It’s official, I haven’t read any of the winners. Unless I read the Barbara O’Neal -I sort of remember looking at it. However if I read it- it wasn’t memorable to me. Of course then everyone chimed in stating if they had read any of the books.'” And Leigh wasn’t alone.
The book that most of us had read was Joanna Bourne’s The Black Hawk. Lee, Lynn, Sandy, Blythe, Dabney, Jean and Rike have all read it. It was a favorite book for several reviewers in 2011, and they were happy to see her win in what was a very tough category.
Dabney had read I Love the Earl, and several of us – Blythe, Dabney, Lee and our newest reviewer, Elizabeth – had all read A Night to Surrender. Sandy and Wendy both read Dragon Bound, and very much enjoy it. Blythe and I have read From New York to Dallas, and I also read First Grave on the Right, which I enjoyed.
And then there are the neverending TBRs. I have the Barbara O’Neal book in mine, and Lynn already has First Grave on the Right, Boomerang Bride, Enclave, and A Night to Surrender all sitting in her TBR pile – and she plans to try a few more!
When it came to the RITA nominees, that’s where reviewers had read a lot more of the offerings. You can find the list of RITA finalists here. I won’t bore you with a long rundown of which reviewers read which books, but among us, we have read all of the following so far and several more lurk in TBR piles:
The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley
The Restorer by Amanda Stevens
Scandalous Desires by Elizabeth Hoyt
The Welcome Home Garden Club by Lori Wilde
When Beauty Tamed the Beast by Eloisa James
The Devil in Disguise by Stefanie Sloane
Nightfall by Ellen Connor
Always a Temptress by Eileen Dreyer
Unveiled by Courtney Milan
At Hidden Falls by Barbara Freethy
Hidden Away by Maya Banks
When Beauty Tamed the Beast by Eloisa James
The Doctor’s Deadly Affair by Stephanie Doyle
The Danger of Desire by Elizabeth Essex
The Many Sins of Lord Cameron by Jennifer Ashley
Love on the Line by Deeanne Gist
My Foolish Heart by Susan May Warren
Archangel’s Blade by Nalini Singh
Changeling Moon by Dani Harper
Envy by J.R. Ward
Heiress in Love by Christina Brooke
How to Marry a Duke and How to Seduce a Scoundrel, both by Vicky Dreiling
“Angel’s Wolf” by Nalini Singh, from the Angels of Darkness anthology
“Chaos in Death” by J.D. Robb and “Unforgiven” by Ruth Ryan Langan, from The Unquiet anthology
“One Wish:A Christmas Story” by Jodi Thomas, from the A Texas Christmas anthology
Secrets of Bella Tera by Christina Dodd
True Shot and True Colors, both by Joyce Lamb
Now it is your turn. How many of the nominees did you read? How many of the winners? Are you going to add any winners to your TBR pile? How do you find your tastes match up with the RITA nominees and winners lists?
– Maggie Boyd