April 2012 GraveTells Book Awards: See our (and your) top picks!

by davincikittieApril 30, 2012

Congratulations to our April Book Award winners!

Below are the books and authors who have been selected for our monthly book awards, by the reviewers and the readers. Enjoy!

Books of the Month

Apparently, we’re celebrating the dark fantasies this month! There were so many great books featured on GT in April that it was extremely difficult to choose this particular award. After I narrowed it down to these two, I just couldn’t decide between them. Both are fairly epic, both are dark stories of love and loss, both are gripping and emotional, and both reviewers felt very strongly about the stories… basically, both are equally noteworthy and deserving. So here are your TWO Books of the Month for April 2012!

What reviewer Molly had to say about The Taker…

The Taker is gripping, desolate, and beautiful. Katsu’s way with words and ability to leave the reader on the edge of their seat as she maneuvers through past and present, love and lasciviousness, keeps your eyes glued to the page and your heart in your throat. The Taker is a must-read!

Read the full review here!

What reviewer Rachel had to say about The Immortal Rules…

Julie Kagawa has done it again! She’s created another intricate, well-developed story with awesome characters. With all the vampire books out there right now, it’s hard to find one that really stands out, but I honestly think The Immortal Rules does. It’s much darker and grittier than Julie’s Iron Fey series, and the two series aren’t that similar (aside from the fact that they’re both very good!) I’m definitely invensted in the Blood of Eden novels, and this book was an amazing start to a new series!

Read the full review here!

Reviewer Top Picks

Readers Choice Awards


From DaVinciKittie’s review of Lover Reborn… At the end of every BDB book when something unexpected and powerful happens, I keep thinking “how is she going to top that? ” and just about every time, she does. If I have learned anything from Lover Reborn, it is to have faith in the WARDen – she most definitely has a master plan. The final quarter of the book finally gets moving and barrels through the twisted strings of fate to end in something alluded to long ago. While I totally saw it coming, I’m glad it worked out the way it did. Without spoiling the book’s conclusion, the ending is moving, powerful and emotional, finishing more than one chapter in this saga. This closure has been a long time coming and it is so sweet. Read the review here!

The irony of crowning a Readers Choice Favorite Author whose guest post was about the staying power of dark fantasy romance in the same month we’re celebrating two dark fantasy Book of the Months, is not lost on me. wink Congratulations to Jean Murray on being chosen as this month’s Favorite Author! Check out Jean’s guest spot here. More about Jean… Jean Murray was born and raised in a small town on the east coast. In her pursuit of a nursing degree, she aspired to see the world and joined the Navy. One of the benefits of her membership in the Armed Forces, she has had the opportunity to travel and live in different parts of the world and the United States. Her travels abroad have given her the opportunity to experience different cultures. It inspired her to delve into Ancient Egyptian myths and legends for her debut novel, Soul Reborn, book 1 in the Key to the Cursed series from Crescent Moon Press, now available. Read more about Jean Murray on her website and blog. See the full results of this month’s Readers Choice voting here.

How do we choose the winners?

I’m sure you’re wondering how we make these decisions. Here’s the skinny…

For Reviewer Top Pick (formerly Reviewer’s Choice), each GT reviewer that posted a review for the selection month gets a number of votes equalling their total reviews posted for that month. They can spend those votes, in whatever split or block they want, on any book that earned a 4.0/5 or higher rating in its GT review. The book(s) with a combination of the highest vote total and the highest number of reviewers who voted for it wins the honor and gets the nifty little silver ribbon on its book cover across our site.

For Book of the Month, the selection is a little more complicated and it is chosen solely by me. As Executive Editor of the site, I take several factors into consideration, but most importantly, the book must have a minimum 4.5/5 rating and its review (if I haven’t personally read it) or story (if I have read it myself) needs to be memorable and have impact. It’s largely based on “gut” feeling, so it’s hard to spell out the specific metric for you guys, but basically it’s an informed subjective decision that I make each month, and I don’t take that lightly.

Finally, the Readers Choice awards for Favorite Author and Favorite Story are chosen by you guys every month in our end-of-month public voting! Thanks to everyone who participated this month and help spread the word to support your favorite authors and books!

Where can I get those cover badges for my site?

Want to display our awards on your site? Whether you’re an author, publisher, fellow blogger, or enthusiastic reader, we’d be honored for you to share the GraveTells awards in your sidebar, post, or homepage! Right-click the images above to save them locally and upload them to your own server, or you can link directly to them by right-clicking and selecting “copy image URL”. If you need a specific type of image or more instructions, email me and I’d be happy to help! =)

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About The Author

davincikittie

Sue "DaVinciKittie" Brown-Moore is a veteran romance blogger and reviewer and the primary voice for GraveTells.com. Sue has been shamelessly pimping book boyfriends since 2010 and has won several blogging awards with GraveTells. Sue is also a freelance Developmental Editor passionate about helping authors bring out the best in their stories. She loves reading romance, fantasy, and sci-fi and edits any genre she reads for pleasure. You can follow Sue's editing blog, with tips and tricks for authors, at DaVinciKittie.com.