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

by davincikittieJanuary 31, 2012

Congratulations to our January 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!

Book of the Month

What reviewer Kenra Daniels had to say about Demon Crossings…

I read Demon Crossings in one sitting, entirely unable to put it down. Ms. Stone is a Master, weaving the best elements of Paranormal Romance seamlessly into an addictive concoction of suspense, mystery, fantasy, mythology, steamy intimacy, and a little horror thrown in for seasoning.

Demon Crossings is a fast-paced read filled with multiple levels of conflict and suspense. It brings the world of ancient Norse mythology into the present in a chillingly logical manner, complete with enemies. For all its complexities, at its core, the story is a stunningly simple tale of learning to trust love.

Read the full review here!

Reviewer Top Picks

Readers Choice Awards


From GT’s review of Desperate Betrayal… It’s extremely engaging and the characters are instantly likeable… To express the kind of feel this novel had, to give a more complete picture beyond the technical aspects, it has several parallels with Sheriilyn Kenyon’s Dark-Hunter universe. The setting, the Protectors, the forbidden couplings, the intense emotions… all ingredients for one serious whammy of a story. Technical issues can be corrected and a manuscript can be re-edited, but creativity of story and projection of emotion are much harder skills to hone, and Ms. McQueen has that extra something that makes makes readers sit up and take notice. Read the review here!

On the fast track to awesomesauce… If you haven’t heard the name Laura Kaye, you’ve been seriously missing out. Laura was voted Readers Choice Breakout Author of 2011 in our December end-of-year poll, and her sensational North of Need, the first in the highly anticipated Hearts of the Anemoi series, broke hearts all over the PNR blogosphere, earning her the rare GraveTells perfect score Gold Heart award AND 2011 Book of the Year. Haven’t read North of Need? Read our review here, then go RIGHT NOW and download it. We promise you won’t regret it. More about Laura… Voted Breakout Author of the Year in the 2011 GraveTells Readers’ Choice Awards, Laura is the bestselling and award-winning author of a half-dozen books. Hearts in Darkness is a finalist for the EPIC eBook Award for Best Novella, Forever Freed won the NJRW Golden Leaf Award for Best Paranormal of 2011, and North of Need, the first book in the Hearts of the Anemoi series, was named GraveTells’ Best Book of 2011 and won their 5-STAR Gold Heart Award, and won Sizzling Hot Read of the Year at Sizzling Hot Books. Laura lives in Maryland with her husband, two daughters, and cute-but-bad dog, and appreciates her view of the Chesapeake Bay every day.

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.