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

by davincikittieSeptember 2, 2012

Congratulations to our August 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

It’s been nearly 8 months since any book reviewed on GraveTells has earned a perfect 5 of 5 Heart rating, the last being Laura Kaye’s emotionally compelling North of Need. Joan Swan’s Blaze, the second installment in her Phoenix Rising series, burned through that elusive rating barrier to become our first Gold Heart Award recipient of 2012. Fever, the first book in the series, earned a “must read” 4.5 of 5 rating and was chosen as both Book of the Month and a Reviewer Top Pick in March of 2012, so the Phoenix Rising series has some serious momentum! 

I know, I know, you can’t even buy it yet!!  This review was done from an advanced copy of the book, so expect to see it on bookshelves and available from online retailers on September 25th.  Go here if you’d like to pre-order it in paperback or for Amazon Kindle.

What reviewer DaVinciKittie had to say about Blaze…

You haven’t seen longing and unrequited love until you’ve seen Luke and Kiera together, sarcastically bantering as if their lives depend on it and fighting their own primal urges to jump each other every other second… Theirs is a story begging to be told, one expertly crafted from action, intrigue, supernatural science, and some of the most enthralling sexual tension I’ve ever read. This book is absolutely aptly named; the passion between Luke and Kiera blazes high and sparks fly hard.

Joan Swan writes action like you’re right there in the thick of it; pinging bullets, whooshes of fire, the near-tranquil state of severe injury are all masterfully translated through undeniably talented and creative writing. She doesn’t fall prey to technical bad habits like repeated patterns of verbage, and her sentence structure is never boring or predictable. Reading a Joan Swan novel is like living a non-stop, danger-filled, trek through heartfelt friendships and off-the-rails sensual chemistry.

Aaahh, this book was SO GOOD! I did not want it to end! Every character is unique and compelling and every plot twist keeps the story, and series, fresh and addicting. How often do you read a book that wraps up the storyline but still has you jonzing for the next installment without forcing a cliffhanger down your throat, that makes your chest squeeze with every tortured glance and longing touch, whose action scenes make you feel like you just stepped into a Hollywood blockbuster movie? This is why Joan Swan is a master of her craft and why Blaze is a GraveTells Fave and the recipient of our extremely rare, perfect-rating Golden Heart award!

Read the full review here!

 

Reviewer Top Picks

 

Readers Choice Awards

From Rachel Elizabeth’s review of Demon Retribution…

Demon Retribution is the first book I’ve read by Kiersten Fay, and I’m happy to say I was impressed with it. Despite the fact that it’s the third book in a series I haven’t read, I never felt lost or like I didn’t understand what was going on. And since this is a world in which many different races and planets exist, I expected it to take a little while for me to remember all the terms and creatures, but it didn’t.

Romantic and unique, Demon Retribution was a captivating read that I had a hard time putting down. I can’t wait to go back to the first book so I can enjoy the series from the beginning.

If you love some sci-fi thrown in with your paranormal romance, you have to give Demon Retribution a try. It’s a GraveTells Must-Read!

Read the full review here!

To see all our reviews for August 2012, click here!

Congratulations to Dannika Dark on being chosen as August 2012’s GraveTells Readers Choice Favorite Author! Read more about the Mageri series author below, then check out Dannika’s guest spot here

More about Dannika…

Dannika Dark was born on a military base in the U.S. and traveled the world before she was nine. Now she is rooted in the south, but her head is planted firmly in the clouds. Her writing began in early childhood and it wasn’t until the Mageri series that she began to take publishing seriously. After writing sixteen full length novels, it was time to get serious. In addition to writing, Danni does all of her own book covers and photo designs based around the series. When she is not writing, Danni enjoys a great sci-fi or fantasy movie, heaps of chocolate, and unleashing her dark side.

The Mageri Series an exciting new urban fantasy romance series which follows the journey of one woman’s claim to immortality, and her own identity. Dark, unique, and full of unpredictable twists. Sometimes ordinary people are destined for extraordinary lives.

Read more about Dannika’s Mageri series on her 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.
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