My votes at AAR - Warning - very long

I must confess I’ve been itching to spill ever since I voted in the Annual AAR Reader’s Poll. The results came out yesterday and now I finally get to scratch that itch. I’ve been reading with great interest everyone else’s vote Rosario, Keishon, Renee, Amanda Karen S, Alyssa & JMC (to come)and comparing. So here’s mine to add to the list.

Best Romance – Ride the Fire – Pamela Clare
This one was an easy one
Winner – Mr. Impossible – Loretta Chase (read it)

Favourite Funny – To Die For – Linda Howard
Another easy one to pick
Winner – Match Me If You Can – SEP (haven’t read it)

Most Hanky Read – His Second Hand Wife – Cheryl St. John
Yet another easy one to pick
Winner – A Breath of Snow and Ashes – Diana Gabaldon (haven’t read it)

Most Luscious Love Story – Passion – Lisa Valdez
These first ones gave me no problems
Winner – Passion – Lisa Valdez (read it)

Best Cabin/Road Romance – Ride the Fire – Pamela Clare
Yet again no hesitation
Winner – Mr. Impossible – Loretta Chase (read it)

Best New Author – Lydia Joyce
This is where I started having trouble choosing. It was either Joyce or Valdez. I eventually chose Joyce because she had two good books out. But I wasn’t disappointed to see Valdez win
Winner – Lisa Valdez (have read)

Best Buried Treasure – Almost Perfect – Julie Ortolon
I knew this wouldn’t win since it wasn’t even reviewed – which would describe a buried treasure
Winner – The Music of the Night – Lydia Joyce (read it)

Guiltiest Pleasure – The Cobra and the Concubine – Bonnie Vannak
This wasn’t really a guilty pleasure – but I wanted to put this book on the ballot somewhere since I thought it was great
Winner – Passion – Lisa Valdez (have read)

Author Most Glommed – Laura London (Tom & Sharon Curtis)
Knew this wouldn’t win either
Winner – Anne Stuart

Best Medieval – left blank
It killed me to do this, but this is a dying genre. One can only hope it experiences a rebirth sometime in the near future
Winner - Return of the Warrior – Kinley MacGregor (haven’t read it)

Best European Historical – A Season to be Sinful – Jo Goodman
This was a tough category, but I eventually picked this one
Winner – Mr. Impossible (read it)

Best Traditional Regency – A Singular Lady – Megan Frampton
To be honest, this was the only Traditional I read this year – but I liked it a lot
Winner – Dedication – Janet Mullany (haven’t read it)

Best American Frontier – Lips That Touch Mine – Wendy Lindstrom
This one was the hardest category without question for me to choose. My two favourite books of the year were both in this category; Ride the Fire and Lips That Touch Mine. It took me 3 days to choose. What finally decided it was I had already voted for Ride the Fire as both Best Romance and Best Road/Cabin and I wanted to reflect how much I loved Lips That Touch Mine too.
Winner - A Breath of Snow & Ashes – Diana Gabaldon (haven’t read it)

Best Contemporary – To Die For – Linda Howard
Again a fairly easy choice
Winner – Match Me If You Can – SEP (haven’t read it)

Best Series – Free Fall – Jill Shalvis
I haven’t read very many series – I dislike what direction they are taking, but I really enjoyed this one. In the future I’m sure I will be voting from the Harlequin Historical line (although I agree with whoever it was that said it almost doesn’t seem right to include them)
Winner – The Mysterious Miss M – Diane Gaston (have read)

Best Romantic Suspense (Rosario can tell you which one I voted for in this category * grin *) In case though you didn’t catch where I gave it away
Crazy Hot – Tara Janzen
Up until the last week, my vote was going to be Black Ice, but I just enjoyed the ride of Crazy Hot so much, I had to vote for it.
Winner – Black Ice – Anne Stuart (read it)

Best Alt Reality/Paranormal – Unmasked – C.J. Barry
I knew this one didn’t have a shot either and it was a harder choice. Dark Lover was certainly in the running. But in the end I wanted to reward what I thought was a great futuristic
Winner – Dark Lover – J.R. Ward (have read)

Best Chick Lit – left blank
I don’t read this genre
Winner – The Givenchy Code – Julie Kenner (haven’t read it)

Short Story – left blank
I don’t read very many anthologies at all and I drew a blank here
Honourable Mention - Falling for Anthony – Hot Spell - Meljean Brook (have it TBR)

Most Tortured Hero – Nicholas Kenleigh –Ride the Fire Pamela Clare
An easy choice!!
Winner – Bastien Toussaint – Black Ice - Anne Stuart (read it)

Strongest Heroine – Tori Masters – Unmasked – CJ Barry
It seems year after year I pick Eve Dallas. This time round I wanted to give another heroine a choice and hey Tori was the captain of a ship
Winner – Eve Dallas – Survivor in Death (read it)

Best Hero – Boyd Grayson – Lips That Touch Mine – Wendy Lindstrom
I just adored Boyd
Winner - Best Hero – Rupert Carsington – Mr. Impossible – Loretta Chase (read it)

Best Heroine – Blair Mallory – To Die For – Linda Howard
I know many don’t like her, but I thought Blair was a hoot
Winner - Best Heroine – Blair Mallory – To Die For – Linda Howard (read it)

Best Couple – Blair & Wyatt – To Die For – Linda Howard
Usually one or the other stands out – but I thought these two matched each other very well and were very funny together
Winner - Rupert & Daphne – Mr. Impossible – Loretta Chase (read it)

Best Villian - Sebastian, Lord St. Vincent - It Happened One Autumn - Lisa Kleypas

I'm never sure how to vote in this category. Are we supposed to vote for a villian we like or a villian we hate. I decided to take the easy way and vote for the one I knew would win - after all Nick did a few years ago for another Kleypas book

Winner - Sebastian, Lord St. Vincent - It Happened One Autumn - Lisa Kleypas (at least I'm guessing that it's Sebastian.

Most Annoying Lead – (forget her name and can’t be bother to look it up) What Do You Say to a Naked Elf – Cheryl Sterling
Loser - Best Heroine – Blair Mallory – To Die For – Linda Howard (read it)

Author you gave up on – Kinely MacGregor/Sherilyn Kenyon
I probably cancelled this one out since I named both of them
Loser – Julie Garwood

Author You don’t Love – left blank
Loser – Nora Roberts

Most Disappointing Read – He Loves Lucy – Susan Donovan
Loser – It Happened One Autumn – Lisa Kleypas (read it and I really don’t get this one)

Worst Read – What Do You Say to a Naked Elf – Cheryl Sterling
Loser (tie) What Do You Say to a Naked Elf & Passion (read them)

Purple-est Prose – left blank
Loser/Winer (?) – Passion – Lisa Valdez

It wasn't until I did this that I realized how many categories Mr. Impossible won in. I read and enjoyed the book - but not as much as so many other people did obviously as I didn't vote for it in anything.

'til later