The 2013 Preditors and Editors Readers Poll awards have completed and Kat and I...L.J. Holmes CLEANED UP.
Okay, we didn't yet break into the top ONE postion, but between us we still claimed a total of SEVEN of the TOP-TEN awards in our categories...
So do me a favor, sit back for a second or three and share in our moments of dancing from the rafters...A little boasting IS called for here..don't YOU think?
The first book actually won TWO top ten awards...which seems bizarre to me...or might if this book hadn't taken a LOT of time, effort, and grief to finally bring to the reading world. Thank you all for embracing it and letting me know all the effort was worth it.
(For the first two comments mentioning this title, I am giving away 2 free copies in your needed format...all I ask in return is you give me a review on the Muse Book Store, Amazon, and maybe GoodReads too...all you have to do is copy and paste one review to all the sites..or just do one any of those places...also tell your friends about it if you enjoy it.)
ECHOES FROM THE PAST...my very first FULL LENGTH Novel; cover by Muse It Up's premier CA HEAD Suzannah Safi.
Here are the two awards...
7th place in Erotica, and
9th place in ALL OTHER NOVELS.
In the next category for Kat and me to take honors is MYSTERY NOVELS with book two in my THE CHRISTMAS MIRACLES SERIES.
This is also a book I had to work really hard to get released in a way that honored Book One..and my very first ever 5th place
P&E award winning book SANTA IS A LADY (cover by former Muse CA, Delilah K. Stephans,) in the 2010 awards.
This one, THE CHRISTMAS WAR (another magnificent cover by SUZANNAH SAFI) just like ECHOES FROM THE PAST came very close to never making it out in a format I felt belonged in a sequel. But thanks to the ongoing help of Lea Schizas my publisher AND editor, and Suzannah Safi my CA, it came in
8th place which is a powerful affirmation of all we put in towards reworking it.
MOVING ON...Our next category honors... taking 6th place...is a book I am so proud found its way into the TOP TEN category
THRILLER NOVELS.
This is book TWO in Kat's HEKATE'S WEB VAMPIRE SERIES.
Book One, HIDDEN, opened an intriguing world of vampires controlled by and manipulated by the unpredictable Greek Goddess, using her Roman name's spelling...she IS a sly one...HEKATE. (Her Greek spelling is HECATE...think she wants to really play with the creatures caught in her web? Including...maybe US? Can you figure out what she's up to?)
SEEKER takes us deeper into the world of Hekate's good vampires, THE ENCLAVE and her designs against the bad vampires THE TRUE ONES...but remember one important thing...The Greek Gods and Goddesses are not known throughout history for being benignly benevolent. If their involved, you can expect HAVOC.
For the first two people to leave comments addressing SEEKER, (gotta LOVE the cover Suzannah Safi created for this urban fantasy,) Kat and I are offering another TWO free copies of this book, but we're just asking for the same offer to do reviews and talk us up whenever and wherever you can if you enjoy our stories.
Kat and I both contributed a couple of short stories that found their way into the TOP TEN Shorts as well.
In the SCI-FI/FANTASY SHORTS I, L.J. Holmes, surprisingly won
6th place for my TONGUE-IN-THE-CHEEK short about the origins of Diamonds. The prevailing belief is diamonds come from mines...NO WAY!
DIAMONDS FROM THE ROUGHAGE (also with a brilliant cover by Muse It Up Publishing's Head CA, Suzannah Safi) tells the REAL story. This is a fun story that will tell you what actually happens after the Knights of the Round Table head off in search of the Holy Grail, and how the diamond production the world round is effected.
In ALL OTHER SHORTS, Kat easily claims her right to the
7th position for HER tongue-in-cheek Book One in her TALES OF FAIRYLAND SERIES, playfully called
LOVE POTION #9.5 (powerful cover by Lex Valentine.)
Since this is book one of a SERIES, you're gonna want to get in on the ground floor. So for the first person to mention LOVE POTION #9.5 in the comments, Kat and I will send you one free copy in your format of this easy,fun read.
And now we come to the FINAL award...a really BIG surprise.
I am L.J. Holmes...author...but I am also Ladybug Lin, book reviewer...and to my total astonishment I found myself receiving the
3rd place award for BEST REVIEW SITE.
I don't know HOW this happened, but I'm over-the-moon about it. To be in the same category as Coffeetime Romance is something I never thought would happen.
To all who voted for Ladybug Lin's Exceptional Reviews...thank you.
To all who voted for Kat's books and mine...2013 has been a very difficult year. Writing was our escape from some of the worst life tossed our way...your voting for us, helping us rise through the ranks...means more than you can know.
Thank you.
We also had a few other books that either slipped below the top ten, or never made it out of the 11-20 placements that I'd also like to take a few moments to share...we wrote them during the same difficult 2013 and hope you'll take a moment to look them over and maybe add them to your
"must read list."
For me...in the Romance Novels section coming in at #15 is Book THREE in my CHRISTMAS MIRACLES SERIES and right after THE CHRISTMAS WAR...
CHRISTMAS GOES GREEN (cover by gifted new to Muse It Up...CA Kate Page)...he's half elf, and she's half leprechaun. Christmas is gonna take on whole new flavor.
In SCI-FI/FANTASY NOVELS Book SIX in Kat's GODS AT WORK SERIES came in at position # 13.
UNDER THE HUNTRESS MOON is the modern tale of ARTEMIS' coming to work here on earth. This IS a gripping tale that shows, via the explosive cover, (done by Karen Phillips) she's not the Artemis you learned about in Greek Mythology. (Kat is an expert on Greek Mythology...what she brings to the telling ASTOUNDS ME...and they get better with each new book.)
In the ROMANCE SHORT STORIES one of my little tales NARROWLY was edged out in the last moments of voting. So at position # 11 we have
THE WEDDING NIGHT, (cover by Marion Sipe,)...a different kind of Time Travel tale with a HARLEY DAVIDSON MOTOR CYCLE as the hero's time machine.
Again, thank you all for letting us know what we worked on during this most difficult past year was worth it...and it's now time to get to work on 2014.