I would love to see something like this from the RWA, a reader supported annual book of the year. That's an award I could really get behind. Via Press Release .
REVIEW: Before She Dies by Mary Burton
REVIEW: The Garden Intrigue by Lauren Willig
REVIEW: I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella
REVIEW: Pure by Julianna Baggott
REVIEW: The Principal's Office by Jasmine Haynes
REVIEW: Heat by R. Lee Smith
REVIEWS: Master Class and SUBlime by Rachel Haimowitz
REVIEW: Still Hot For You by Diane Escalera
REVIEW: The Gathering Storm by Robin Bridges
GUEST REVIEW: Surprises According to Humphrey by Betty G. Birney
REVIEW: Eternal Captive by Laura Wright
REVIEW: Alpha Instinct by Katie Reus
REVIEW: Sleepwalker by Karen Robards
REVIEW: Fifty Shades of Grey by E L James
REVIEW: Not Wicked Enough by Carolyn Jewel
REVIEW: Breakaway by Deirdre Martin
REVIEW: Under His Influence by Justine Elyot
REVIEW: Her Husband's Harlot by Grace Callaway
REVIEW: Last Man Standing by Cindy Gerard
REVIEW: The Husband Recipe by Linda Winstead Jones
REVIEW: The Whip by Karen Kondazian
REVIEW: Shadow's Stand By Sarah McCarty
REVIEW: Firelight by Kristin Callihan
REVIEW: The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey
Forgive me if I’m wrong, but I think that RWA used to have something like this whereby its members could nominate their favourite book of the year. Granted the members of RWA are all authors themselves but it gave the general membership a chance to vote, as opposed to the RITAs.
@SarahT They did have a book of the year award and it was deleted (wrong word for it but brain is dead right now).
hrm.. I’ve not read a single author on the list
@Jane: Discontinued? Is that the word you wanted?
Anyhow, I agree with you, Jane — the thing that makes this award so special is that it’s driven by readers. Not only do the readers’ scores determine the longlist, but they’re also factored in to the choice of the shortlist, since it’s the combined high scores of both the public readers and the RNA panel that puts a book onto the shortlist, not the scores of the panel alone.
The whole process is detailed here:
http://www.rna-uk.org/index.php?page=rnoty_award
I was incredibly thrilled and honoured to be told I’d made the longlist (especially because it means I now get to go to a champagne breakfast in London in January!) It’s a great Christmas present.
And Tae, you probably know of some of the authors on the list, even if you haven’t read them…Cecelia Ahern wrote P.S. I Love You (as in the Gerard Butler movie), and Sophie Kinsella writes the Shopaholic books, among other things.