Passionate Plumes Revisited

FINAL UPDATE: Just ignore this whole post and consider it my scratch pad! If you want to see the awards all prettied up with links included, either click here, or go to the right hand column of this blog and click on +Award_Winners+


The following is a modified version of my May 11, 2007 blog post. I've been meaning to make it easier to find the Passionate Plume award winners, but was recently reminded of it because I'm feeling abandoned and left behind by so happy for everyone that is going to attend the RWA Conference in Dallas next week.

BTW, if you are one of the lucky bitches fortunate ones that will be attending, and the opportunity arises, would you PLEASE mention to the powers that be that they need to make it a bit easier to find the award winners. Even if they don't want to go to the trouble of providing links, they should at least include the publisher's name, which is so critical when trying to locate an ebook. After all, the Passionate Plume award is nothing more than bragging rights if it doesn't increase your sales, right?

So, I busted my ass wasting a buttload of time doing this instead of working and have linked to the author (most authors have direct links to buy the books) and added the publisher name next to each book. I've also added Passionate Plumes as a tag label. That way, the next time I'm ordering from an epub or Amazon, I can just go over to the right side of my blog and click Passionate Plumes to buy any books from there that interest me without trying to remember them all. See? There IS a method to my over-the-top madness! I'll come back and update this post with my commentary links as I read them.

BTW, what's up with the STROKE OF MIDNIGHT Finalists? I thought the list below showed the winners (Stroke of Midnight Finalists) preceded by the runners-up (Passionate Plume 1st Round Finalists) but I think there must be something more to it, like maybe it's a whole different contest? I couldn't find any info about the Stroke of Midnight finalists. Either I couldn't find a site for the author, or I'd find a site with that author's name but they they didn't list that title as one of theirs. I finally gave up. Is there something about that category I'm missing? Like, you know, they're books that would threaten national security if released to the public? Is there some reason that an explanation wasn't included on the Passionate Plume site (other than the fact that they seem to be information Scrooges)?

UPDATE: Thanks to author Adele Dubois (see comments for this post), I'm a whole lot less confoozled. The Stroke of Midnight finalists are for UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPTS ONLY! The final results will be announced next week in Dallas. Thanks, Adele! BTW, check out the cover for Adele's current release, Motorcycle Heat, over at Loose-Id. Damn fine artwork!

UPDATE: Post has been updated with final results

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Reposted from May 11, 2007 (MODIFIED and UPDATED)

I just realized that, after discussing the books I was judging for the Passionate Plume Awards, I never posted the results!

If you recall, I talked about the books in my posts Who Needs a Horse? and Dilemmas and Frustrations. BTW, I decided I just couldn't spend another moment of my life reading that one honkin' bad book. I ended up just giving it a 1.2. Bad judge, no cookie. Now that Vampire Cowboys story I rated so highly? Yee-Haw! It made it to the first round (Paranormal/TT). Unfortunately, it didn't make it to the finals. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to name it yet, but really, it wouldn't be hard to figure it out

Anyway, here's the results...

The 2006 Passionate Plume First Round FINAL Results

Contemporary:

First- Saskia Walker Double Dare (Berkley Trade)
Second- MacKenzie McKade A Tall Dark Cowboy (Ellora's Cave)
Third- Denise A. Agnew Dangerous Intentions (Ellora's Cave)
Hon. Men.- Denise A. Agnew Treacherous Wishes (Ellora's Cave)
Hon. Men.- Shelley Bradley Strip Search (Berkley Sensations- mass market)

Futuristic / Fantasy / Sci-Fi:

First- Cat Marsters Almost Human (Ellora's Cave)
Second- Vivi Anna Inferno (Kensington Aphrodisia- print and ebook)
Third- Melany Logen Torc’s Salvation (Ellora's Cave)
Hon. Men.- Lara Santiago The Lawman’s Wife (Siren Publishing)
Hon. Men.- Jory Strong Fallon Mates: Roping Savannah (Ellora's Cave)

Historical:

First- Jade Lee Burning Tigress (Leisure- mass market)
Second- Sharon Page Sin (Kensington Aphrodisia- print and ebook)
Third- Jessica Trapp Master of Desire (Zebra- mass market)
Hon. Men.- Sylvia Day ASK FOR IT (Kensington Brava, Trade)
Hon. Men.- Samantha Kane The Courage To Love (Ellora's Cave) [Crème Brûlée!! See my previous commentary]

Novella:

First- Anna Leigh Keaton Five Alarm Neightbor (Cobblestone Press)
Second- Nikki Alton Rodeo Man- The Cowboy anthology (Kensington Aphrodisia, trade)
Third- Loribelle Hunt Defending Serenity (Cobblestone Press)
Hon. Men.- Summer Devon Invisible Touch (Ellora's Cave)
Hon. Men.- Anna Leigh Keaton and Madison Layle Return To Me (Cobblestone Press)

Paranormal / Time Travel:

First- MacKenzie McKade Fallon’s Revenge (Samhain) [Hypothetically speaking, IF I had the honor of judging this one, and IF I had given it a really high score, I'd be proud as a mama-hen that it made it this far, would place it in my Peanut M&Ms category, and would want to totally pimp it. But since judging is anonymous, I would NEVER do so. Just sayin'.]
Second- Mechele Armstrong Blood Lines: Conduit (Loose-Id)
Third- Cheyenne McCray Seduced By Magic (St. Martin's Press- mass market) [I read this when it was first released, this is book 2 of the Magic series and I recommend that book 1, Forbidden Magic, be read first. I'd place this series at the top of my M&Ms category.]
Hon. Men.- Laura Baumbach Enthralled [note corrected spelling] (Changeling Press)
Hon. Men.- Ann Jacobs d’Argent Honor 2: Eternally (Ellora's Cave)

STROKE OF MIDNIGHT Finalists

Contemporary:

First- Anne Rigoulot - When Petals Fall
Second- Robin L. Rotham - BIG Trouble
Third- Jennifer Brassel - Secret Reflection
Hon. Men.- Julie Hurwitz - The Amazing Sex Race
Hon. Men.- Julie MenschWellons - Liar, Liar

Historical:

First- Elaine M. Powell - A Lord’s Obligations
Second- Evie Byrne - Dante’s Inferno
Third- Lori Schaefer - The Voyage
Hon. Men.- Seeley deBorn - Where The Wolf Lies
Hon. Men.- Sandy Storm - Fossa’s Dare

Paranormal/Time Travel:
First- Evie Byrne - Burn For You
Second- Susan Meier - Not That Innocent
Third- Holly Youngquist - Crime of Passion
Hon. Men.- Stephanie Mowery - Spell Bound
Hon. Men.- Nancy Liedel - To Find A Queen

Futuristic/Sci-Fi/Fantasy:

First- Shelli Stevens - The Captured Rose
Second- Sher LeScott - Something More Than Sex
Third- Adele Dubois - Dream Traveler
Hon. Men.- Lee Swift - Eternally Three: Touching Perfection

I just wish Passionate Ink had provided links or at least publisher names for each of these. Tracking them down could be a real pain-in-the-ass! And I absolutely would like to sample some of these.