It’s awards season for romance writers! The RITA Awards are announced every year at the Romance Writers of America durning their Annual Conference. This year, the lucky attendees (of which I am not one — sniffle, sniffle) get to go to Disney World. While the days are filled with any number of excellent workshops, seminars and panels, one of the high points is the ceremony that acknowledges, as the RWA puts it, “excellence in the romance genre.”*
Categories cover a range of subgenres, including Series Romance, Contemporary, Historical, Paranormal, and Inspirational, among others. I’m watching the Historical category (duh!) and my youngest daughter was excited to see two of her favorite books of the last year nominated for best Young Adult Romances. I haven’t read all the finalists myself, obviously, but I’m thrilled for all of the writers nominated!
Below are the books we’re cheering for at our house:
Nominated in Best Historical Category
To Beguile a Beast, by Elizabeth Hoyt
Knight of Pleasure, by Margaret Mallory
Nominated in Young Adult
Don’t Judge a Girl by Her Cover by Ally Carter
Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles
If you want to see if any of your favorite books from 2009 are nominated, check out the complete list of finalists in ALL categories here: http://www.rwanational.org/cs/2010_rita_finalists
Have you read any of the nominated books? Do they strike you as award-worthy?
*Quoted from the RWA website. http://www.rwanational.org/cs/contests_and_awards/rita_awards
Ann Stephens 