Monday, March 12, 2012

March Madness for Romance & A Giveaway!

Basketball isn't the only place where you can find some March madness! DABWAHA is a bracket tournament for romance novels created and hosted by Jane from Dear Author and Sarah from Smart Bitches Trashy Books. It's a tournament of books in which 64 books published in 2011 among 8 different categories are put up against each other bracket-style and voted on by readers over approximately 2 weeks until a single champion is crowned.

Visit the DABWAHA site to learn how the tournament works, which books are competing, the rules and prizes. Of course, while you're there, fill out your own bracket and join the fun. You have until Wednesday 11:59 am EST to submit your picks.

I submitted my bracket today and was faced with some tough decisions! I struggled with quite a few of my choices--even for the books with which I'm familiar. In fact, the hardest part was when some of my favorite books ended up facing off against each other and I had to choose! Like Dragon Bound by Thea Harrison up against Kiss of Snow by Nalini Singh?! Gah! Can both win? In the end, I simply tried to take my preferences out of the thought process and just speculated which book voters would more likely choose.

But speaking of my favorites. .. Meredith Duran is an historical romance author who wrote one of my all time favorite romances, The Duke of Shadows, published in 2008. I have read and thoroughly enjoyed all of her books to date, including A Lady's Lesson in Scandal which I was pleased to discover is the readers nomination for the historical romance category in this year's DABWAHA tournament!

Last year, I had the wonderful opportunity to meet Meredith Duran in New York City after the literacy signing at the RWA National convention in June. She wasn't participating in the signing event, but she so graciously offered to meet up with me anyway and signed two copies of A Lady's Lesson in Scandal for me! Did I mention she's super cool as well as immensely talented? I kept one copy and the other was meant for a giveaway on my blog, but I never got around to it, so I'm doing it now. :)

To celebrate the nomination of A Lady's Lesson in Scandal in DABWAHA and the upcoming release of Meredith's next novel, At Your Pleasure on March 27, 2012... I'm giving away a new copy of A Lady's Lesson in Scandal by Meredith Duran, autographed by the author! 

Giveaway Rules: 
To enter for a chance to win, you must have left at least one comment on my blog in the past, leave a comment in this post about anything related to DABWAHA or Meredith Duran's books.

Giveaway ends on Friday, March 16, 2012 at 5:00 pm EST. Open in US only. Winners have one week to claim their prize or another winner will be chosen. Please leave an email address in your comment if it is not easily found on your blog or profile page.
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At Your Pleasure by Meredith Duran will be released on March 27, 2012.

Glittering court socialites and underworld cutpurses alike know that Adrian Ferrers, Earl of Rivenham, is the most dangerous man in London. Rivenham will let nothing—not the deepening shadow of war, nor the growing darkness within him—interfere with his ambition to restore his family to its former glory. But when tasked by the king to uncover a traitor, he discovers instead a conspiracy—and a woman whose courage awakens terrible temptations. To save her is to risk everything. To love her might cost his life. 
Lady Leonora knows that Rivenham is the devil in beautiful disguise—and that the irresistible tension between them is as unpredictable as the dilemma in which Nora finds herself: held hostage on her own estate by Rivenham and the king’s men. But when war breaks out, Nora has no choice but to place her trust in her dearest enemy—and pray that love does not become the weapon that destroys them both...

Visit Meredith Duran on her website at www.meredithduran.com for information about her books including excerpts, stories behind the story, research, reviews and where to purchase her books.

Meredith Duran also blogs with fellow historical romance author Sherry Thomas at Plotters & Manipulators Unite.


 p.s. In case you were wondering... DABWAHA = Dear Author Bitchery Writing Award for Hellagood Authors

13 comments:

  1. I don't know if I have read Meredith Duran before... probably not because I seem to recall she, Sherry Thomas and Joanna Bourne were getting a lot of buzz a couple of years back and I known I read Bourne's Spy Master's Lady and liked it - but never got around reading the other books in that series - and I Tried a couple of Thomas' books but didn't manage to finish any of them. So it's likely I skipped Duran all together because I probably thought I Wasn't going to like it.

    But now you made me feel like I should read her books.

    As for DABWAHA, I always mean to participate but end up forgetting submitting my bracket, plus, the site isn't really loading into my compy :(

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  2. I did the complete opposite! LOL I went with my heart and voted for my favorite books. Once I did that, it was actually pretty easy, even though I have read almost all the books (first time this happens!). It worked so well that my two favorite books of the year ended up going head to head in my hypothetical final battle, there’s no way they’ll win, but to me they are the winners. Having said that, I’m still thinking about changing my votes and try to actually guess the real winner… Decisions, decisions, they make life so hard!

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  3. I HEART Meredith Duran and A Lady's Lesson in Scandal is one of my favorite books ever! OMG, the first time I met her at RWA, she helped get additional chocolate and was just the sweetest person ever ever ever! Sorry, I'll stop gushing now. :D

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  4. I also completely by DABWAHA bracket today. Mostly guessing, but I guessed last year and did the best I've ever done :) And thank you for explaining what DABWAHA stands for - I've always wondered :) Good luck!

    I don't think I've ever read Meredith Duran, but once I get my m/f mojo back I'll try one of her books :)

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  5. I haven't read many--most--of the books chosen, so it was pretty much all guesswork for me.

    On the plus side :grin: it's good to have no expectations.

    Good luck!

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  6. I keep meaning to check DABWAHA. Thanks for reminding me! I hope you're having a good week!

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  7. I entered DABWAHA, too. I picked Meredith's book for Round 1, but in the next round, it's pitted against What I Did For A Duke. How can two such good books be pitted against each other so early?

    penfield716(AT)yhoo(DOT)com

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  8. I haven't read any of Meredith's books before. I'll look for them because I'm going through a historical phase at present.

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  9. It's so hard to pick books for DABWAHA, because a lot of times I have to choose between books I love! I had a hard time picking between Fate's Edge by Ilona Andrews and Kiss of Snow by Nalini Singh. Who could choose?

    rwschwarz11ATgmailDOTcom

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  10. I'm with Shelley. I haven't heard of this author, but the books sound right up my alley.

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  11. I'm ashamed to admit that I haven't read any of her books yet. I'm pretty sure that I've checked out her books from the library before but sadly they have gone back unread. I may have to remedy that today though...:)

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  12. Who did you choose in the end, Christine? :P I went with Kiss of Snow. *crossing fingers* I try to go with logic and buzz :)

    Oh and no need to enter me in the contest, Christine :P

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  13. Thank you all for entering my giveaway! I just posted the winner of A Lady's Lesson in Scandal. Brandy.. you might want to take a look. ; )

    Good luck to all of you playing in the DA BWAHA tournament. I'm not going to hold my breath or anything.. but I'm currently tied for 4th place with 10 other people! I'm reveling in this success before it all goes down the tubes. lol!

    @nath... I went with Shadowfever by KMM for the final book. I would have loved to see either Silk is For Seduction or Kiss of Snow make it to #1, but I decided to make my selections based on what I think the fans would vote for. KMM has a HUGE following and I think there will be a huge voter turnout for her. We'll see..

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