First, congratulations to the winner of the DABWAHA 2012 Tournament:

With over 60% of the vote, this book was a truly impressive champion.

And now it’s time to award the prizes! Because the prizes are AMAZING.

For winning the DABWAHA, Sara Lindsey will receive a 16GB ipad, e-ARC of Coveted, Tote Bag filled with Coveted swag, $50 iTunes gift card, e-copy of “Because of You” and e-copy of “Ride With Me” by Ruthie Knox, courtesy of Jessica Scott, Shawntelle Madison (who is last year’s DABWAHA winner and now a published author), and Sarah and Jane.

For the inestimable honor of having the very worst bracket, the Wooden Spoon prize goes to Tony KS. The Wooden Spoon prize this year is a “Rest and Relaxation” Package: signed copies of :Meljean Brook‘s The Iron Duke, and Heart of Steel, Jessica Sims‘ Beauty Dates the Beast, Jessica Clare‘s  The Girl’s Guide to Manhunting, a $50 Lush gift card, and a $50 TeaForte gift card. This prize was donated by Jessica Sims and MelJean Brook.

For coming in second in the DABWAHA Tournament, K. Nichols wins an 8G Nook Tablet, a prize donated by Julie James, the winner of last year’s DABWAHA, and a Final Four finalist this year.

The winner of the Second Chance bracket, determined by tiebreaker was Julia Markovic, and she wins a prize donated by Maya Banks: a Kindle Fire, a 100 Amazon gift card, and an ARC of Echoes at Dawn (KGI #5).

The second place finisher, determined by tiebreaker, in the Second Chance bracket was Julia Turner, and she wins a $50 GC to Amazon or B&N from Eric Selinger and Sarah Frantz.

Three random bracket prizes were offered by Jennifer Estep:

• Victoria Yarbrough wins paper copies of SPIDER’S BITE, WEB OF LIES, VENOM, TANGLED THREADS, SPIDER’S BITE, and BY A THREAD in Estep’s Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series and a $10 Amazon gift card
• Ursula Avery wins paper copies of KARMA GIRL, JINX, and HOT MAMA in Estep’s Bigtime paranormal romance series; a Kindle or Nook e-copy of A KARMA GIRL CHRISTMAS e-story; and a $10 Amazon gift card
• K Shelley wins paper copies of TOUCH OF FROST and KISS OF FROST in Estep’s Mythos Academy young adult urban fantasy series; a paper ARC of DARK FROST (out on May 29); and a $10 Amazon gift card

And for being the champion of the tournament, Karen Marie Moning wins an iPad from Jane and Sarah, and To Be Read LLC.

Winners, please email me at sarahATsmartbitchestrashybooksDOTcom, and we can arrange for prize awarding mayhem.

Thanks to Avon and Carina Press and Harlequin for advertising on the site this year, and for offering prizes to the winners. Thanks also to Helen Kay Dimon, Cindy Hwang at Penguin, Jaci Burton, Julie James, Jessica Scott and Shawntelle Madison, Jessica Sims, MelJean Brook, Maya Banks, Jennifer Estep, Sarah Frantz, and Eric Selinger for offering prizes.

And thanks to Jane, who woke up at midnight to turn the polls on and off for the better part of the tournament, and did some amazing tournament software management behind the scenes to make the whole shebang run smoothly.

And biggest thanks to all of you who made this year’s tournament so much fun, from the Twitter trash talking to the videos to the vote encouragement. It was tremendous fun, and you helped make it that way. See you next year!

The winner of the Final Four round is: Sara Lindsey! 

The Final Four prize is offered by author Jaci Burton, and the prize is really awesome: a $100 gift certificate to Amazon or Barnes & Noble (winner’s choice), and autographed copies of Burton’s Play by Play series (The Perfect Play, Changing The Game, Taking A Shot), as well as an autographed Taking A Shot postcard signed by cover model Jason Vendryes. NICE. Thank you to Jaci, and congratulations to Sara Lindsey!

Sara is one point ahead of the 2nd place bracket, which belongs to Elise Staples. Staples picked Kiss of Snow to win, while Lindsey has picked Shadowfever – and the championship voting takes place tomorrow, 2 April, from midnight to 10pm CST.

Interestingly, Shadowfever was chosen by 144 people to win the championship, while Kiss of Snow is the predicted champion on 112 brackets. So the Moning book has a slight advantage, but voting gets crazy – so get ready. Game On!

Time to crown the winner of the Elite Eight round of the DABWAHA tournament!

The winner of the Elite Eight round is: Sara Lindsey! Her bracket had 110 points, and she picked Shadowfever by Karen Marie Moning to win, and she correctly picked all four Final Four books. NICE JOB.

Sara wins a prize from Penguin, full of Penguiny goodness: a selection of books and ARCs provided by Cindy Hwang, including:

• ORACLE’S MOON, Thea Harrison
• ANGELS’ FLIGHT, Nalini Singh
• PROTECTOR, Catherine Mann
• SPELLBOUND FALLS, Janet Chapman
• PASSION AND PRETENSE, Susan Gee Heino
• HUNTER’S RISE, Shiloh Walker
• WEDDED IN SCANDAL, Jade Lee
• PASSION WEARS PEARLS, Renee Bernard
• THE SURRENDER OF MISS FAIRBOURNE, Madeline Hunter
• JUST DOWN THE ROAD, Jodi Thomas
• THE DUKE’S PERFECT WIFE, Jennifer Ashley
• IF I FELL, Kate Noble
• SIERRA FALLS, Veronica Wolff
• ABOUT THAT NIGHT, Julie James
• TAKING A SHOT, Jaci Burton
• WALTZ THIS WAY, Dakota Cassidy
• WICKED EDGE, Nina Bangs
• BLOODRIGHT, Karin Tabke
• SWEET ADDICTION, Maya Banks

Second place is the extremely prescient DA Janine, who tied for second with Elise Staples. The final rounds shall be very interesting indeed. Now we have a week off before voting starts up for the Final Four, and the trash talking should begin!

The novella Unlocked by Courtney Milan will go up against Karen Marie Moning’s Shadowfever  – that should be a very interesting match. The voting will runfrom midnight to noon CDT on 31 March. And Kiss of Snow by Nalini Singh will face off A Lot Like Love by Julie James, who is last year’s champion. I wouldn’t be able to predict that one, either. Their matchup begins at noon CDT on 31 March and will run until midnight.

Congrats to the Final Four DABWAHA books, and get ready! Game on!

Between the Sweet Sixteen in the Second Chance Bracket and the DABWAHA Tournament, it’s been a flurry o’ voting around these parts. There’s been videos and trash talking and really polite trash talking – and that crazed author Julie James giving away a copy of each book defeated by A Lot Like Love. You guys are insane with the awesome, seriously.

So let’s crown us a winner! The winner of the Sweet Sixteen round, with 82 points, is Untara Rayeesa! Untara, please email me at sarahATsmartbitchestrashybooksDOOTcom to claim your prize.

And what did you win? Hot damn awesome, that’s what you won. And, from prize sponsor Carina Press, sixteen free Carina Press books of your choice! That’s a lot of reading. Get ready – and you can try out some of the Carina Press nominees from the DABWAHA, too, like Yours to Keep by Shannon Stacey, or Sweet as Sin by Inez Kelley.

Congratulations to Untara! Now, there’s more voting this weekend, so get ready!

Big Bag o' Awesome from Avon BOoks!

Winner winner ahoy! The voting was intense over the weekend, and the bracket standings changed drastically with each round. The winner of the 2nd Round of the DABWAHA is Marie Choi!

Marie wins a totebag stuffed, and I do mean stuffed (PIC) with books, courtesy of Pam Jaffee, Jessie Edwards, and the folks at Avon. There’s enough romance in that bag to last for quite awhile. Happy reading to you, Marie! Please contact me at sarahATsmartbitchestrashybooksDOTcom to claim your big bag o’ awesome.

And in other news, it’s Second Chance Tourney Time!  Bracket busted? You get a Second Chance! Starting with the Sweet 16, pick your winners – and there’s prizes for this tourney, too!

This is a separate contest – your picks in this tourney don’t override your picks in the main tourney, in other words. The winner of the 2nd Chance Bracket will receive a Kindle Fire, a $100 Amazon giftcard, and an ARC of Echoes at Dawn, book 5 in the KGI series from author Maya Banks.

2nd place in the 2nd chance will receive a $50 gift card to either Amazon or B&N from Sarah Frantz and Eric Selinger, who are celebrating the publication of their academic collection of essays titled New Approaches in Popular Romance Fiction.

Have a look at the prizes page for more information on what’s going to be awarded with each round. And, yes, there is absolutely a “Wooden Spoon” prize for the worst bracket overall, so if your bracket is hopelessly broken, you can always aim low and vote against yourself to try to score that prize.

The second chance tourney brackets are open through Wednesday, March 21. Then voting on the Sweet Sixteen begins Thursday, March 22! There’s a handy-dandy calendar online in case you need to check the dates – or add the voting to your own schedule!

I hope you’re having fun as much fun as we are as we play through. Next up: Sweet 16!

First, this tweet from SonomaLass says it all:

Darn Dukes! Screwing up everything.

Time to announce the round one winner!

In the standings, first place after round one was DA Janine, who, alas, is ineligible. Mad applause to your fine bracket picking skills, Janine. Well done!

And therefore, the winner, winner, chicken dinner is: Cherlyn Cook! Congrats Cherlyn!

Your prize was provided by Most Awesome author HelenKay Dimon, and you’ll be receiving a copy of her new Harlequin Intrigue, When She Wasn’t Looking, and a $50 B&N or Amazon gift certificate. Thank you to HelenKay for providing our round one prize!

And Cherlyn, please email me at sarahATsmartbitchestrashybooksDOTcom to claim your winnings. Congratulations!

Round Two continues today and tomorrow, and the matchups are intense, so get ready. Hope you’re enjoying the 2012 DABWAHA as much as we are.