Let’s get started, shall we?

The bracket in 2nd Place in Final Championship: fv_angela! You win a Kindle Fire 8.9″ 32GB, donated by Jaci Burton.

The much-coveted Wooden Spoon prize for worst bracket: AMJ! 

You win a $50 LUSH gc, a $50 TeaForte gc, signed copies of MelJean Brook’s Iron Seas series, including print anthologies (Burning Up, The Iron Duke, Heart of Steel), trade copies of Riveted and upcoming Enthralled Anthology (available in July) , plus Desperately Seeking Shapeshifter, by Jessica Sims, and Girl’s Guide to Man Hunting, and Care & Feeding of an Alpha Male by Jessica Clare, donated by MelJean Brook and Jessica Clare.

Random Middle Bracket prizes are given to… random middle brackets. In 224th place? 568th? No worries, people are awesome so we have prizes!

The bracket belonging to Sciley wins a $20 Amazon gift card and a signed set of the Elemental Assassin urban fantasy books donated by Jennifer Estep.

The bracket belonging to Sarah Wynde wins a $20 Amazon gift card and a signed set of the Mythos Academy young adult urban fantasy books donated by Jennifer Estep.

The bracket belonging to cbackson wins a $20 Amazon gift card and signed copies of Karma Girl and Hot Mama (trade paperback versions) in the Bigtime paranormal romance series donated by Jennifer Estep.

The bracket belonging to bookslave2 wins a set of the Colbana books - Blade Song & Night Blade -  ebook or print, reader’s choice & $15 GC to Amazon or BN, from author Shiloh Walker/J.C. Daniels.

The bracket belonging to moonsurfer wins a $25 gift card to Dawn Addonizio’s jewelry store.

The bracket belonging to Nicole Helm also wins a $25 gift card to Dawn Addonizio’s jewelry store.

The bracket belonging to JMaureen wins all of Carina Press’ March 2013 releases: Bonds of Need by Lynda Aicher, The League of Illusion: Prophecy by Vivi Anna, Hunger Awakened by Dee Carney, A Fine Romance by Christi Barth, Tactical Strike by Kaylea Cross, Magick by Moonrise by Laura Navarre, Lethal Business by W. Soliman, Soul of Kandrith by Nicole Luiken, Cards & Caravans by Cindy Spencer Page, Most Likely To Succeed by Kate Davies, Pooka in My Pantry by R.L. Naquin, and Lord of Secrets by Alyssa Everett. Plus, the bracket owner will also receive the Carina Press titles nominated for the 2013 DABWAHA, all provided by Carina Press.

The bracket belonging to LisaLisa wins a prize pack from author Vivian Arend that includes signed trade copies of the first three books in the Six Pack Ranch series and a $100 Amazon or B&N giftcard, winner’s choice.

The bracket belonging to GirlyNerd will receive the Kickass Historical Romance Prize Pack, provided by Sara Lindsey, last year’s DABWAHA winning bracketologist, Tessa Dare, and Courtney Milan. The prize pack includes: a signed paperback set of Tessa Dare’s Spindle Cove series, including 2012 RITA Winner A Night to Surrender, DABWAHA 2013 Nominee A Lady by Midnight (plus signed card for free download of the Spindle Cove novella and Tessa Dare STICKERS!); a signed paperback of Sherry Thomas’s 2010 RITA Winner Not Quite a Husband; Courtney Milan’s The Novella Collection, including DABWAHA 2013 Nominee The Governess Affair, and DABWAHA 2013 Nominee The Duchess Wars (winner’s choice of digital format); signed paperbacks of Sara Lindsey’s Weston family novels; and a Romance Novel Magnetic Poetry Kit to write your own naughty interludes and happily ever afters.

The bracket belonging to I Wear Stetsons Now signed copies of Coveted and Kept from the Coveted series and a $20 Amazon or BN gift certificate, winner’s choice, from Shawntelle Madison.

The bracket belonging to Melody1228 wins a cupcake prize package from TBR LLC (aka Jane and Sarah).

The bracket belonging to Southernraeder also wins a cupcake prize package from TBR LLC (aka Jane and Sarah).

Hot diggity, we had TWO 2nd Chance Tournament Winners.

Spoony wins an iPad mini (16GB wifi) with digital copies of the Kowalski series, donated by Shannon Stacey.

AND!

Socrates31, you ALSO win an iPad Mini (16GB wifi) donated by Jen Frederick.

Congratulations to all the prize winners, and big bouquets of sweet-smelling and everlasting thanks to everyone who provided a prize for this year’s tournament.

If you’re a winner, expect an email from us shortly – or you can email Sarah at sarahATsmartbitchestrashybooksDOTTYcom to unleash all the excitement you’ve got.

Thank you!

I think balloon Tigger looks extra happy, doesn’t he?

Special awesomeness: in celebration, Riptide Publishing is offering 30% off backlist titles, and 50% editor’s choice titles from today until 19 April, so if you’re curious about the winning book, or any of their other titles, stock up now!

Congratulations to the author, and to Riptide, who promoted the hell out of the final. There were a LOT of votes cast in the championship!

Congratulations also to our second place finalist, Julie James, and her book About Last Night. 

Ms. Roux wins an iPad from us, and so does…Vi! 

Congratulations Vi! You also win an iPad for having the mostest-correctest bracket of all, predicting not only the winning book, but the championship duel, and three-quarters of the Final Four. 79% pick percentage? NICE.

I’ll be posting the prize announcements this morning, so stay tuned. There are a LOT of prizes to award!

Thank you to everyone who played along, who mongered the votes and bribed and pleaded, and to all the awesome people who donated prizes.

Most of all, thanks to Jane, who is the poll master and the Chief Bracketologist.

See you guys next year for DABWAHA 2014!

The poll is open from 10 AM to 10 PM CST Today.

It’s time to announce the winning bracket for the Final Four round. With a definite lead, the winner is, Vi! Congrats Vi!

You win a Kindle Paperwhite, donated by Julie James… who coincidentally is one of the finalists, and in third place in the tournament as well. Party all around!

Fun facts: Vi correctly predicted the finalists, Stars & Stripes and About That Night, and has Stars & Stripes set to win. Erin F, our champion in the past rounds, had Archangel’s Storm facing About That Night in her bracket for the championship — as did Julie James, who is in 3rd place.

Plus, 47 people picked About That Night to make the championship – while over 130 had picked Archangel’s Storm. And 29 people picked Stars & Stripes to win. Y’all made some smart picks.

As Jane noted, both books were reader nominees. Both books are contemporary romances as well. I had no idea bracketology could be so entertaining. I’m calling ESPN right now about a job covering the book tournaments.

Remember, no matter how busted your bracket is, there are many, many excellent random bracket prizes to be awarded next week. You may not win the tournament, but you may win something. And no matter where your bracket is in the standings (I’m in 212th place! WOO!), we’re so glad you’re playing along with us this year.

Congratulations to the winner and the finalists, and on to the Championship Round!

Interesting factoid here. Both books were reader nominated rather than part of the slate of books put together by Dear Author bloggers and Sarah from Smart Bitches.

The voting period will be from 10 AM to 10 PM CST on Monday, April, 8, 2013.

April 6, Noon to Midnight CST

April 6, Midnight to Noon CST

A Lady by Midnight by Tessa Dare v. Stars & Stripes by Abigail Roux

April 6, noon to midnight CST

About That Night by Julie James v. Easy by Tammara Webber

We had a tie for the Sweet Sixteen round, which was decided by our trusty tiebreaker.  And lo and behold, the same person won the Elite Eight round as well!

The Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight winner is: Erin F! It’s hard to argue with an 85% pick percentage. We should be asking Erin for lotto numbers, right?

If we were going by pick percentage, 2nd place would be held by Julie James, who awesomely picked her own book to win the whole tournament (word), and holds a 82% pick percentage rate.

But with the total points accumulated, right now 2nd place in the tournament standings is held by V, who is one point behind Erin F. It’s a close matchup going into the Final Four. Erin has picked About That Night to win, while V. picked fan favorite Stars & Stripes, which beat Archangel’s Storm in the second round of the Elite Eight. So either player could emerge victorious in the next round – or neither!

And then there’s the Second Chance Tourney, where two players, Spoony and Socrates31, are tied for first, both selecting Stars & Stripes as their winner.

Let’s talk prizes, shall we?

Erin F has won a signed paperback set of the Guild Hunter series, including Angels’ Flight, donated by Nalini Singh, and a Jane Eyre scarf, a beaded reading bracelet, and an ARC ofFirebird, donated by Susanna Kearsley. Congratulations, and thank you to Nalini and Susanna!

The next round of voting begins Saturday, April 6. A Lady by Midnight by Tessa Dare and Stars & Stripes by Abigail Roux will face each other to make the finals. Plus, About That Night by Julie James will battle Easy by Tammara Webber for the other final round spot.

Get ready, get set, and good luck!