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RWA: Golden Hearts and Ritas

July 19, 2009

Kira, Marilyn, Kimberly, Alexandra and Danniele

For the 3rd year in a row, I breakfasted with the Writing Playground on Saturday morning.  When I first met this quintuplet group, none had a book published.  Now Kira Sinclair and Kimberly Lang both have books out and Danniele Worsham is up for a Golden Heart award.  Marilyn Puett has been published in True Romance magazine and Alexandra Frost is closing in on her goal.  We all agreed that next year we would meet on Friday because 8 a.m. is too early after all that dancing the night before at the Harlequin party.




Morgan, from the RT Reviews website, asked me to pick an author to interview, so I asked Hank Phillippi Ryan.  She kindly agreed.  We filmed outside in the bright sunlight with the wind blowing, but Hank managed to stay put together while I looked like I'd been in a tornado.  It was great fun and I'll let you know when it is set to air.


There was some excitement during the week beside the RWA conference.  First the fire alarm went off in the Omni Hotel where I was staying and we had to evacuate and then it happened the next day at the Marriott.  I was in the middle of lunch and extremely reluctant to leave.  But I did.  Both were false alarms...thank goodness.




Then finally it was time for the big night...the Rita Awards given to published romance fiction novels and Golden Hearts for unpublished romance fiction manuscripts.  Lots of glitz, glamour and bling as the RWA members brought their finest to the ball.  And the Golden Heart winners are:

Gena Showalter and Jill Monroe told me they were wearing their bridesmaid dresses.

Contemporary Series Romance: Second Chance for a Family by Kim Law
Contemporary Series Romance: Suspense/Adventure:  Romance or
Retribution by Jamie Michele
Young Adult Romance: Stage Fright by Shoshana Dawn Brown
Historical Romance: Butterfly Swords by by Jeannie Lin
Regency Historical Romance:  An Inconvenient Marriage by Sara Ramsey
Inspirational Romance: Kitty's Fire by Kelly Ann Riley
Paranormal Romance:  First Grave on the right by Darynda Jones
Novel with Strong Romantic Elements:  Death, Taxes, and a french Manicure by Diane O'Brien Kelly
Romantic Suspense: Only Fear by Anne Marie Becker
Contemporary Single Title Romance:  Easy Money by Vivi Andrews

The Rita Winners Are:

Jenna Petersen and hubby, Michael

Contemporary Series Romance:  A Mother's Wish by Karen Templeton
Contemporary Series Romance:  Danger Signals by Kathleen Creighton
Young Adult Romance:  Hell Week by Rosemary Clement-Moore
Historical Romance:  The Edge of Impropriety by Pam Rosenthal
Regency Historical Romance:  My Lord and Spymaster by Joanna Bourne
Inspirational Romance:  Finding Stefanie by Susan May Warren
Romance Novella:  The Fall of Rogue Gerard by Stephanie Laurens
Paranormal Romance:  Seducing Mr. Darcy by Gwyn Cready
Novel with Strong Romantic Elements:  Tribute by Nora Roberts
Romantic Suspense:  Take No Prisoners by Cindy Gerard
Best First Book:  Oh. My. Gods. by Tera Lynn Childs
Contemporary Single Title Romance:  Not Another Bad Date by Rachel Gibson

The Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Alison Hart.

An all dessert reception followed the Awards and was well received by all (judging by the crush of people).

Bottom Line:  It's almost impossible to get chocolate off of a sequined jacket.
 

Posted by Barbara Vey on July 19, 2009 | Comments (1)