2006 Reader Poll is now closed

Our tenth annual reader poll for the best and worst of the past year’s crop of romances opened January 16th, 2006, and closes at midnight, February 19th. Our first set of interim results went online January 30th; daily interim results were posted between January 31st and February 5th, and the final look at interim results just went online today, February 6th.

We are polling for the best and worst in 2005 romance reading – books eligible must have a first US publication date (copyright date) of 2005. This is a lengthy ballot and you may find it helpful to save it to your hard drive or print it out in order to study it before filling it out online and submitting it. Except where noted otherwise – ie, Best Chick Lit/Women’s Fiction – these categories are various romance categories (Favorite Funny Romance) and sub-genres (Alternate Reality Romance). But as we do not like to dictate to our readers and in past years non-genre romances have won or placed in categories. Your votes are up to you.

Here’s a table of all 2005 published books granted DIK status at AAR. This table was created from the “All Desert Isle Keeper Reviews” option on our Power Search page…it’s possible that additional 2005 releases may be added during this poll; I’ll update the table as necessary.

Grade Title Author Book Type Sensuality Published Reviewed ReviewerA The Mysterious Miss M Diane Gaston Eur Hist Warm 2005 12/29/2005 JeanneA The Lincoln Lawyer Michael Connolly Mystery N/A 2005 12/14/2005 EllenA Red Lily Nora Roberts Contemp Warm 12/2005 11/30/2005 LizA The Perfect Waltz Anne Gracie Eur Hist Warm 2005 11/26/2005 JessicaA- Music of the Night Lydia Joyce Eur Hist Hot 11/2005 10/31/2005 SandyA- His Dark Desires Jennifer St. Giles Amer Hist Warm 11/2005 10/19/2005 SandyA- A Breath of Snow and Ashes Diana Gabaldon Hist Fict Warm 2005 10/16/2005 EllenA- Leaving Normal Stef Ann Holm Contemp Warm 2005 10/16/2005 LeaA- It Happened One Autumn Lisa Kleypas Eur Hist Hot 10/2005 09/22/2005 CherylA- Dark Lover J.R. Ward Vamp Rom Hot 2005 09/22/2005 SybilA- The Courtesan Susan Carroll Renaissance Warm 2005 09/08/2005 JaneA Match Me If You Can Susan Elizabeth Phillips Contemp Warm 2005 08/06/2005 LeaA- A Season To Be Sinful Jo Goodman Eur Hist Hot 2005 08/02/2005 SybilA- The Historian Elizabeth Kostova Hist Myst N/A 2005 07/27/2005 SandyA Anna’s Book Barbara Vine Mystery N/A 1994 06/25/2005 RachelA- The Sinner’s Tale Will Davenport Hist Fict N/A 2005 06/21/2005 DianaA- Black Rose Nora Roberts Contemp Warm 06/2005 05/31/2005 LeaA- Warprize Elizabeth Vaughan Fant Rom Subtle 2005 05/23/2005 JenniferA- With Child Janice Kay Johnson Series Kisses 05/2005 05/20/2005 EllenA- My Surrender Connie Brockway Eur Hist Warm 2005 05/16/2005 EllenA- Simply Unforgettable Mary Balogh Eur Hist Warm 2005 05/10/2005 JaneA- The Dark Queen Susan Carroll Renaissance Warm 2005 05/03/2005 LynnA- Till Next We Meet Karen Ranney Eur Hist Hot 05/2005 04/16/2005 EllenA- Marrying Mozart Stephanie Cowell Hist Fict Subtle 2005 04/10/2005 LynnA- Flirting with Danger Suzanne Enoch Contemp Warm 03/2005 02/16/2005 SandyA Mr. Impossible Loretta Chase Hist Rom Warm 03/2005 02/16/2005 SandyA- Nothing More To Lose Kathryn Shay Contemp Warm 02/2005 01/19/2005 EllenA- What Do You Say to a Naked Elf? Cheryl Sterling Fant Rom Warm 01/2005 01/07/2005 BlytheA- Hot Target Suzanne Brockmann Rom Susp Warm 2005 01/04/2005 JenniferA Survivor in Death J.D. Robb Fut Rom Susp Hot 01/2005 12/13/2004 Jennifer

The results of this poll become more and more important in the romance community every year – we’ve read about them at the backs of books by more than one best-selling author. We would like this year’s poll to be the best ever, so make your voice heard and cast your vote today! Remember that we’ll close the polls at midnight, February 19th.

We scrutinize each ballot to prevent ballot-box stuffing and ask that you please vote only once, and only for romances that have on their copyright page a first published date of 2005 or “first US publication date” of 2005. If we believe a ballot is bogus, doesn’t provide a name and valid email address, or contains too many votes for books published prior to 2005, the ballot in its entirety will be discarded.

The results are only as valid as ballots sent in, which means your vote is critical. And, when we receive multiple ballots listing the names of a few lesser-known authors in multiple categories, it presents problems for those of us validating and counting the ballots. While we do not discourage anyone from voting, we’d like to believe that the votes we receive are from readers (and authors wearing their reader’s hats) committed to the choices they’ve made. In order to verify votes, we do ask for your name and email address, but will never post either online. You must vote in at least six categories for your ballot to be accepted. Please take your time filling out the ballot – include all the information requested. When asked for a favorite/least title, author, or character, you must choose just one.

Once you submit your ballot, you will be automatically returned to our home page.

If for some reason you get an error message when trying to submit this ballot, you can email your choices ]]> – (subject line: 2005 Annual Reader Poll).

Please remember: do not “waste” a vote by submitting a title with a copyright for a year other than 2005 or by voting “wrong” in a category – links are provided to explain how to avoid pitfalls such as choosing “Balogh’s Slightly series” in the Best Series category, which, btw, is for the best in series/category book rather than the best series of connected books.

 

Your name
Your email address
Best Romance (title and author)
Favorite Funny (title and author)
Most-Hanky Read (title and author)
Most Luscious Love Story (title and author)

Most Tortured Hero (name, title, and author)

Strongest Heroine (name, title, and author)

Best Hero (name, title, and author)

Best Heroine (name, title, and author)

Best Couple (names, title, and author)

Best Villain ( name, title, and author – name will not be revealed in results)

Most Annoying Lead Character (name, title, and author)

Best Author Who Debuted in 2005 (name)
Best Buried Treasure (title and author)
Guiltiest Pleasure (title and author)
Author Most Glommed in 2005

Best Cabin or Road (title and author)

Best Medieval/Renaissance (title and author):
Best European Historical (title and author)
Best traditional Regency (title and author)
Best Amer Hist or Frontier (title and author)
Best Contemporary (title and author)
Best Series/Category Book (title and author)
Best Romantic Suspense (title and author)
Best Alternate Reality (title and author)
Best Chick Lit/Women’s Fiction (title and author)

Best Short Story (Short story title, author, anthology title)

Author You Gave Up On in 2005
Author Others Love that You Don’t
Most Disappointing (title and author)
Worst (title and author)

Purplest Prose (Title and author of book with the most purple prose, sexual or otherwise)

Search our reviews database by Title or Author by Titleby Author’s Last Nameby Author’s First Name Do a more in-depth review search via Power Search

Use Freefind to locate other material at the site  

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