We won an award! We won an award!

IT LOOKS LIKE THIS:

Isn't it pretty?

It's one of the first annual SFR Galaxy Awards, and you can read more about them HERE.

Basically, the way it works is that a handful of respected authorities on Science Fiction Romance get together and nominate the works - movies, books, short stories - that they thought were outstanding in the previous year. This year, there were eight judges, and they nominated close to forty works. Among them, Fortune's Hero.

I owe the honor to the fabulous Charlee Allden from Smart Girls Love Sci Fi (and paranormal romance).

She told me she loved the book right after she read it, and she wrote a killer review for it, and then, when it came time to name her favorite science fiction romances of 2012, she gave Fortune's Hero the "Best Enemies to Lovers Story" award.

Thank you, Charlee!

Here's what she said about it:

In Fortune’s Hero, by Jenna Bennett, Quinn Conlan is being held in the Marica-3 prison colony where he has been tortured, died, and revived repeatedly. When his chance for escape comes he must rely on the cooperation of the woman who has stood by and watched his torture with cold, emotionless eyes. This story builds on some of my favorite SFR elements and shapes them into a convincing and memorable journey, providing many trials and dire circumstances, to bringing these two opposing characters together.

I'm psyched, of course. I'm beyond psyched, honestly. I've been talking about little else for the past two days. I'm so thrilled I can barely stand myself.

And what makes it extra sweet, is that it's this book. It's nice when someone likes anything we writers write, and it's very nice when they nominate what they like for an award, but it's extra special when it's a book we've fought and sweated for. Making the transition from cozy mystery to futuristic romantic suspense was a huge leap of faith for me, and I often felt like I was way out on a very thin limb, with the cold breeze blowing up my skirt. I had no idea whether I'd be able to make it come off or not. I doubted that anyone would want to read it, and if they did, that they'd like it.

This makes me feel a lot better!

My Life in Books

I borrowed this fun little exercise from Charlee Allden at Smart Girls Love SciFi who very kindly mentioned Fortune's Hero as how she would like to die, because "if you have to go, may as well go out a hero." Can't argue with that.

The point is to use only books you have read in 2012 to answer these questions, and to try not to repeat a book title.

Here's what I came up with:

Describe yourself: Too Hot to Handle (Aleah Barley)

 

How do you feel: In Deep Voodoo (Stephanie Bond)

 

Describe where you currently live: City of Secrets (Kelli Stanley)

 

If you could go anywhere, where would you go: New York to Dallas (J.D. Robb)

 

Your favorite form of transportation: Dead Run (Josh Lanyon)

 

Your best friend is: The Scandalous, Dissolute, No-Good Mr. Wright (Tessa Dare)

 

You and your friends are: The Unseen, The Uninvited, The Unholy (Heather Graham)

 

What’s the weather like: A Killing Frost (Patricia Wynn)

 

You fear: Alexander Outland, Space Pirate (G.J. Koch)

 

What is the best advice you have to give: The Dickens with Love (Josh Lanyon)  

 

Thought for the day: Try Me (Diane Alberts)

 

How I would like to die: Heart Trouble (Josh Lanyon)

 

My soul’s present condition: Snowball in Hell (Josh Lanyon)

I read quite a lot of Josh Lanyon books, as you can see. A lot of other stuff that didn't make it onto the list too; not because the books weren't good, but because the titles didn't fit. (Josh has good titles for something like this.) Sherry Thomas, Lois McMaster Bujold, Janet Evanovich, Christine Bell, Jennifer Probst, Misa Ramirez, Linnea Sinclair... to name just a few. The point is that I read in 2012. I read a lot.

Did you read any of these? If you decide to give My Life In Books a try yourself, let me know how it goes.