NAC Mini-Challenge: Battle Royale Roundup

For April, Literary Escapism held a mini challenge that pitted two different author sites – Deadline Dames and Fangs, Fur & Fey – against each other to see which could get the most reviews up. The goal was to read up to 5 new authors sometime during the month.

Within 30 days, 15 bloggers discovered 29 new authors and read 41 different novels, which resulted in 50 reviews showing up on the web.  Not only did everyone post these reviews on their own blogs, but it appears that all the reviews were posted at least in one other location.  That’s amazing.  My hope for this challenge was that we would help get the word out on these amazing authors and I think we did a pretty good job.  Check out all these reviews that showed up:

Deadline Dames – 19

1. Kay and Lexie both checked out Devon Monk’s Magic to the Bone
2. SandyG entered Jenna Black’s Morgan Kingsley series with her review for The Devil Inside and Sarah returned with her review for The Devil’s Due.
3. Michele found Jocelynn Drake’s Nightwalker
4. Sarah read Keri Arthur’s Generation 18, while Nicola O./Alpha Heroes gave us a great overview on her Riley Jenson series.
5. Lilith Saintcrow acquired a few new readers when Kay and Sarah found Strange Angels, WonderBunny came across the first Dante Valentine novel, Working for the Devil, and Wayfaring Writer found the first Jill Kismet novel, Night Shift.
6. Donna S entered Rachel Vincent’s Shifter world with her review of Stray, while Tynga and Sarah get caught up with the latest release, Shift.  Michele discovered Vincent’s new YA novel, My Soul to Take.
7. Becky LeJeune and WonderBunny check out Toni Andrews’ the first Mercy novel, Beg for Mercy.
8. Becky LeJeune enters the world of superheroes with Jackie Kessler and Caitlin Kittredge’s Black and White.

Fangs, Fur & Fey – 32

1. Tynga discovered RJ Anderson’s Faery Rebels
2. Tynga found a new author with My Love LIes Bleeding by Alyxandra Harvey
3. Lexie and Kay dived into Carrie Ryan’s The Forest of Hands and Teeth
4. SandyG found a great new addition to the UF world with Diana Pharaoh Francis’ Bitter Night
5. WonderBunny took a chance with Ekaterina Sedia’s The Alchemy of Stone
6. WayfaringWriter and Cari’s Book Blog went back to the eleventh grade with Heather Brewer’s Eleventh Grade Burns
7. Cari’s Book Blog checked out a collection of stories by Holly Black with her The Poison Eaters and Other Short Stories
8. Donna S stepped into an altered Atlanta with Ilona Andrew’s Magic Bites while DarklyReading returned for a short trip with Magic Mourns (found in the anthology Must Love Hellhounds)
9. SandyG and Donna S checked out Jeaniene Frost’s new Night Huntress spin-off, First Drop of Crimson, while SAHMbookreviewers started the series with Halfway to the Grave.
10. Throuthehaze Reads checked out a new vampire mythos with Jeri Smith-Ready’s Wicked Game.
11. Throuthehaze Reads and SandyG was in the mood for a little demonic reading and opened Jill Myles’ Gentlemen Prefer Succubi.
12. WonderBunny took a chance with John Levitt’s Dog Days.
13. WayfaringWriter went all romancy with Kathryn Smith’s Be Mine Tonight.
14. Throuthehaze Reads checked out a novel I’ve had my eye on with Lisa Mantchev’s Eyes Like Stars
15. SandyG was introduced to the Wolves of Mercy Falls with Maggie Stiefvater’s Shiver, while Cari’s Book Blog and WayfaringWriter returned to the falls with Linger.
16. Sarah met Maxine Kiss from Marjorie M. Liu’s The Iron Hunt.
17. WayfaringWriter entered the world of the Fae with Melissa Marr’s Wicked Lovely
18. Donna S and DarklyReading wanted a more heavenly presence and checked out Nalini Singh’s Angels’ Blood while Tynga returned with Archangel’s Kiss.
19. Cari’s Book Blog entered a vampire community while Rachel Caine’s Glass House and Becky LeJeune found out how the weather is really dealt with in Ill Wind.
20. Lexie checked out the world of Marla Mason with Tim Pratt’s Blood Engines
21. Becky LeJeune checked out a different Fae world with Yasmine Galenorn’s Witchling.

Talk about some great reading.  Did you see the diverse selection from above?  So…for the final tally, the score is

Deadline Dames – 19 vs Fangs, Fur & Fey – 32

It looks like the Fangs, Fur & Fey took this challenge.  Now that we know which site won the battle royale, let’s find out who the winners are of the great prizes the Deadline Dames threw in for the challenge.  Remember, all one had to do to enter this contest was to review any novel by either site and viola.  With help from the Research Randomizer and the List Randomizer, the 10 winners are:

1. Michele
2. Becky LeJeune – A copy of The Road to Hell, an ARC of Shades of Gray, and a Hunger button by Jackie Kessler
3. Donna S – A copy of Cry Mercy & something else to be announced by Toni Andrews
4. Kay – A copy of The Eternal Kiss by Karen Mahoney
5. SandyG – A copy of The Devil’s Playground by Jenna Black
6. Cari’s Book Blog – A copy of Shift by Rachel Vincent
7. WonderBunny – The first three books in the Magic series by Devon Monk
8. Lexie – A copy of the Mammoth Book of Special Ops Romance by Rinda Elliot
9. Throuthehaze Reads – One book from any author who participates at Fangs, Fur & Fey – Radiant Shadows
10. Nicola O./Alpha Heroes – a copy of Flesh Circus by Lilith Saintcrow

Congratulations everyone!  Here are the books they get to chose from.  Each winner needs to email me at myjaxon AT gmail with which author they would like.  As I hear from people, I’ll take out the ones that are taken.

Update: All the winners have contacted me, so I’ve taken the list down. Congratulations to all the winners again!

Alright, I think that’s everything. The next New Authors Mini Challenge will begin on June 1st, but I’ll be announcing it on May 22nd.  This one will be totally non-genre specific.  I hope everyone is having a blast with these mini challenges and I’ll keep them coming on the even months.