Winner of the Preorder Giveaway!

Congratulations to CARLA KESSLER, who has won the 30-minute FaceTime or Zoom meeting. Carla, I've sent an email!

Huge thanks to everyone who preordered--and continue to order--THE STOLEN KINGDOM. I just received my complimentary audiobook yesterday, and oh my goodness, it sounds great! I so admire voice actors who can bring stories to life. 

I'm committed to keeping things going here on the blog, but my calendar is going to remain busy for a bit longer. (Also I've got to get the submission form problem resolved.) Rest assured that it's on my radar.

Thanks again, and hugs to all!

Our Winners

 CONGRATULATIONS to the following entries:

#1 THE BENEFICIARY 

#21 DESTROYING ENEMIES WITH LOVE 

#25 THE GOOD FIGHT

THE PRIZE: Ms. Wessbecher would like to see the first 50 pages of your manuscript.

Winners--please email me at facelesswords@gmail.com for specific submission instructions.

To everyone who entered: THANK YOU and WELL DONE! I hope you have found the feedback helpful and the experience positive.

Yay to all!

Secret Agent Winners!

And here are the winners:

#8 INTO THE MAZEWOOD
#34 SEAMUS OROURKE AND THE SUMMER OF SWAMP FOOT
#37 A VERY STRANGE ENCHANTED
#38 THE EVER AFTER AND OTHER BROKEN THINGS

THE PRIZE:

Ms. Hunter would like to see the first 50 pages of your manuscript! Winners, PLEASE EMAIL ME AT FACELESSWORDS@GMAIL.COM FOR SPECIFIC SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS.

Congratulations, winners! And a huge thank you to EVERYONE who participated.

Library-thon Winner

Congratulations to DAWN CREAL, who actually checked before the release date that STORMRISE was at the Fairfax County Library in Virginia. Thank you, Dawn! Dawn will receive a signed copy of STORMRISE.

Thank you to everyone who requested STORMRISE at your local libraries. (And it's not too late--your library requests are always greatly appreciated!)

Hook the Editor: We Have a Winner!!

And the winner is...

#5 -- PERSEPHONE'S WALTZ

Congratulations! Please email me at facelesswords@gmail.com for submission instructions.

And a huge round of applause for all 5 entrants! It takes courage to throw your work out there, regardless of outcome. Every time we open ourselves to the helpful critique of others, we grow as writers.

Here's to growth! Thank you all for participating.

WINNERS: HOOK THE EDITOR!

Here are our top 3:

# 3 -- CASTERS (15 YESES)
#16 -- ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD (11 YESES)
#10 -- WISH I WAS HERE (9 YESES)

Congratulations to our winners, and KUDOS to everyone who entered!

IMPORTANT: WINNERS, please email your original pitch and first 250 words to me at facelesswords@gmail.com ASAP. Posts will go live on Tuesday!

ETA:

What was I thinking?! I was supposed to choose the top FIVE. (Can you tell I've been out of town for a week?)

Here are the remaining 2 winners:

#18 -- HOVERBOARD SUPERHEROES (8 YESES)
# 5 -- PERSEPHONE'S WALTZ

Pitch for the Win: WINNERS

First of all, thank you to everyone who entered! Readers, please keep your critiques coming, as these are so helpful regardless of whether or not an entry is chosen by one of our participating authors.

I randomly assigned our 8 authors a number, and they were then able to choose their favorites in the order of their numbers. The exciting part is that, after we had our 8 winners, several of the authors came back and requested to see more! So we actually have more than 8 winners.

Without further ado:

1. ADAM HEINE chose:

#25 Flying Ships and Shadow Sweeps

and also

#6 All the Time in the World
#23 Dragon Girl

2. ERIN BEATY chose:

#12 Truth in the Treetops

3. NANCY BILYEAU chose:

#20 The Atonement of Louis Godbout

4.  ROSARIA MUNDA chose:

#21 Temple Beyond the Sea

and also

#9 Orphaned Skies

5. PETER SALOMON chose:

#4 Deep Summer

6. SARAH AHIERS chose:

#34 Being More Than OCD

7.   ALICE LOWEECEY chose:

#28 The Case of the Cat Crazy Lady

and also

#1 Killer Competition--A Killer Dogz Mystery
#3 Lethal Injection
#29 Jeweled to Death

8. HOLLY BODGER chose:

#30 The Bea Team

and also

#17 Aloha
#36 The Nine Deaths of Mr. Wiggles

And there you have it! I'd also like to point out that a couple of our authors asked for extras that someone else had already requested. All that to say--our entrants did a great job of hooking our authors!

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR THE WINNERS: Please email me RIGHT AWAY at facelesswords@gmail.com, and I will give you submission instructions. Failure to submit your first page in a timely manner may result in your forfeiting the critique.

Congratulations, everyone! And huge thanks to our lovely authors.

(To read more about them all, go HERE.)

All The Shiny Winners!

Here they are, in Jessica's own words:


My picks:

Thunder Girls (#40). This one really stood out to me in execution of writing as well as story setup, so I’m calling it my #1 pick. The Anatomy of a Taut-line Hitch (#50). While the premise behind this one may not be the most unique, but I thought was written well, and I was quite drawn to the symbolism of the knot tying.

The Summer of Miracle Maude (#47). Even though I don’t generally like dialogue for the opening line, this one was so easy to get into and immediately had voice and an internal conflict brought on by external circumstances. Memorable, engrossing, and entertaining. All good things to be. :)

Stoking Hope (#33). This one stuck with me. I want to know how the woman got into the marriage and how she’s going to survive all the changes. Women’s fiction should relate back to the reader’s life, too, and the immigrant story connecting with today just rang with all sorts of possibilities for me.

Yours in the Light (#10). I’m not certain that the structure stays so unique throughout, and the mention of writing within writing isn’t always a favorite of mine, but the informal voice of this one felt authentic, and I’m nervous that the written therapy trope might fall apart if scrutinized for confidentiality concerns… BUT, I really liked the structure and the voice, so it stood out.

Honorable Mentions:

I want to mention All the Time in the World (#12) and Fatal Errors (#28), because while neither one really grabbed me as favorites as I was doing the critiques, both of them pulled me back into the same voice and story line when I was making my top five picks as if I hadn’t stopped reading the first time. I still love the idea of the engineer making Mars rovers in her basement and a woman fired from a boss for the very thing her boss directed her to do. I just want to know more about both of these and have that “gut feeling” there’s more here.

THE PRIZES:

For 1-5, I’d like to request full manuscripts attached in an email to submissions@GoldenWheatLiterary.com, subject line: Secret Agent Contest Top 5.

For honorable mentions and anyone who I mentioned I’d like to keep reading in the comments, I’d welcome a submission, including a query letter, a complete synopsis, and the first five chapters pasted in an email to submisisons@GoldenWheatLiterary.com, subject line: Secret Agent Contest.

--
Congratulations, everyone! Winners, please be sure to follow the submission guidelines posted above. Hooray for another successful round!

And we've got some winners!

First of all, HUGE APPLAUSE for every person who entered this contest. It takes courage to throw your work in front of a group of peers. Bravo!

And now, without further ado, here are Amy's winners:

RUNNERS UP:

#6 - THE STONE WITCH'S GRANDDAUGHTER
#8 - AT 7TH AND BROADWAY
#9 - FLIGHT CLUB
#20 - THE QUESTING WITCH
#38 - BLOOD NUMBERS

THE PRIZE: Ms. Stapp would like to see your query and the first five chapters of your manuscript.

TOP PICKS:

#26 - THE PHAROAH'S DAUGHTER
#31- CONVENTIONAL MAGIC
#44 - AGAINST ALL ODDS

THE PRIZE: Ms. Stapp would like to see your full manuscript.

IMPORTANT: Please email me at facelesswords@gmail.com for specific submission instructions.

Congratulations, all!

Here are the WINNERS who GRABBED MY HEART

Congratulations to the following 3 authors, who have each won a 5-page critique from me!

They are:

1. #4 FERAL PRIME, YA Science Fiction

2. #27 THE SORCEROR'S WARNING, MG Fantasy

3. #29 TIME PASSAGES, YA Contemporary Fantasy

Winners: Please email me at authoress.edits@gmail.com for submission instructions.

A huge thanks to everyone who entered--and keep those critiques coming!

Winners of All the Books!

CONGRATULATIONS to the following randomly selected winners of our Tor Teen book giveaway!

Thanks to EVERYONE for entering, and thank you also to those of you who asked Elayne Becker such thoughtful, interesting questions. All in all, it was a great day!

THE WINNERS:

Like Never and Always by Ann Aguirre (ARC) — Krista Van Dolzer

When I Cast Your Shadow by Sarah Porter —Buba Petreska

Roar by Cora Carmack—Jamie Soranno

Dare You to Lie by Amber Lynn Natusch (ARC)—Cristin Bruggeman

Dark of the West by Joanna Hathaway (ARC)—Tiffany Meuret

Blood and Sand by C.V.Wyk—Heather Bell Adams

The Echo Room by Parker Peevyhouse (ARC)—Sherry Smith

Metaltown by Kristen Simmons—Sandy

Windwitch by Susan Dennard—Jen Schafer

The Dark Intercept by Julia Keller—Jessica Michelle Shrock

To Catch a Killer by Sheryl Scarborough—Maggie Boehme

GRAND PRIZE: A box of NINE of the above books/ARCs!—Carolyn Chambers Clark


(WINNERS:  You will receive an email from me [Jillian Boehme] shortly.)

Winners!

From Joanna:

I’ve read the entires and have picked my winners. I’m sorry that some of the comments might not be as expansive as others, but a few were hard to pin down.

#50 She Dances In Blood - this was just a great opening with nice backstory and great action
#41 The Year My Mother Ruined My Life - such a cute and well executed hook

The prize:

A 100-page read for each!

Winners, please email me at facelesswords(at)gmail.com for specific submission instructions.

Congratulations!

Write Her Bio Contest Winners

Okay, this wasn't easy!  I was originally a bit disappointed by the small number of entries (only 13), but in the end, that turned out to be a blessing.  I'm sure I'd still be wringing my hands over which to choose!

I so appreciate the vast amounts of creativity that went into these efforts.  A HUGE THANK YOU to all thirteen of you!  Be assured that I read every entry more than once.  More than more than once.

In the end, though humor abounded, I decided to choose the 2 entries in which the writer really captured me.  It's a indescribable feeling when someone shows they've been paying attention--really getting to know the "you" that's been put out there.  It's all sorts of affirming.

So, without further ado, here are my two winning entries:


AUTHORESS BIO by Rebecca LuElla Miller

Loretta Langley writes young adult fantasy. As an aspiring actress and musician, she majored in music education in college. However, her passion soon turned to writing. After all, her first "claim to fame" had come in ninth grade as the author of a fairytale. As an adult, Ms. Langley's fame spread through her writing blog, Miss Snark's First Victim. Over 2.5 million visitors have benefitted from her contests, critiques, and advice. Although she still sings with the local symphony orchestra and plays the piano, she spends most days writing fiction. Ms. Langley is married, enjoys ballet, loves Teuscher truffles and helping other writers become publishing success stories. She is currently agented by Most-Beloved-Agent.


AUTHORESS UNVEILED BIO by Kate Larkindale

Harriett Saunders writes and lives in America’s Midwest. When the sun is shining, you will find her on the porch, writing to the music of the local wildlife, a cup of tea never far from her hand. Her hobbies include ballet, playing the piano and singing in a choir, two of which she is very skilled at. She loves the ocean, organic food and fingerless gloves. Harriett’s dedication and commitment to the writing community is legendary. For many years she has anonymously run Miss Snark’s First Victim, a blog through which she has supported and boosted the careers of numerous aspiring authors, and helped agents find great books to represent.


Congratulations, Rebecca and Kate, and thank you for your lovely and insightful depictions of me.  Please email me at facelesswords@gmail.com and let me know where to send your $20 B&N gift cards!

I'd like to also add this honorable mention, because I think it's the most epic name anyone could've come up with:


AUTHORESS BIO by Scott Mitchell

Euphemia Endeavour is a woman of many names because her parents couldn’t decide what to name her. Her actual name is Eunice Urella Penelope Huldah Elizabeth Mehitable Irene Arabella Endeavour. Her parents used the first initial of each name and called her Euphemia. It’s understandable why Euphemia loves wine. She began her writing career in kindergarten with Once Flushed, Gone Forever about the unexpected loss of her prize goldfish. Her writing endeavors continued through the years until she became Miss Snark’s First Victim. From that point on, with the help of chocolate and wine, she survived the writerly angst to finally publish Death by Wine and Chocolate. She lives with her husband somewhere in the United States.

Thank you, Scott.  You may call me Euphemia whenever you wish.  :)

And, finally, I thought you might like to see my actual bio:


In her quest to become a princess, Jillian Boehme once wrote a letter to Prince Edward in the hope that they could become pen pals (and, well, get married). That didn't work, so she decided to write stories instead. She also plays the piano, sings, and dreams of living in a hobbit hole. Having grown up on the east coast, she longs for the ocean, but has settled for the knolls of Middle Tennessee, where she lives with her husband, offspring, and an exquisite cat named Lucy.

And there you have it!  A huge thank you once again to everyone who took the time to create something special.  Hugs to all!

All The Winners (Contests 2 - 5)

So many prizes to give out!  A huge THANK YOU to everyone who participated!  Here are the answers and our winner lists:

CONTEST 2: ORDER OF EVENTS

1. First Secret Agent Contest (July 2008)

2. Authoress writes ODE TO MY READERS (Feb 2009)

3. First book deal attributed to the blog (Nov 2009)

4. First Baker’s Dozen Agent Auction (Dec 2010)

5. Our first Critique Partner Dating Service (July 2012)

6. Adorable Editors (July 2013)

7. Huge rant on how tired I was of being anonymous (March 2014)

8. Our first ON THE BLOCK (Nov 2015)

9. Authoress signs with Danielle Burby (Dec 2015)

10. Authoress changes the look and title of her blog (Sept 2017)

WINNERS:

1. Kel J. Heinen -- 1-chapter critique from Leah Peterson
2. Sasha -- 1-chapter critique from Karen Duvall
3. H. R. Sinclair -- 1-chapter critique from Peter Salomon
4. T. R. Hudgins -- 1-chapter critique from Julie Butcher


CONTEST 3: FAVORITE AUTHORS

(In no particular order)

Jane Austen
Nancy Bilyeau
Jodi Meadows
Katherine Kurtz
Suzanne Collins
Patricia Mckillip
Holly Bodger
Rae Carson
Mary E. Pearson
Ruta Sepetys

WINNERS:

Too many to list here (23)!  All winners will receive an email with instructions on how to claim your book.  Congratulations!

CONTEST 4: 2 TRUTHS AND A LIE

1.

A. I suffer from misophonia, a disorder that makes normal human sounds, like chewing, swallowing, and breathing, unbearable to listen to.

B. I have a bone spur in the big toe of my left foot which makes it nigh impossible for me to do a proper relevé. Also it hurts when I wear heels.

C. As a child, I had my appendix removed via emergency surgery, only to later learn that my appendix was fine. This was before the days of rabid medical lawsuits (so there wasn’t one). LIE!  My appendix is alive and well inside me.

2.

A. After college and before marriage, I put my worldly belongings inside—and on top of—a 1971 Volkswagen Super Beetle and moved to Nashville, TN.

B. In college, I founded a small campus newspaper that focused on the school of fine arts, since we were largely ignored in the shadow of the school of business. We were still largely ignored, but I had a great experience writing for those two years. LIE! I did write a scathing letter to the editor during my sophomore year, though.

C. I was the accompanist for our University Choir for 3 of my 4 years at Susquehanna University. Those rehearsals were my only experience playing a Steinway full concert grand.

3.

A. At 17, I ran the family car into a tree, completely smashing the front and crackling the windshield. I wasn’t hurt.

B. I currently drive a 1998 Toyota Sienna. Neither door on the passenger’s side opens, because they handles have fallen off. Which means that, if I have a passenger, he has to crawl in through the other side.

C. My husband’s first brand new car had a standard transmission, which I didn’t know how to drive. He took me out for one lesson—just one—and I nailed it. LIE!  Yes, he did take me out for one lesson--and I absolutely, positively could not drive the stick shift.  He gave up and never took me out again.

4.

A. I’ve always had a strange fascination with insects. Our 8th-grade science teacher required a minimum of 30 specimens for our insect collection. I presented him with 84. LIE! I hate bugs. I eked out 3 or 4 bugs more than the 30-bug requirement and got a C.

B. I’m afraid of heights—I can climb up, but getting down is scary. Once, in San Francisco, I climbed onto a cement thing to take pictures of the trolley turnaround, and I froze. My husband had to come rescue me (in front of lots of people).

C. I grew up believing that women weren’t supposed to drink beer. Which is probably why it’s just recently that I’ve started to appreciate certain brews.

5.

A. My I.Q. is 138, my college G.P.A. was 3.69, and I’m an INFJ.

B. Over the years, I’ve been employed as a daycare teacher, an administrative secretary, a telemarketer, a U.S.P.S. seasonal worker, and an elementary music teacher.

C. I’ve lived in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Tennessee.  LIE! I've only lived in Pennsylvania and Tennessee.


WINNERS:

1. Kate Larkindale -- 1-chapter critique from Danielle Burby
2. D. Strickland -- 1-chapter critique from Adam Bates
3. Susan Dalessandro -- 1-chapter critique from Holly Bodger
4. John Maffia -- 1-chapter critique from Authoress Edits

CONTEST 5: TRUE OR FALSE

1. Mr. A and I met in college. We were both music majors. TRUE
2. I hate cashews. FALSE (OMG I love cashews.)
3. I’ve been taking Tai Chi classes for the last few years. FALSE  I take BALLET. (You knew this.)
4. I signed with Josh Getzler in 2010. TRUE
5. I’ve met Beth Revis, Jodi Meadows, and Victoria Schwab in person. FALSE  I've never met Victoria.
6. My husband gets all the credit for training me to stop writing dorky dialogue. TRUE
7. Danielle Burby is my third agent. TRUE
8. My claim to theatrical fame is the lead role of Lili in Carnival. TRUE
9. I’ve always wanted a dog, but Mr. A is allergic to them. FALSE  I'm an avowed cat person (though Mr. A is indeed allergic to cats).
10. To date, I’ve written 11 novels. Just. Keep. Swimming. TRUE

WINNER:

Krystal -- 6-month subscription for ONE STOP FOR WRITERS.

Congratulations, everyone!

WINNERS:  If you do not receive an email from me by the end of today, please let me know!

(Please note: The announcement of the winners of the WRITE HER BIO contest are forthcoming.)

Aaaaaand Our Winners!

Here are Nicole's picks:

Honorable Mentions: Query, synopsis, chapter summaries and first 15 pages

Entry # 35 - Frigid
Entry # 41 - Vailen House and the Maraydon Seal
Entry # 44 - This Isn’t Shakespeare

Runners-up: Query, synopsis, chapter summaries and first 25 pages

Entry #9 - In Her Own Skin
Entry #23 - A Beastly Beauty
Entry #40 - Divine Architects

Grand Prize: Query, synopsis, chapter summaries and full manuscript

Entry # 1 - Saving Emmaline
Entry # 16 - Hidden Agenda

Congratulations!  Winners, please email me at facelesswords(at)gmail.com for specific submission instructions.

GREAT round, everyone!

Our ON THE BLOCK 2016 Winners

Thank you, agents, authors, editors, and EVERYONE who participated in this year's ON THE BLOCK.  Here is the list of final, winning bids:

#1 BUGSY’S MOLL: Josh Getzler, 25 p
#2 SIMPLE ACTS OF GRACE: Rena Rossner, FULL
#3 BREATHING IN DARKNESS: Nicole Payne, 20 p
#4 NOW AND WHEN: Nicole Payne, FULL
#5 THE FIX IS IN: Josh Getzler, 25 p
#6 KYTE’S REVENGE: Hannah Ferguson, FULL
#7 HERITAGE OF HATE: Lauren Spieller, FULL
#8 THE NETTLE SPINNER: Nicole Payne, FULL
#9 ONE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL: Josh Getzler, FULL
#11 EVEN: Pam Howell, FULL
#12 SIGNAL VOID: Nicole Payne, 20 p
#13 STICKS AND BONES: Rena Rossner, FULL
#15 THIRD TIME’S A CURSE: Danielle Burby, FULL
#16 THE ANTIDOTE: Rena Rossner, 50 p
#17 DANGEROUS PLAY: Nicole Payne, FULL
#18 UNDERCURRENTS: Caryn Wiseman, 5 p
#19 THE ZEAL: Susan Hawk, 5 p
#20 WEBS OF GHOST MAGIC: Nicole Payne, FULL

IMPORTANT INFO FOR WINNERS:

Please email me at facelesswords(at)gmail.com to request specific submission instructions.  Please include your NAME, POST NUMBER, TITLE, and WHAT YOU WON in the body of the email (which will save me vast amounts of time).

ALSO IMPORTANT:  The agent who won your material will have a 1-week exclusive.  After that, ANY OTHER AGENT may request your material.  So if you saw agents fighting over your work, PLEASE DON'T CONTACT THE LOSING AGENTS.  If they are interested (and they probably are), you will hear from me next week!

Hooray, all!

Name That Genre -- WINNERS

Yes, there are 2.  Reason?  The number of votes on our winning entry was substantially higher than everyone else's, which might (or might not be) correlated to the fact that this post was at the top of the list of posts, visible first.

So in order to create a fairer playing field, I decided to also offer a prize to the person with the second highest number of correct votes.

Here are our winners:

#40 THE FALL OF TROY, YA Fantasy
#39 SWIM, YA Contemporary

Congratulations to you both!  To claim your free 5-page critique, please send the first 5 pages of your manuscript, double-spaced, to authoress.edits(at)gmail.com as an attached .doc file.  Please put NAME THAT GENRE WINNER in the subject line.

To everyone:  Thanks again for making this a HUGE success!  We will definitely do this again.

I'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback on what you learned, what was helpful, what was interesting, etc.  Please share below!

Aaaaaand Here Are Our Bronze, Silver, and Gold Winners!

(In Rena's own words:)

I really enjoyed reading all of these entries! Many of them were strong and I would certainly have continued to read more of many of them. I look for strong voice and writing more than anything and I will often read on if I’m impressed by those – that’s the hardest thing to nail! I said “I’m intrigued” or “I’d keep reading” to many of you – so if you saw that and were surprised I didn’t ask for pages, it’s because it’s true – I would likely have read on, but there’s a difference between being willing to keep reading on and requesting to read a full or partial manuscript based on only 250 words. Thanks to everyone who entered! It was a great group of entries! In the spirit of the Olympic Games:

THE WINNERS:

Bronze Medalists – Query and the first 25 pages:

#31 – Breaking the Chalice
#4 -- The Bone Tree

Silver Medalists - Query and first 50 pages:

#35 – Da Vinci’s Secret
#29 – Dolsa Bones and the Witch Who Stole Laughter

Gold Medalists – Query and full manuscript:

 #40 – How Ty and I Saved the World
 #17 – Basille
 #1 – The Third Gift


Congratulations, all!

**
Winners:  Please email me at facelesswords(at)gmail.com for specific submission instructions!

And We Have Winners!

Here's the post you've been waiting for!  Beth's winners are as follow:


BEST IN SHOW:  NEVER NOT BROKEN (#39)

The prize: Full manuscript and synopsis

AGENT'S CHOICE: CODA (#36)

The prize:  Full manuscript and synopsis

RUNNERS UP:  CUTTING TO THE CHASE (#26) and BOOK OF SHADOWS (#5)

The prize:  Query, synopsis, and first five chapters

Yay!!  Winners:  Please email me at facelesswords(at)gmail.com for specific submission instructions.

Also!  Here is a message from Beth Campbell:

First I want to thank all of you once again for entering! It takes a lot of guts to put your work on a public forum.

There was a ton of talent in these entries, and picking the winners took considerable deliberation. Many of you piqued my interest, so please don't hesitate to query me at bcampbell@bookendsliterary.com if you'd like me to consider your work further (and please mention this contest when you do!). Cheers to you all!

Beth Revis's Winners!

The response to our contest was admittedly disappointing.  Nevertheless, those of you who DID enter definitely benefited, because Beth Revis has decided that YOU ARE ALL WINNERS.

GRAND PRIZE WINNER:  Krystal Jane

Her winning entry:

I don't have a plea. I have only the fact that I'm starting to not want to try anymore. I've written sixteen novels. Queried seven. I think I might be crazy for continuing to try. But it looks like you had to write a lot of books, too. And I think maybe Paper Hearts can give me some new motivation from someone who's fallen down a lot as well. ^_^ So if I don't win, the sky will explode and the moon dragons will fly down and eat me.

Why Beth chose this entry:

It spoke to her heart.

(See what I mean about Beth?  You definitely want this gal in your corner!)

THE PRIZE:  A signed paperback copy of PAPER HEARTS!!

TO ALL OTHER ENTRANTS:

Beth would like to send each of you a digital copy of PAPER HEARTS!

Winners, please email me your email address.  I will send your addresses to Beth, and she will contact you with instructions on how to claim your prizes.

Hooray!