Today is both Demon Bound’s release day and election day! It’s been a fantastic two weeks of voting, with some close races and a couple of unexpected blowouts, and I hope that you’ve had fun and discovered a few new authors.

So, on to the final results! But first, here is a final word from our sponsor:

The seductive and dangerous world of the Guardians now yields a secret that threatens the soul of a woman and the fate of the universe, both Demon Bound…

Among the Guardians, Alice Grey is known as the Black Widow—a woman trapped in a web spun by the demon Teqon. To save her soul, she agreed to deliver to Teqon the heart of the oldest and most powerful Guardian of all, or else be damned for eternity. After more than a hundred years, Teqon is calling in his debt.

Jake Hawkins is a novice Guardian whose gift of teleportation could be invaluable to Alice in determining her next move. But in aligning himself with her he never expected to fall in love. Now, their passionate flight to escape Alice’s damnable bargain is threatening both their souls. For they’re about to discover a hellish secret about the Guardians—something that will change their universe forever.

~read an excerpt here~
Read a review at The Good, The Bad, and The Unread
Read a review at The Book Binge
Read a review at The Book Smugglers
Read a review at Aimless Ramblings…
Read a review at Alpha Heroes
Read a review at Racy Romance Reviews
Read a review at Wild on Books
Read a review at Fresh Fiction (I’m trying to add balance — she didn’t like it as much)

I know I’m missing some — feel free to add a link to your review in the comments, whether you enjoyed it or not.

And so we come to the end of…

Nov 3rd winner: Yesterday’s poll included my backlist and…my backlist. Those books will go to commenter #29, Kelly!

And in the Grand Prize drawing, the contest wasn’t even close. Although there were a few passionate arguments in favor of the eBookwise, the $100 Gift Certificate won handily at 111 votes to 58. After compiling all of the entrants in the daily votes, removing duplicate names, adding in the entrants who posted the widget, then running over to random.org … I have a winner of that gift certificate:

Allison!

*throws confetti*  Congratulations, ladies!  *throws confetti*

Finally, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who participated; voter turnout was amazing, and it couldn’t have been the event that it was without the support and help of everyone who spread the word via e-mails and the widgets. And don’t forget that you have more opportunities to win: The Book Smugglers are giving away copies of Demon Bound, and the Book Binge is, too — as well as hosting the incredible Buy a Book, Win $100 contest. 

As Jake might say, you all rock so flippin’ hard.

DECISION ‘08
NOVEMBER 3

Days left until DEMON BOUND is out: 1
Days left until the national election: 1

Well, everyone — this is it. It’s been fun, but it’s almost done. Tomorrow I’ll announce the final winner in the daily votes along with the grand prize winner. Many of you will be standing in line waiting to vote (and I know a GREAT book you can take with you to pass the time *wink wink*); others will be at home or the office, thanking the heavens that the ads and the campaigning are over … at least until the next election.

If you haven’t yet voted for your choice in the Grand Prize, please do so now. Remember, everyone can vote in this poll, and be entered to win by commenting in one of the daily polls; you only have to post the widget to get a 2nd entry (and put your link in the comments here).

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Okay, so it isn’t always easy to make a decision in an election. Candidates’ stances can be unclear; you may like something about one, and something about the other. And since this two-week long contest was an exercise in warming up those voting muscles, there’s no WAY I’m going to let any of you off with a simple choice now that we’re here at the end.

OMG, WHICH ONE WILL YOU CHOOSE?! How will you know which is best for your reading future?

*Meljean takes a deep breath*

Are you ready?

or

I’m sorry. The winner does not receive a copy of a book from my backlist.

So, are you ready to vote? Great! But first, a word from our sponsor:

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Note: Voting does not enter you to win.

Everyone can vote, but only by leaving a comment in this post are you eligible to win whichever option receives the most votes by the end of the day.

MORE CHANCES TO WIN: Don’t forget the LOLMeljean contest at Jill Myles’s blog, or to join me at the Book Smugglers, where you’ll have a chance to win a copy of DEMON BOUND, and at the Book Binge, where even more copies are up for grabs. And if you’ve already purchased your copy of DEMON BOUND — or if you buy it before November 15th — don’t forget to enter the Book Binge’s Buy a Book, Win $100 contest.

Good luck, and I’ll see you tomorrow with the final results!

I included a mention of this in my last post, but then I actually went over to the Book Binge website and saw that they already had their DEMON BOUND contest up.

Head on over. Take a look.

And just ignore me sitting over here, utterly overwhelmed by how freaking awesome it is that they’d do this.

Sorry about the lateness of this post; real life is catching up in the form of wadded Kleenex.

Margay (comment #2), you’ve won the Sherry Thomas/Joanna Bourne prize pack, along with any book from my backlist. Mary M (comment #45), you’ve won the Nora Roberts prize back, and a book from my backlist.

Congratulations!

Also, today is November 1st — to everyone who is participating in NaNoWriMo: GOOD LUCK! You can do it!

Sorry about the lateness of this post; real life is catching up in the form of wadded Kleenex.

Margay (comment #2), you’ve won the Sherry Thomas/Joanna Bourne prize pack, along with any book from my backlist. Mary M (comment #45), you’ve won the Nora Roberts prize back, and a book from my backlist.

Congratulations!

Also, today is November 1st — to everyone who is participating in NaNoWriMo: GOOD LUCK! You can do it!

Lisa (#14), you’ve won the Karen Rose/Roxanne St. Claire pack, along with any book from my backlist! Congratulations!

Also, Jill Myles is hosting a contest over at her blog, with a chance to win a signed copy of DEMON BOUND. The post includes her comments on the novel and a short interview with yours truly, including a piece of poetry that I’ve written just for the occasion. Go check it out!

Yesterday’s Guardian vs. Demon starter packs were neck-and-neck for most of the day, but the Guardian pack (barely) pulled ahead at the end. And Miranda C, who had comment #71, has won the Guardian starter pack and any book from my backlist!

Congratulations, Miranda! I am e-mailing you right now. If you don’t receive it, please contact me using the link on the left sidebar.

We’re halfway through Decision ‘08! Congratulations to everyone who has won books and gift certificates so far, and thank you to everyone who has played. But it’s not over yet — we’ve got seven more days and a Grand Prize to give away!

I also want to note that I’ve been having some trouble with my e-mails going through to Yahoo addresses. If you win/have won a prize in the contest but haven’t heard from me, please contact me through the “Contact Me” link on the left sidebar. I always e-mail the winner within a couple of hours after the announcement, so if you don’t receive the e-mail, please check your Bulk/Spam folders or feel free to send me a message.

Also, please remember that even if you don’t have a blog/MySpace/Facebook/wherever to post the widget, you are still eligible to win the Grand Prize just by commenting in one of the daily contests — posting the widget is just a way to earn a second entry in that Grand Prize. If you haven’t been to Demon Bound HQ to cast your vote, you can do so here:

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Also, also — this Wednesday is Writerspace’s big Halloween party. I’ll be chatting for a short time from 7:30-8:00 PACIFIC. I’m not exactly sure how they distribute prizes, but I know that I’ve put in 2 copies of First Blood and 3 of Demon Bound to be given away. You don’t have to attend the chats, but you do have to register to be eligible for prizes (I think it adds you to a newsletter, but I’m not certain). And it’s not just my books; I believe there are many other authors putting their books in, as well.

Thanks again, to everyone — and I hope the next week will be as fun as the first has been!

Comments closed on this post to avoid polling/commenting confusion. If you want to post the link to your widget, please visit Demon Bound HQ.

We had several contests end on October 26th. First winner of THE HIKETEIA and a book from my backlist is #6, LadyVampire2u.

In the special ninja vote, we have two winners: #26, Susan, who won MAGIC BITES and MAGIC BURNS, and #40, Stacie Mc, who won her choice of any book from my backlist.

Congratulations, everyone!

DECISION ‘08
OCTOBER 27

Days left until DEMON BOUND is out: 8
Days left until the national election: 8

If you are looking for the daily vote, you’re in the right spot.

If you are looking for where you’re supposed to vote for the grand prize or post your link to the Decision ‘08 widget, click here. You’ll have to scroll down to vote or post your link in the comments. If you haven’t yet read the contest rules, now is a good time to do it.

Okay, okay — so, all of my books have “demon” in the title, which might give the impression that all of my heroes are demons. (For some reason, writing that line put the song “Momma, don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys” in my head.) Nope. I do have one heroine who is a demon, but other than that … the demons are the bad guys in this series. Vampires can be good or bad, Guardians can have their issues (and boy, do some of them have issues — I’m looking at Hugh, Jake, and Alice right now), but demons are for killing.

Of course, not every romance writer thinks so. Some of them have demons for heroes (I’m looking at you, Ione); they have demons possessing their heroes, (I’m looking at you, Showalter) or they run around killing demons while they may or may not be the children of demons themselves, (Burton, you know who I’m talking about.)

So today is a Guardian/Demon face-off, and your choices are between:

The Guardian starter pack: HOT SPELL (also with Emma Holly, Lora Leigh and Shiloh Walker), DEMON ANGEL, and DEMON MOON

or

PLEASURE UNBOUND by Larissa Ione, THE DARKEST TOUCH by Jaci Burton, THE DARKEST NIGHT by Gena Showalter.

Vote for your favorite. The winner will receive the most popular choice, along with a copy of any title from my backlist (books 1-6 of the Guardian series — this does not include Demon Bound.)

My backlist suggestion: WILD THING, because although it’s a side-story to the main storyline, it will fill the hole in the series between DEMON ANGEL & DEMON MOON if you win the first option. If you win the Demon pack and you haven’t read any of my Guardian series, then it’s DEMON ANGEL, all the way — and then Hugh and Lilith can hand out cans of whoop-ass to all those demons.

And, let’s put this all out on the table: I know some readers are a little wary of picking up DEMON ANGEL because of the cover. For those of you who aren’t quite comfortable with the pink and the … pink, here’s an alternative that — I think — captures the feel of the book pretty well (four-letter-word alert!) You can click to enlarge and print, then wrap around your copy of DEMON ANGEL:

So, are you ready to vote? Great! But first, a word from our sponsor:

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Note: Voting does not enter you to win.

Everyone can vote, but only by leaving a comment in this post are you eligible to win the most popular option. Feel free to simply state “voted” or “present” or even a smiley to enter — or, you might choose to argue your case. Comments from dissenters, moderates, and fangirls are all welcome, but personal attacks will get you disqualified.

Don’t forget to vote in the Grand Prize poll by November 3rd — everyone can vote in that poll, even if you don’t post the widget anywhere.

For complete rules and instructions in how to receive an additional entry into the Grand Prize drawing, please visit DEMON BOUND headquarters.

Good luck!