Whitney Award Winners

We have listed our Whitney Award votes and reviewed some of the nominees.  Now it's time to announce the 2012 Whitney Award winners!

Overall Awards:
Best Novel of the Year:  Rent Collector by Camron Wright
Even though we voted for Dancing on Broken Glass in the General Fiction category, Rent Collector was also excellent and inspiring and is definitely a deserving winner.

Best Youth Novel of the Year:  False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen

Best Novel by a New Author:  Edenbrooke by Julianne Donaldson

Category Awards:
Best General Fiction:  Rent Collector by Camron Wright

Best Historical Fiction:  My Loving Vigil Keeping by Carla Kelly

Best Romance:  Edenbrooke by Julianne Donaldson

Best Mystery/Suspense:  Code Word by Traci Hunter Abramson

Best Speculative Fiction:  The Hollow City by Dan Wells

Best Young Adult General Fiction:  After Hello by Lisa Mangum

Best Young Adult Speculative Fiction:  Everneath by Brodi Ashton

Best Middle Grade Fiction:  False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen

Congratulations to all the winners!

Dancing on Broken Glass

I just recently finished reading Dancing on Broken Glass by Ka Hancock which had been nominated for a  Whitney Award in general fiction.  I had not had time to read it before voting for the Whitney Awards, but Dalene had read it and recommended it.  She voted it the winner in that category.

I was very impressed with this book.  Here is part of the plot summary from the publisher.  "Lucy Houston and Mickey Chandler probably shouldn’t have fallen in love, let alone gotten married. They’re both plagued with faulty genes—he has bipolar disorder, and she has a ravaging family history of breast cancer. . . .  An unvarnished portrait of a marriage that is both ordinary and extraordinary, Dancing on Broken Glass takes readers on an unforgettable journey of the heart."

The characters felt genuine and real to me, and I became drawn in by their significant challenges and how they dealt with them.  The characters were not LDS, but I felt very comfortable within the framework of the story including the belief about life after death, commitment to family and marriage and the loving support of small-town neighbors and friends.  I needed a bunch of tissue to get through to the end, but when I got done I felt uplifted and like I wanted to go out and be a better person.

This book is available on Amazon--I didn't find it on LDS websites.  I checked it out from the Sunnyvale Library.

New Temple Hill Bookstore in Oakland

A new LDS Bookstore has opened up in Oakland across from the temple.  For directions and hours, check out their website and facebook page.  Childcare during temple sessions is also available.  Good luck to David Stewart on his new venture!