GREETINGS FROM TEAM WEATHERDRIFTER!!
We are back for another year! For those of you new to all this, here’s some quick points about our team and process
We are a duo, it’s Kristen/Superstardrifter and myself. We’ve been SPFBO judges for a while now and as such we’ve developed a nice rhythm which makes us pretty quick to start pushing out reviews — so hold onto your butts! We are really stoked to be here for another year!
When we do cuts, they tend to be in groups of three or five with summaries of what worked for us, what didn’t work, and why ultimately it was cut in our “first round” of cuts. Our first round of cuts tend to be DNFs, or things that mostly didn’t work for us. Everything that we do finish (which is most) and like enough not to cut in the first round gets its own full review. From there, we cut more books to whittle it down and announce our semifinalists.
Kristen and I split the books evenly with each of us taking 15 at the start. We do try and taste match as best we can to give the books the best chance. We have a lot of overlap in our tastes, but we also have our own preferences as well. So, Kristen gets the romances and YAs, while I get the military fantasies and litrpgs.
Once we pick our semifinalists from our group of 15 we exchange them with each other and rate them, the book with the highest average rating goes forward as the finalist.
Here are (most) of our titles! Things aren’t totally set in stone yet, so this list isn’t quite 30 just yet. However, the ones that are listed are for sure!
After the covers there’s the designation of which Judge is reading what.
ESMES BOOKS
- A Bitter Drink by Azalea Forrest
- Heretical Oaths by Slifer274
- Forged in Flame Bruce McKnight
- Abby Normal by Samuel Thomas Fraser
- Crystalborne Sigils by S. Lynn Helton
- Silver and Blood by Trina L. Talma
- You Can’t Prevent Prophecy by D.G. Redd
- Crown of Madness by Ryan G. Beaty
- Children of the Dryads by Raina Nightingale
- The Acktus Trials by D.T. Kane
- A Sea of Cinder by Adam R. Bishop
- The Rage of a Boy by Edward Patrick
- Oil and Dust by Jami Fairleigh
- Gritikah Castle by Emmanuel Akeyo
- The Lost King by TM Kohl
KRISTENS BOOKS
- Sabin Escape From Foster Care by S.S. Rundolin
- A Trashy Medieval Romance by Sinnamon Carnelian
- The Definition of Vengeance by Kevin Wright
- Draconis by David Oliver
- Spirit of the Dragon by Erynn Lehtonen
- Scales and Sensibility by Stephanie Burgis
- Bloody Spade by Brittany M. Willows
- METANOIA by Juniper Lake Fitzgerald
- The Pacts We Make For Love by SK Nova
- The Price of Honor by Richard Fierce
- Aya and the Alphas by Berneta L. Haynes
- The Eye of Everfell by Lewis Knight
- Princess of the Undersea by Leslie Conzatti
- Waking Ursa Minor by Helen Rygh-Pedersen
- The Boy Who Drew Horses by ML Roberts
WE ARE SO EXCITED AND I’VE ALREADY STARTED!!!!