Hi all! Before I get into the winners (which I'm sure, you really don't want me to put off any longer), I want to tell you a few things I learned about Virtual Book Tours.

1. Having two books release on the same day isn't nearly as fun as I thought it would be, after the initial 48 hours. It becomes work then.

2. Putting over 1100 names onto paper and folding them up just to draw a couple out of the pile, even with the help of the eldest demi-demon makes for a surprising way to get blisters on the pads of the fingertips.

3. Meeting deadlines in the middle of two book tours? Hah! Right.

4. There are not enough hours in one day.

5. Planning that project in the middle also? That joins the "hah right" department.

6. I did meet a lot of new faces and had some really interesting discussions. -- BONUS

7. Dust does not quite settle onto the Christmas tree as fast as I thought it might. The stockings, however, are a different story.

8. There are not enough hours in a day.

9. When your internet fails, or the devices that are supposed to connect you to it, during a book tour... then guilt settles in because you can't make appearances. And there's just no way of quite communicating that effectively either. All one can do is make daily stops into different repair shops to get the problems a) troubleshooted, and b) fixed.

10. The administrative side of book tours is not particularly fun -- ie, the part where I have to be the 'business person' not just the author stopping in to chat. "Where can I find my post? Do I have the wrong link up? Oh crap the post I scheduled to go is incorrect." Add that into 51 times of having to do that... I could definitely wait a lifetime to invest in the project a second time. Though it will occur again, before "lifetime" happens :)

11. It's amazing the tolerance level I can develop when it comes to the demidemons and the things I've learned to tune out while attending to necessary business that can't wait until the house is quiet. Simply AMAZING.

12. There are not enough hours in a day.

So... all that said... I did have a blast with the tours. THANK YOU everyone for hosting me, for following, for engaging me in conversation. I hope you'll stay in touch both via my blog here and/or via email.

Now -- the Winners**:

STRIPPED
$25.00 Amazon Gift Card -- Yadira yadkny(at)hotmail (dot) com

IMMORTAL HOPE:
#1 -- $25.00 Amazon Gift Card -- Terri M oklahomamommy0306 (at) gmail (dot) com
#2 -- $25.00 Amazon Gift Card -- Cayce cayce005(at)yahoo(dot)com

TOUR HOST AWARDS
Stripped -- Carrie Ann Ryan
Immortal Hope -- I Just Wanna Sit Here and Read

Bitten By Paranormal Romance Book Giveaway:
Signed STRIPPED -- Lexi -- eyesofblueice(at)gmail(dot)com

**
I will be contacting the above winners to verify sending addresses within the next hour. If your name is listed, and you do not hear from me, email me please -- means there's something wrong with the email address I have on file for you. If you receive the email, you have one week to confirm. Then I will choose a different winner if I haven't heard a response.

Congrats everyone!!

~Claire
www.claireashgrove.com
www.toristclaire.com