Romance Writers of America · award year

Vivian Awards 2021

The 2021 Vivian Awards went to Love Me Like a Love Song by Annmarie Boyle (Best First Published Book), False Start by Jessica Ruddick (Contemporary Romance - Long) and Tempting Taste by Sara Whitney (Contemporary Romance - Mid), with winners in 9 more categories. 61 books were finalists across 13 categories.

Winners

Best First Published Book

  1. Love Me Like a Love Songsource (opens in a new tab)

Contemporary Romance - Long

  1. False Startsource (opens in a new tab)

Contemporary Romance - Mid

  1. Tempting Tastesource (opens in a new tab)

Contemporary Romance - Short

  1. Engaging the Enemysource (opens in a new tab)

Erotic Romance

  1. Pure Satisfactionsource (opens in a new tab)

Historical Romance - Long

  1. Ten Things I Hate About the Dukesource (opens in a new tab)

Historical Romance - Mid

  1. A Study in Passionsource (opens in a new tab)

Mainstream Fiction with a Central Romance

  1. An Everyday Herosource (opens in a new tab)

Romantic Suspense - Long

  1. Hail Marysource (opens in a new tab)

Romantic Suspense - Mid

  1. Stormsource (opens in a new tab)

Speculative Romance - Long

  1. A Stitch in Timesource (opens in a new tab)

Speculative Romance - Mid

  1. Betwixtsource (opens in a new tab)

Finalists

Best First Published Book

  1. A Fast Womansource (opens in a new tab)
  2. A Song of Secretssource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Cherokee Summersource (opens in a new tab)
  4. Choosing Theosource (opens in a new tab)
  5. Greedy Heartsource (opens in a new tab)
  6. Her Outback Driversource (opens in a new tab)
  7. How to Staysource (opens in a new tab)
  8. Lovely Digitssource (opens in a new tab)
  9. Painting the Linessource (opens in a new tab)
  10. Perfect Distractionsource (opens in a new tab)

Contemporary Romance - Long

  1. A Fast Womansource (opens in a new tab)
  2. Cherokee Summersource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Like Lovers Dosource (opens in a new tab)
  4. Lovestrucksource (opens in a new tab)
  5. The Boy Toysource (opens in a new tab)
  6. The Marriage Gamesource (opens in a new tab)

Contemporary Romance - Mid

  1. Heartthrobsource (opens in a new tab)
  2. Pilot Downsource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Roughingsource (opens in a new tab)
  4. Swipe Right for a Cowboysource (opens in a new tab)
  5. The Secret Ingredientsource (opens in a new tab)
  6. Under His Protectionsource (opens in a new tab)

Contemporary Romance - Short

  1. Marriage by Arrangementsource (opens in a new tab)
  2. There Galapagos My Heartsource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Worth Fighting Forsource (opens in a new tab)

Erotic Romance

  1. The Redemptionsource (opens in a new tab)

Historical Romance - Long

  1. His Secret Mistresssource (opens in a new tab)
  2. Once a Spysource (opens in a new tab)
  3. The Clothier's Daughtersource (opens in a new tab)

Historical Romance - Mid

  1. A Song of Secretssource (opens in a new tab)
  2. For This Knight Onlysource (opens in a new tab)
  3. The Footman and Isource (opens in a new tab)

Mainstream Fiction with a Central Romance

  1. Accidentally Familysource (opens in a new tab)
  2. Every Last Dropsource (opens in a new tab)
  3. The Last Goodbyesource (opens in a new tab)

Romance with Religious or Spiritual Elements

  1. At Love's Commandsource (opens in a new tab)
  2. Hadley Beckett's Next Dishsource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Small Town Faithsource (opens in a new tab)
  4. Stay with Mesource (opens in a new tab)

Romantic Suspense - Long

  1. Burnsource (opens in a new tab)
  2. Code of Conductsource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Cold Wicked Liessource (opens in a new tab)
  4. Honor Avengedsource (opens in a new tab)

Romantic Suspense - Mid

  1. Harboursource (opens in a new tab)
  2. K-9 Protectorsource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Lovely Digitssource (opens in a new tab)

Speculative Romance - Long

  1. Curse of Seductionsource (opens in a new tab)
  2. Echoes of the Runessource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Written in Watersource (opens in a new tab)

About the Vivian Awards

RWA gave the Vivian, its replacement for the RITA, only once, in 2021 (winners named July 31, 2021, at a virtual ceremony). RWA postponed the 2022 contest and then the 2023 contest, so there are no 2022 or 2023 Vivians. Year is the year awarded. Finalists come from RWA's 2021 Vivian Finalists page; winners from RWA's 2021 Vivian Winners page; both read from archive.org snapshots because rwa.org no longer hosts them. The Most Anticipated Romance category is left out: its finalists are listed with no publisher, as unpublished manuscripts (the Golden Heart's successor). RWA's two finalist lists disagree on Speculative Romance: the August finalists page puts A Stitch in Time and Echoes of the Runes under Mid, while RWA's May finalist announcement and both winner lists put them under Long (A Stitch in Time won Long); those two rows follow the May announcement. Rescinded award: RWA's July 31 winner list named At Love's Command by Karen Witemeyer for Romance with Religious or Spiritual Elements; RWA rescinded that award days later, so it is recorded as a Finalist and that category has no winner. Tempting Taste by Sara Whitney is recorded as the Contemporary Romance - Mid winner from RWA's July 31 list; she returned the award in protest, and RWA's later winners page leaves both that category and the rescinded one off.

Organization: Romance Writers of America. Years are award years, which can differ from publication years. Official site (opens in a new tab)