2012 VNRN Awards

As the new year breaks open before us, it is time once again to trot out the third annual Vintage Nurse Romance Novel Awards—and also, perhaps, to ponder the question, Don’t I have anything better to do right now? In the event that your answer is no, I shall inform you of the rules of the contest: Winners are chosen from the VNRNs I have read this year, which for you statistics geeks is 50 different books by 34 different authors. The Best Authors category is cumulative, including all the VNRNs reviewed for this blog, but only authors with more than one review are included; the One-Hit Wonders category is reserved for the best of this group.





BEST BOOKS
1.       City Doctor, by Thomas Stone (pseudonym of Florence Stonebraker)
2.       He Married a Doctor, by Faith Baldwin
3.       Walk out of Darkness, by Arlene Karson
4.       Winged Victory for Nurse Kerry, by Patricia Libby
5.       A Nurse Comes Home, by Ethel Hamill (pseudonym of Jean Francis Web III)

WORST BOOKS
1.       Nurse Jean’s Strange Case, by Arlene Hale
2.       Nurse on Nightmare Island, by Lois Eby
3.       Roxanne, Company Nurse, by Zillah Macdonald and Josie Johnson
4.       Psychiatric Nurse, by Mary Mann Fletcher


BEST COVERS
1.       Date with Danger?, cover illustration by Harry Bennett
2.       West Coast Nurse, cover illustration by Bill Johnson
3.       Dude Ranch Nurse
4.       Mystery Nurse
5.       Palm Beach Nurse



BEST QUOTES
1.       “I meant to get down to Dr. Carson’s shindig yesterday, but we had an unexpected polio case brought in, and I was all day on the telephone locating another iron lung.” A Nurse Comes Home, by Ethel Hamill (pseudonym of Jean Francis Webb III)
2.       “Every attractive woman should take time out for love now and again. It keeps you young, helps the circulation, and it’s very broadening. Don’t you want to be broadened?” City Doctor, by Thomas Stone (pseudonym of Florence Stonebraker
3.       “The woman in her transcended the physician momentarily, as Serenity thought to herself, ‘She does something to that hair.’ ” His Wife, the Doctor, by Joseph McCord
4.       “Why don’t you marry the girl and get her out of your life?” Love Comes to Dr. Starr, by William Johnston
5.        “You look swell in that orange slacks suit, Diane.” Mystery Nurse, by Diana Douglas (pseudonym of Richard Wilkes-Hunter)
6.       “You mean you don’t know how to do brain surgery? What kind of a doctor are you, then?” The Nurse and the Pirate, by Peggy Gaddis
7.       “Miss Shannon is holding her own: Her temperature is normal, her blood pressure is normal, her appetite is normal, she wanted champagne for breakfast. We think she will live.” Nurse Kitty’s Secret, by Fern Shepard (pseudonym of Florence Stonebraker)
8.       “You’ll still have coffee with me, won’t you? I hope you’re not afraid of me. My doctor wouldn’t have given me a pass if he thought I’d go berserk, you know.” Psychiatric Nurse, by Mary Mann Fletcher
9.       “Marrying Sherri won’t mean a life sentence, honey. Her marriages never last very long.” Nurse Kitty’s Secret, by Fern Shepard (pseudonym of Florence Stonebraker)
10.     “See that he marries you—and no more foolishness about running around with a street gang!” Ivy Anders, Night Nurse, by Helen B. Castle


BEST CHAPTER TITLE
1.       “Ann Shares a Fateful Moment with ‘B.M.’ ” Nurse Todd’s Strange Summer, by Zillah K. Macdonald and Vivian J. Ahl



BEST AUTHORS
1.    Faith Baldwin (3.9 average, based on 3 reviews)
3.    Marguerite Mooers Marshall (3.7 average, based on 2 reviews)
3.    Patricia Libby (3.7 average, based on 2 reviews)
4.    Ethel Hamill (3.6 average, based on 3 reviews)
5.    Helen B. Castle (3.3 average, based on 2 reviews)



ONE-HIT WONDERS: Best VNRNs by authors with only one review
1.       “K”, by Mary Roberts Rinehart
2.       A Challenge for Nurse Melanie, by Isabel Moore
3.       Surgical Call, by Margaret Sangster
4.       City Nurse, by Jeanne Judson
5.       Nurse Pro Tem, by Glenna Finley
6.       Walk out of Darkness, by Arlene Karson

7.       Nurse at the Fair, by Dorothy Cole