Book Event: Matthew Thomas and Misha Collins!

Hello everyone! I’m so excited to be writing about a super fun event that I attended yesterday at the Barnes and Noble, approved The Grove location.

A few weeks ago, more about I was at the Josephine Angelini event, talking with the event coordinator, Lita. Lita is SUCH a rock star, I always enjoy all the events I attend of hers and she was talking about the events that were coming up at the store. She asked me if I knew who Misha Collins was, and if I would attend an event with him.

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Of course I know Misha! I immediately got the barest of details about the event, told my friend Alena that she just had to get the day off, and immediately started making plans.

Now as more details about the event came out, it turned out that the event would be centered around debut author, Matthew Thomas, whose freshman novel, We Are Not Ourselves, is making some serious waves all over the country and parts of the world as well. As I learned last night, its been translated into 14 languages and counting.

Well, Misha got his hands on an advanced copy, from Matthew, whom he went to college with. He picked it up and absolutely loved it, and is now doing everything he can, taking time out of his own busy schedule, to spread the world about this book.

And I thought…okay, that’s seriously badass. And while I do definitely want to meet Misha, I think that if he loves this author and this book so much, I should be there. And I decided to go.

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My friend Alena and I headed down the Grove a few hours before the event. I had friends that had been in line since midnight, but luckily, I already had my wristband situation figured out. We picked up our wristbands, bought our books and grabbed some iced teas from Starbucks. We enjoyed a nice lunch at the farmer’s market (where my friend had never been, so it was totally fun to watch her eyes get all wide), and then we headed back to the store.

We managed to score two front row seats (a nerd girl never reveals her secrets), and got ready for the event to start. The excitement was palpable and I was really nervous that people were so excited about Misha that they wouldn’t give the proper attention to the actual author.

But more on that later.

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One of the security guys, George, decided to read us part of Marlene, Marlene, Queen of Mean, by Jane Lynch, to keep us entertained while we were waiting for the start of the event.

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Then one of the booksellers got up and read to us from the book “The Day the Crayons Quit” by Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers. See, the crayons are threatening to quit. They’re feeling overworked or not worked at all! Barnes and Nobles, The Grove is hosting the author on Tuesday and you were able to write a letter to the crayons, asking them not to quit (more on that later). We find out tomorrow if they quit! Its actually a totally adorable children’s book and I bought myself a copy because it was SO cute!

And yes, that’s me holding the book!

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They brought Matthew and Misha and for some reason, they brought out the Cat in the Hat. I like this picture because they both look so awkward haha. Like, why am I posing with a person in a cat suit…BUT Misha did get a bit excited about seeing it and called someone up and they brought his son, West, up to meet him and I captured a pretty adorable moment.

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Seriously. How freakin cute is this? Literally this is right in front of my face. I actually had to lean back a bit to get the picture.

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Then began the book discussion. Misha talked about how he knew Matthew, how he came to the book and how he honestly fell in love with it so much that he wants as many people to read it as possible. Matthew thanked Misha for being there, and for bringing all the people (there were a TON of people there), and all that. Matthew’s book is about an Irish-Catholic family, focused on the main character of Eileen, and her relationship with her father, who eventually goes through Alzheimer’s, and her relationship with the world in general. It sounds absolutely fantastic, and two different readings were done from the book, and I honestly can’t wait to dive into this book, even as a mostly YA book reader.

Matthew read a part in the novel that was a letter from Ed, the father, and it took a lot of effort not to cry. It was touching, and it was telling to the fact that their relationship was a huge central point of the novel. Misha also talked about some of his favorite parts, getting choked up himself. Seeing people get emotional or passionate about a particular book always gives me the desire to read it even more. Seeing people get worked up about books is exactly the way I feel sometimes and I pay attention to that.

But what really impressed me about all of this was…I was massively worried about the audience. I would say 99.9% of the audience was there because of Misha, myself included. I would not even had heard of this signing if it had not been for Misha’s name on it. That being said, I was there not only to meet Misha, but to celebrate an author, as a fellow hopefully soon to be published one day author. I was worried that the other fans would ignore the author in favor for Misha and I was so pleasantly surprised when they asked questions, deep, specific, thought provoking questions, about the novel. I truly enjoyed that. I know that majority of the attendees were there for Misha BUT a ton of books were sold and I hope a good percentage of those sold books will be read as well.

The signing started, and unfortunately, I was unable to get a picture with Matthew :( Oh well. But I did have a moment to talk to him and I asked him what his advice is for those getting a bunch of “no”s in response to query letters, and he told me “Just keep going, don’t give up.” I love hearing that.

Now, while Misha wasn’t signing (which I think is a GOOD idea), but he was willing to take pictures with us. Because I’m such a nifty selfie taker, I managed to get two pretty cute selfies with Misha, which I’m massively happy about it.

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I also made sure to get my hands on a letter to write to the crayons, asking them not to quit! I can’t wait to find out tomorrow what happens next ;)

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All in all, I had a wonderful time, picked up two new books, had fun hanging out with a friend, and met two incredible men, and just went home happy and satisfied. I’ve said it before and I’ll probably say it again and again and again but I always love going to events at this location. Its not close to me, and I usually have to leave really early in order to avoid the traffic that ensues around Los Angeles, and the actual Grove can be chaotic and parking can get expensive but its always, always, always worth it. I always have an amazing time and that’s due to Lita and her amazing team.

Besides, I’ll be back there tomorrow for The Day the Crayons Quit and Kami Garcia’s second novel! And we’ll have much more fun again :)

Ransom Riggs Kicks Off Hollow City Book Tour at the Grove!

Yesterday was the release day for Ransom Riggs’ long awaited second novel in the Miss Peregrine’s series, remedy Hollow City. He’s kicking off a tour to celebrate and meet all of you, price so click this link to find out if he’s coming near you!

The kick off of his tour happened at one of my FAVORITE places to see authors at the Barnes and Noble at The Grove! I’ve been attempting to meet Ransom Riggs for months now, treat and somehow was missing him at every turn so I was VERY much looking forward to meeting him.

I hit the event with my fangirl bestie/parabatai Sylvia from Fangirl Feeels and my sister Jessica, and our friends Casey and Gabby met up with us there as well!

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We got there SUPER early so we were able to score seats in the front row. I’m kind of a snob and like sitting in the front row. It also doesn’t help my ever growing snobbery that Ransom Riggs is a VERY handsome man, and I wanted a great view of him while he talked about his books ;)

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Ransom Riggs is a seriously awesome guy, SO laidback. He hopped up onto the table within the first five minutes of talking and just spent his presentation answering questions from the audience. He let us know that Miss Peregrine’s the movie is in development and that he really loves the script that has been written. We learned that there will be three books for the series, and we learned the background story behind them.

I really love that Miss Peregrine’s was almost an accident, and just a product of a hobby that he had. He was just collecting weird, old school photographs when he thought it might make an interesting book, and Miss Peregrine’s was born.

He also has such a fun sense of humor. If you’ve ever watched the YouTube channel he has started with his wife, fellow author Tahereh Mafi, you know they have a fantastic sense of humor. That definitely comes out while he’s answering questions and all that.

Then we all lined up to meet Ransom. Yay! He remembered me from when I assaulted him and Tahereh at the Mortal Instruments premiere

***Side Note: After the City of Bones premiere, and after we watched the movie, Sylvia and I were hanging out in the lobby of the theater, and we were surrounded by all these, like, movie stars and stuff, and then Sylvia spotted them, with Leigh Bardugo and Margaret Stohl, and we practically assaulted them in our excitement to meet them. It was both amazing and embarrassing***

He signed my books, signed my writing advice poster (which is totally running out of room…), and he also signed an extra copy of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, so watch out for a giveaway coming up VERY soon!

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Me and the author, himself.

After I met Ransom, I introduced myself to some people (see, haha, I’m getting so much better at networking. I told you I would!). I saw Tahereh Mafi standing around, talking to some friends, and I had brought my Shatter Me and Unravel Me with me, and I wanted to ask her to sign them, but I got this unusual bout of nervousness.

Eventually, I got up the courage, and she was incredibly sweet and also remembered me from my assault at the City of Bones premiere (again, embarrassing. I’m nothing if not completely professional haha).

She signed the books I brought and my writing advice poster and was seriously sweet. I can’t wait for her event at the end of February at the Grove!

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It was an awesomely good time, and I went home a very happy fangirl and blogger!

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Ransom Riggs’ writing advice. His words: “My gut told me to write that, so it must be true!” Pretty awesome.

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Tahereh’s advice. If you can’t read it, it says “The only difference between a successful person and an unsuccessful person is TIME. Never give up!”

And check out my awesome signed books :)

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Thanks again to Lita and Barnes and Noble, The Grove, for an awesome event, as always! I can’t wait til Tahereh Mafi in February and Lauren Oliver in March! So many amazing events coming up!

And to all my awesome followers, keep an eye out in the next day or two. I scored an extra copy of Miss Peregrine’s for you guys, and I’m getting all geared up for a giveaway!

Yay!

Happy Reading everyone :)