Book Events, Book Events, Book Events! Recap with Andrew Smith, Aaron Hartzler, Nicole Yoon, Cecil Castellucci, Leigh Bardugo and Stephenie Meyer!

I throw myself at your mercy, prostate my friends! I have attended so many events lately and I’ve sadly been so terrible at recapping them!

So I’ve decided to do a quick update of who I’ve met the past few months, and share some photos and some quick things about it!

September 8th – Andrew Smith at The Grove

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It’s always an awesome time seeing Andrew. I had been dying to get my hands on Stand-Off and I knew I had to get to this signing, no matter what happened. He read a bit of the book, which was absolutely hilarious, and signed books. He was such a sweetheart, and made sure to give me a big hug, which was awesome. I loved the way he signed my book…to be counted as his friend is honestly a huge honor. Aaron Hartzler was also there, and I figured it would be an awesome picture to get one of the two of them, because they’re just both so so awesome!

September 13th – Cecil Castellucci at the Long Beach Comic Con

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It is always awesome to see Miss Cecil! Sadly, I had missed her release party as well, which had made me so insanely sad since it was a new Princess Leia book! I got it on release date though, and when I heard she was going to be at LBCC, I knew I had to swing by her table and get her autograph, of course. I adore Cecil and if you haven’t read her Princess Leia book, you definitely should!

I also was able to meet Amy Mebberson, the fan artist who is AWESOME, and does one of my favorite series, Pocket Princesses. I also met Lindsey McKeon, who played Tessa the Reaper in Supernatural.

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September 24th – Aaron Hartzler at the Grove

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Then a few weeks later, I made my way back to the Grove to celebrate the release of Aaron Hartzler’s What We Saw. I read this book back in April as an ARC and just fell madly in love with it. I knew I had to get my hands on a copy, especially since Aaron is such a great friend. He gave me the BIGGEST hug when he found out my news about being published and it was just fabulous seeing him again. He read such a great part from the book too.

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It was fabulous too! Aaron pointed out the awesome Nicola Yoon during his event, and I was so sad that I had missed her own release party the week before that I practically sprinted to the YA section to grab a copy of her book to get it signed. She was SO sweet about it and signed it, and was just so so awesome.

October 7th – Leigh Bardugo at The Grove

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Leigh always is SUCH a fun time. She’s so funny and articulate and she always has the best events because she’s just such an awesome person. She makes me laugh like no other, and she’s so passionate about what she does. I LOVE going to see her and her new book is just fabulous! She had just found out that day that Six of Crows had debuted at #1 on the NYT best seller list too, so it was a great celebration!

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Me and Leigh’s mom! We’ve taken a picture together the last three years at Leigh’s release parties so it felt like tradition to do it once more! She’s just so awesome :)

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Its always so so great to see Leigh, but this time was even more awesome. She congratulated me on being published and wrote just the best thing in the world in my book, that made me smile so big and nearly drove me to tears. I’m so lucky to have such a great author as a friend, and that we were able to celebrate the awesomeness of being published (and soon to be published) together!

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My dad even went to the event with me! He’s been reading Six of Crows, which is awesome because he’s not a reader at all, and he decided to come with me, and meet Leigh!

October 12th – Stephenie Meyer at The Grove with Jake Abel

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I was actually really excited when I heard that Stephenie Meyer would be signing at The Grove for the tenth anniversary of Twilight. I’ve been reading it for ten years haha and its my biggest guilty pleasure for sure. I’ve also never met her, which is pretty crazy so I was excited to finally meet her! My dear friend, Lita, helped me get a good spot for the event and I was second row and perfectly set for the Q and A and the signing.

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It was also REALLY cool to see that she had brought along Jake Abel for the signing, to help with the Q and A. It was super simple, everyone wrote down questions on index cards, they selected a few backstage and then answered some during the event. They picked mine too, which was awesome and I made sure to record it too! If you don’t know Jake Abel, he played Ian in Stephenie Meyer’s The Host, and he also was Luke in Percy Jackson and Adam in Supernatural.

It was a SUPER great event. It was organized perfectly, it went smoothly and they even had a professional photographer to take your picture with Stephenie so that you got a picture but didn’t hold up the line with your phone or camera. It was absolutely seamless.

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This picture came out SO good. I love this professional photographer thing. It worked out so well and I truly love my picture so much.

Afterwards, Jake Abel had sort of disappeared, and I was kind of sad because I wanted to get a picture with him. I saw a friend of mine, who looked all happy, and asked if she knew where he was, so I totally tracked him down. He was with his wife, shopping for books, but he was insanely sweet about posing for a picture with me!

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And then I finally had a signed Twilight book in my collection!

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I hope you enjoyed this random recap of events! Hopefully from now on, I’ll be MUCH MUCH better at recapping!

Book Event: “The Day the Crayons Quit” by Drew Daywalt + Interview!

I am SOOOOOO behind in recapping events but I’m here now and I can’t wait to recap this incredible event that I attended last week at the Barnes and Noble, store The Grove.

In the past month or so, hospital Barnes and Noble has been promoting a children’s book titled “The Day the Crayons Quit.” See, here’s the thing. Some of the crayons feel a bit overworked, and some feel a little underworked. White crayon feels left out, and peach crayon is afraid to leave the box because his wrapper was peeled off. Pink crayon wants to be used more and orange and yellow keep fighting over who is the real color of the sun. The crayons were ready to quit.

So Barnes and Noble asked people all over to write letters to the crayons, asking them to not quit! And of course, I wrote my own letter to the crayons just a few days before they were to release their decision.

The Event

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Now I was heading out to the Barnes and Noble that day to meet Kami Garcia, for her released of Unmarked, the second of her series, and I learned that this event was going on the same day. Since I have a pretty hefty drive out to Los Angeles, I figured I’d leave a little earlier and enjoy this event. I knew I would probably be the only solo adult there but this is a totally cute book and I was looking forward to it.

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Crayons Don’t Quit! The sign, the balloons and the letters all working together to convince the crayons not to quit!

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Lita, who is the events manager at this particular Barnes and Noble, getting her face painted for the event. Lita is SO awesome and always puts together the best events.

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I decided to join in on the fun and get my own crayon painted on me. I sided with pink crayon, because poor Duncan thinks pink is a girl color and never used it. Pink Crayon is totally awesome and I’m always on its side!

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Here we have Lita introducing the author of the book, Drew Daywalt, and making one last plea to the crayons NOT to quit!

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Here we have Drew Daywalt reading from the book, reading all the letters the crayons have written to their owner, Duncan, explaining the reasons why they’re so upset!

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Myself with the author :) He was SO awesome, did voices, interacted so well with all the kids, and wrote a really fantastic children’s book.

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My autographed copy of the book :) He even drew a little Tardis for me since I was wearing my Tardis shirt!

The Interview 

Sara: Why kids books? 

Drew: I grew up in one of Ohio’s most haunted houses. That does not answer your question, however, part two of that is when I was a kid, i was just entrenched in fantasy and escapism and horror movies, and my brothers were older and let me stay up late and watch horror movies with them. I had this weird diet of old 60s black and white Jack Arnold movies, like Tarantula and Creature from the Black Lagoon. And also, when Mom got home, she read me Maurice Sendak, Dr. Seuss and Roald Dahl. So that sort of accounts for my doing monster movies and kids’ books. Also, in college I was a dual major, I studied screen writing and I was also a children’s lit major.

Sara: So what gave you the inspiration for “The Day the Crayons Quit”? 

Drew: Uh, let’s see, ten years after film school and ten years ago, now, I had an instructor who has won a Newbury award, he always encouraged me in college to write kids books and to get into children’s publishing and I was always like, “No, I’m going to Hollywood”. I got really frustrated when working on a movie and wrote a story focused on a box of crayons that looked like that; peach was unwrapped, blue was a little short. Black was kind of used, pink wasn’t used at all, and I thought, I’ll personify them and since I was and still am, to a degree, screenwriter, my strength is dialogue. Ah, I can give these crayons a voice, and what I said apparently resonated with a lot of people because everyone had that same box with the same problems.

Sara: What is your favorite crayon? 

Drew: My favorite crayon is brown but he’s not in this book, that’s all I will say.

Sara: Well, a little mystery! Awesome! What are some of your favorite children’s books?

Drew: I am Seuss, Sendak and Dahl disciple, because these guys wrote stuff for us as children but never talked down to us, never placated, never seemed to sweeten anything. They took very serious subjects, and dark subjects, and made them funny. You know, in this case, I tried a subject that was discontent, a group disagreement, conflict resolution and I wanted to make it funny, and it ended up being about teamwork. So I wanted to take a somewhat dark, and conflict-y subject and that’s why I love these guys. Dr Seuss did war, class issues, consumerism. Sendak tackled social issues and fears. You know, you look closely at Where the Wild Things Are and you’ll find sixteen different interpretations.

Sara: What are some of the best reactions you’ve gotten so far (to The Day the Crayons Quit)?

Drew: Let’s see, one of my favorites was a crazy woman who was convinced I was a racist, for not including brown crayon and for implying that pink was the color of flesh and the only color of flesh. And, what she didnt’ know was that I’m in an interracial marriage and that myself, my wife, my kids, none of us are the same color, and nor do I have a problem with anyone of a different color. So that was fun.

My favorite reaction probably to the book, on a positive note, is teachers, special teachers are using it for autism, because they have trouble identifying the emotion by just describing it, but when you put a color to it, it makes an easy label. Red is all worked, blue is exhausted and happy, which is different from gray, who is exhausted and desperate. So they are able to teach emotions to those who have a problem recognizing them, so that was really awesome to hear.

Sara: Anybody who wants to write books: what advice do you have for them? 

Drew: For anyone who wants to be a writer, keep writing, and in eleventh grade, I tried to get into AP english, and I had a teacher who was the snooty, mean teacher, not the nice one, not the cool one, not the Dead Poet’s society teacher. She said, you are not ready for the AP class and I told her, I want to be a writer, I want to be challenged. And she said, she took me outside, took me to the front stoop, and told me, “Drew, not everyone is meant to be writer, and even if you have that desire, its better for you to find out now that you don’t have it.” I like to say the opposite of that, forget everyone else, do your thing, write everyday. Sometimes its crap, sometimes you know it, sometimes you don’t, I still write crap every day. Keep writing, and you’ll do it. Keep writing and you will find that gem. You will, everyone does, for those who stick around with it.

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Thank you Lita for being on such an amazing fun event. I loved the confetti, and the trumpet player and the dancing children and the crayons painting on everyone’s faces and arms. I loved Drew reading the book and I really loved being able to talk to such a great author and an inspiring guy. What was just a convenience to a girl driving kind of far ended up being a truly fun event and I am glad I went.

And thanks to Drew for taking the time to sit down with me and do this interview. I hope to see more fun kids books from you in the future!

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 :)

Fierce Reads Blockbuster Event!

Can you guys believe that its been about three weeks since I’ve done a book event? Yeah! Three weeks! Insanity! Ever since I got back home from ALA in Las Vegas, link I’ve been overwhelmed with work, abortion and my novel, that I just haven’t had much time for blogging or going to book events.

Luckily, that is about to change VERY soon. I had an awesome time tonight at the Fierce Reads event at The Grove in Los Angeles, and will be attending a James Dashner and a Maggie Stiefvater event in the next few days and I’m very excited for those. Things are picking up guys.

Tonight I headed down to one of my favorite bookstores for what was sure to be an awesome event. I love Barnes and Noble in general, but I love going to the one at The Grove because they always have such great events and the event coordinator, Lita, is just a doll. I got there early, grabbed my wristband, and had lunch at Veggie Grill (yum yum!) before heading back to the store for the event.

The authors attending this event were four total YA all stars:

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Marissa Meyer, author of the Lunar Chronicles series, including Cinder, Scarlet, Cress and soon to be, Winter. Winter hits bookstores next year, but before that, a prequel story about Queen Levana will hit bookstores. Yay!

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Leigh Bardugo, author of the Grisha Trilogy, including Shadow and Bone, Siege and Storm and Ruin and Rising. She’s currently working on another series, which takes place in the same Grisha world, not long after the end of Ruin and Rising.

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Anna Banks, author of the Syrena Legacy, including Of Poseidon, Of Triton and Of Neptune. She also has a new book called Joyride heading to bookstores next June!

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Ann Aguirre, author of the Razorland trilogy, including Enclave, Outpost, and Horde. And soon to be a TON of other books! This includes a new adult trilogy whose titles are Backstreet Boy’s songs. I call that a win.

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I was SO excited because I love all of these authors so much, and I always have a good time going to these events.

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We took our seats, and Lita talked up the event and the authors, and even talked about the moderator, Anthony Breznican and his debut novel, Brutal Youth. She talked it up so much that I immediately went downstairs to pick myself a copy of it. He was so awesome, a great moderator and was fun to talk to after the panel. He seemed happy that some of us grabbed copies of his book; it must be SO nerve wracking to have your debut novel out there!

Then Lita and the fantastic people of Macmillan Teens had a surprise for us early arrivals: ARCs! You know me, I can NEVER get enough of books :) I immediately went forward to check out what they had. I had most of them, from ALA, but they had a copy of Caragh O’Brien’s Vault of Dreamers, which I hadn’t managed to score at ALA. That was exciting. I also had my sister with me, and she was kind of my assistant for the event, so she grabbed a copy of Josephine Angelini’s Trial by Fire. Now, if you guys pay attention at all, you’ll know that I already have a copy of Trial by Fire so this one is going to be up for grabs very soon!

Then the event! Yay!

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All four ladies were so much fun in the panel. I honestly haven’t laughed so hard in so long. Leigh was her usual hilarious self and Marissa had a quirky little sense of humor. Ann Aguirre had a sort of awkward sense of humor, which remind me so much of myself that I just couldn’t stop laughing. And ohmygod, Anna Banks’ dry sense of humor was KILLING me. I could NOT stop laughing. It was too much.

They talked about their books, their inspirations for them, how they tackled them. They talked about books they loved, and what books inspired them. What I really loved is how they dove into the appeal of YA to adults and the growing diversity in YA books. Those are two very important topics and I was eager to hear what they had to say about it!

Then was the signing, of course. I got books signed by all of them, because I’m spoiled that way ;) I got Mortal Danger signed by Ann Aguirre, Of Poseidon by Anna Banks, and my extra copies of Siege and Storm and Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo.

Because I already have my entire Lunar Chronicles signed (so far), I bought an extra copy of Cinder (and also Shadow and Bone) and those will be up for grabs soon as well!

I think I cleaned up pretty nicely after this event!

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Not a bad haul from the event!

I also managed to get my hands on some extra stuff! Check it out!

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I bought extra copies of Cinder and Shadow and Bone and those are both signed by the author. I got my hands on that extra copy of Trial by Fire, which doesn’t hit bookstores until September! I also got an Of Poseidon sneak peek booklet signed by Anna Banks and a bookmark signed by Ann Aguirre, and ton of other cool bookmarks and pins. Keep an eye out because a giveaway is coming VERY VERY soon!

Leigh’s mom was there, and I’ve met her twice before, at the Siege and Storm release party and the Ruin and Rising release part, and she’s such a doll. She remembered me and gave me a big ol hug and sat next to me during the event. She’s such a sweetheart :)

I also met a “fan” of What A Nerd Girl Says today, named Laura! She was SO cool, and I always love meeting you guys so NEVER be nervous to say hi. I’m kind of a weirdo so please do! Also, she read my excerpt that I posted the other day of The Awakened, and loved it, and that gave me SUCH a boost! Thanks for that, Laura :)

All in all, a super great night and I’m always so glad to go to the Barnes and Noble at the Grove and to go to Fierce Reads events. I ADORE Macteen and they put out so many amazing books and I will go to every Fierce Reads event that I can!

Until next time, folks! And keep an eye out for that giveaway!

Cora Carmack: ‘All Lined Up’ Cover Reveal!

Hello beautiful people!

I am excited to bring you information about a brand new book by the talented and awesome new adult author, this web Cora Carmack.

For those of you who may not be familiar to Cora, viagra approved here is some information about her, and where to find her out on the world wide web!

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Cora Carmack is a twenty-something writer who likes to write about twenty-something characters. She’s done a multitude of things in her life– boring jobs (like working retail), Fun jobs (like working in a theatre), stressful jobs (like teaching), and dream jobs (like writing). She enjoys placing her characters in the most awkward situations possible, and then trying to help them get a boyfriend out of it. Awkward people need love, too. Her first book, LOSING IT, was a New York Times and USA Today bestseller.

Her Twitter

Her GoodReads

Her Website

Her Facebook

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Now to learn more about her BRAND NEW BOOK, which is the first in a BRAND NEW series. This is VERY exciting, so let’s learn more about it!

The book is called, All Lined Up, and here is a brief synopsis about it.

In Texas, two things are cherished above all else—football and gossip. My life has always been ruled by both.

Dallas Cole loathes football. That’s what happens when you spend your whole childhood coming in second to a sport. College is her time to step out of the bleachers, and put the playing field (and the players) in her past.

But life doesn’t always go as planned. As if going to the same college as her football star ex wasn’t bad enough, her father, a Texas high school coaching phenom, has decided to make the jump to college ball… as the new head coach at Rusk University. Dallas finds herself in the shadows of her father and football all over again.

Carson McClain is determined to go from second-string quarterback to the starting line-up. He needs the scholarship and the future that football provides. But when a beautiful redhead literally falls into his life, his focus is more than tested. It’s obliterated.

Dallas doesn’t know Carson is on the team. Carson doesn’t know that Dallas is his new coach’s daughter.

And neither of them knows how to walk away from the attraction they feel.

You can add it to your GoodReads list by clicking on this link here!

You can also pre-order it on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and iTunes.

Doesn’t that sound exciting? As a person who is obsessed with sports and doesn’t understand why there isn’t more YA/NA about sports out there (I will finish that baseball novel one day…), I’m excited about this. I hope there’s a lot of sports mixed in with the romance, because football and romance sounds like a fantastic mix!

Now its time for the reveal! Watch the video below to see it!

Okay, I suppose you could just keep scrolling and see the cover, but what’s the fun in that! Its better to watch the video THEN see the cover. I hope that’s what you did. It would make me the happiest of bloggers.

Moving on, here is the cover!

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What do you all think? Make sure to share your thoughts in the comments and add the book to your GoodReads! The book will be available on May 13th, 2014, so don’t miss out on it!

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 :)