150
3 books head
16
16
* * * * * *
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:
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!
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.
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!
and
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.
I was SO excited because I love all of these authors so much, and I always have a good time going to these events.
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!
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!
Not a bad haul from the event!
I also managed to get my hands on some extra stuff! Check it out!
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!
Guys, doctor I just had SUCH an amazing weekend. This weekend was the annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at U.S.C., where the entire weekend is dedicated to the amazing culture of reading. It’s one of my favorite weekends of this year, and this year was no disappointment.
There was a team of five us: me, Sylvia from Fangirl Feeels, our friends Cassandra and Alexandra and my sister, Jessica. We had our game plans, and despite minor hiccups along the way, we managed to do everything that we wanted to do.
I met (and met again, for some) amazing authors this weekend: John Green (OHMYGOD), Rainbow Rowell, Lauren Oliver, Marissa Meyer, Sarah J Maas, Robin Benway, Veronica Roth, Lauren Myracle, Leigh Bardugo, Deb Caletti, Kiersten White, Andrew Smith and Stephanie Perkins.
But I won’t keep you from seeing my awesome vlogs. I vlogged while at the Fest so you get some pretty awkward and hilarious moments from me, a short video of my conversation with John Green and…lots of awkwardness haha.
Check it out!
Day One!
Day Two!
Yay! I hope you enjoyed seeing the awesomeness that was my weekend!
I managed to grab extra copies of Cinder, Anna and the French Kiss and Fangirl for a giveaway. There will NOT be a giveaway for the month of April (as of now), but there is a HUGE giveaway coming for my Blog Birthday in May so keep an eye out to see how you can get your hands on these books!
Oh! And don’t forget you can check out ALL the pictures on the What A Nerd Girl Says Facebook page here!
Happy Reading Everyone!
* * * * * * * * *
Hello, all my friends! How are you on this glorious Friday? I’m doing well! I had a GREAT Thanksgiving.
My boyfriend and I decided this year that we would do our own Thanksgiving, forgoing the stress of trying to attend all four possible Thanksgivings with our various family members. I’m house sitting right now, so I even have a house available to do so. Jon’s brother, Chris, decided he was into the idea as well, and so the three of us planned it all out. Chris is a full vegan, I’m a pescatarian and Jon eats anything and everything so we were able to get specialized too! I made my very first tofurkey ever and it was SO good. I rocked it. We had a ton of food, and I’m stuffed and happy.
Now its time for a nice relaxing weekend! I hope all of you are safe and all that this weekend. Its a crazy shopping weekend and I’m not going anywhere near it haha. I stay in bed, in my nice cozy house, with my trusty laptop during this weekend. I’m a fan of Amazon Black Friday sales and Cyber Monday deals across the board. They’re awesome, and you don’t even have to leave your house! Brilliant!
Speaking of Amazon Black Friday deals, there are a TON of them in movies! I saw movies like Harry Potter and The Hunger Games, Twilight and X-Men First Class, and all kinds of nerd movies for really cheap! And Blu-Ray too! Definitely go check it out :)
Now, moving on! It’s a day late, but here it is: this week’s Book of the Week review. If you haven’t had a chance to read my review of Marissa Meyer’s first book, Cinder, you can read it here!
Now for Scarlet!
GoodReads / Barnes and Noble / Amazon / Book Depository
Young Adult, Science Fiction, Fairy Tale Re-telling
The second novel of The Lunar Chronicles
Please note, while there will be NO spoilers for Scarlet in this review, there will be spoilers for the first novel, Cinder. You may read the review for that book here.
Honestly I’m not sure. But if you’re a YA fan, and a science fiction fan, you should read it. Even if you’re not partial to science fiction, you should read it.
12+
From Good Reads:
Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She’s trying to break out of prison–even though if she succeeds, she’ll be the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive.
Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn’t know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother’s whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.
I am blown away by the amazingness that is this book. I was recommended Cinder by my friend Erin, who runs That One Geek Girl, and it took me a long time to read it. Not because it was awful or hard to get into BUT because I was busy with school and the upcoming holiday and finding a new job and all that fun stuff. But I did finish it, eventually, and I absolutely loved it. I got my hands on Scarlet ASAP and I just finished it on Thanksgiving, while making my delicious tofurkey.
Marissa Meyer takes the story that she has created in Cinder and just multiples it, makes it broader, and takes her world and makes it more widespread, and its incredible. She introduces two very important new characters in Scarlet and Wolf (and also Captain Thorne), but instead of detracting from the story, it just adds to it, builds it, and makes it more intricate and more complex and even more exciting than it already was. Seriously. She takes the story that she’s created and doubles it. Just when you kind of think you know what direction things are going in, she steps in, shakes her head (and probably laughs at your crestfallen face) and switches courses so fast that its a wonder that you don’t have whiplash.
I absolutely love that she continued with the fairy tale angle. I’ve always known these fairy tales, because, well, I’m a girl and I grew up with Disney movies like most kids do. But I also just recently took a Children’s Lit class in school, and we did a TON of work on the old school fairy tales. When reading Cinder, I loved the comparisons between the familiar Charles Perrault tale and the novel. I loved that she took the basics of the story, and built them into her own, and twisted them. It was done beautifully.
Then she introduced Scarlet, the wolf, and Scarlet’s grandmother, Michelle. The tale of Red Riding Hood is SO apparent int his book, which I absolutely, totally love but its done so flawlessly. Its weaved in so naturally that it doesn’t feel like its forced. The transition between Cinder’s Cinderella story and Scarlet’s Red Riding Hood story and the combination of the two just fits so well. You hardly notice that they’re colliding until the impact and its amazing. It really is. I love seeing the themes of the old story, like the sexual themes and the innocence and all of that, but translated into a much stronger character like Scarlet. Because let’s face it, women were always weak and needed to be saved by a big strong man in these old folk tales.
Plus, I think Marissa really knows her story. She really takes this story and builds it from page one of the very first book. Sometimes I feel like people write their series as it goes, without really thinking of the past, present and future. You have to be aware of the entire scope of the series in order to write it. She definitely does that. The interweaving of the first two books, and presumably the third, is just beautiful. Things that didn’t seem important or felt unanswered came up in the second book, perfectly, and often times, through Scarlet’s point of view. She connects these two girls and their stories as if this is just the way it is, its always been like this. I love that they are brought together, two very different girls, but both strong and determined, both fighters. Its awesome. She creates great characters. She takes Cinderella and Red and makes them SO much better, and stronger and smarter. Its fantastic.
I could go on and on and on about this book but then I’d be wasting your time. If you haven’t gotten involved in this series yet, definitely do it. If you’ve read Cinder and haven’t read Scarlet, what on earth are you waiting for? You’re going to SPEED through this book and then lament that Cress is still 66 days away. Sigh. But we’re a patient bunch, aren’t we? So get out there and read! The links to buy it are above, and you know you want to! Its a beautiful science fiction novel with mystery and action and romance and twists and turns, moments that make you laugh and cry, and they are stories that remind you of the classic stories you loved as a kid, with a little bit of a kickass twist.
5 out of 5 Stars
Definitely! This book blew me away. If you thought the first book was good, you’re going to think this one is even better. I guarantee it. I canNOT wait until Cress comes out, and to find out what happens next!
* * * * *
I hope you enjoyed this week’s Book of the Week! Don’t forget that you can check out old posts here!
Happy Reading!
