The time I met Nalini Singh and Nora Roberts + Giveaway

Hola, friends! It's taken me a while but I finally had some time to write up my recap of the RWA 2012 Literacy Autographing Session that took place a couple of weeks ago. RWA is Romance Writers of America and, this year, their conference was held in Anaheim, CA. Every year at the conference they hold a massive autographing session (free to the public) where hundreds or romance authors autograph books with the proceeds going to a literacy organization. This year, the session made over $50,000! Wow, that is a pretty crazy number for 3 hours of autographs. Luckily I don't live too far from Anaheim and I was able to make it to the event. (Warning that this post is gonna be long but you get rewarded with a giveaway at the end)

I got to the convention center around 3:30pm. I made my way up to the ballroom area on the third floor and found that a line had already formed. It wasn't very long (I had just gone to Comic Con the weekend before so everything pales in comparison) and I cheerfully got in line with my fellow romance lovers. The line was pretty uneventful though I did talk to some people about romance authors and, as it neared 5pm, we have some authors and publishers coming out to talk to us in line. By that time, the line had gotten quite long and I could see it snaking behind me. 

They let us in pretty much on time and I made a beeline for Nalini Singh's booth. She was one of the main reasons I wanted to go to the event. The other authors are awesome but I know Nalini lives far away in New Zealand and doesn't make it out here too often. I wanted to be sure to see her before her line got insane so I rushed over there first.

omg it's me with nalini singh!

Nalini was everything I had hoped she would be - super sweet and funny and she was wearing an awesome dress to boot. She was giving out samples of Archangel's Storm as well as buttons that said "I <3 Judd" and "Judd is my boyfriend." :) Unfortunately she could not give me any hints about the next Psy/Changeling books she is currently writing, but I did try. Nalini was totally the highlight of the event for me and I am so glad I got to meet her.

After seeing Nalini Singh, I wandered around for a bit. I had a hit list of authors I wanted to see with my highlighted map of the room. There were seriously hundreds of authors there with books. It was so hard to not buy everything I saw. Even though the event was crowded, the ballroom was well spaced out so I never felt cramped or trampled. And since there were so many authors and no specified order of where you had to go, lines were really minimal (except for Nora Roberts which I will get to later). 

rows upon rows of romance authors and books

I proceeded to spend the next couple of hours visiting some authors I love and a few others that piqued my interest. I don't usually take a ton of pics of myself with authors since I am kind of shy, but I just decided to go for it since it was awkward taking pics of the authors by themselves and the event was chill enough where I had time to chat with everyone and snap a pic. Fair warning that you'll be seeing a lot of me in these pics. 

courtney milan

I had a really fun time talking to Courtney Milan. I love her historical romances and am super excited for her next book, The Governess Affair to come out hopefully in September.

jennifer echols

I am not sure how I have never read a Jennifer Echols book, but it's true. I was excited to get a copy of her newest book, Such A Rush, at the event. Shout out to Crystal at Elegantly Bound Books, who loves Jennifer and convinced me to buy Going Too Far recently. 

elizabeth hoyt

This is me with Elizabeth Hoyt whose historical Thief of Shadows I read recently and really enjoyed. Thief is the latest book in a series and I ended up buying another book in the series from her. 

blurry one of me and sarah maclean

I am a huge fan of Sarah MacLean's historicals. Love, love her book Nine Rules To Break When Romancing a Rake! She is currently working on the next book in her Scoundrels series. 

jaci burton

Jaci Burton's Play by Play series has the BEST covers. I am not kidding, people. Take a look at this, this, and this, and tell me you aren't drooling. Jaci was very kind and even gave me a few large format postcards of her gorgeous covers.

julia quinn

I just started reading Julia Quinn's Bridgerton series recently and love it. Look how classy and cute she is!

kristen callihan

Kristen is the author of the super awesome Darkest London series that includes Firelight and Moonglow. I am so bad and haven't done my review of Moonglow yet but I adore both books. Fantastic blend of romance, paranormal and historical. You need to read her books. 

I know this is long but I am almost done. I also snuck some shots in of some authors that I liked but didn't have a chance to personally speak to.

christina dodd

simone elkeles

sylvia day

sophia jordan

Congratulations on making it this far. This is the home stretch, I promise. So Nora Roberts was at this event. Yes, that Nora Roberts. The Norah Roberts that seems to write a book a month. The Nora Roberts who is also J.D. Robb and writes the In Death series (squee!). Nora's table was actually quite close to Nalini Singh's so I saw it when I first got in. The line got long pretty fast, but it wasn't stupid crazy. I waited until the event was almost over and then made my way back to Nora's table. What I noticed before I got there was that she was really taking the time to talk to each and every person. She had each person sit next to her (and not across the table) for a chat and an assistant was taking pictures. It was a really well oiled machine but Nora made it feel personal. 

I may have been a little speechless when I got up there but I managed to tell her how much I loved the In Death series and the relationship between Eve and Roarke. When asked if she had any plans to end the series, Nora said that she would keep writing books about them as long as their relationship kept evolving and there was a story to tell. Good news for us In Death fans. 

whoa, in the same picture as nora roberts

OMG if you've made it this far, you deserve a cookie. Pretend I am giving you one through the computer. As you can see, it was a pretty fabulous event. It was well run and organized and everyone had a good time. I ran into the awesome Jenn and Mary from YA Booktwins at the even, who are always lovely and met up with my friend Crystal. Crystal and I made the sorta long walk to Downtown Disney after the event and had a fun dinner. All in all, awesome time. 

More pics are up on our Facebook album if you want to see more. 

So now I have a small giveaway for you guys.  I have a signed copy of Eleven Scandals to Start to Win a Duke's Heart by Sarah MacLean, the third and final book in her Love by Numbers series. This is a fantastic series! I am also throwing in a copy of A Week To Be Wicked by Tessa Dare that picked up at ALA and various swag. U.S. & Can only for this one, please.

the prize

Rules:

1. No purchase necessary. None of the entries are mandatory, but you have to do at least one to enter.
2. Open to people with mailing addresses in the US only. 
3. One set of entries per household please. 
4. If you are under 13, please get a parent or guardian's permission to enter, as you will be sharing personal info such as an email address. 
5. Winner will be chosen randomly via Rafflecopter widget after the end of the day on Aug 31, 2012. 
6. Winner will have 48 hours to respond to to the email, otherwise we will pick a new winner. 
7. If you have any questions, feel free to email us!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

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