Tammara Webber & Abbi Glines Recap + Giveaway

Hi, everyone! I hope the week is going fantastic. It's actually really flying by which is nice. Is it just me or do you start counting down the days until the weekend on Monday? Maybe it's just me but I do love the weekend. This week was broken up by a really fun author event. Barnes & Noble at the Americana hosted Abbi Glines and Tammara Webber on May 6, 2014. Even though I left work a little early, it still took me over an hour to get there (grrr LA traffic). First things first though, I went and got dinner with Alethea at Din Tai Fung. DTF is a really great Chinese dumpling restaurant. I hadn't been to this location before and I was starving, so we ordered all the things.

shrimp rice cakes

pork and seafood dumplings

We were cutting it close by having dinner beforehand but, like I said, starving. We arrived a few minutes after 7pm and grabbed seats (thanks, Aly!).  There was a really good crowd there and it was standing room only. There was no talk beforehand and the ladies launched right into a Q&A session. I'll give you a few tidbits about what I learned during the Q&A.

Tammara has never been recongnized as far as she knows. Abbi says that she isn't usually recognized either but loves going on tour to meet fans. The first time she ever flew was in 2012 when she went to NYC.

Abbi has turned down movie options for her books because she doesn't want the rights to be tied up with a film. She thinks that there is too much story in her series for a movie and is waiting for a TV deal.

my nails match and i didn't even plan it!

When asked about what it was like going from being a self-published author to signing with a major publisher Abbi said that she had to give up some control over things like covers and pricing on her books. However, she said that giving up that control is worth it to have things like an editor and seeing her books on the shelves of major retailers.

Abbi did not outline her first book, which she said was a bad idea. Now she outlines every book. Tammara does not outline her books.

When asked if they write in chronological order, Tammara said that it depends on the story. She wrote Easy chronologically but not all of her books have been written that way. Abbi says that she writes chronologically because that's how her brain works. When she tries to write out of order, it gets confusing.

Abbi wants to do another Vincent Boys books but, with her current publishing schedule, isn't sure when that will happen. It will be a prequel story to the series.

Tammara is thinking of writing a book from the point of view from some a secondary character in her books.

Tammara hadn't planned on writing Lucas's book. It wasn't until a year after Easy was published that she started to see and hear Lucas's POV in her mind and decided to write the book.

Abbi said that Rock and Trish will get a novella.

Tammara says that she wanted her son to read the audiobook for Easy. She knew that he could do it but had to convince her publisher to let him audition. 

After a few more questions, it was time for the signing. It was all very orderly though there were a lot of people so we had plenty of time to chat while we waited. (Apologies for the less than stellar pics below. It was really busy and I just tried to take a few quick pics while I was in line.)

Here is Tammara signing about 4 copies of Breakable. She was a little quiet but super sweet and friendly.

Here is Abbi signing a poster for me. She's super funny and I love her Southern accent. After the signing we retreated upstairs to Starbucks for a much needed caffeine break. Thanks for B&N for a lovely event. It was very organized and the turnout was great. Both Abbi and Tammara were super nice and charming. I can't wait to read my new books! If you want to see a few more pics, check out my Flickr set for the event. 

And because you, dear readers, are always on my mind, I got a few presents for you at the screening, too. I am giving away a signed copy of Breakable by Tammara Webber as well as an Abbi Glines T-Shirt (Large) and a poster signed by Abbi. Giveaway is US only at this time. Please check out my giveaway rules and enter the Rafflecopter below. Giveaway ends 5/24/14. Good luck!

Giveaway Rules:

1. Open to US residents only. 
2. We are not responsible for lost, stolen, or damaged items. 
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 a day or two after the contest ends. 
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. You can review our full contest policy here. 
8. PLEASE DO NOT LEAVE ANY PERSONAL INFO IN THE COMMENTS. Sorry for the caps but we always get people leaving their email in the comments. Rafflecopter will collect all that without having personal info in the comments for all the world (and spambots) to find. Thanks!

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LA Times Festival of Books - Day 2 Recap

Hi, guys. I am back with my recap of Day 2 of the LA Times Festival of Books. Shout out to my friends Kimberly at The Windy Pages, Nicole at The Reader's Antidote, Crystal from Books Unbound, Laura N and Aly from Kidlit Frenzy for hanging out.

My first top of the day was the Mrs. Nelons's book who was having a signing with Marissa Meyer, Robin Benway and Sarah J Maas. I brought my copy of Cress for Marissa to sign. She was a sweetheart as always and I was so glad she was at the fest.

I did not have any physical books for Sarah to sign but was getting some signed for a friend, so I was able to chat with her for a bit, too. She was lovely and I think my friend saved her by giving her some sunblock. Sarah's seat was right in the full sun.

Here is Robin Benway looking glam and beautiful.

I really wanted to go to the Somewhere in Time panel with Ann Brashares and Melissa de la Cruz but the signing line took too long so we missed it. But we were able to run over to the signing line before it got started as I had a copy of The Ring and the Crown for Melissa to sign.

Melissa isi always fun to see and she told me that she is currently working on the next book in the Ring series. While in line for Melissa, I took a few drive by photos of the other panelists. (Note that I do a lot of drive by photos when I don't have time to get in a line.)

Here is Eoin Colfer. He's a very handsome and distinguished looking man. I haven't read any of his books but I think I need to change that.

And here is Ann Brashares signing many books. I wanted to get a copy of Her Name is Memory signed but they did not have it for sale at the fest.  After the signing I stopped by the panel with Ava Dellaria and Steven Chbosky. Ava was there to talk about her new book Love Letters to the Dead. No pics of this one since it was dark and I was way in the back. Really interesting panel though. I have heard lots of good things about Love Letters and hope to read it soon.

Next we went back to Mrs. Nelson's for a signing with Amy Tintera and Emery Lord.  Here is Amy signing Kimberly's copy of Reboot. Amy was super nice and I kind of love her hair. 

Next up was Emery Lord, whose debut novel Open Road Summer is garnering a lot of buzz. After meeting her I really want to read her book.

More signings were next and we hightailed it to the Pages booth to see Rachel Hawkins and Stephanie Perkins. 

Our next mission was food but the food truck lines were insane. I really wanted a boba drink from The Boba Truck though.  So I waited in line for that and it was so worth it. :) 

Drive by photo of Ava Dellaria.

But I didn't just stalk authors all afternoon. There were some great panels at the YA Stage and I was able to catch two of them. The first was Young Adult Sci-Fi: Fantastical Tales with Leigh Bardugo, Cecil Castellucci, Sarah J. Maas, Marissa Meyer and moderated by Andrew Smith. This was a great panel with lots of interesting tidbits and funny moments.

Sorry for the awkward pic but we were way to the side of the stage and I could not get a really good angle. I also stopped by the YA Stage Told From the Heart Panel withmoderator Amy Spalding and featuring Stephanie Perkins, Emery Lord and Joanna Philbin.

 

It was a very fun panel as you can see above and a great way to end the day. Right before we left we swung by the Chronicle Books booth where everything was 50% off. You can met I bought some books from them. :)  This year's Festival was super fun and I had a great time. Can't wait for next year!

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LA Times Festival of Books - Day 1 Recap

Hello! If you follow me on Intagram or Twitter, you may have noticed that this past weekend was the annual LA Times Festival of Books, aka Bookchella, aka Festival of Buying too many books, lugging them home and sneaking them inside. That last one is from my friend Kimberly. It's a really fun but tiring event held on campus at the University of Southern California. Sometimes I only go for one day but this year's line-up was too good and was there for the majority of both days. This year's fest was heavily YA oriented for me. I am going to try to keep this recap somewhat brief. :)

Saturday morning I met up with my friends Laura N, Kimberly and Katie bright and early. We took the metro (which I rarely take) and made it to campus right on time. After picking up our handy press badges (thanks, LA Times!) we proceeded to meet up with Nicole an take a quick walk about the grounds before our first panels.

Food trucks are all the rage and it looks like publishers are getting in on the action, too. Besides the Library Store Truck, which I've seen a lot, Penguin also had a book truck. It was really fun seeing the books like this and I ended up grabbing a copy of Attachments and The Day the Crayons Quit from the truck.

After that I headed over to Norris Hall for my first panel of the day which was Young Adult Fiction: Testing the Boundaries with E, Lockhart, Rainbow Rowell, Andrew Smith, John Corey Whaley and moderated by Aaron Hartzler.  This was a really great mix of authors. They spoke in length about the boundaries that their characters push and the boundaries that they come across as authors. 

After the panel I hurried on over to the signing area, where a formidable line had already started. A lot of people were there for Rainbow Rowell. Everyone was super nice though and I had a nice wait with them. 

Finally it was time for me to see Rainbow and I don't remember much of what I said except probably that she was awesome. She also had some fantastic Fangirl nails going on and I asked her if I could snap a pic of them. How adorable is she?

While in line for Rainbow I also snuck over to get a copy of Noggin signed by John Corey Whaley.  Corey is a great speaker and I always love seeing him on tour. His newest book sounds fantastic and I can't wait to read it.

After this signing, my friend and I quickly went to the Pages booth to see if we could catch Oliver Jeffers and Drew Daywalt, the illustrator and author of the picture book The Day the Crayons Quit. I love this book and have a bit of a crush on Oliver Jeffers so it was fun seeing them. 

After a very quick lunch at Lemonade, it was time to get ready for my last panel of the day. On our way back to the hall, we saw that the John Green line was still going strong. This was around 3:45 and I think his line started a little after 1pm. It was not short when we went by it either. I heard that John Green signed for several hours, making him a hero in my book. Here's a drive by photo of him.

My final panel on Saturday was Young Adult Fantasy: The Real & the Unreal with Soman Chainani, Cynthia Leitich Smith, Margaret Stohl, Laini Taylor and moderator John Corey Whaley.  I was really excited about this panel because I love Laini Taylor and thought that this group of authors was an interesting mix. Soman Chainini really impressed me and was really funny. Unfortunately the signing booth was out of his book The School of Good and Evil, but I managed to pick up a signed copy of it at a booth the next day.

After the panel it was off to the signing line again.  Luckily our friend had her father get in line quite early and we were near the front of the line. I was so excited to see Laini and I am pretty sure I made no sense, but she was sweet and signed my book. 

By this time it was after 6pm and my friends and I were done for. We climbed  back on the subway and made it home in order to rest up for Sunday's events.  Special shout out to the many bookish friends I saw that day, even if it was just briefly. I'll be back soon with my day 2 recap!

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Upcoming Events: LAPL Teen Book Fest

Hi, everyone! Just a quick note that the LAPL Teen Book Fest is happening this weekend on Saturday, Oct 12. At noon we (yes, we! Thuy and Alethea) will be on a panel, Read This, I Dare You, in Meeting Room A. You can also see Alyson from Kid Lit Frenzy, Maggie from YA Anonymous, and Lee from I'm Here. I'm Queer. What the Hell Do I Read? I have never been on any kind of a panel before and I hate speaking in public, so it should be interesting. :) 

You can read an interview of the panelists here!

Benjamin Alire Saenz won't be able to attend due to illness; however, Amy Spalding,Elizabeth Ross, and Elana K. Arnold will be there instead.

[ Schedule ]

Also appearing:

Josephine Angelini

Francesca Lia Block

Barbara Brauner

Cecil Castelucci

Cornelia Funke

Maurene Goo

James Iver Mattson

Kristen Kittscher

Bill Konigsberg

Lindsey Leavitt

Tom Leveen

Patricia McCormick

Gretchen McNeil

Mary Pearson

Marlene Perez

Jenn Reese

Andrew Smith

Sherri L. Smith

Ned Vizzini

When:

Teen Book Fest is on Saturday, Oct. 12 from 11am-5pm.

Where: 

Central Library is located at 630 W. 5th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90071. Teen Book Fest panels will take place in Meeting Room A (first floor) and Teen'Scape (second floor). Book sales and signings will be in Meeting Room B (first floor). We'll also have a green room for panelists and their guests on the first floor.

Directions: http://www.lapl.org/branches/central-library/directions

Map of Central Library: http://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/media/pdf/central/central_map.pdf

When You Arrive:

The Central Library opens at 10. We will have an information table set up on the first floor by the library's 5th Street entrance. If you arrive before 11am, you can check in with Teen Book Fest volunteers here. If you arrive after 11am, please check in in Teen'Scape on the second floor.

Schedule:

I've attached a schedule of all the panels and signing sessions here, and we'll have extra copies for you when you arrive. You can also get a more detailed preview of the panels and get to know some of the other participants at our Teen Book Fest blog.

Parking:

Central Library offers parking validation for the garage at 524 S. Flower Street. If you have a Los Angeles Public Library card, you can get your own parking validation at the Information Desk on the first floor of the library. If you don't have a library card, please let library staff or Teen Book Fest volunteers know, and we will loan you one. With validation, parking for the entire day will cost $1. Without validation, it's $8.

Food:

There will also be a pizza party that's open to the public at 4pm in Meeting Room A.

Hope to see you there!

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Elizabeth Wein at Once Upon a Time Recap

Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending a signing by Elizabeth Wein for her new book Rose Under Fire. The signing was at Once Upon a Time in Montrose, CA which is a great little store. I met up early with @frootjoos, @thewindypages and @alybee930 to dinner beforehand and then settled into our front row seats.

Elizabeth came out in a rockin' vintage style polka dot dress with great red shoes. I didn't get a shot of the shoes but Aly did and you can see them in her recap.

Summer of YA

Hi, LA natives. My friends at Bridge to Books are helping with a really fun event this weekend at B&N Americana in Glendale. A great roster of YA authors will be on hand for a speed dating type of event where you will get a chance to talk with all of these awesome authors. If you can make it, we'd love to have you. You should RSVP for tickets but they are FREE. See you there!

Saturday, July 27, 2013 at 2:00 pm

Barnes & Noble at The Americana

210 Americana Way 

Glendale, CA 91210

From Paranormal Romance to Action-Adventure join us for a "speed dating" styled event where you can sit down and meet 11 up-and-coming YA authors. 

Jessica Brody (Unremembered)

Stacey Jay (Of Beast and Beauty)

Kathy McCullough (Who Needs Magic?)

Gretchen McNeil (Ten)

Lissa Price (Starters)

Elizabeth Ross (Belle Epoque)

Sarah Skilton (Bruised)

Andrew Smith (Winger)

Ann Stampler (Where It Began)

Carol Tanzman (Circle of Silence) 

Allen Zadoff (Boy Nobody)

Don't miss this chance to chat with these talented individuals and have them sign your books! All of the authors' books will be available for purchase at Barnes & Noble, Glendale. The event is ticketed but tickets are free! Click here to sign up.  Purchases from the weekend of the event benefit Book by Book; event attendees can recommend which school or library will receive a Barnes & Noble gift card from the fundraiser -- the beneficiary will be chosen randomly from all the school/library names submitted! The winning attendee will also win a gift card. You can also enter to win a gift card right now -- just for helping us promote the event locally! The only catch is you have to be able to come to the Glendale, CA store in person to pick up the prize.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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LA Times Festival of Books Recap - 2013 Edition

This post is (more than) a little bit overdue. I look forward to the LA Times Festival of Books every year. I mean, what's more fun than a giant, free book festival? This year was a little different for me than previous years. I didn't have a big agenda or a large list of panels or authors I wanted to see. I kind of wanted to just go and wing it. I was meeting some fun, bookish friends there and I was excited to just hang out and see what caught my eye. I only went on Saturday this year, instead of both days.

A Week of Bookish Events (Fangirl Squeee!)

June is promising to be a good book month for me. There are a ton of really awesome books coming out in June and some really great local book events to go with them. I am going to 3 (yes, 3) events the first week in June and I am super excited about them because they are for some of my all-time favorite authors. Details on the events are below. If you happen to be going, give a shout out. I'd love to say hi.

Leigh Bardugo

Monday June 3, 2013 7PM
Siege & Storm Launch Party

Hemingway's Lounge
6356 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, California 90028
Facebook event page

Nalini Singh

Tuesday June 4, 2013 7:30PM
Heart of Obsidian (Psy-Changeling series)

OMG you guys know how much I love Nalini Singh. I am super excited to see her again and Tues is the release of her newest Psy-Changeling book. It's going to be epic.

Mysterious Galaxy Redondo Beach
2810 Artesia Blvd.
Redondo Beach, CA 90278

Richelle Mead

Wednesday June 5, 2013

Gameboard of the Gods

Another total fangirl event. I LOVE Richelle Mead. 

Barnes and Noble
1201 3rd St Promenade
Santa Monica, CA
310-260-9110

Note from Richelle on the event
*Event will include reading, Q&A, and signing.
*I will sign up to four books per person--one personalized and the others just autographed. We'll do pictures if time permits.
*No tickets required, but if you purchase Gameboard of the Gods in advance or at the event, you'll get a priority spot in line.
*If there any of my books you want to buy and don't have, PLEASE support the store and buy them there! It's a lot of time and expense for them to host me. Thanks!

Mark your calendars and come out to one of these great events. Hope to see you there!

say "twee!"

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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. 

Comic Con Recap: Sat & Sun

Thanks for stopping by again. I am going to do a (hopefully) quick recap of my last two days at Comic Con. I can't believe it was only a week ago and it seems like it was soooo long ago. I am just getting over a bad cough and cold which I think I may have caught just from being around all those people. Alright, let's get down to it!

Saturday

My first panel on Saturday was the Faeries in the City urban fantasy panel which included authors  Benjamin Tate (Leaves of Flame), Kevin Hearne (The Iron Druid Chronicles), Kat Richardson (Seawitch), Jennifer Bosworth (Struck), Anton Strout (Simon Canderous series), Seanan McGuire (Discount Armaggedon), Jeanne Stein (Anna Strong Vampire Novels), J.F. Lewis (Burned: A Void City Novel), and S. G. Browne (Lucky Bastard). This was a really fun panel with a really good mix of authors. The authors spoke about how important a role location is in their books. Anton Stout wanted to take a city he loved (NYC) and twist it around. Kat Richardson's Greywalker series was inspired by the Seattle fog. Seanan McGuire has a different approach and she writes about cities that she despises and, in the process, usually develops an appreciation for them.

anton strout, kevin hearne, jen bosworth, jeanne stein

s.g. browne, j.f. lewis, seanan mcguire, kat richardson

After the urban fantasy panel I hightailed it to get in line for the Gail Carriger spotlight panel. I've never seen Gail before so I wasn't sure what to expect. But she's as sweet and charming as you'd imagine and it s fabulous dresser. She and her agent, Kristen, talked about how she got her start with the Parasol Protectorate series and also talked about her new YA series, Espionage & Etiquette. She share some big news with the audience and that news is that the Parasol Protectorate series has been optioned as a television series! This doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to happen but it is a first step. We stopped by the signing afterwards to get some books signed by Gail, who was super nice and chatted with everyone.

gail carriger

After Gail I wandered around for awhile until the Harper panel later that night. This was a fun panel with reps from Harper and HarperTeen. They also had Tahereh Mafi, Kiersten White and Dan Wells in attendance. It's always fun hearing about the new releases from publishers, and at the end, we all got a book (I got Insignia by SJ Kincaid). 

harper teen rep along with white, mafi and wells

new kim harrison cover

Sunday

On Sunday the only panel I went to was the What's Hot in YA Panel which was moderated by Nathan Bransford (Jacob Wonderbar for President of the Universe) and featuring Leigh Bardugo (Shadow and Bone), James Dashner (The Maze Runner series), Kami Garcia (co-author of the Beautiful Creatures novels),Tahereh Mafi (Unravel Me), Melina Marchetta (Froi of the Exiles), Lish McBride (Hold Me Closer, Necromancer), Myra McEntire (Hourglass trilogy), and Scott Westerfeld (Uglies). 

One of the questions was why have superpowers? Kami Garcia said that they were a safe to explore the idea of what you would do if you were more than normal. Dashner said that he was a super nerdy kid and always daydreamed about having super powers and writing about them is a way of living those fantasies. Westerfeld said that super powers, to him, were always more about the teamwork involved and how those with super powers worked together. 

After that panel, I mostly putzed around the exhibit hall, catching the booths that I may have missed during the crazy weekend. Below are some photos of my Sunday afternoon.

OMG this woman had on the most amazing Ursula costume. How great does she look? Seriously I was totally jealous.

And look what I found at the Quirk Books booth. Her makeup was really good and this gave me some ideas for next Halloween.

Next up is Lish McBride who was signing copies of her book Hold Me Closer, Necromancer and ARCs of its sequel, Necromancing the Stone, at the Macmillan booth. I really loved Hold Me Closer and am looking forward to reading the sequel soon.

I ran into a whole bevy of superheroes over at the DC booth, which shouldn't be a surprise. 

I am a total Fables fangirl. The line for the Bill Willingham signing was insane but I did manage a quick drive by to snag some pics. There's Bill with Mark Buckingham and Steve Leialoha. Unfortunately I did not make it to the Fables panel this year I really want to make it next year.

Cornelia Funke was signing ARCs of her new book Reckless at Little Brown. She had on this awesome dress that her friend, who is a costume designer, made. Isn't it gorgeous?

I also got to meet Marjorie Liu, super talented writer of the Dirk & Steele and Hunter Kiss series, as well as a writer for Marvel Comics. My friend Nasya introduced me to Marjorie's work awhile ago and I was super excited to finally meet her. 

And look who else I ran into? It's Archer and Katya! I am kind of obsessed with the Archer cartoon series. I totally missed the Archer panel at Comic Con. It was just too far away at the Hilton and I knew I would not make it in time. But I was so stoked to run into some Archer cosplayers while wandering outside by the Batmobiles. Don't they look great?

We've finally reached the end of this really long post. Thanks for sticking with me if you've actually been reading this whole time. I always have so much fun at Comic Con and can't wait for next year. I should have a fun SDCC swag giveaway coming soon. I just need to organize myself a bit before I put it up. Hope you guys are all having a great week!

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