Fierce Reads Tour Recap!

Sooo I suck and forgot to take pictures when I was there - I know, I'm sorry! I was disappointed too. But I forgot because I was laughing too hard!

The Fierce Reads tour stop came to San Diego on June 6. We were lucky to not only have Anna Banks, Leigh Bardugo, Jennifer Bosworth and Emmy Laybourne present, but also Jessica Brody and Marissa Meyer! I'd only read Struck and Cinder before the tour, but all the books have been getting rave reviews and it was exciting to hear them speak about each one.

I won Struck from another blogger, but it hasn't come in yet :(

They showed the Tour Trailer and the book trailers (their names above link to each trailer!), with each author introducing and giving the inspiration behind their book after the trailer. They then opened up for questions and finished with a massive signing and swag spree.

The usual bullet point recap! (It's long this time since there were six authors to cover! You should see my notes, super scribbled and I had to make symbols for each author for shorthand.)

• Emmy says Monument 14, even though it is violent, has a lot of heart.
• Leigh had the idea for her book when she was staying at a friend's house and in the middle of the night was in the dark and scrabbling around for a light.
• Leigh started to think what if darkness were a place you couldn't leave and had to cross.
• Jessica considers herself "decisionally challenged" (her own term!), similar to her character in My Life Undecided.
• Her idea came while she was watching The Hills. She thought to herself, "I could make better decisions!"
• Marissa saw a contest on a website that gave a list of things that had to be included in a story; she wrote a "Sci-Fi Puss in Boots" story. She didn't win, but ran with the general idea.
• Marissa had a dream vision of Cinderella losing a foot rather than her shoe.
• Anna thinks the model in her trailer has sexy feet.
• Anna felt everything else was taken and taken well, so she chose to write about mermaids. She calls Of Poseidon a "cousin" of Little Mermaid.
• Marissa says Anna has great comic delivery. (and I have to agree!)
• Jennifer had to take Benedryl right before the event and was awesomely loopy/spacey.
• Struck came together really well and shortly after Hurricane Katrina.
• Jennifer says Mia (main character in Struck) is a piece of her, and figured if she put her character into an extreme situation, maybe she would get answers and find out something about herself.
• Leigh envisioned Shadow and Bone as a trilogy. Since it is a High Fantasy, there are a lot of places it can go.
• Emmy likes writing series because it allows her to create a continuous connection with readers.
• Jennifer says she wanted Struck to be a trilogy, though it is currently a stand-alone. At the time it was sold, trilogies were not popular.
• Jennifer has a title for Book 2 if it were to exist: Aftershock. (As someone who lives in Earthquake country, I heartily endorse that title!)
• Anna made several references to a Sasquatch novel. (For the record, I am totally for that!)
• Jennifer wrote 3 stories before getting published.
• Cinder is Marissa's first finished story - she's had 7 or 8 other attempts.
• Emmy has written 5 screenplays, but Monument 14 is her first story.
• Emmy was a comedian and actress - if you've seen Superstar (with Molly Shannon), she played the best friend.
• Of Poseidon is Anna's second novel, but her first one will be coming out later in the year - which she can't tell us about. (Such a tease!)
• Jennifer wanted to be Stephen King when she was younger.
• Leigh is a make-up and special effects artist, and has also worked as a journalist and copywriter.
• Emmy used to be a ghost writer for RL Stine - she wrote several of the "give yourself goosebumps" (choose your own adventure) books!

This group of authors is probably the funniest I've ever seen, because they each have their own little brand of dry, sarcastic humor - and it's very unassuming! They're all really well spoken (seriously - my note on Emmy Laybourne was 'strong, confident voice') and clear, it was awesome to hear them. They've all got their own version of humor.

Also, anyone else agree this is possibly the most attractive tour group ever?! Because damn, yo.

And of course, they are awesome and signed everything that was asked of them. I'm constantly grateful and amazed at authors for the patience and smiles they have for us readers.

I saw after the event I forgot to have Marissa sign it :(

Since I didn't have any of Jessica's books or Of Poseidon yet, they signed a bookmark/book sampler. 

And the swag! I know it's a ton, but I grabbed two extras of most because of a future giveaway - two lucky people will get these plus more!

This was also an AWESOME event for me as a blogger because I finally got to see and meet other bloggers!
 > Sierra from Yearning To Read.
> Natasha.
> Jamie from The Lost Lola - awesome to meet her, but so short :( It's ok, next time we shall chat! (Also, you should check out her awesome post of fashion from Masque of the Red Death. So cool!)
> Lisa Cannon, from YA Know and I'm certain a future author!
> Andrea, Debra and Nikki, who I met at the YA or Bust signing a few months ago - I was a little nervous they wouldn't remember me, but it was a useless worry because they were just as friendly and fantastic as I remember.
> Jon Yang (maybe you've read his book Exclusively Chloe?), who is actually an author/blogger I've "e-known" for years - before I even had a book blog! It's rare for me to meet anyone who knows about my personal blog, so I was nervous - but all was fine, Jon is awesome and I'm glad we finally got to meet!

So, another successful author tour - and so much fun! Every author was wonderful, I loved all the people I finally got to meet/see again, and now I have a freakin' sweet stack of books to get crackin' on! I'm thinking I may have to go for Shadow and Bone first, because the cover art, map and reviews are too positive to ignore.

How COOL is that map?!

The remaining Fierce Reads tour dates/locations are below - and I highly recommend going if you can!

June 14: Naperville, Illinois | June 15: Lansing, Michigan | June 16: Pensacola, Florida

June 17: Rhinebeck, New York | June 18: New York, New York

Ned Vizzini Appearance Recap!

And my author signing blitz continues! This past Sunday was Ned Vizzini, the author of Teen Angst...Naaah, Be More Chill, It's Kind of A Funny Story, and the forthcoming The Other Normals (SO excited!). He was the headlining author at the La Mesa Children's Book Festival here in San Diego - I missed Ned at the LATFOB, so I was even more determined to see him. Even though I haven't mentioned his books too much (though his cover often makes an appearance!) since I read him before I had a blog, I absolutely LOVE his books. I really connected with It's Kind of A Funny Story, because I've felt incredibly similar to Craig.

(Did anyone know he writes for that Teen Wolf show on MTV? I had no idea!)

Anyway. La Mesa isn't really that close to where I live (~35 minute drive), and the day was blisteringly hot (87*-ish), and I'm fairly certain I have sunburned lips now which is like the most painful sunburn ever, but all of it was SO worth it. Ned Vizzini is funny and personable and friendly and has a good sense of humor. (and cute! love his glasses. *blush*) The announcer guy at the festival did not hide that he had no idea who Ned was and couldn't find his notes to introduce him for a few seconds, so it was awkwardly silent and the guy started making jokes...Ned did very well just rolling with it.

It was a pretty quick thing since there weren't many people at the Festival as a whole, but it was still really, really good - the audience asked some quality questions, I was thoroughly impressed! Ned started by reading the opening pages to The Other Normals, then took questions.

The usual bullet point recap!

• He had to self-edit the opening pages of The Other Normals as he was reading because the audience was largely small children and the content was...not.
• The Other Normals came together over a 4 month period.
• He has been writing since he was 15.
• He sent a piece to the New York Press when he was 15, got super excited that it could be published...it came back 6 weeks later with "Not Enough Postage."
• Re-sent, was published and continued the relationship with New York Press.
• Several of those pieces eventually ended up in Teen Angst...Naaah.
• He says The Other Normals is about learning to face up to the pressures of being human and not escape in games...something he had to learn as a teen.
• The band and lyrics that appear in The Other Normals are really from a band he was in.
• He does write about real people in his novel, but of course changes things.  "Change name, change hair colour and you don't get sued." (love that!)
• Liked the movie made from It's Kind of A Funny Story, thought it was a good job done.
• A lot of material from a YA book cannot be in a PG-13 movie, so he thinks they did well translating the book to movie and capturing the tone.
• Says he is a very open person, which is why he didn't have a problem writing It's Kind of A Funny Story and baring his life and story.
• One of the reasons he enjoys writing YA is because of the feedback he receives from readers.

And I laughed because I totally took a wide picture to include his shoes because they were so cool, and later he made a joke about asking him about them! Of course someone in the audience did, and they are Sperry Top-Siders. Boat shoes. and AWESOME.

Apologies that it's so dark!

I feel like taking a photo of his shoes makes me creepy, but it's already there. It's done. DON'T JUDGE ME.

After he signed books and of course Ned is awesome and nice. I overheard him talking to a few of the ladies in front of me, and was pleasantly surprised to hear him asking more than the average" how's your day going" things - he had actually noticed who asked which questions and had discussions with them, which was incredibly thoughtful and says a lot about who he is. We chatted about his books, LATFOB, general things. HE LET ME READ SOME OF HIS ARC, YOU GUYS. Seriously, you have no idea how much I want to read this book, so I was freaking out when I'd told him I really liked what he'd read -- and then he told me to read the REAL opening and handed me the ARC.

Remember how I mentioned up there he had to self-edit the content because of the children. Well...trust me that he did haha. And if it's possible, I loved him more. So yeah, I was able to hold a real copy of the book, and read real words from it, and read real band lyrics featured in it!

If he's appearing anywhere near you, I highly recommend going to meet him! This was probably one of my favourite author meetings I've ever had - Ned seems so genuine and I really felt like I got a sense of who he was. (Who knows if that's actually what he's like, but it's still nice to feel like it!) He told me that he might be doing something or appearing at ALA, so if you're going, keep an eye out! That's definitely where I'll be.

Jen Lancaster Signing Recap

I don't mention it often on here since I'm a YA-centric blog, but I freakin' LOVE Jen Lancaster. For those unfamiliar, she's a humor memoirist and fiction writer. I heard of her when Such A Pretty Fat was getting huge, and was delighted to find out it was her third book; I absolutely devoured the three as soon as I could get my hands on them. She's so funny and has such an awesomely sarcastic outlook on life. I pretty much want to hang out with her and Fletch and Maisy all day, with a cocktail.

Jen Lancaster reading a passage of her book.

Well, she stopped in San Diego last week for her Jeneration X promo tour, and I was happy to find my way down there. I was SUPER late, so I definitely missed the first 20 minutes or so -- but she was still awesome and hilarious, anyway. She started with reading a passage from Jeneration X, then moved into answering questions from the audience. As usual, bullet point recap!

• Doesn't watch Friends or Buffy because the shoes bother her. ("They're running in like 5 inch heels!")
• She read a passage about why she and Fletch won't have kids. It had to do with a 6-year-old named Margaux at Whole Foods who had very peculiar and specific taste in sushi.
• She talked about a spray tan gone wrong, where she ended up looking like shoe polish.
• Her next fiction book is about High School girls, time travel and Whitesnake. It has an awesomely mean character and will be out February 2013.
• Her next memoir is called The Tao of Martha - she is living an entire year following Martha's words/instructions/recipes.
• Most recent in her Year of Martha was an Easter function she held with her friends. She wanted to do it all according to Martha, but things went awry.
• It involved hiding Easter eggs in yard too early...when the sun was shining...on a hot day...
• Squirrels really dig reeses peanut butter cups.
• Doesn't like 50 Shades of Grey and won't read the next two because she "feels like she know what happens."
• Thinks hotels without the Bravo channel is criminal.
• When she doesn't have Bravo, she watches E!, and has subsequently fallen in love with Ice Loves Coco. She thinks Ice is funny, Coco is sweet.
• Thinks both Ice + Coco are charming.
• Would love Melissa McCarthy to play her in movie.
• Her books have been pitched around to become movies, and she laughed that someone gave her book to Jerry Bruckheimer.

Seriously, I had to stop taking notes because I found everything funny and awesome with her.

I didn't get anything signed; a bit because the crowd was SO big it would have taken me 9823479 hours to get to her since I didn't have a wristband yet, but mostly because I already own 2 of her books in paperback and Jeneration X (which I think BN was being super strict about and you had to have that to get something signed) is only in hardcover. I'm neurotic and can't have mixed formats, so I decided that just seeing her and being there was enough.

I'll probably regret that in like a week, when I never have a chance to see her again, but that's ok!

If you ever have a chance of going to an appearance of hers, or if you're in time for one of her many TV appearances, seriously, DO IT. She's hilarious and awesome.  And if you haven't read any of her memoirs, I highly recommend them.

Summer Lovin' Tour recap (featuring fun swag!)

On Tuesday (May 8), the Summer Lovin' Tour with Jenny Han, Jessi Kirby and Morgan Matson came to Huntington Beach -- and I was stoked to find out I would be able to drive up! I suck and didn't take a picture of the 3 of them together, nor did I get a picture with Jenny Han (I told you, I suck), but it was still TONS of fun. I absolutely adore each of these authors: Amy & Roger's Epic Detour is still one of the best, most perfect YA novels in my opinion (read my review here!), I snagged an early copy of In Honor and was reduced to tears by how wonderful it was (read my review here!), and even though I hadn't read anything by Jenny Han yet, I'd heard great things, I love her Tumblr and I'm actually in the middle of The Summer I Turned Pretty (and love it already). Safe to say, I was SUPER excited to get to meet them all in person!

Me + Morgan Matson. My hair is really long again.

Me + Jessi Kirby. She is so cute and HER ARMS. I dream of having arms like that one day.

They each started out introducing their own books and reading passages from them. Jessi read Finn's letter to Honor from In Honor (I started tearing up, and I'd already read it!); Morgan read the scene from Second Chance Summer when the family is just arriving at their old house; and Jenny read a flashback scene from Christmas from We'll Always Have Summer. It was hilarious because the store's security alarm kept going off, and Jenny seamlessly worked it in as special sound effects to her passage - so awesome.

After, they each asked each other questions and then opened it up to the audience for questions, where they'd bribe reward askers with Skittles.  As per my usual, bullet point recap!

• Morgan is not so good at throwing.
• They did a hilarious round of Date, Marry, Kill with the options of Voldemort, Nagini, and Dobby.
• Amy & Roger's Epic Detour was NOT Morgan's first book she wrote, but it was her first published. She says the first one she wrote will not be seen.
• Jenny's and Jessi's first published books were their first written - Jenny wrote Shug for a grad school class; and Jessi wrote Moonglass first.
• Two of Jessi's favourite books are The Secret Life of Bees and White Oleander.
• One of Morgan's favourites is Blue Castle.
• Jenny's favourites are I Capture the Castle, Gone With the Wind and Time Traveler's Wife.
• Jessi just turned in her script for her third novel, called Golden, that will be out in Spring 2013.
• Jenny talked about her next book out, Burn For Burn, that was cowritten with Siobhan Vivian.
• Siobhan and Jenny would write scene for scene; one would write it and send to the other, who would send back with edits and changes, and the original would read and revise again, and they'd continue until they were done with the scene.
• Sarah Dessen was a major YA influence to both Morgan and Jessi.
• Jenny took a second to defend Jeremiah in Book 3, and my heart loved her more when she said "they were on a break!" (Friends reference <3)
• Jessi is big on outlining.
• Jenny writes scenes, often out of order, by hand and in notebooks.
• Morgan writes as she goes and doesn't often look back.

And they were troopers as well and signed every single book that everyone had. They took the time to talk to each person individually and were so, so sweet. Morgan and I discussed Europe (she recognized me from Twitter and asked about my handle) and road tripping, Jenny and I talked about our dresses (hers was SO cute, I'm so mad I didn't get a picture!), and Jessi not only recognized me from Twitter but remembered my review about In Honor! I was floored that she'd read it and remembered (that also makes me incredibly nervous haha), and told me it made her cry. In all fairness, In Honor made ME cry!

This tour definitely had some of the most fun swag I've ever seen! I realized after that I had been too busy talking with Morgan and Jenny and forgot to grab their book postcards and/or bookmarks :( There's a keychain with red boots for In Honor (Jessi even wore her own boots to the event!) and bookmarks; a pair of earbuds and personalized playlists for each of the authors' current books*; and a small bottle of sunscreen and a Chapter sampler for Burn For Burn**!

All in all, a super fun time! They just wrapped their tour tonight, but if you ever have a chance to see or meet them, don't hesitate; they're wonderful.

*For those wondering, here are the playlists!
We'll Always Have Summer: Summer Breeze - Seals and Crofts | So Long, So Long - Dashboard Confessional | Summertime - Will Smith
In Honor: Fallin' For You - Colbie Caillat | On My Mind - Donavon Frankenreiter | Sparks Fly - Taylor Swift 

Second Chance Summer: Sunburn - Owl City | Long Hot Summer - Keith Urban | California Girls - Katy Perry feat. Snoop Dogg

**I have an ARC of Burn For Burn and don't need the Chapter sampler...anyone want the sampler? I can pop it in the mail (US only).

Brodi Ashton & Bree Despain Signing Recap

Mysterious Galaxy, one of San Diego's independent bookstores, celebrated their 19th Birthday today with goodies, deals and a massive signing spree of authors. Part of the celebration was the YA portion, where Brodi Ashton, author of Everneath, and Bree Despain, author of The Dark Divine trilogy, came and talked for a bit then signed.  Unfortunately, I haven't read any of the books either of them have written, but I have heard tons about them and heard great things. (I've adored Everneath for the cover for a long time...I want that dress!)

The REALLY crappy photo I took haha.
Brodi Ashton on the left, Bree Despain on the right

Because they were only given an hour, the talks were brief but still a ton of fun and lots of laughing. They introduced each other, answered questions, talked about why they write in paranormal, and then read excerpts from their books. Bree read an excerpt from The Dark Divine since anything from The Savage Grace would have been spoilery.

Bullet point recap!

• Bree is gluten intolerant.
• Bree is also hypoglycemic and apparently needs to eat beef often.
• Brodi & Bree are editing partners
• Brodi apparently has the tendency to blurt out inappropriate things.
• Bree is the one who titled Brodi's book.
• Everneath was originally titled Broken...then The Undernearth. They realized there is already a pretty famous literary work titled that, and Bree finally thought of the title Everneath.
• They met because they both went to the wrong party.
• Bree took 10 years to get published.
• Everneath was written as a stand alone.
• Everneath #2, titled Everbound, will feature the Underworld. Bree & Brodi spent an entire day together building and mapping the world.

And then they were incredibly awesome and chatted with everyone who were there to get books signed. I'm unfortunately poor and couldn't afford to pick up all of Bree's books, but I did grab the first one at least, and I took the copy of Everneath I already have. I got to give suggestions to Brodi about where they should go for their day-stay in San Diego, but I got super nervous haha. I hope she didn't hate any of the places if she took me up on it! Both were SUPER nice and friendly.

And they brought gifts! Guitar pick necklaces from Brodi, nail polish (adorable) from Bree!

I know they're originally from Utah so I'm not sure how often they sign around there or come out to the Coasts, but if ever a chance to meet them, go! They're tons of fun.

YA or Bust Tour Recap: aka BEST NIGHT OF MY LIFE & GUSHIEST POST EVER.

**anyone who met me at the event, please tell me! Email or comment here or add me on Twitter! I wasn't able to get info from anyone :(  This is especially to the woman with dark curly hair who sat in the front row, got the goodreads accounts of the two ladies I was sitting next to, and absolutely loved Etienne! (I am so sorry, I don't remember your name...but I know you know who you are!)

YA or Bust came to gloomy little San Diego last night, and I was lucky enough to go. And seriously you guys...BEST NIGHT EVER.

I'm just going to get this out of the way: each of the authors who were there hold very special places in my heart, for specific reasons. In summary:

• Stephanie Perkins: Lola was the first review I EVER wrote, before I even had a book blog (the one in my archives was "imported"). Because I loved it so much I had to write about it.
• Gayle Forman: If I Stay & Where She Went are the reason I read mainly YA. Because her books are what made me realize the beauty and tragedy and pure emotion you can find.
• Nina LaCour: As I tweeted yesterday, The Disenchantments makes me want to write again. The review will be up Friday, but trust me when I say it is everything I hope to be.
• Kirsten Hubbard (moderator): If you can't see from my review of Wanderlove, her book made me have PANIC ATTACKS because I felt so many things. TFiOS notwithstanding, Wanderlove has held fast as my Favourite 2012 read. It is my first recommendation to everyone.

Me, Kirsten Hubbard, Nina LaCour, Gayle Forman, Stephanie Perkins
I'm barely holding it together, you guys. SO MUCH AWESOME.

So the fact that they were ALL here, ALL in front of me, ALL talking and telling us these amazing things...I can't tell you how much I had to hold in the squealing.  All of them are such funny, witty, intelligent women. There were so many jokes and so much laughter, I want to hang out with them all the time. (and Kierston White was in the audience, too!)

I had a minor freakout when I saw Kirsten Hubbard walk in. I did my best to reign it in (the two lovely ladies I met and was sitting with, Kami and Meredith, got to hear me have a whispered squeal), but I pretty much DIED when Kirsten saw me and goes, "Hey! I recognize you from Twitter! You're Ashley, right?"  SHE KNEW WHO I WAS, GUYS.

It kicked off with summaries of their books, BUT they each described another person's books! Stephanie introduced Nina's books (called Hold Still "hopeful"), Gayle introduced Stephanie's books (called Anna the "most swoony, romantic book"), and Nina introduced Gayle's (said she got goosebumps just talking about them because they're so beautiful). It was tons of fun to hear how and what the others thought of their books.

From there on, it was just laughter and awesomeness. The things I remember:

• Nina is very quiet, and has a lovely melodic voice.
• Gayle is absolutely HILARIOUS.
• Stephanie is sarcastic in a perfect way.
• Gayle is apparently the most disciplined of the three.
• Stephanie took french lessons as research for Anna.
• Nina went on road trips for her research (I think she mentioned 2, though I can't quite remember)
• Kirsten and Stephanie jokingly called themselves Sloth "Hipsters" because they loved baby sloths before it was cool to.
• Gayle's upcoming books are another duet (pair).
• Stephanie guards her books very closely, but says her next book (Isla and the Happily Ever After) is the last companion to Anna & Lola...and that it will probably piss off a lot of people.
• Nina considered Wilson Phillips to be the final girl band in her book, but settled on Heart.
• Gayle listened to Falling Slowly from the Once soundtrack often while she wrote If I Stay.
• Stephanie's favourite scene in If I Stay is "play me like a cello." (SWOON, RIGHT?!)
• Gayle's favourite scene in The Disenchantments is the beer scene.
• Stephanie had on black and yellow striped socks. It was adorable.

I apologize if I'm making you all jealous, but I am totally NOT sorry for having been there. They were the sweetest and so amazing, staying to sign everyone's books - I was one of the last 5 or so, and they were just as perky and nice as when it kicked off.  I got to talk to Kirsten and Nina for awhile about writing, Twitter, ALA, BEA...everything.

Click for the full version

How cute is that Disenchantments poster, you guys?? And they were troopers and signed every.single.book everyone had.

So, is this not the best night ever?

IT GOT BETTER FOR ME.

Shannon Messenger was there too, who has two upcoming books: Keeper of the Lost Cities (Oct 2, 2012) and Let The Sky Fall (March 2013) - and I was creepy and hovering for a few minutes as she chatted with other fellow authors. But when I finally plucked up enough courage to introduce myself, she was so sweet and awesome and we talked about her books and she even gave me signed bookmarks. Keeper of the Lost Cities is almost 500 pages, guys! Andrea Ortega (of YA know) has a picture of us together, I'll add it as soon as it's tagged on Facebook!  And if you're going to BEA, be on the lookout for ARCs! They'll be there - and the cover for Let The Sky Fall will be revealed just before.

STILL GETS BETTER.

After the event finished, I realized I hadn't eaten since lunch and decided to swing by Tea Station (a local boba/tea shop) a few blocks down.  I was about to order a drink to go when I realized I also had to use the bathroom - so I went. And when I finished and swung open the door...who's standing there waiting to use the bathroom? KIRSTEN HUBBARD.  So not only does she still recognize me and say hello (I don't know how I didn't scare her off), but she offers to introduce me to all her friends. And when she did, they invited me to stay and hang out with them!! YOU GUYS. I held it together, but I was FREAKING OUT. I mean, I just had boba with Kirsten FREAKIN' Hubbard. Who I gushed about and absolutely HARASSED on Twitter when I was reading Wanderlove because I couldn't stop tweeting her about how much I loved it. I would not be surprised to receive a restraining order tomorrow.

Who were her friends? Maybe you'll recognize a few of them...as mentioned, Andrea Ortega of YA Know; Nikki Katz of YA Know, is a Bookanista, has a few nonfiction books out, and is a freelance & social media extraordinaire; Cindy Pon, author of Silver Phoenix and Fury of the Phoenix; and Debra Driza, whose very anticipated YA Sci-Fi novel Mila 2.0 will be out next year.

Yeah. Best choice ever to go to the bathroom.  Kirsten is sweet, kind, fun, down-to-earth, totally someone I would hang out with on any regular day. And yeah, she's gorgeous in real life, too. Her friends were also phenomenal, so much fun to hang out. It blew my mind to be sitting with these people who are actually a part of the book world and hear names tossed about, only to realize they're talking about authors who I love, admire, put on pedestals, generally think the sun shines out their asses. Surreal.

I really don't think anything can top this night. To be around all bookish people, authors who I love and adore and admire, learn of new ones, to just chat with people who love what I love...it was AMAZING. I just want to do this all day, every day. I was so honored and lucky to meet these people, to get to hang out with them, and I hope they know and understand just how deep my gratitude goes.

The last stop of the YA or Bust tour is tomorrow in Seattle - if you can, GO GO GO. Absolutely 100% go.

PS. I'm a selfish blogger and did not get anything at the signing to give away, but you can still win a signed copy of In Honor by Jessi Kirby! Enter here, US only. Ends 5/1, because I'm hoping to get the book to the winner before or in time for its official release!