Event Recap: Lianne Oelke Signing

 

 

Last Sunday I attended debut author Lianne Oelke's signing in Vancouver, Canada. I'm always excited when an author has an event near me (especially a local author!) so I make sure I can go. I wasn't too sure what the setup would be like so I go to the bookstore early. I managed to grab a front row seat~

While waiting I got to chatting with another reader- hi Cheryl! We actually recognized each other from previous book events haha! She told me Nice Try, Jane Sinner was the bookstore's book club pick of the month which I think I will try to go to the discussion meet up~

 

When the time came for the event to start, Lianne came out. She was very humble and talked about her debut novel Nice Try, Jane Sinner and her publishing journey. I actually had the pleasure of meeting her last year at a Raincoast Books preview event but it was still really lovely to see her with her published book! I loved listening to her talk about her publishing experiences. Some things she said:

 

• Her writing started with Lord of the Rings fan fiction.
• She wrote Nice Try, Jane Sinner in secret and didn't tell anyone until she had a publishing deal.
• The reality tv idea came from her watching America's Next Top Model (and another show I forgot, sorry) at the time she was writing.
• The book was originally titled House of Orange which is the name of the reality show in the book but the marketing department thought it was too Netflix-y (a mashup of Hose of Cards and Orange is the New Black). They asked Lianne to come up with a few alternatives with Jane Sinner's name in it and Nice Try, Jane Sinner was born!
• Her advice to new writers: "Don't compare yourself with other authors. Focus on your writing."
• She's currently writing a fantasy novel with Vikings/a Viking setting.
• Not to get anyone's hopes up but she has a film agent ;)

 

Thank you to Melissa and Brooke from Raincoast Books for taking and sharing this fun signing photo on Instagram XD

 

Mandatory author photo!

 

The goodies!! Besides the signed books I got I also managed to snag a Jane Sinner tote bag and some buttons and stickers (oops I forgot to include them in the picture but they're awesome!). Lianne is a huge cat lover so the first five people to show her a cat picture won a tote bag. I instantly whipped out my phone since my cats were my wallpapers LOL. I mean, I'm pretty sure the internet knows I'm a cat lady by now ;)

 

 

I asked Lianne to write her favourite Jane line in my book and I love it <3 So much love for book! If humorous heartfelt stories with a heaping side of snark is your thing then pick up a copy of Nice Try, Jane Sinner asap!!

Stacking the Shelves #159

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews that lets us share what we've added to our shelves.

I went to a YA event at my local bookstore and won these two books. Thank you Chapters! Pickles was quite amazed lol ;)

 

Thank you so much to SMP for sending me this finished copy. I really enjoyed this book!

 

What did you add to your shelves this week?

Event Recap: Jenny Han Signing

Two weeks ago Jenny Han came to Vancouver as part of her Always and Forever Lara Jean book tour. I was fortunate enough to have gotten to meet her!

 

I arrived about two hours before the signing and the first row of the seats was already filled up. I hadn't eaten at that point so I went to grab a quick dinner. When I made it back, I was able to snatch a seat in the fourth row. Talk about popular! When it was almost time for Jenny Han to come out, all the seats were filled and a ton of people were standing around the area.


(We were asked for our receipt since we needed to have purchased a copy of Always and Forever Lara Jean to be eligible for the signing. I just wanted to point out that the event details didn't say anything about this. While this didn't affect me since I had a copy of my receipt on my phone, it did cause panic with the girls who were sitting beside me. Thankfully most people were able to find their proof of purchase(?) so the event started without a hitch!)

 

 

Jenny Han was introduced and she talked a bit about her book and the stops she's made on her book tour. Then she answered some questions from the audience and the signing started shortly after that. Omg it was so nerve-wrecking waiting for my turn. I had no idea what I was going to say to her. I have no idea what I said but I'm pretty sure I blubbered my way through haha. I also gave her a small box of timbits as a treat. I heard she loves cookies so I figured timbits are sort of the Canadian equivalent. She was super nice!

 

Jenny Han is lovely and it was so nice to meet her <3

Big thank you to the staff at Chapters Metrotown who did a great job at managing the signing and taking photos for the fans!!

Event Recap: Mary E. Pearson Signing

Guys, last Friday I got to meet NYT Bestselling Author Mary E. Pearson! Squeeee! She was in Vancouver for vacation and agreed to do a signing. Thank you so much to Raincoast Books for making it happen!

 

I headed straight to the bookstore after work. I was basically the first one there so I sat down in the front row after the bookstore finished setting up for the event. When it was time, Mary came out with Lindsay from Me On Books who was moderating the event. She asked Mary some really great questions! There were laughs and some serious nods.

I managed to remember some of the things Mary talked about during the event:

1. Mary explained that the relationship between Lia,Rafe andKaden wasn't a love triangle. She doesn't consider it so because Lia really only had feelings for one guy through TKoD. Their relationship is what she would call "love complicated".

2. The ARC version of The Heart of Betrayal contains a small passage that was later taken out and not in the finished copies. She couldn't remember where exactly this passage was though.

3. She loved writing the Komizar. Even though he was a villain in our eyes, from his own point of view, he was a hero.

4. Mary didn't know the ending to the trilogy until she sat down and started writing. Before that, she just had brief synopsis written down.

5. Some of her favourite female characters include Kestrel from Marie Rutkoski's The Winner's Trilogy and the ladies (Ismae, Sybella and Annith) from Robin LaFever's His Fair Assassin series.

After the Q&A session, Mary read the beginning of The Beauty of Darkness to us. Then she did a little trivia and gave away two goodie baskets. We were all really stumped on the finish-the-quote questions. Oops.

 

Then came time for the signing! I was really nervous when Mary got to me so I didn't say a lot but she was so nice! I was second in line so I managed to snatch a signed poster of The Beauty of Darkness. Yippy~



Please ignore my awkward smile, I was really nervous *hides*



It was so lovely to meet Mary! Thank you so much for coming to Vancouver and thank you again to the Raincoast ladies for making it possible~

 

Now if you guys haven't read her Remnant Chronicles yet, you should definitely get on it ;)

Mini Event Recap: Eileen Cook's With Malice Launch @ Chapters Metrotown

Any one who lives in Vancouver, Canada would know that book signings are rare in Canada. Even more so for us on the west coast. So last Friday I was extremely lucky to attend a book event! Eileen Cook celebrated the launch of her latest YA novel, With Malice at my local Chapters store.

 

I arrived with a couple minutes to spare and found a seat beside the Raincoast ladies. It was really nice to see some familiar faces (hi Melissa and Fernanda)! The seats started filling up and by the time Eileen came out, all the chairs were taken and people were standing around. Yes a full house!

 

Eileen introduced With Malice to us and the idea behind the story. Then she read two passages from her book. Both of which were great ones that I remember from when I read the book. After that she did a little Q and A session with the audience. I asked her if she ever considered giving Jill partial memories instead of a complete blank. Eileen answered that she did but she liked the idea that Jill didn't know anything. She wanted Jill to have to figure it out like the readers do. She answered various other questions about her editing process and the ambiguous ending to With Malice. I love that she intentionally left it that way. For me it really completed the story. Before she started signing, she did a little giveaway but too bad I didn't raise my hands fast enough haha... XD

 

 

After the event, I walked around the store and saw these beauties!! They must be preparing for Danielle and Elise's signing in July?! Yayy!

 

 

I also stuck some bookmarks into Elise and Paula's books ;) It was fun but I think the sales was eyeing me suspiciously lol...

 

 Overall it was a very fun event. There was a lot of laughter and I'm so glad I went!

Event Recap: Holly Black and Cassandra Clare Signing

 

On September 14, 2015 I crossed one item off my non-existent bucket list. Cassandra Clare and Holly Black came to Vancouver as part of their The Copper Gauntlet Book Tour! I was pretty thrilled when I found out 2 weeks before the event. Cassandra Clare is my all-time favourite author. Her books got me back into reading and I've really enjoyed Holly Black's writing so I had to go to the event.

 

It was a first come first serve signing as long as you had either a copy of The Iron Trials or The Copper Gauntlet. We were also encouraged to bring any backlist titles since there was a high chance of them signing everything. Naturally I did that (see top right corner in the picture above). I stuffed every CC and HB book I owned into a small suitcase and a tote bag. I was so ready.

When the 14th rolled around, I got to Chapters at 4pm. The event was set to start at 7pm but I wanted to make sure I got a good spot so I went straight after work. The staff told me that there wouldn't be a line up until 5pm so I hung around the store lugging around my little luggage. It was weird but I was too excited to care lol. When 5pm came around, everyone who was there for the signing was herded into a corner where a staff member explained we would be sorted into groups after we formed a line up. This part wasn't very organized and I just have to vent a little. Because they wouldn't let us line up early (like according to the time we got there) people who arrived later than me ended up in front of me. :( The girl beside me told me she had been waiting since 1pm and we were at the end of the line. Granted our position wasn't really the end of the line since there was still two more hours to go and we were pretty sure there would be plenty of late-comers but it still felt a little unfair. Anyways so we all sat waiting. Two girls sitting close to me talked to me and asked my age. They were 16 and 14 and boy were they surprised to find out I was at least a decade older than them. I felt like a grandma haha... It was also really fascinating to see how much energy they had. They were practically chattering nonstop while I was just rubbing my eyes and yawning. Two notebooks came circulating and we all got to write messages for Cassie and Holly so that was fun. When 7pm came around, we got to enter the main event area. I didn't get a seat but I got a nice spot standing near the front ;)

 

They're so cute.

 

Besides talking a little bit about The Copper Gauntlet, Cassie and Holly talked about their friendship, what it's like writing together and gave writing tips. One girl said they inspired her to write. It was so touching. Authors change lives guys. The Q and A was really fun. CC and HB are so natural at making people laugh. Some interesting things I remember them talking about:

1. There will be a wedding in TDA but we don't know who the couple will be but we will get to see Clary, Jace and the gang!

2. When Holly was writing The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, she got too excited with writing the scenes inside Coldtown and she ended up writing a lot of vampires partying it up. She had to cut most of it out but maybe we'll get a novella titled Party in Coldtown?

3. They talked about what they love about being an author - Holly said it's meeting other authors, it's so weird but so great. Cassie said it's not having to get up in the morning ;)

4. Raphael was a character that turned out differently than Cassie first imagined.

5. Hazel from The Darkest Part of the Forest had a secret but Holly didn't know what so she went around asking her friends what it was.

6. Cassandra Jean is working on the TMI graphic novels alongside Cassie. They've been given a lot of creative rights as to what goes into the novel.

7. Like The Bane Chronicles, The Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy e-novellas will be released in physical print next year! I'm super excited for this since this was the exact reason I held off reading the novellas. YAY~

Also as an Indigo exclusive, they shared the title of the third Magisterium book which will be called:

 

The Bronze Key!!
 

Now onto the actual signing. I was really nervous to talk face to face with them so I might have ended up blabbering nonstop oops. The event specified only The Copper Gauntlet will be personalized but both Cassie and Holly ended up personalizing everything. Woohoo! It was too bad Cassie only signed one book from each of her series. (I wanted to stay till the end to maybe get all my books signed but decided against it since I didn't want to seem pushy. Then I heard a few days later that someone did stay and she got every single one of her books signed. Now I'm beating myself up over why I didn't do it...). Oh well, next time! YEP! There will be a next time because Cassie herself told me so! When I thanked her for coming to Vancouver she told me she requested to come back to Vancouver next year for her TDA Tour! I was like hells ya and I told her I'd totally be there ;)

That's me in plaid with two bags XD

There's me being a huge fangirl :P

I'm not sure what I said but she was probably scared
because I was fangirling hard XD

Sorry for the excessive pictures but Cassie had so many different facial expressions I just had to share them all! I don't remember much of what we talked and I most likely didn't even make sense but it was so much fun getting to meet and talk to them!

A quick shoutout to Michelle who is the one I've been tweeting with on Twitter regarding the event. I got to meet her after the event and she's super nice. Thank you for tweeting with me! I also saw Olivia, who I met a few days before at the Raincoast TeensRead event. She introduced Cassie and Holly at the beginning of the event (see picture below). The two of them run the Chapters Metrotown YA Book Club so definitely go join if you're interested :D

 

Overall I had a wonderful time! The staff at Chapters Metrotown were patient and understanding. Thank you so much for hosting the event and taking the photos for me :D