Sunday, July 24, 2011

Three YA Authors Sign Books in South Florida!!!





This is a partial view of the exterior of Books and Books,
a beautiful bookstore located in Coral Gables, Florida.
And...it's about ten minutes from where I live,
in the city of Miami!!


So I had the great pleasure and privilege of attending a book signing there, last night!  The authors present were: Meg Cabot, Maggie Stiefvater, and Libba Bray. They presented their latest releases, and I bought at least two of them!!  Needless to say, I was totally ecstatic!!!!


These are the books I bought:





Forever
Maggie Stiefvatter






Abandon
Meg Cabot



All three authors regaled the audience with hysterical anecdotes that had us all in stitches throughout the presentation! The only problem was that the A/C seemed to be on the blink, so we sweated a little. The room was chock full of people, which is probably why it was so hot! There were even some in the audience who had flown in from as far away as Ohio and Canada...


Here's a picture of the room where the 'lectures'
(I was laughing most of the time)
took place:




Of course, all the tables were moved out of the way,
and folding chairs were set up.
I love all the floor-to-ceiling books!!!!








When all of the authors had finished speaking, there was a 'Newlywed' type of game, in which each of the authors had to guess what the other authors' favorite movies, in-flight drinks, and other things were.  Meg Cabot was the winner, and she was crowned with a flower crown, and a grass skirt was tied around her waist.  Oh, it was all so funny!

After that, we, the audience were told that we had been put into different groups that would be called one at a time, in order to go into another room for the actual signing.  Meanwhile, a teen rock band played in a courtyard located right in the middle of the bookstore. 

Lucky me, I was in the 'D' group... so I wasn't able to leave until at least 9:30 PM!!  (The event had started a little after 7:00 PM.)  I walked around a bit, doing a bit of browsing.  I nearly bought another book I covet, Ruby Red, but then I didn't.  Initially, I had meant to only purchase Forever, because I've been spending too much money on books lately...but then I couldn't resist, and also bought Abandon!



Here I am with Maggie Stiefvater:






And here I am with Meg Cabot:






Dang it, I forgot to take off my glasses for this picture!
Maybe because Meg wears glasses, too?



And here are pictures of the signed books!!











The one book I didn't buy was Beauty Queens, by Libba Bray.  I'm sort of regretting it now...in fact, I wish I could go back in time and get it!   Oh, well...I still had a lot of fun!  I can't wait for the next terrific book presentation/signing to come along at Books and Books, so I can give a report here!   They have these events all the time, too.  Of course, I can't go to every single one of them, which is really good for my pocket!  Still, there's nothing quite like the thrill of seeing an author speak about their book live, while you're sitting in the audience!  And then, meeting them in person, and getting the book signed, and your picture taken with them!!!!  Surely this is a little piece of heaven!  Oh, bliss!!!!!




8 comments:

  1. hola Maria! whenever i see posts of my buddy bloggers at book signings or book conventions, i can't help but turn green! tengo mucho envidia lol! you sure had a lot fun and it's great to see what you look like mi bella amiga! hasta luego y que tengas una buena semana! c",)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hola, Ao!! I know just how you feel...I heard about something called "BEA" here in the States, and I couldn't go...but thankfully, I was able to go to this event, which was on a Saturday, and right near my house!! YAY!! Muchas gracias for your compliment! (Blush!) Espero que tu tengas una buena semana tambien!! Y ademas, gracias por la visita!! Ahora te voy a visitar a ti, amigo!! : )

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  3. Oh my goodness! That is amazing! I woud LOVE to meet all of those authors. I've still never met an author, and that's not for lack of trying.

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  4. Hey, there, Aliya!

    Yeah, I LOVE meeting authors, too!! This bookstore has terrific author events! They have them all the time, too. I wish I could go to most of them, but, if they're during the week, I can't, because I have a night job (part-time) as well as a day job (full-time).

    I noticed you became a follower. Thank you!! I'm going to follow you right back! : )

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  5. This is so great! I love author events, the first one (that I paid attention to) in my area was Ally Carter for The Heist Societ release and it killed me that I was at school (my freshman year of college 3 hours from home with no car), so I couldn't go, but I LOVE her books so I sent my parents to the signing and they ended up winning sunglasses for me. I went to my first event last month where Sara Shepard (Pretty Little Liars & The Lying Game), Sarah Mlynowski (GimmeACall, Ten Things We Did And Probably Shouldn't Have) and Maureen Johnson (13 Little Blue Envelopes and many more) were there and I was so excited to get their books signed and get my pictures with them too =) I wish my bookstore did author events more often, but it seems like it's only a few times a year.

    - Jess

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  6. Hi, Jessica!

    Wow. It was real nice of your parents to do that for you!! What a bummer that you were so far away, with no car...

    How fabulous that you were able to go to that event last month! I'll have to google the authors you've mentioned, since I'm not familiar with them.

    This bookstore I went to is only about 10 minutes from my house, and they do these events EVERY SINGLE DAY OF THE YEAR!! I can't go to every one of them, of course -- many of them are during the week, and I have a night job (as well as a day job). Besides, I'm not interested in every single book or author they present.

    But this was an event I couldn't miss!!! These are three of the HOTTEST YA authors!!!! And the event was on a Saturday night!! I just HAD to go!!!

    Thanks for the comment!! Enjoy your weekend!! : )

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  7. Maria!!! :D Wow, this so totally awesome.. and you even took a pic with both the awesome authors! So envious!!!
    I went to Cassie Clare and Holly Black signing before, but the line-up was so insane, I didn't get to take a pic :( Besides I was shy.. it was my first signing ever LOL

    It looks fantastic, tho! So happy for you :)

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  8. Oh, Evie, thank you so much!! I sure hope these authors will visit your area sometime soon!! I had a great time, even though it was pretty hot in the presentation area (shown in the first and second pictures within the body of the post) because the A/C wasn't working too well. There were just too many people, and it was in the 90's outside!!

    Anyway...I did have to wait a long time to get my books signed, because they had assigned everyone to a group with a letter, like I explained in the post. I could have left earlier, of course, but I was there to get my books signed, and I wasn't leaving without having that done!! Lol.

    If I get to go to any future extra-special signings like this one, I'll be sure to post about them here on my blog!

    Thanks for the comment!! : )

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