Yesterday was absolutely fantastic!
Nikki and I drove to Nashville again for another awesome author event, this time the final stop of the Ash 2 Nash book tour, featuring Victoria Schwab, Myra McEntire, and Beth Revis, with special guests Julie Kagawa, Rachel Hawkins, and Ruta Sepetys. We reached B&N super early with the intention of getting coffee and getting some reading time in. We both had coffee and were also intrigued by a little something called the "blackout" cupcake.
I just have to say it: that cupcake kicked my butt. I only finished half of it before I had to call it quits. Nikki looked like she felt a little ill after hers. Evil, evil cupcake! It's as menacing as it looks, folks. Beware!
We both got in some much-needed reading time, which was excellent. After a while, though, the chairs became uncomfortable, so we decided to look for empty arm chairs. They were all full, so back to the cafe we went. When we walked back in, I looked up only to notice that Julie Kagawa was sitting 2 tables away. I mentioned this on Twitter while having a "holy crap!" moment, only to notice Victoria Schwab walking across the parking lot outside. Yup. The time was drawing near!
Shortly thereafter, Shannon from
Stalking the Bookshelves arrived, and while she was getting a cup of coffee, we had some unexpected visitors drop by our table. I saw someone out of the corner of my eye, then heard, "Marla?" It was Julie Kagawa and Victoria Schwab. (insert shock here) Apparently, my tweet didn't go unnoticed. LOL! I (obviously) couldn't see my own face, but I'm pretty sure it looked something like this when I looked at Nikki:
Introductions were made, my inner voice did much squealing, and then it was time to head back to the event area. Also, I can definitely say that they are both as awesome as their books. It was great talking to them.
Let me preface the next pictures by saying that these ladies are utterly hilarious. The discussion portion of the event was very funny and a good time was had by all. I wish I could have gotten video for you all. Unfortunately, I was seated behind some ladies who were roughly my height, which was both unusual (I'm rather tall) and prevented me from getting any direct shots of the whole panel. I had to make do with ducking and weaving the camera around heads and over shoulders. Thanks goodness for 18X zoom!
After the discussion, chaos ensued. There were people everywhere waiting to get their books signed. Any thought of a queue was out the window. It was a free-for-all! Luckily, there was plenty of time left, so everyone had the chance to get their books signed and chat with the authors for a bit. This was truly awesome, as Nikki and I didn't have to rush off this time and could stay until the end. We even found out that Ruta has a home near us and that she is in our town fairly often! She was very nice and a lot to fun to chat with. We got to talk with most of them for a fair amount of time and snapped several pics in the process.
We also snapped some pics with Shannon. It was really awesome to get to meet another book blogger.
It was a fantastic night and I sincerely hope that they can all make it back to Nashville someday. If you ever get the chance to attend an event with one of these ladies, do it! You won't be sorry and I can guarantee that you'll have a great time.
Be sure to visit my IMM post on Sunday to see all of the books I got signed last week, as well as at Ash 2 Nash. Also, make sure to keep an eye on my blog in the weeks to come. I brought back something special that I will be giving away at a later date. What is it, you ask? Well, you'll just have to wait to find out. ::wink::
