Insurgent Release Day: Veronica Roth in NYC!

One of my favorite YA authors, Veronica Roth *finally* made it to NYC earlier this month to promote the release of her new book Insurgent. Book 2 in the Divergent trilogy. If you’ve been living under a rock, and somehow haven’t ready Divergent yet— go buy it asap! It is one of the best, most absorbing dystopian novels I’ve ever read. It *gasp* may even be better than The Hunger Games!

It’s hard to really review Insurgent without spoiling major plot elements from both it, and its predecessor. But suffice to say, it was even better than book 1. Veronica Roth really understands the motivations and psychology behind ALL of her characters, something I find some authors to really struggle with. Every single person in her books if a fully fleshed-out, realistic character. And she also gave the reasonings and rationale behind the basis for every faction.

Quite a few people turned out for the release day signing, at Barnes and Noble Tribeca. Veronica read from one of the earlier scenes in Insurgent, then did a short Q&A with the audience before beginning the signing.

Getting excited about an audience question

About to sign

Veronica meeting her fans!

If you get a chance to catch Veronica on her tour–take it! I hear she may be at BEA 2012 too. Her interaction with the audience was candid, informative, and brutally honest about all things Tris, Divergent, and even a little about her personal struggles as an author, and human being.

I gave Insurgent 5/5 STARS. And Veronica 5 stars as well. 😉

Double Signing Day: Patrick Rothfuss and the NYC Teen Author Festival

Last night, I succeeded in doing the impossible: I made it to two book signings, in two different nyc boroughs at the exact same time. Obviously I don’t have a clone, so it wasn’t literally at the same time. But thanks to one event starting early, I ended my night with six books signed by some of my favorite authors.

My evening started with Patrick Rothfuss at Barnes and Noble in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Fans were allowed to line up at 4pm for the 7pm signing. So by the time I arrived at 5, there were already about 70 people in line! The store was way too small for a signing of this size. I ended up having to wait outside in the cold for about an hour because there wasn’t any standing room left in the store.

A signing table for Patrick was set up in the magazine section. Space was so limited, and the crowd so large, that Pat’s reading and Q&A was cancelled. Someone failed event planning 101, but I didn’t let that ruin my night. Which was good, because despite the weather outside, I ended up meeting some awesome fellow book lovers in line!

Around 6pm, the guy behind me pointed across the street. “Look” he said, “there’s Patrick!”. I looked up, and there he was, getting out of a cab. He’s pretty hard to miss. I couldn’t resist snapping a “spy photo” with my iPhone:

After chatting with a friend, Pat noticed us, and started waving and taking photos of the crowd. He stopped to grab some dinner, but came back over around 6:30 to chat with some fans, and tell us he was going to start signing early. I waited for what seemed like forever, chatting with my new friends as the line slowly snaked into the store, and around the magazine section. We joked about cliches in fiction, and our favorite nerdy movies.

Finally, it was my turn. I panicked, and ran to Pat’s assistant with my camera. When I approached Pat, my mind went blank and I forgot everything I’d wanted to say. Which is hilarious, because as a photographer, I come into contact with celebrities all the time. And I can chat with them like they’re my best friend. In front of authors I like–I’m speechless. Pat signed my books, and I finally mumbled something about being so glad he finally made it to NYC after waiting for four years. And then we took this photo together:

At the time, I didn’t even realize what he’d done. Looking at it now, I think it pretty much sums up Pat’s goofy personality.

I said good bye to my new friends, and hauled ass to Manhattan for the Teen Author Panel at another Barnes and Noble, in Union Square. I made it just in time to hear the last few minutes of a reading, before the signing began.

Everyone was SO NICE. Seriously, it was like David Levithan pulled the nicest authors in YA aside and said he wanted to have a panel celebrating friendliness.


The panel of authors. My iPhone decided to partially blur their identities. ; )

David signed my books first, and I told him how I’d rushed there from another signing, and was crazy excited for Sunday’s mega-signing event. I got to chat with Gayle Forman about If I Stay (I bought it when it first came out, but haven’t read it yet! Yet my mother has. Go figure.) and whether or not Where She Went spoiled me. She was sad to hear the description did, but I told her it was ok.

Hands down the best conversation I had was with Holly Black. I remove all my book covers when I carry them around, so that they aren’t damaged. So when I approached her, she saw the book in my hands, and asked what it was because she didn’t recognize it. I told her it was Red Glove, and she freaked out! (She hadn’t seen it without a cover on yet.) I told her how I found it at Strand last week, thanks to someone selling back a review copy. I was so excited I forgot to tell her how much I loved it, and that the Curse Worker books have become one of my new favorite series. She seemed really happy to see it, and said I had the very first copy she’s signed! She even drew me a cute little cat “speaking” what she’d said:

Red Glove is now officially the coolest signed book I own.

I’m so glad I made it in time to attend the first event of the 2011 Teen Author Festival! I never thought I’d be able to make it to two events in one night, and see so many authors I love. Thanks to all the authors for being so awesome!

If you have a chance to check out any of the other Teen Author Fest events, go! You can find the full list here.

My other signed books:

I got my copy of The Name of the Wind signed too, but it pretty much looks exactly like this one.

❤

Last Sacrifice: NYC Reading and Signing

Author Richelle Mead.

Last night, I was lucky enough to attend Richelle Mead’s NYC reading and signing, celebrating the release of the final Vampire Academy book, Last Sacrifice. I nearly didn’t make it! Between being slowed down by a broken foot, and bad traffic, I was fashionably late, arriving seconds after Richelle took the stage to read.

The enraptured audience.

Richelle began by reading a selection from the book, then proceeded to a short question and answer session with the audience. Most of the questions were pretty typical— What is her inspiration? What’s going on with the movie rights? Was she sad to leave Rose behind after the end of the conclusion of the series?…One question that really stood out to me was about Georgina Kincaid, from Richelle’s Succubus book series. Richelle said the final book is due out in September 2011, and promises surprises, along with the *spoiler free version*: answer to a certain important question regarding a document that was mentioned in Succubus Shadows. Those of you who missed the webcast can see a typed version of most of the Q&A over at shadowkissed.com.

Another exciting piece of news straight from Richelle: this Friday, December 10th’s issue of Entertainment Weekly will have an exclusive first look at the new spin-off series, Bloodlines!

Once it was time for the signing to begin, everything became a bit of a blur. Because I was in a cast, the Barnes and Noble staffers wanted me to go first in line. I felt sort of weird doing that, so I told them I’d gladly go after the first row of fans had their books signed instead.

When it was my turn, I was escorted over to Richelle. Things went so fast, I barely remember what I said. I forgot everything I had planned to say, but had a nice impromptu discussion with Richelle about the Korean editions of her books that I’d brought to be signed (I’m in LOVE with the gorgeously illustrated covers!), and she asked me if I minded telling her how I broke my foot.

The Korean edition of book 1.

Since my Mother was my nurse/escort for the evening, I was able to get six books signed. Between that, and a recent order from University Books, I now will own signed copies of nearly the entire Richelle Mead catalog!

I’m less than 10 pages from the ending of Last Sacrifice! My review will be coming soon!

See more photos from the signing here.

Thanks so much to Richelle for coming to NYC, and everyone at Barnes and Noble for helping me out while I’m injured. Here’s hoping Richelle makes it back next summer for Bloodlines!

Photos and Content ®2010 RS/BookshelfLust