Ally Carter

On Monday, I went to The King's English with Suey, Tori, and Jenni to see Ally Carter. She was promoting her newest Embassy Row book.

 

I haven't read the Embassy Row or Heist Society books, but I've read all of the Gallagher Girl books, and I enjoyed them.

Here is me and the gang!

Here is Ally giving her spiel. It was short and sweet, and she answered questions for most of the time. It was cool. She talks fast, but you can understand everything she is saying. She was really hilarious and highly entertaining. She had everyone laughing and smiling the whole time. She also had a fun Oklahoma accent that just made her more endearing. It was a fun event!

Here are some things she talked about:

 -    When she got the idea for her first Embassy Row book, she brainstormed the plot out with Holly Black.

-    She has always wanted to write a story about teens that live on Embassy Row. She was intrigued by kids having to grow up on a street with different languages, different culture, where everyone has diplomatic immunity, etc.

-    When asked who her favorite couple from her books was, she replied with Mr. Solomon and her. She would really like that. Ha!

-    The 10 year anniversary of the Gallagher Girl books is coming up, and they are getting new covers! Ally is in the middle of writing epilogues to add to each book. They will be from a different perspective than Cammie's. 

-    The hardest book she has had to write is Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy. She still had her day job at that point, and she had to write late into the night and into the morning. She talked about how hard it is to write a sequel. She wrote 3 completely different plots for that book. She kept saying how that book almost killed her.

-    Ally's advice for aspiring writers is to write! Don't be afraid of bad words. She related writing to an old hose. You have to let the water run to get the dirty water out.

-    She doesn't do a lot of research for her books. She makes up most of the gadgets and names them herself.

-    Ally loves to read historical romances. She thinks they aren't that different from what she writes.

Here is Ally signing books! She was so kind and talked to everyone in line.

Group photo with the author!

It was such a fun event! Thanks King's English!

Valynne's Launch Party

I'm still behind on posts! It just never ends! I need help!

A while ago I attended Valynne's launch party for Ink and Ashes.

She had a great presentation and wore an awesome Kimono!

Things she touched on in her presentation (I actually took notes this time!):

-    Valynne wrote the book for her younger sister a long time ago. She wanted to give her sister a book with a character she could relate to.

-    The characters in the book were named after Valynne's sister's best friends.

-    Valynne didn't know how to write a mystery, so she bought a book on how to write a mystery after she won the New Visions Award.

-    She talked about how authors are very aware of their weaknesses, and they are glaring them in the face during the writing process.

-    Since she won the award, she had a lot of say in the cover. She even got the New Visions Award emblem changed.

It was a great presentation, and Valynne spoke from the heart. She feels very strongly about a lot of things, and it was nice to hear her speak so passionately about her opinions.

Valynne signing my book!

Jenni, Jenny, Valynne, Suey, and me! We finally got a picture that isn't blurry!!

Ransom Riggs

On Wednesday, Jenni, Suey, Toto, and I saw/met Ransom Riggs!

It was a very short event, but it was still fun.

Mr. Riggs was on a tight schedule, so he did some signings before and after his presentation. I think they should always do this. It was awesome to be able to leave right away and skip the craziness afterwards.

Here is Suey and Toto smiling and meeting the author.

 Signing the book

Here is Jenni meeting Mr. Riggs.

His presentation was short and sweet, and so were his answers to a lot of the questions.

He was very funny and charming that way.

He talked about how he found old pictures interesting and started collecting them.

He approached his peeps and said it would be could to write a book about some of these old pictures.

Ransom Riggs is his real name.

He couldn't say much about the movie, but he hopes it is good.

After his stop in Utah, he was going to watch some of the movie being filmed.

He talked about how book people are much happier and nicer than movie people.

He is a very good friend of John Green.

Any deep meanings or symbols in his books were unintentional, but he thinks it's cool.

His next book is coming out this fall. It is the third and last in the Peculiar Children series.

The movie is coming out next spring.

I think that covers the bulk of what he talked about. 

It was so cool to meet this author. I love his books, and I'm SO stoked that Tim Burton is making the movie!

Ignite Launch Party

 On Tuesday I had the pleasure of going to Sara Larson's launch party for Ignite!

It was fun!

Of course I went with my bestest book buddies Jenni, Suey, and Tori

Sara had a really great presentation. She talked about how glamorous her life has become since being published, or rather, how it wasn't, but it kinda was. She had a lot of great gifs to illustrate her journey through writing and publishing. Then she had a Q&A bit where her family asked funny and ironic questions.

What I got out of her presentation:

She likes Justin Timberlake a lot

She likes Chris Hemsworth a lot

I need to watch a skit where Jimmy Fallon and two other guys dress in drag and take a selfie.

She writes really fast

Here is Sara signing her book!

The author and the gang

Sara is really tall.

We went to Paradise Bakery afterwards for some food. It was my first time eating there, and I loved it! I highly recommend the blue cheese salad.

The Man in Black

I'm a little late in posting this, but here it is! I MET CARY ELWES!!

The King's English hosted an event where Cary came and talked to us about his book and his experiences making The Princess Bride.

I went with my amazing friends Jenni, Tori, and Suey.

 We went early and got really good seats.

He told some hilarious stories about Andre, Billy Crystal, and a couple others. I wish it had gone on longer.

Here he is signing a book:

He shook my hand!

I had things in my head that I wanted to say, but when I got up there, I choked! I was starstruck and my introvert side came out. I was quiet and shy. I said hello, my name (barely), and thank  you. It was all I could get out! I felt so stupid afterwards.

Oh well, at least I have his book signed and personalized.

A girl in front of us was crying, so Cary gave her a hug, and she freaked out even more. It was pretty funny. Jenni and I contemplated crying if we got hugs.

It was such an honor to meet him! I remember watching The Princess Bride with my brothers when I was little. We would quote the movie all the time. I grew up with this movie! It was released the same year I was born. It was so amazing to meet the Dread Pirate Roberts himself. He was so charming!

Blackmoore Launch Party

On Tuesday, some friends and I went up to The King's English for Julianne Donaldson's launch party. It was a strange party. I was expecting chairs, but no!

They had some yummy food, including a Blackmoore cake.

Here is everyone mingling! I didn't like it. I wanted to sit in a chair and listen to the author talk about her book. Instead, we awkwardly wandered around the gallery.

At least there was some eye candy in tails! They were really tall!

Here is Jenni, Me, the author, and Suey! I had fun with these gals!