Author Event With Sarah Rees Brennan, Rachel Caine & Sarwat Chadda at Foyles "Summer Scream" 19th June 2010

As soon as I arrived in the store and saw the sheer wealth of books I was over excited, it was epic! With at least 3 floors! I walked into the events room at 12:30, a little late as I had made an assumption about the closest Tube Station, so I had to walk for about half an hour. Oops. On arrival I was given a postcard with a green star on it. When I realised it corresponded to a specific type of goodie bag I got very excited. I was more than prepared to force someone to swap with me if I didn't get the better one. *insert evil laugh here* As it turns out mine had better contents than some so I was allowed a little time for gloating and swooning over my glorious freebies. Grow up you say? Never! I plan to pass through adulthood kicking and screaming! *clears throat in mature fashion* The room was designed like a carnival and with its flags, book displays and posters it just looked so wonderful and inviting. I think I would quite like to live in this Book Store, it is definitely big enough! *loves* I'm pretty sure I have found my Book Heaven.

When the authors actually took to the stage I had quite an embarrassing fangirl moment when I noticed that Sarah Rees Brennan had her Demon's Mark necklace on, as did I. *in case of confusion please refer to my previous comment about never growing up* : ) The Q & A session was very informative covering diverse topics such as belief in the supernatural, the killing off of fictional characters and Research leading to climbing bridges and stabbing. (Have I mentioned yet how awesome Sarah is? Because she is even more random and fabulous in real life!) Rachel Caine and Sarwat Chadda were so entertaining and interesting that I bought their books for them to sign. They really made me eager to read them, that's very good advertising on their part. *beams* My favourite moment of the Q & A was when a comment was made on the character of Bella (Of Twilight 'Fame' *shudder*) being a drip and an overall disappointing character. This resulted in a spontaneous applause sweeping through the crowd. Me like muchly. : )

The first author I approached at the signing was Rachel Caine author of The Morganville Vampires Series. I spelt my name out to her to avoid any confusion and then she began to spell it with a 'C', I smiled and reminded her, showing her how she could change it into a 'K'. This led to the most amusing signed book I have ever owned, where Rachel annotated her own mistake and signed it from “The Worst Speller In The World” We also chatted about the surprising awesomeness of The Vampire Diaries, I blamed Sarah for my love of the TV Show and she accepted it gracefully. (Edited: Review of Glass Houses By Rachel Caine now available)

When I handed Sarah my books to be signed I had previously heard her say she was always concerned about spelling names incorrectly so I said she could look at my previously signed book for assistance. Once holding it she looked confused, asking me if she should really be signing Rachel's book. I laughed and repeated that it was just for reference. There was even more confusion when the words “To Karlie” read like “Jo Karlie” : ) Sarah told me that she hoped I enjoyed the books and I told her that I had already read and loved them. This made her happy. I talked about how I was so grateful for the switch to Mae's point of view in the second book as I hadn't completely connected with her in the first book. I said that this changed so much in the sequel as I understood every little decision she made, as the book was from her perspective. Sarah thanked me and said she was glad I liked the change. We then discussed the third book being from Sin's point of view and how I couldn't wait to see what she did with that. She replied that she had so much fun writing an action heroine who was capable of swinging from the ceiling! She then asked me my opinion on the whole “Team Nick Vs Team Alan” thing. She had previously commented that she finds people's love of Alan interesting as he is an untrustworthy compulsive liar most the time. I answered that my view on Alan had changed during the flashbacks to his childhood, which pretty much broke my heart. She replied that she loved hearing that and then feigned sadness at being responsible for my pain, but then added that she didn't mean it and that my heart break made her happy. : ) I apologised for being greedy and asking her to sign two books and she answered that if she was signing two books I had better take two freebies from her. Yay! These were a poster of the Japanese cover of her book and an alternate first chapter of The Demon's Lexicon.

When I told her again thank you for her books and writing and began to move on she commented cryptically “I could give you a spoiler for the third book, if you wanted.” I nodded vigorously and said “Yay!” like a madwoman. She asked what kind of spoiler I would like and I said that since I was pretty much the original Jamie fangirl and was so on Team Jamie, anything to do with him would be great. She gave me a spoiler that I won't repeat here, just in case and I squealed a very girly sound and possibly did a happy dance. : ) She received more thanks from me for this wonderful, surprising gift! My love for Sarah is endless and has existed for a few years now. My review of her second book The Demon's Covenant can be found Here

The next author down the line was Sarwat Chadda, a very entertaining man if his answers to the Q & A are anything to go on. I can't wait to read his novel. I shall review it here when I have! He asked me about my Demon's Mark necklace, as he must have seen a few on people attending the event. I answered that it was a creation of Sarah's fandom, demonstrating possession. He shot her a fake glare and feigned jealousy, much to my amusement! When I was walking away he called enthusiastically “Great Bag. Love the Bag!” pointing at my Joker messenger bag. This made me rather happy. : ) (Edited: Review of Devil's Kiss By Sarwat Chadda now available)

This event was absolute fantastic and wonderful and all of the other general awesome words in the dictionary. It made me want to attend as many of these things as humanly possible. The authors were great and so friendly, the crowd was nice and the general atmosphere was amazing. Plus Foyles gave me freebies! I got a book, postcards, bookmarks, a balloon, badges, a toffee apple, candy floss and a giant lollipop! A great event, that I am so glad I was able to attend.


Photo credit to @LizUK from Twitter, as I was far too hysterical to even think of getting my phone out to take one. : )



Link to Sarah's post on her UK tour, It's a lot more entertaining than mine is, so well worth a read. : )

Currently Reading: Glass Houses By Rachel Caine