Booking It

The Tucson Festival of Books was a month ago and I got to see my friend Elizabeth Eulberg again! We went to lunch, conveniently Cornish Pasty is just a couple miles away from Changing Hands. After lunch we headed over to Changing Hands for her signing and my dear friend Jenny came who I don't get to see enough came. Because of the Tucson book festival going on it was a small crowd for her signing but one of my favorites because first of all Elizabeth is super funny and super nice. We were able to all chat together and I made friends with some strangers. 

Then down in Tucson I got to meet Gayle Forman and hang out with a couple more of my book buddies Espe & Jen! Gayle was on a panel with Elizabeth & Maggie Stiffvater after their signing I asked Gayle while she was eating an apple to take a picture, it turned into a recreating the Twilight cover. 

 I wore my Team Adam badge and was able to hand them out to a few girls in line by us.

In the book Just One Day someone tells Allyson to have a macaroon every day she is Paris.

I had been craving one since I read it and when I was in Tempe I stopped off at Essence Bakery and got one in pumpkin, raspberry and lime, the pumpkin was so divine! 

 When I arrived at the panel and Elizabeth saw me she got excited and held up a doll, why because we have bonded over Jane Austen and she knew I would appreciate a Mr. Darcy doll. A friend had given it to her and sadly it was the last one but she showed me the tag so I could find it online. I was so excited for my Darcy doll to finally come so you can image my disappointment when I opened the box and it was Dracula! But I called the company they saw it was their error and sent me a Darcy and told me to keep Dracula so now Darcy has a friend.

And a few weeks ago Cassandra Clare came for the release of Clockwork Princess. She came along with authors Maureen Johnson & Sarah Rees Brennan, it was a fun event.

 But man it was a lot of books to be carrying around and they had us stack them a certain way and I some how had missed a couple books so I didn't have time to write my name on a sticky note for Maureen's book so I had to tell her my name and she heard wrong and I started laughing and she felt bad and then wrote that she has gone insane in my book, it was awesome!

Anyone who has gone to a book signing with me knows that I can get a little carried away talking about books or whatever when I meet an author. While Mimi and I were in line we talked about how we both realized that the first video Mimi really ever edited was the one we made for the contest Cassandra Clare did for an ARC for City of Glass. Which we did win one by the way! So for the first time Mimi did the talking and told Cassandra that we had made the video and how it pushed her into her now career path. Cassandra was sincerely touched and she actually grabbed Mimi's hand, it was so sweet. Blast the confounded pile of books in my arms because I could get to my phone so I could take a picture. I will sign off with the newest City of Bones trailer!

Days of Blood & Starlight

Normally when I read a sequel I am able to skim/skip a lot of the beginning because the author has to explain  things that the reader might have forgotten about book one. So I was shocked how Laini was able to make the information fresh and new. I did not skip one word of Days of Blood & Starlight I drank every single one in. At first I was sad I could not read it faster but then when I got close to being done I wanted to cry because I didn't want it to be over. I have really come to love these characters and I can not wait for the third book!

Friday Laini's tour brought her to Changing Hands in Tempe! Debbie and I were so excited to get to see her again. We met Laini at Project Book Babe and both started following her blog and soon started talking about her like we were really friends. So as you can guess we were super excited for her signing and Melissa and her husband James came along with Mimi & her crew as well making it an extra good time.  

When I was re-reading Daughter of Smoke and Bone I was inspired by one of my favorite parts of the book to make a t-shirt. I had even forgotten to show Laini, thankfully she noticed and her reaction was perfect!

I turn into such a fan girl at book signings guys, I'm always a little embarrassed after and yet I still don't change. I think in this picture I am telling Laini how I could not stop thinking about Akiva. 

 The guy taking pictures saw me get all comfortable and joked about how I was moving in. So part of me is embarrassed but if I was to do it all over again I would do it the same. And you know why because Laini told me how she wanted the third book to end! Have you seen the movie The Young Victoria? Oh I love it I hope you have. Well there is a scene where Albert is getting excited about his ideas for helping the working class, then apologizes. In response Victoria says "there's no need to apologize for being passionate." Which is how I feel as long as your passion isn't hurting you or those around you.

When I first read about Akiva's widow's peak it wasn't something I had really thought about. So I googled widow's peak and was surprised at how many of my boyfriends have widow's peaks. (Just to be clear not all below are my boyfriends, you know you have to be more than a pretty face.) But can you see who I traced for the model of Akiva?

(Top row Colin Farrell, Jude Law, Daniel Craig, Wentworth Miller, 2nd row Leonardo DeCaprio, Chris Hemsworth, David Beckham & Gavin Rossdale)

I love making t-shirts & bags (in case you have not noticed) my favorite way is using freezer paper I kind of explained how it works here when I made Harry Potter shirts.

Palace of Stone

After hanging out with Stephanie Perkins Debbie I couldn't stop saying how super nice she was. Case in point Stephanie told us that she had been given an advanced readers copy of Palace of Stone so she could blurb it (you know when you turn a book over and there is praise by different authors). Well she gifted it to Debbie and I since she knew how much we loved Shannon's work as well.  

Wednesday night Shannon Hale came to Changing Hands for the release of Palace of Stone, the sequel to Princess Academy. Since it is my birthday week my mom thought it would be fun if we made a party of it. So she my sister Debbie and sister in law Angie all came, we had dinner first and then all got to enjoy the hilarious Shannon. 

After my mom & Angie left not wanting to stand in the long line. Debbie and I eventually grabbed a bench so we could sit. See us sitting while everyone else is standing. 

Debbie and I were wondering if Shannon would remember us but when she got up to hug us and talked about Project Book Babe it made our night! I then told Shannon how we had met Stephanie Perkins (a aspiring author at the time) at Project Book Babe and how awesome it was to be having Shannon signing a copy of her book that Stephanie had blurbed!

My mom was right it was super fun and exactly what I would have wished to done to celebrate my birthday week!

The Best Kind of Weekend

Saturday was Stephanie Perkins signing (along with other authors)! I picked Debbie up and she had made lunch for us to eat in the car, little asparagus pizzas. She also held the plate like that for me while we drove to Phoenix. She really is the best sister. 

After the panel all the authors taught classes on things other than writing novels. Steph and Matt de la Pena divided the room and then helped us write a love song. 

Debbie and I were sitting on Matt's side of the room and our group wrote a verse about teenagers finding love in the library. It took us awhile to agree on things because everyone had good ideas but I really liked the final product, I wish I would have taken the lyrics home with me. I can only remember a line from the song but it was about a girl at the library looking for the cute boy she sees there she gets sad when she doesn't see him but turns around and runs right into him. And I am sure there was some kissing in the library later :).

The cute girls in the picture sang it for us and did a really good job. And later we gushed about Stephanie's books together!

Lisa McMann taught us about food display and then did a competition to see who did the best, this is Debbie's plate after we ate some.

Here is my cute friend Jen talking to Steph during the signing.

And here Debbie and I are with Steph, in a very happy making picture!

Sunday when I went to my parents for our regular Sunday dinner I got a surprise from my brother & sister in law who went to Harry Potter land! I am one happy girl!

Monday Debbie, Stephanie and I attempted to go see a movie but being a holiday we ended up shopping instead. After we met up with Mimi for an early dinner/late lunch. It was so much fun to be real life friends!

Exciting Event

I know you have all wanted to come to a book signing with me, well I have got the perfect one! My friend Stephanie Perkins is finally coming back to Arizona and she is doing a signing! I briefly met Stephanie back in April 2009 at Project Book Babe then found her blog through Laini Taylors blog we have been online friends ever since. Sharing our love for Hot British Males, Thom Yorke, Pushing Daisies/The Pie Man and Paris

Her signing will be at Burton Barr Central Library (Phoenix) Saturday May 26th it starts at 1:30pm. There will be other authors with her as well. 

Ellen Hopkins, Barry Lyga, Lisa McMann, Matt de la Pena, Stephanie Perkins, and A.S. King will be here to do book signings and fun, hands-on workshops. The authors' books will be available for purchase on-site from Changing Hands Bookstore. [un]BookFest is sponsored by Maricopa County Library District and Phoenix Public Library. I am serious if you want to come call, text email me, it is going to be fun!

My Trip To Nerdfighteria

You may think I am joking here but I am not, it is real and I went.

I stole this from Urban Dictionary dot com.

On Wednesday night(this is over a week old now) I went to a book signing for John Green's The Fault In Our Stars. I have read two of his other books besides The Fault In Our Stars, An Abundance of Katherine's and Paper Towns.

Besides being a writer John also does youtube videos with his brother Hank, their channel is called vlogbrothers. Here is a video they did together to explain nerdfightrers etcetera.


I have a lot of respect for the nerdfighting community, they do a lot to make the world a better place. I also have extra respect for John because of this video he did mentioning how he loves Stephanie Perkins Anna and the French Kiss.

I was excited to experience the nerdfighters first hand and lets just say they did not disappoint.
There were programs catered to each city.

There were all kind of nerdy things like a sock puppet show...

Songs by Hank this one is about John's book. He also played songs he wrote about Hogwarts & fish. 

There were also costume changes

and some human electrocution

Then I got to get my book signed and told John that Hank & him are like the boy versions of the Dashwood sisters from Sense & Sensibility. Basically it was just obvious that having Hank around relaxed John and I was happy to see the brothers interact.

Hank drew the fish. 

James Dashner - The Death Cure

I am so excited Melissa finally came to a book signing with me! We drove up to north Scottsdale to see James Dashner talk about the last book, The Death Cure in his Maze Runner series. I didn't mind the drive especially since I got to see one of my friends named Jen, who came with her son.
James is very informal and has a great dry sense of humor. He joked about loving Lord of the Rings more than his children. He would also go off on tangents like when asked about movie casting he joked about Justin Beiber and then went onto talk about "Beiber Fever Forever" and how he is actually a good basketball player.

He did a question answer and even told us some of his secret projects which I won't post about but if you want to know I would tell you. He did tell us a script has been written and that they are working on getting a director.

When it was time for the signing James spent time talking to the fans and even asking us questions. Melissa has finished reading while I am only on chapter six. So I stepped away so she could ask her spoilery question.



While leaving we ran into a fan who told everyone we could call him Thomas, I had wanted to get a picture of his shirt, which he made himself. Thomas also asked to get a picture with us his fans. After Melissa commented how fun it is to go somewhere and find your people.

While in line I got my books ready to be signed, sticking the flap of the dusk jacket to the appropriate page and sticking the sticky note with my name on it where it would be easy for him to see. It kind of blew the Barnes & Noble employee away, Melissa told her "this obviously isn't my first rodeo."
I had heard of James Dashner's book The Maze Runner while at a Changing Hands event and found out he was coming so I bought the book, read it, loved it and went to the signing for The Maze Runner the next week. I love that I was able to get my other books signed, it feels wrong to not have every book in a series signed.

Another Signing

It is no secret that I am a fan of Janette Rallison and her LDS romance pen name Sierra St. James. There is only one I have not read and am only missing a few before my collection is complete.



Tuesday night was her book launch for Slayers, under the pen name for her fantasy books, C.J. Hill. I had bought Slayers the night before and was reading before I left for the event. That was a bad idea, it was really hard to put the book down so I could go. But I am glad I went, I got to find out my Slayer super power! And Janette was entertaining and charming as ever!

Books & More Books

Last night was Scott Westerfeld's signing at Changing Hands for the last book in his Leviathan series Goliath. I have really, really enjoyed this series and have loved the audiobooks and really recommend them. Alan Cumming just does a perfect Scottish accent (I am being cheeky he is Scottish) but does the other accents really well too. Deryn is Scottish and says such wonderful things like "barking spiders" and calls people "bum rags". You can get a little taste of the audiobook in this video of Scott & Alan talking about the last book.

I haven't ever made a list of favorite female characters in literature but if I did Deyrn Sharp would be on it. She dresses up as a boy so she can fly and goes to war. One of my favorite complements was when a friend told me in Lord of the Rings I would be Éowyn, because I would dress up like a boy and go to war.

Leviathan is an illustrated series like books from the time would have been. He showed examples one of them being Persuasion by Jane Austen (bonus points for Scott) just like my Pride & Prejudice.

He talked about how illustrators had a lot of power for example...




He asked who this was a photo of, everyone of course answered Sherlock Holmes. He explained never in the text will you find mention of Sherlock wearing a hunting cap and in fact he despised the country & would never and worn one but the illustrator lived in the country and changed the way we see Sherlock.




Scott explained how the camera put a lot of illustrators out of work. He wished he could go back in time and tell whoever drew the camera "Don't draw it dude it will eat your job."
It was a good time I got my book signed and I was able to pick up a couple other books as well.

I almost asked Scott to sign my Lola not that he has anything to do with it but Stephanie is on tour right now with Maurine Johnson and they had all been at some conference, I am just jealous of everyone who got to attend.

C.J. Hill is really Janette Rallison and her signing/launch party is tonight at Changing Hands as well. I really want to go but we will see if I can swing going to Tempe two nights in a row.
I have STACKS of books to read by my bed and I just keep requesting books from the Library WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME? I think I just like to have options who knows what I am going to want to read.

This & That

First did you see what Mimi gave me for my birthday? And I would like to add that I put those photos up all by myself & just by eyeing it.

Last Friday I went to Kiersten White's book signing at Changing Hands. Her debut novel Paranormalcy came out August 31st and it debuted on the New York Times Best Selling list! Now I probably would not have read this book since I have been very disappointed with the last paranormal teen books I have read. But while complaining my friend Stephanie Perkins told me that Paranormalcy was different, for example although it is a series they don't end on cliff hangers. I trust Stephanie so I gave Paranormalcy a try and she was right it was very different from other Paranormal books I have read. It was funny & flirty kind of Buffy The Vampire Slayer meets Meg Cabot, maybe? I can recommend it to everyone with out any disclaimers, it is clean with out being obnoxiously so.

Kiersten did a great job at the signing she was funny and completely at ease. I had let my friend Espe borrow Anna & The French Kiss just the week before (she finished in one sitting) and she brought it back to me at the signing. So I had to get a picture for Stephanie with both my books & Kiersten. Then we had to gush about Anna Kiersten explaining that it was her favorite & Stephanie was her best friend & I told everyone that I had the first signed copy!

I loved what Kiersten wrote in my book because obviously she has excellent taste & is awesome!

Also for those who have read Paranomalcy on page 217 Reth is describe as "some sort of beautiful Victorian dandy. He even had a walking stick....if he weren't so breathtaking, he would have looked ridiculous."

When I read that I immediately pictured these picture of Henry Cavill even though Reth is blonde, what can I say I always change guys hair color from blonde to dark.

Also I am thinking about cutting fringe (bangs) again and have been asking people what they think, so what do you think?

Speaking of fringe did you know that there is a word for me?
An Anglophile is a person who is fond of English culture

Cheers - Connie