Recap - Book Expo America 2014

So instead of writing a REALLY long post recap-ing last week's adventures at Book Expo America, I thought I would film a video. This way I can talk to you all about it and share some of the books I picked up I am most excited about reading. 

This is my first time doing a video, so bear with me! Enjoy and let me know in the comments if you would be interested in seeing more videos on the blog!

Ontario Blogger Meet Up - Recap

On November 3rd was the 2nd Annual Ontario Blogger Meet Up in Toronto and I was lucky enough to be able to attend. Myself and the other Ottawa bloggers (Ciara, Katie, Meaghan and Kathy) decided to make a whole weekend out of it, and as such we hit the road on Friday night, arriving in Toronto late into the evening. During the car ride there was much talk about books and much singing along to music--especially to Taylor Swift (sorry once again Ciara!)--which made the 5 hour drive go by faster.

The next morning we all woke up excited about the meet up and proceeded to spend the majority of the morning slowly getting ready and getting all of our things together. A few hours later (we're girls, we take a while to get ready) we headed out to catch the subway to the event with all of our books in tow. 

Once we arrived at the Watermark Irish Pub, we were welcomed by the wonderful organizers of the event, and right away we were able to start mingling with other bloggers, publishers and authors. And that was the start to what turned out to be a fantastic afternoon. It was fantastic to be able to finally meet all these people I've been talking to online for months, if not years, and just to be able to spend an entire afternoon talking about books in general. 

Here are a few pictures to give you an idea of our afternoon.

L-R: Meaghan, Lindsey, Me, Kathy, Katie, Ciara

I was also very excited to be able to once again see Lesley Livingston (I've been seeing her a lot lately, check back later this week for more on that) and to meet Elizabeth Miles, the author of Fury and Envy. It was great of the organizers to bring to many authors to the event, and it was great being able to chat with all of them. 

L-R: Kathy, Me, Meaghan, Katie, Lesley Livingston, Ciara, Elizabeth Miles

After talking to them online for so long it was also great to finally be able to meet Liz from Midnight Bloom Reads and Michele from Just A Lil' Lost, two of the wonderful organizers for the afternoon.

L-R: Liz, Ciara, Katie, Kathy, Me, Michele, Meaghan

And of course this wouldn't be a book event if I didn't come home with piles of books. Here's a sneak peek at what was it my goodie bag. I am especially excited about the advance copy of Sever by Lauren DeStefano in there because that is one book I am just dying to read.

Thank you once again to the wonderful organizers for putting this event together. It was a fantastic afternoon and I can't wait to hopefully be able to attend another event like this one in the future.

Smart Chicks Kick It Event Recap

On Saturday September 15, I had the opportunity to attend a Smart Chicks Kick It Event for the second year in a row. Last year the event was in my home town so it made things easy. This year, the Smart Chicks came to Montreal and thanks to the awesome Ciara from Lost At Midnight, I was able to travel two hours in order to attend the event. Before I say anything else, let me just say that if you ever have the opportunity to go to an event with any of these authors you should definitely do so because you won't regret it. 

My day started off with a trek across town with my bag of books in order to meet Ciara so we could drive up to Montreal. After the 2 hour drive, we arrived at the Chapters in Pointe-Claire (Montreal suburb) where local bloggers had been nice enough to save us some space around where they were sitting so we could all wait for the event to start. While waiting, I got to meet some wonderful bloggers (see picture below) and participate in some trivia questions where I won a $5 giftcard for knowing that Kelley Armstrong's Darkness Rising books take place on Vancouver Island. 

[Top Row L-R: Stephanie (Tynga's Reviews), Ciara (Lost at Midnight), Cindy (Tynga's Reviews), Cindy (Cindy's Love of Books). Bottom Row L-R: Me, Lucy (Moonlight Gleam's Bookshelf), AH (Badass Book Reviews)]

After just under 2 hours of waiting and getting to know everyone, the authors arrived and took part in a Q&A and asked the audience to guess facts about the different authors present. The authors at the Montreal stop were (from L-R in picture below): Rosemary Clement-Moore, Melissa de la Cruz, Melissa Marr, Kelley Armstrong, Margaret Stohl, Rachel Caine & Kami Garcia. (I apologize if you can't see some of their faces, I was at the front but I was sitting on the floor).

After the Q&A I was able to get all the books I brought with me signed and even get back in line a few times for different authors in order to help other bloggers get their own books signed. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a picture with Melissa de la Cruz (I have one from last year!) but you can see me with all the other authors below!

While waiting for all the bloggers to get their books signed, I was able to continue getting to know everyone. Once we all had our books signed, we were all lucky enough to be able to take a group picture with the authors. Though this had to be done in two takes since Kelley Armstrong, who had the longest line, was still busy signing books for readers. In the first picture, the bloggers are with Melissa Marr, Rosemary Clement-Moore, Melissa de la Cruz, Rachel Caine & Margaret Stohl. In the second picture we were joined by Kelley Armstrong and Kami Garcia but we lost Melissa de la Cruz.

Overall, this was a fantastic book-filled day. It was great getting to know some bloggers who I hadn't met before (I have now checked out all of their blogs!) and meeting authors, some for the first time, some for the second time. My experience with the Smart Chicks event is that they are always absolutely fantastic. If you are in the Philadelphia area, I strongly recommend you attend their final stop on Tuesday evening!

Under My Skin Launch Party - RECAP & GIVEAWAY

On Thursday night, I had the pleasure of attending the launch party for Charles de Lint's new book, Under My Skin. At the event I met up with Meaghan from Feeling a Little Bookish, who I had met before on other occasions. The event was held at the Raw Sugar Cafe in Ottawa which is an adorable little coffeeshop just at the edge of Ottawa's Chinatown. We went in and got seats and proceeded to talk about books while waiting for the event to start. By the time 7PM rolled around the place was pretty packed and the event started.

To start things off, Charles de Lint and his wife, who are both musicians and singers, played some songs from their individual CDs. Everyone, myself included, really seemed to enjoy this part of the evening. I'll say that it was nice to have something a little different from your traditional book-related event. 

Following the music, Charles de Lint talked about Under My Skin, explaining what the book is about and then going on to read from it. So that he wouldn't give too much of the story away, he read different blog entries written by one of the characters in the book. As I've already read Under My Skin, I knew exactly who he was talking about, but to someone who hasn't read the book it was a great non-spoilery introduction to the story.

After that Charles de Lint sat down to sign books. I had brought along my finished copy of Under My Skin to get signed, and bought a copy of The Painted Boy to get signed as well, after Chandra at Indigo Teen Blog recommended it to me. I had also brought along my advance copy of Under My Skin to get signed and give away to one lucky person, so be sure to check out the form below!

All in all, it was a very enjoyable night and I am happy I was able to attend since there aren't that many YA book events in Ottawa.

Giveaway!

As I mentionned, I have one signed ARC of Under My Skin to give away. It was a really great book and if you want more information about it be sure to check out my review. The giveaway is opened internationally.