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!

Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Title: Beautiful Darkness (Caster Chronicles #2)

Author: Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Release Date: October 12, 2010

Source: Purchased

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

Ethan Wate used to think of Gatlin, the small Southern town he had always called home, as a place where nothing ever changed. Then he met mysterious newcomer Lena Duchannes, who revealed a secret world that had been hidden in plain sight all along. A Gatlin that harbored ancient secrets beneath its moss-covered oaks and cracked sidewalks. A Gatlin where a curse has marked Lena’s family of powerful Supernaturals for generations. A Gatlin where impossible, magical, life-altering events happen.

Sometimes life-ending.

Together Ethan and Lena can face anything Gatlin throws at them, but after suffering a tragic loss, Lena starts to pull away, keeping secrets that test their relationship. And now that Ethan’s eyes have been opened to the darker side of Gatlin, there’s on going back. Haunted by strange visions only he can see, Ethan is pulled deeper into his town’s tangled history and finds himself caught up in the dangerous network of underground passageways endlessly crisscrossing the South, where nothing is as it seems.

Oh how I love this story. I don’t even know where to begin with explaining just why I loved this book so much. Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl are just such wonderful writers and I saw that again in Beautiful Darkness. And then there’s also Ethan but I’ll get to that in good time. Before I even begin reading I knew I was going to love this book, just like I did Beautiful Creatures and I was most certainly not disappointed. This was book was simply amazing and I had the best time reading it.

Lena made it through her sixteenth birthday without having been claimed by either Light or Dark but that doesn’t mean she didn’t come out damaged. Macon is now dead and Lena is pulling away from Ethan, who doesn’t know what to do anymore. Not only that but Ethan finds himself being pulled further and further into the Caster world that for so long was hidden from him. He finds himself having visions no one else is having and no one can explain. Working with Marian and Liv in the library may get him some answers but not really the answers he is looking for. But more than anything Ethan just wants to get Lena back even if it means she won’t be the same.

Lena, you puzzle me so much sometimes. I love Lena but sometimes she just needs to pick a side and stick to it. In this book, she infuriated me more than anything else, but in a good way. I mean why would she keep on trying to get away from Ethan, a guy who pretty loves her to death and and refuses to give up on her no matter what? But at the same time I can understand why Lena is doing what she’s doing, it’s just her way to protect everyone she loves. New to the story was Liv and I absolutely loved her. She made me laugh so many times and she could be pretty unpredictable at times, which I think is one of the things that made me love them that much more. It was really fun to have another girl character come in and bring another perspective to the table. I also really liked seeing Ridley again and seeing her change. That is honestly all I can say about her without giving too much of the story away.

And now I start on Ethan, I promise I’ll keep it as short as possible. Oh Ethan how I love you. I would gladly trade places with Lena and have a guy who would never give up me and would love me no matter what. I’m sure that guy will actually come someday but for now I’ll just stick to dreaming about Ethan. He is just basically the ultimate good guy and you can’t help but like him. I also love the fact that the story is told from his point of view as opposed to having from Lena’s point of view for instance. So yeah, I love Ethan there really isn’t that much more to it than that. I absolutely loved that I got to see more of Link. He is just such a fun character he had me laughing out loud so many times. I just always lightened the situation, and so many times light was exactly what the situation needed.

And the story itself also did not disappoint. At first I was kind of scared that the story would be a lot like Beautiful Creatures but as it turned out it really wasn’t. It was a completely new story and I loved seeing it develop, and most of the time it was almost impossible to predict what would happen next which I absolutely loved. There was always some twist that I didn’t expect and it made me keep on reading and practically read the entire book in one sitting. There was only the end that slightly puzzled me, but I think I have it figured out for the most part.

Beautiful Darkness is an amazing read and everyone should read it. And if you haven’t read Beautiful Creatures, please go and get yourself a copy because they are just such great books. Trust me you won’t be disappointed, the story is magical in more than one way. 

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

 Title: Beautiful Creatures (Caster Chronicles #1)

Author: Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Release Date: December 1, 2009

Source: Purchased

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps, and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

Maybe I was living under a rock but I was unaware of all the hype surrounding Beautiful Creatures when I first picked it up at the bookstore. Now that I’ve read it, I can certainly see what it was all about. The book was amazing. I didn’t know what to expect when I started reading it but any expectations I could have had would have been met. I truly enjoyed Beautiful Creatures, for more than one reason.

The book, set in the fictional town of Gatlin, South Carolina, tells the story of Ethan Wate, an average sixteen-year-old who wants nothing more than to get out of the small town he grew up in. With the start of a new school year came the arrival of Lena Duchannes and everything changed for Ethan. Though everyone stays as far away as possible from Lena, Ethan feels a strong connection to her, soon realizing she is the girl he has been dreaming about since his mother’s death.

I loved Ethan’s character; it was such a refreshing change to have a love story told from the boy’s point of view. Just having the whole story being told from his point of view was nice; so many times I have read this type of book and always have things told from the girl’s perspective. Ethan was a character I enjoyed getting to know. I’ll admit at times I did find him annoying, especially when he was complaining about how the people in his town were acting, but in doing so he was being just like them. But no one is perfect, and apparently that also goes for book characters.

Lena was also a great character and sometimes I wished I could have seen more of her. At first she didn’t really appeal to me, maybe it was because she was being so secretive but she grew on me. Her being so secretive made her mysterious and therefore made me want to know more about her. Funny how that can work out sometimes. Lena’s family also had me. Just to keep track of who could do what I would have needed a flow chart...and a dictionary to be able to understand it all.

I think the writing is the best part of the book. Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl managed to take me on a journey to a small southern town, at some points it really felt like I was there with Ethan and Lena. The story they write is simply beautiful and it is beautifully written. Sure it’s a fantasy story and a love story but it’s also a whole lot more.

Beautiful Creatures had me captured from start to finish, putting it down was almost impossible but I had to sleep at some point. Definitely one of the best books I have read recently and definitely recommend it to anyone who has even the slightest interest in the fantasy genre. I can’t wait to read Beautiful Darkness, the next book in the series, and whatever comes next from these two authors.