Category: Author Meet Ups

Today was the day I got to meet a local author (although she currently lives in NYC with her husband, adorable little girl and a baby on the way, would you still consider that a local author? ), Sarah Mlynowski.

If you remember I recently posted that I would be attending this signing & reading. I was super excited to go and was counting the days because before hand I was going to be meeting up with Lucy (that is a post to come).

When we got to Chapters they were still sort of setting up so we walked around and I managed to buy the Manhattan Magic series of Sarah’s. I had her other books.

It was a small turn out but nice just the same. Sarah spoke about her newest book Whatever After. She read a section of the book and it sounds super cute. I think this will be a hit with the younger kids. So far this series is only four books with a new one coming out every 6 months.

After she read Whatever After, Sarah took questions from the audience and she answered all kinds of questions from all her books. She mainly talked about her young adult books and I guess you could call the others middle grade books. She spoke briefly on her adult titles.

One thing I loved about the discussion was when she was talking about what was behind Whatever After. When she was little her mom would tell her stories about “Once a upon a time….” and she said that her mother would write it out and she would illustrate it and she actually had two of them with her and they are too cute. She has tons of stuff like that in her apartment in NY and she said whenever she needs inspiration she opens a box.

I have to admit Michael is a big fan of making books and I have kept them all because you never know and honestly after hearing Sarah speak about it now I know I have to keep Michael’s.

So as we were sitting waiting for the event to start I had to take this picture of all her books. I was happy to see that Chapter had so many of her books and I was super excited to find out that I was the first person who had the Magic in Manhattan book signed. Its a bind up of the first two books Bras & Broomsticks and  Frogs & French Kisses.

I love the book marks that Sarah was giving out and I actually owned Gimme a Call and Whatever After so I brought them to get signed and ended up buying Magic in Manhattan, Spells & Sleeping Bags and Parties & Potions. Sarah graciously signed a label for me because I have her book Ten things but I think I packed it away so when I unbox it I will put it in.

These are the signed books. I love that she signed one of the books about having fun in Manhattan.

I have included both pics of Sarah and myself cause I like them both. She was gracious enough to pose for numerous pictures with us.

I was also happy to see Laura who is another blogger from Montreal. She came with her two kids who I think enjoyed the event.

I want to thank Sarah for coming to Montreal, especially Pointe Claire (which is so much easier to get to for me considering all that is going on in the city with construction and student protests) and thanks to Scholastic books for arranging this. Also I want to thank Nikole for letting us know Sarah would be coming.
 

One of the advantages to working in my son’s school library is being able to attend author events that the librarian (Thanks Debbie) brings in. This was my first author event and I was super excited to attend.

I arrived late because my son’s class were presenting their poetry projects at the same time. Thankfully the author was doing two readings so I was able to attend the second one.

The funny part is that when I went down to the library the author was engaged in his reading and I really didn’t want to distract the class that was in there so I stayed by the doors and went in during the Q&A.

The author I am talking about is a Canadian and its  Shane Peacock and he is the author of:

This is The Boy Sherlocke Holmes series. The above photos are in order of the series.

Shane graciously signed numerous kids papers and got asked some very interesting questions. After the kids left he graciously took this picture with me and signed some books for me or should I say Michael.

I bought his first book Eye of the Crow because I only had he second one. I will probably buy the other three books very soon. It sounds like a great series for middle grade kids.

Shane also talked about his newest project which is:

Its a brand new series coming out this fall called Seven The Series . Eric Walters is the author behind this project and its basically  its a story about a beloved grandfather who dies and leaves his grandson the task of spreading his ashes from the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. This is where it gets interesting and exciting because what if he had more than one grandson? What if he had seven?

Hence the name of the series.

Meet the seven bestselling authors behind Seven.

Eric Walters (Between Heaven and Earth)

John WIlson (Lost Cause)

Ted Staunton (Jump Cut)

Richard Scrimger (Ink Me)

Norah McClintock (Close to the Heel)

Sigmund Brouwer (Devil’s Pass)

Shane Peacock (Last Message)
This sounds like it will be a fantastic read for the boy fans. I will definitely be looking for this series that is schedule to come out in October 2012.

I am also looking forward to seeing Shane again in NYC as he will be there for BEA.

Tonight was the night I have been looking forward to since it was announced a little while ago on the Razorbill site. I was super excited and couldn’t wait for it. Montreal was on the tour stop on promoting Razorbill.ca

Jay Asher, Lesley Livingston and Charles de Lint were going to be in my neck of the woods tonight for a book signing. Honestly when I first saw this on the Razorbill site I have my reservations that Montreal would get enough votes to bring the authors here and apparently we did because there were coming.

Thankfully being an early bird paid off because there was give aways. I think these were suppose to be given out during the Q&A but the manager from Chapters decided he wanted to be Oprah so he gave out the prizes before hand.

I was lucky enough to get the poster that says “Read. Post. Share, talk to the bird” I love it and well be framing this one.

I razorbill tshirt as you can see its black.

Than to try and get rid of things he was offering Frisbees. I thought it was cute so I nabbed one.

Thanks Razorbill for the prizes.

Then it was time for Jay, Lesley and Charles to make their appearances. The crowd was small but the ones who came out cheered them out.

This is Jay talking about his books Thirteen Reasons and The Future of Us. Both are fantastic books. If you haven’t read them you really should.

Did you know both books have been optioned for movies?

You should check out Jay’s blog http://jayasher.blogspot.ca/

Next it was Lesley Livingston’s turn to talk about her books: Wonderous Strange, Darklight, Tempestuous and Once Every Never.

OMG Lesley was super funny. She had the crowd laughing the whole time. If you ever get the chance to meet her you must she is amazing.

http://lesleylivingston.com/

Lastly to speak was Charles de Lint about his books. I have to admit that I am not a sci fi person but he made them sound like books I want to read.

I am looking forward to reading Under My Skin very soon.

http://www.sfsite.com/charlesdelint/index.html

The authors did a Q&A after wards and so many great questions were asked from what are you working on now, Authors that inspire them and so much more. I was trying to think of something to ask but nothing was coming to mind.

Guess what Lesley showed us?

Starling was so pretty. I can’t wait to read it when it comes out. I really hope that Lesley will come back to Montreal for more signings. (hint hint)

So after Q&A it was time to get our books signed. In a way I am so happy there wasn’t alot of people there because it allowed us time to talk to the authors a little bit and not feel overly rushed.

I wish I would have gotten to speak with Charles a little bit more while he was signing my book but he was speaking with someone else.

And no Kathy (bermudaonion) I didn’t mysteriously grow. I am standing on the stage beside Charles. He was very gracious posing for pictures with us.

I managed to find an anthology of short stories on the bargain table a few weeks ago at Chapters called Vampires The Recent Undead and I picked it up when I noticed Charles and a short story in it. He graciously signed the chapter for me. He also was handing out book marks as well.

He also graciously signed my copy of Under My Skin. This is his newest book and from what he said about it, it sounds really good. I am hoping to get to this very soon.

I love looking at authors signatures don’t you?

I was looking forward to talking to Jay and meeting him. I actually tweeted just before he went to Vancouver to let him know I was going to be at the Montreal stop and he tweeted back.

He was so much fun to talk to even though it was very brief.

I am so happy he made it to Montreal and hope he comes back. Hmm perhaps when the movie is released? Hint hint

Jay graciously signed my copy of Thirteen Reasons Why. I really enjoyed the book so I am happy to have it signed. Have you read it? What did you think of it?

Jay also signed my copy of The Future of Us. This was another book I enjoyed and if you haven’t read it yet you should.

Then last but certainly not least is:

Firstly I have to thank Jay Asher for taking this picture of Lesley and I. Thank You.

As you might notice I am a little red in the face and that was because just before taking this picture I got all fan girl on Lesley. She told me she has seen my blog and I was like “OMG really?” To hear that from an author was truly amazing and it makes blogging that much more fun now because you never know who is peeking in on you.

I truly loved how Lesley had different colored pens to sign for her books and I loved it.

Lesley graciously signed all my books and I am super excited to have them all signed now.

I love how each one is different.

I am looking forward to her other books that are coming out and will be coming out.

I have to say Lesley truly made my day/evening. Please feel free to stop by and take over my blog anytime you want Lesley.

I just want to send out a huge thank you to Razorbill and Penguin for organizing this amazing tour and bringing such fantastic authors to Montreal.

If you haven’t read any of these books you really should. They are all truly amazing authors and go and see them if you have the chance.

This week is/was Salon du Livre in Montreal and this was the one year I was super excited to go.

To describe Salon du Livre I would have to say its set up like BEA for those who have gone but its not like BEA because you don’t get any freebies, you can buy french books and some English books. (Thankfully Scholastic Canada was there with some English books)

Over the course of the five days the different publishing companies set up and showcase their books and bring in a whole bunch of authors for signings.

Some of the more well known authors are: Kathy Reichs, Catherine McKenzie, Geronimo Stilton and Melissa de la Cruz.

Yes the Melissa de la Cruz, the author of the Blue Blood series, The Ashleys series, The Au Pair series and so many other books.

I was pretty excited to hear that Melissa was coming to town and I was making plans to go and thankfully I didn’t have to go alone because Lucy from Moonlight Gleam’s Bookshelf said she wanted to come too so as the day was getting closer we decided to make the morning of it and planned to meet at the metro and go together to the signing and then we grabbed brunch afterwards and perhaps a little book shopping too.

I have to say it was a good thing that Lucy came because I forgot my camera at home. Yes, Ms I always carry a camera actually forgot her camera. I had downloaded some hockey pictures last night and meant to put it in my purse right after but then I got distracted and left it on my computer desk.

So thanks so much Lucy for the pictures and for sending them to me. So all the pictures enclosed in this post are from Lucy. Thank you Lucy 🙂

I met Lucy a bit later then expected at the metro and we walked over to the event and spotted the Scholastic booth on the way in and decided to stop on our way back as we really wanted to get to the signing right away. We found the booth and we were the first in line. We were greeted with I believe are all of Melissa’s Blue Blood books in french and we were admiring the french covers and how pretty they were:

I have to say that I really like the cover for Bloody Valentine.

As we were admiring the covers, Melissa comes into the booth and we recognized her right away. Melissa was super sweet and so very generous with her time with us. I had asked her before the event on twitter if she was signing just her french books and she let me know she would sign anything that was hers and jokingly said also anything that wasn’t hers. She is too funny.

Needless to say Lucy and I brought all our books that were of course written by Melissa to the signing to get signed.

I just bought Blue Bloods (because when I had picked it up to read I had borrowed it from the library) and Misguided Angel before the event and the rest of the books are what I had bought previously.

They are all signed. I am so happy.

Melissa even signed the bookmark for me. I just realized that i didn’t take the back of it. (I will add it later one) I love that it shows all her french book titles. Since I am waiting to get the other books I am missing in the Blue Blood series in the mail, Melissa graciously signed some bookplates for me so that I can add them into the missing books.

Not sure if we got these little goodies because we were first in line or what but Melissa’s french rep gave these cute little package to both Lucy and I and we were so happy and excited because we got a little goodie.

I didn’t open mine right away because I wanted to get a picture of it all wrapped up nice and neatly so I waited until I got home and this is what was inside. A Sumptuous bold volume lifting mascara and a high gloss lip balm. Thanks so much to her french rep for giving us these cute little goodies and to Melissa as well.

After the books were signed Melissa graciously posed for some pictures with us and her is mine:

Be sure to check out Lucy’s blog for her recap of the event over the next few days.

It was a blast and so nice to finally meet Melissa. Thank You Melissa for coming to Montreal. I hope the Montreal crowd welcomed you with open arms.

Thanks to Lucy for a wonderful morning of great conversations, laughs and book talk along with so much more.

I have a confession to make. Even though I live in the burbs of Montreal I rarely make the trek down town. I probably have been down there a few dozen times. That’s not much is it?

I go down town for special occasions such as meeting up with the Montreal Book Bloggers, concerts (even though its been over 8 years ago), to take the train, (ie NYC), a movie premier or author events.

To my defence the reason I don’t go downtown is because everything I need is literally close by. I could say I live in a mini down town version. So why would I fight the traffic and parking when its so close by?

Well on Saturday, November 5th I ventured downtown to go to a author signing with some bloggers. I have to say I almost had a mini panic attack because I had text both Lucy from Moonlight Gleam’s Bookshelf and Tina from Bookshipper to let them know I was on the bus making my way down when they text me to say that the event was not at 3pm but 2pm. I worried I wasn’t going to make it because of all the construction going on and the bus was a on mini tour de l’isle. (tour of the island).

The stack of Sins of the Angel with bookmarks and chocolate.

See they advertised the event wrong.

Thankfully I arrived safe and sound and just a few minutes before 2pm. I was happy to see Tina , Lucy, Lisa and Tynga were there and its been awhile since I saw most of them. It gave us all a chance to talk and catch up. The time just flew by.



Lisa, Lucy, Linda, Tynga and myself.

Linda was so very gracious with us. We spoke to her for the longest time and it was so nice to have her here talking about Sins of the Angel, her next book, the covers and so much more. I think we all got a little fan girlish.

Linda signing my copy of Sins of the Angel

Linda and myself

I also got her to sign my tote bag. I think this will be something I will do from now on.

When Linda arrived they set up an easel that showcased some of the top reviews of the book and Tynga was mentioned which was a total surprise to her. As you can see Tynga is beaming in this picture. Way to go Tynga. The next time I see you I will have to get you to sign my book. Wink Wink hehe.

Be sure to check out Linda’s site http://www.lindapoitevin.com/

A detective with a secret lineage. An undercover Hunter with a bullet-proof soul. And a world made to pay for the sins of an angel…

Homicide detective Alexandra Jarvis answers to no one. Especially not to the new partner assigned to her in the middle of a gruesome serial killer case—a partner who is obstructive, irritatingly magnetic, and arrogant as hell.

Aramael is a Power—a hunter of the Fallen Angels. A millennium ago, he sentenced his own brother to eternal exile for crimes against humanity. Now his brother is back and wreaking murderous havoc in the mortal realm. To find him, Aramael must play second to a human police officer who wants nothing to do with him and whose very bloodline threatens both his mission and his soul.

Now, faced with a fallen angel hell-bent on triggering the apocalypse, Alex and Aramael have no choice but to join forces, because only together can they stop the end of days.

Thanks to Tynga for showcasing this book and loving it so much because I bought and read this book because of you and thanks you Linda for coming to Montreal for the signing. Can’t wait for you next book to come out and perhaps go to the launch in Ottawa when it does.

Linda if you are ever interested in doing a Q&A please let me know.

So readers what are you waiting for? Go out and buy this fantastic book.



One of the great things about this event was being introduced to authors and illustrators that I didn’t know about that are actually local to me and I have to say that is a bit of shame because I think local authors and illustrators need to be recognized just as much as anyone.

Some of the local authors and illustrators that were there was:
-Stephane Jorisch
-Susan Mitchell
-Janice Nadeau
-Isabelle Arsenault
-Genevieve Cote

Genevieve Cote and me with her book What Elephant?

I am sure I am forgetting some people and if I am I apologize. Please let me know and I will add you to the list. I would have taken more photos but for some reason it felt a little awkward considering I was the only non librarian there.

So here is some of the books I bought and had signed:


This was signed to Michael from Susan Mitchell.



Genevieve did this illustration for Michael and signed it to him. Its too cute isn’t it?

Stephane signed and drew this piano illustration for Michael.

So after buying the above stuff I spotted some bookmarks that you could take so I grabbed some of them to use as future give aways later on. I think they are all great and I see quite a few for books I have never heard of. I have to admit I absolutely love the book mark that is on your far left of the little girl.

Thanks Babar Books for hosting this awesome event and thanks to Kids Can Press for coming to introduce us to some local authors and illustrators.

My next event will be Lori Weber’s launch party for her newest ya book Yellow Mini at Babar Books next Thursday night.

Tonight I was lucky enough to be invited to the launch party of a local (new to me author and series of books) P.J Bracegirdle. Thanks Simon & Schuster for the invite.

You truly never realize how huge a city like Montreal is until you get invited out. I have been to the NDG area several times and not once I have noticed this cafe where the event was taking place.

This was the cutest cafe with some amazing food and it was reasonably priced. The food was delicious and the staff was fantastic.

I went with Lucy from Moonlight Gleam’s Bookshelf. We agreed to go together and decided at the last minute that we should meet earlier and go for dinner so that we could talk. Even though we live in the same city I haven’t seen Lucy since the booksale and we talk almost daily via emails so it was nice to meet up with her and talk.

The event was fantastic and alot of fun. We were one of the first few people to introduce ourselves to him and get our books signed.


P.J is reading from Chapter 3 in his newest book Sinister Scenes. Sorry my camera stopped abruptly so I couldnt’ get any more. I can’t wait to read the second and third book now. I will probably start them very soon.

Thanks so very much P.J you are truly an awesome author who has written a great series of books. You were kind and gracious with us and your time. If you ever want to stop by and do a Q&A or guest post I am cool with that. Hope to see you at your next book launch.