Yesterday, my mother - being the LOVELY woman she is - picked me up from college so I could scurry into Rhinebeck at Oblong Books to go to a YA signing!
I got to see Cecil Casteluccia (pink hair and all), Natalie Standiford (who sounds like Quinn Fabray when she talks) and my FAVORITE of the bunch, the amazing Siobhan Vivian! (No offense to the others. I just love Siobhan.)
I arrived a bit early and got to look around Oblong Books before the signing. I have to say - this store is ADORABLE. It's small and filled with books, and there are little hand written recommendations stuck in various sections. I snapped a few photos of the YA section. You can see them on the Facebook page, under "Books in the Wild." But I really do love Oblong - it's so cute!
One of the benefits to arriving early is that you get to hear some great conversations. The authors and the organizer of the event were talking about what would happen if no questions were asked - and it ended up being REALLY funny. Did you know Cecil used to be in a rock band? Siobhan can soft shoe? Natalie can do a cartwheel? (She was afraid of flashing the audience, though. Haha.)
Once the event started, we all sat down, and the authors took turns reading from their newest books. (Natalie, Confessions of the Sullivan Sisters; Cecil, Rose Sees Red; Siobhan, Not That Kind Of Girl.) All of the snippets sounded absolutely fantastic, but I only had money for one book at the end, and I knew going into it that I was choosing Not That Kind Of Girl.
Then the Q&A panel opened, and my mother was actually the first to ask a question - go Mom! It went on for about twenty minutes, and I recorded the entire thing, so I'll post some highlights on my YouTube channel at some point.
And then came the actual signing! I snagged Not That Kind Of Girl and scurried over to the table, introducing myself to all three authors. Siobhan actually recognized me, though, which probably made my day. She was as excited to meet me as I was to meet her! We actually took this picture twice - she wanted one on HER camera, too! Everybody was really nice; it was a fantastic event.
And as a bonus, if we bought a book at the signing, we got to choose from a giant box of ARCs that they had. And guess what was the first book I saw that I just HAD to grab?
Oh, yes, yesterday was a good day for books.
