RT Book Fair Recap

As I mentioned last week, two Saturdays ago I was lucky enough to attend the RT Book Fair down in Los Angeles. With over 300 authors in attendance, you can imagine what a madhouse it was, but it was MY kind of madhouse - stuffed full of booklovers and authors with everyone generally having a good time and lugging around sacks of books. Just check out the size of this place!

I was joined for the day by my good book friend Becca and we both got to meet many, many awesome authors - including:
Julie James (middle)- who, oh my, could seriously be any one of her characters. The woman is gorgeous and very, very nice. We both got our copies of Just the Sexiest Man Alive signed and went away with happy smiles.

Sarah Rees Brennan (right)- Frankly I was extra excited about meeting Sarah and may have wound up babbling like a fool just a little bit while talking with her. True to form, Sarah was more than willing to share spoilers for the upcoming The Demon's Surrender but since I couldn't bear to hear them, she did tell us the story about the time she tried to dye her hair pink like Mae, only to have it turn out a startling green. Also, she was extra generous with the swag and I even scored an alternate first chapter of The Demon's Lexicon with the author's commentary. Excellent reading.

Ann Aguirre - So happy to meet this prolific writer. Ann was even extra nice when I gushed like a goon over her latest YA novel, Enclave. Although I was a bit sad to not see any of her Jax books on display...

Simone Elkeles - So don't look at this picture too long, it's a wee bit fuzzy. Probably because Ms. Elkeles was super expressive and hardly sat still while we were talking. The best part about meeting Simone was hearing all about her trouble while writing Chain Reaction - the third Perfect Chemistry novel which follows the youngest Fuentes brother, Luis, who is..wait for it..a nice guy. Simone said she had no clue how to write a male character that wasn't a jerk who falls for the good girl. Needless to say, I'm even more intrigued now to see how she ended up pulling it off.

Patrick Rothfuss - I have no idea why I didn't get a picture of this awesome author, but for some reason I totally forgot. Probably because I was to busy being incredibly fangirlish at the moment [but you can see him complete with crazy hair here in a picture from the Dear Author's recap]. I adored his book The Name of the Wind and even purchased another copy there just so I could have him sign it since mine was currently on loan to a friend. He was a bit like a fish out of water among so many romance authors and even agreed that it was a little odd to be one of the few men without a rippling six-pack wandering around (courtesy of the Mr. Romance competition).

Linnea Sinclair (right) - As funny in person as she in her books. My favorite author moment? She kept pointing out all of her cats that were used on the covers of her novels.

I didn't get pictures of them, but I also met Kelley Armstrong and Claire Dunkle while catching glimpses of many, many others. All in all, it was a fantastic event - one I wish I had been able to attend more of. But here's the lovely stack of books I got signed:

Annnndd.... Here's the massive amount of swag I came home with. Now, I'm going to be giving some of this away later on when books are released, but I do have a bunch of romance author swag to pass on right now. So if anyone is interested in a bunch of romance bookmarks, teasers etc. drop me a line at mmillet at gmail dot com and I'll send it off to you. First email gets it folks. Taken!

5 comments:

  1. wow. this looks like so much fun. i have never been to an event like that O.o

    I agree about julie james ~ she does kind of look like a character from her books.

    thanks heaps for sharing these pictures ~ i love seeing stuff like this :)

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  2. Wow, you got to meet so many awesome authors! I'm glad you got to attend and thanks for posting an update about it. Like Nomes, I've never attended an event like this. I would probably be giddy with happiness if I ever get the chance to go to something similar.

    Also, you look radiant in your pictures. When is the baby due? :)

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  3. Julie James is gorgeous! I would've been very nervous/giddy meeting Sarah Rees Brennan too. :) I just idolize her. I'm jealous. The perks of living in California.

    I have to mention that you look fabulous btw! Your bump looks too small to be having a baby in a few weeks.

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  4. Fabulous recap, Michelle. I'm so glad you got to go! And I am giddy over the authors you met. I <3 book conventions.

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  5. Nomes- Yeah, this was my first event too! And so much fun.

    Chachic - You are most welcome - I had a blast and trust me, acted incredibly starshocked most of the time. And the baby is coming soon, 3 weeks left if you can believe it!

    Holly - Isn't she though? I couldn't believe it. And I think she said she has a 5 month old at home. Amazing. And SRB was so nice and funny. I probably enjoyed meeting her the most.

    Angie - This event was too much fun Angie. Too bad we'll both miss out on BEA this year due to the arrival of babies...

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