Event Recap: YA Apocalypse Tour (Belleville)

Today I attended the YA Apocalypse Tour in Belleville! This is the closest event to my city that I've seen yet and it was a lot of fun! Thank you Chapters Belleville!

I picked up Kathy (I Write, I Read, I Review) and we met up with Ciara (Lost At Midnight Reviews) and Emilie (Emilie's Book World). I am regretting not getting a group picture of the bloggers together (with/without the authors). See my brilliant ideas always come AFTER the fact.

We actually had a lot of one on one time with the authors today, though I was a lot more shy and was more of an observer than anything. I get all nervous and shy around authors for some reason (normally I am very chatty, so it's totally uncharacteristic of me). I really enjoyed watching the authors interact with each others, the bloggers and customers of the store. 

As always Lesley Livingston (Starling) was an absolute joy to meet - she has such enthusiasm that it is impossible to not get pulled into her excitement! Megan Crewe (The Way We Fall) was walking the store with Maureen McGowan (Deviants) handing out bookmarks and swag and asking people to come to their table to meet the authors and both were very happy to see everyone today - Maureen even remembered us from last week's Ontario Blogger Meetup. Courtney Summers (This Is Not A Test) was very sweet, funny and a pleasure to meet. And Cheryl Rainfield (Hunted) was so easy to chat with - I noticed that Kathy had quite a great conversation with her today and I decided that I need to pick up a copy of Scars after hearing them discuss it (even though it was not part of the apocalyptic tour).

Kathy has a really amazing surprise for later this week that she worked on with the authors while we were there. I'll leave it to her to reveal it, but I will definitely edit this post to include links to the other girls' recaps and the surprise! 

Kathy's Recap - There's a giveaway to enter too!
Kathy's Surprise #1 - Author Interview with Megan Crewe 
Kathy's Surprise #2 - Author Interview with Lesley Livingston 
Kathy's Surprise #3 - Author Interview with Maureen McGowan
Kathy's Surprise #4 - Author Interview with Cheryl Rainfield
Kathy's Surprise #5 - Author Interview with Courtney Summers
Ciara's Recap

A little blurry, but at least I remembered my camera this time!

So onto the fun stuff....

And my signed lovelies....

There are two more stops on this tour, so you still have a chance to attend:

(I'm really tempted to go to the Barrie event so I can meet Leah Bobet, but doesn't look like it's in the cards for me). 

Saturday Nov 17, 2pm – Chapters Brampton , 52 Quarry Edge Drive – Leah Bobet, Megan Crewe, Lesley Livingston, Maureen McGowan, Cheryl Rainfield. RSVP on Facebook!

Saturday Nov 24, 2pm – Chapters Barrie , 76 Barrie View Drive – Leah Bobet, Megan Crewe, Lesley Livingston, Maureen McGowan, Cheryl Rainfield. RSVP on Facebook!

I'm going to the YA APOCALYPSE TOUR! (Belleville)

This is where I am going to be tomorrow afternoon! I'm attending the Belleville event with Kathy from I Write, I Read, I Review and a few of the Ottawa Blogettes will be there too! I'll definitely be posting a recap of the event tomorrow evening! 

Six Ontario authors with be touring the province to chat with readers/bloggers, signing books and apparently there will be some amazing prizes too! These authors of apocalyptic and dystopian YA books are pretty excited about the event too - I met with Lesley and Maureen last weekend and they were telling me that the event will be something else! So I'm really excited to be going to one of the stops!

The dates and details, if you have trouble reading the poster:

Tuesday Nov 6, 7pm – Indigo Yorkdale , Yorkdale Mall (Toronto) – Leah Bobet, Megan Crewe, Lesley Livingston, Maureen McGowan, Cheryl Rainfield. RSVP on Facebook!

Saturday Nov 10, 2pm – Chapters Belleville , Quinte Mall – Megan Crewe, Lesley Livingston, Maureen McGowan, Cheryl Rainfield, Courtney Summers. RSVP on Facebook!

Saturday Nov 17, 2pm – Chapters Brampton , 52 Quarry Edge Drive – Leah Bobet, Megan Crewe, Lesley Livingston, Maureen McGowan, Cheryl Rainfield. RSVP on Facebook!

Saturday Nov 24, 2pm – Chapters Barrie , 76 Barrie View Drive – Leah Bobet, Megan Crewe, Lesley Livingston, Maureen McGowan, Cheryl Rainfield. RSVP on Facebook!

Hope some of you get the chance to attend one of the events this month! (Or perhaps some of you already have.... Toronto friends... I'm off to search for recap posts of the Indigo Yorkdale stop). 

RECAP: Ontario Blogger Meet Up 2012

So yesterday I attended the 2nd Annual Bloger Meet-Up that was hosted by the Ontario Blog Squad. These ladies hosted such an amazing event filled with bloggers, authors and publishers! 

Honestly - I had no idea what to expect as I missed last year's event. But it was just an overwhelming sense of community in that room - so much enthusiasm and energy!

I met up with some new bloggers when I sat at a random table (since I kind of arrived on my own) and I had a really great time with them. I met Kelly & Lisa (Bookmark Belles), Hayley (The Fable Faerie), Penelope (The Reading Devil) and author Joanne Levy!

I also was able to meet and chat with the Ottawa Blogettes too! I had met a few before at an Ottawa event, but was excited to see them again and meet more bloggers from that area (I live maybe an hour or so away). Hopefully I will see you at some Ottawa events in the new year!

Okay and now for some of the really exciting things! THE BOOKS, THE PUBLISHERS and THE AUTHORS!

The books in the image on the left are listed out in full on my Stacking the Shelves post. So many amazing books in the swag bag from the event! I'm going to be sharing some with my BFF who couldn't make it to the event (there are some books I know she will love).

I finally met the ladies from HarperCollins Canada (Shannon) and Simon & Schuster Canada (Michelle)! LOVE THEM!

Also - I brought a few books along to have signed and received a few at the event that I had signed as well. 

I met up with Lesley Livingston again and she actually remembered me from another book signing I attended last year! She even knew my blog and I had a great time chatting with her! she signed my copies of Wondrous Strange and Darklight! (I'll be seeing her next weekend in Belleville at the Books for the Apocalypse Event).

I also had my copy of Magnified World signed by Grace O'Connell - the cover is so freaking pretty on this one and I am so excited to read it soon. Grace was so lovely to meet!

Elizabeth Miles & I

And we had the chance to meet Elizabeth Miles! She signed my copies of FURY and ENVY (I brought my ARC along). And everyone took home a finished copy of ENVY! So since I already had my ARC personalized to me, I thought why not get the finished copy signed for a giveaway for a fellow Canadian! To enter just use the rafflecopter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Canadian Book Event!

Debut author Rhiannon Paille has announced a Canadian book tour for her novel, Flame of Surrender. I am absolutely jealous of all my western Canadian friends as the tour takes place between Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia.

Feb 10th 6pm - 9pm

Chapters - St. Vital - Winnipeg

Feb 11th 1pm - 4pm

Chapters - Southland Hill - Regina

Feb 12th 1pm - 4pm

Indigo - The Centre - Saskatoon

Feb 13th 6pm - 9pm

Chapters - West Edmonton Mall - Edmonton

Feb 15th 6pm - 9pm

Chapters - Chinook Centre - Calgary

Feb 17th 6pm - 9pm

Chapters - Granville & Broadway - Vancouver


You can find Rhainnon on web at these locations:
Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

New section on the blog! CANADIAN book events!

I've decided to add a new section/feature to my blog for upcoming Canadian book events. It seemed to be a great help to others when I was participating in the Women Reading weekly posts and I've decided to make it a regularly updated section of the blog. 

If you know of an upcoming event please feel free to mention it in the comments or send me a quick email here. 

Smart Chicks Kick It Tour 2.0 - Ottawa

wicked eh?

I had the most amazing time last night and it was all thanks to the wonderful authors on the Smart Chicks tour and the amazing bloggers that I met while in Ottawa. 

First up, dinner with Meaghan (Feeling a Little Bookish), Emilie (Emilie's Book World), Carmel (Rabid Reads) and Katherine (The Lady Critic's Library). These ladies were so much fun to talk to and hang out with and I cannot wait to meet up with them again soon. 

It was nice to meet the Kelley Armstrong, Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Melissa Marr, Margret Stohl and Melissa de la Cruz again (I met them last year at the Brampton event) and this year a fellow Canadian author Charles de Lint was on the panel (he has smart chicks that kick butt in his novels).  

The crowd was amazing and made up mostly of younger teens, but throw in a few parents, a few fans of Kelley Armstrong's adult series and the book bloggers and you have yourself a fun crowd. I think the younger crowd asked the most thoughtful and amazing questions.  

After some questions, games and craziness we piled into a mashed up line to get our books and swag signed. The line moved quicker than I expected even though it wound around the entire room. Check out Carmel's recap for some fun pics!  

I got my copy of Enthralled signed by all of the authors who have stories in the book. Probably my favourite book I own now. Oh and Kelley flipped through and signed the first page of her short story cool. *happy dance*

Great ladies to attend an event with!

I love living halfway between Toronto and Ottawa - I've been able to attend some amazing events and meet some amazing bloggers!

Kathy Reichs Book Signing

About this event:
Join us as Kathy Reichs, bestselling author, forensic anthropologist and producer of the FOX television hit Bones, signs the newest novel in the Temperance Brennan series, Flash and Bones. 

So yesterday I took the day off from work so that I could attend the Kathy Reichs book signing. I was meeting up with my BFF Aislynn (Stitch Read Cook) for the event and to chat over lunch and shopping. I was super excited, because I actually made it early enough to snag seats for us and I met a handful of lovely ladies as well (some librarians (Jenn) and a few fellow bloggers - Mel from He Followed Me Home and Rayment's Readings, Rants and Ramblings). It was so nice to meet such enthusiastic bloggers and book lovers.

And Kathy was wonderful! She told us all about why she wrote Flash and Bones - her neighbour had bugged her for years to do a Nascar themed book and she kept putting it off - finally one day after visiting a local race track she found inspiration from the landfill next to the track because it seemed like a great place to hid a body.  I'm excited for this one, because I grew up watching Nascar with my Dad.

She also gave us a sneak peak about the book she is currently writing - it's all about the diamond mines up in the North West Territories! She had recently been up in Yellowknife for a book event and was able to do a tour of a diamond mine, where she learned of all the built up arsenic and this triggered her to do some research on gold and diamond mining and a new story unfolded. I am actually super excited to hear about another story based in Canada and will be looking forward to reading it as soon as it comes out.

There was a little insight as well into the new Virals series as someones asked if Tempe will be making an appearance with her great niece Tory... she said the Tempe makes an appearance in Seizureand it releases this October 18th! 

Why do my eyes always close? :(

Thanks Simon and Schuster and Chapters/Indigo!

Once Every Never Book Launch @LesLivingston

Had a fantabulous night at Lesley Livingston's book launch for Once Every Never! She was so completely down to earth, easy to talk to and extremely fun. She did the most amazing reading - filled with character voices, gestures and complete immersion in telling the tale.

She took time with each person that came to get books signed and made you feel like you mattered - she thanked her friends, family and the blogging community. Lesley was so absolutely charming. She signed three books for me: my ARC, a copy for a friend and well a finished copy that will be given away shortly on my blog. 

She even had some friends dress up as Druids and Romans. The looked spectacular. One of the blogger girls I met has a group picture that I hope will pop up on their blog this week (when it does I'll snag a copy to show you the group). 

I finally got to meet Christie from Bookjunkies! She is the sweetest person ever (and so is her sister). I also met some other new bloggers (who were even nice enough to drive me to my car - since I parked further away than I thought). It was nice to meet Mel from He Followed Me Home and Jackie from My Ever Expanding Library. Oh and I met SallySparrow and Mel and Jackie introduced me to Bronwyn from PenguinCA. 

Book Bloggers with Druids and Romans OH MY!

CHECK OUT LESLEY'S GREAT NEWS HERE!  

Maggie Steifvater Book Signing in ONTARIO!

 

OMG! Hey fellow Ontarians! Maggie Steifvater will be signing books in July! Check it out!

Meet Maggie Steifvater, bestselling author of the Shiver trilogy, as she discusses and signs copies of the final book in the Shiver trilogy, Forever.

Chapters Oshawa
Oshawa , Ontario July 16th 12:00 pm

Indigo Yorkdale
Toronto, Ontario July 16th 6:00 pm

Chapters South London
London, Ontario July 17th 2:00 pm

I'm going to try to attend the one in Oshawa I think, because it's closer for me to get to than Toronto. As long as no family functions are happening - I should be there!