The event took place at Hotel Ocho in Chinatown area of Toronto, and the location couldn't have been more perfect! Classy, atmospheric, gorgeous - these are just three words out of many that pop into my head right now :) Needless to say, I really loved it. I think we all did. And there were many of us!
Scholastic Canada and Baka-Phoenix Books did a fabulous job organizing everything and promoting the event - I was surprised to see the crowd that showed up to celebrate Leah's "Big Fat Book Wedding/Birthday" :) A variety of snacks, fruits and delicious finger foods was served and, if you were so inclined, you could even grab yourself a glass of wine or beer. Yum yum yuuumm!
I wasn't sure if Above would be available for purchase during the event, so, just to be on the safe side, I picked up a copy of it a couple of hours before, while hanging out with my book blogger BFF, Bonnie from Words at Home and her lovely friend, Caleigh (I do hope I'm getting her name right!^^) at Worlds Biggest Bookstore in Downtown Toronto.
Turns out there was no need for that, cause the wonderful organizers thought about everything! Just look at the gorgeous pile of pure awesome! I barely restrained myself from buying an additional copy... I normally would, but.. well, you know, budgeting! haha
<= And here's the author extraordinaire!
Leah Bobet was absolutely amazing! She was super kind and welcoming, approachable, chatty, always wearing a heart-warming grin on her face, that instantly made you want to hug her!
Not to mention her stunning fashion sense - loved her beautiful blue dress!
After mingling for about an hour with the crowd, Leah Bobet grabbed the microphone to thank everyone for coming and read a passage from her book (which BTW, was such a tease! I definitely need to start reading Above ASAP!).
She then proceeded to sign copies of Above. We all lined up and waited patiently to get our copies signed and chat a little bit more with Leah. And she was just sooooooo nice! She was happy to take pictures with her fans, never once complaining about the blinding flashes of our cameras.
Here's Leah signing her book!
Here's a picture of Leah and me holding my copy of Above (yes, it's precious, I'm not putting it away!)
Here's my gorgeous and one-of-a-kind copy of Above! :) Woooohoooo <3 Love it! Seriously, though, it's so special... there's Toronto cityscape on the cover! Not to mention that the story is taking place in Toronto - which only makes me that much more excited to read it! :) And I've heard nothing but raves about this book so far!
Here's Bonnie and me :) I was very excited to hang out with Bonnie - we've been Goodreads and Blogger friends for a very long time now, but this was actually our first real-life meeting! And it was extremely fun! I love Bonnie => she's made of win and all shades of awesome. And she's one fabulous blogger, too - her reviews are always thorough, detailed and just so wonderful to read! <3 <3 <3
And just look what she made for me! Yes, it is handmade and 100% unique. Totally and utterly fantabulous!! I love it so so soooooooo much!!! Thank you, Bonnie, you're the best <3
And do you see that??!?!!! It says: Evie Bookish on it!!! I'm soooo touched and grateful! It's beautiful! I honestly think Bonnie should sell those! Who wouldn't want a personalized Kindle pocket (not sure what you call those... holder? pocket? hmm...*scratches head*) And it's in PINK!!! And it's just... jaw-dropping!
OTHER FABULOUS HIGHLIGHTS OF THE EVENING!
I got to hang out with the lovely Toronto Bloggettes: Michele from Just A Lil' Lost, Wendy from A Cupcake and a Latte, Sara from Geek Girl’s Book Blog, and Christa from Hooked on Books. It's always so fun to get together with you guys! <3 And THANK you for helping me find my way back home (I am still pretty clueless when it comes to navigating through Toronto, especially Downtown area).
Here's a picture we took with Lena Coakley, the author of Witchlanders.
(From the left: Christa, Sara, Lena, Michele, Wendy and me)
Also, huge THANK YOU to Christa for letting me keep her copy of the fantastic 40 Things I Want To Tell You <3 I totally LOVE you for that *hugs*
I was very excited to meet Lena during the event. Her YA fantasy, Witchlanders, blew me away and ended up being one of my top 10 reads of 2011 - seriously, it's sooo wonderful! Lena is such a lovely and sweet person, I was very happy to be able to chat with her a bit!
Lena, Bonnie and I. Can you see the sparkle of excitement in my eyes? :D Yep, my stalker senses were tingling :P
Last, but definitely not least - I finally got to meet the amazing Nikole from Scholastic Canada! She is insanely wonderful and awesome to chat with! We had a great conversation and it was definitely one of the best highlights of my evening. Nikole helped me out a LOT with my MEN in YA event - she was supportive, she sent me a whole box of male written YA books (which, BTW, were all freaking amazing!), she was extremely enthusiastic and just generally wicked cool. I love Nikole. That is all.
Leah Bobet and Nikole from Scholastic Canada
Just look at the gorgeous grins on their faces! These ladies brightened the room and made everyone really glad they came :)
Huge thank you to Leah Bobet, Scholastic Canada and Baka-Phoenix Books for organizing this fantastic event! I had a BLAST :) We all did!
<3
11 comments:
Great recap Evie!! I told Bonnie again.. LOVE that eReader holder.. :) I'm ordering myself one too ;) lol
Love all the pics from the evening!
Michele
Now I wish I didn't live where I live. ;) We don't get events like that here, unfortunately! (which you probably know all about, hehe).
I'm glad you had fun, hon! It looks like you had tons. :D
And Above cover is just GORGEOUS. <3
I think I need to move to Toronto just for the book events. LOL
Looks like an awesome event.
Sounds like a wonderful event. It looks so well put together and fun. Love your lovely gift from Bonnie. So cute :)
Seriously, it was such a great night! Thanks for putting together this recap because I didn`t remember to take more than 2 photos! It was wonderful to finally get to meet you in real life. I keep looking at my lovely new pile of books for last night with a crazy grin (kind of feels like Christmas morning at my house!).
Also, I'm thrilled that you loved your gift!!! I had planned for you to have it at Christmas (but as I still have unmailed Christmas cards from 2009 I'm not all together too shocked that I didn't get it to you on time).
<3 You are just the greatest and I love you to bits Evie! :D
Sooo Jealous! LOVE Love
OMG that kindle cover/ holder thingy is awesome!! Looks like it was a fun event. It's always really fun to meet authors.
Looks like you had a lot of fun. :) I really enjoyed that book, would of been an awesome event to attend. We rarely have YA events in this area, have only been to one but I hope more will come eventually. Glad you had a nice time. :)
Gosh, Evie..I'm so jealous! That copy of Above looks mighty tempting. Is it out yet?
WOW that looks like so much fun!
LOVE that Kindle case. So cute!
So weird that we missed each other because I WAS THERE and have almost those same group shots, except without you in them.
Next one - I've got my laser sights on you.
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