YA Extravaganza Recap and giveaway

We all know I'll drive to get to a book event. I've trekked 13 hours to Chicago for a Dark Days of the Supernatural stop and 16 hours to New Orleans for a convention, and those are just a couple of the roadtrips I've taken in the name of fabulous fiction. This time though, the event came to me!

Lenore Appelhans sporting her Level 2 shoes. 

A while back the amazing Lenore Appelhans, author of Level 2, told me she was trying to get together a tour with a few other authors and asked if they should stop in Richmond. Of course I was like, "Hell yes!" And sure enough the event became a reality.

Lenore, Jodi Meadows (Incarnate and Asunder), Megan Shepherd (The Madman's Daughter), and Meagan Spooner (Skylark) stopped by Fountain Bookstore for a chat and book signing Wednesday, Feb. 6. Prior to the event I had to chance to meet up with the authors and some fellow bloggers, Rebecca from Book Lady's Blog and Becca from Lost in Books,  for a bite. (If you didn't think being with other bookish folks could get better then you should try having said get together in an awesome local hole in the wall restaurant, especially it serves corndog nuggets.) We chatted about everything from book edits to filing our taxes and had a great time.

After dinner, the party moved next door to Fountain. It was pretty packed for the event and I saw plenty of familiar faces, including author Anne Westrick, Jess from Books and Sensibility and even Elle Cosimano (Nearly Gone, Penguin 2014). Owner Kelly Justice moderated the discussion, coming up with questions and taking on the challenge of keeping the unruly authors in line or at least on topic. The authors introduced their books, discussed how they wound up writing YA and talked a little about their roads to publication.

Here they are introducing their books:

More books were signed then I can count, and swag was present in abundance. Megan Shepherd even had "Sweet Madness" tea she created specifically for the release of her book and tea bags packaged individually with  her book cover in miniature! Of course I got my books signed, but I also got two books signed for one lucky reader. Just enter below for your chance to win.

I've been jonesing for a good book event for a while so I'm insanely glad this one worked out and that Fountain was able to host. The entire event was very laid back in signature Fountain style, and the authors were extremely entertaining and friendly. I'm thrilled to have met them and have the opportunity to see Lenore again, and I can't wait to read their books.

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