Books of Wonder is a great place, not only for books, but to attend bookish events like launch parties. I’ve been to so many since I discovered this wonderful little store and the one this past week for Sarah J. Maas’ Heir of Fire was, without a doubt, my favorite one! It was probably the most packed I’ve ever seen it, which really shouldn’t have been a surprise, and people were showing up over an hour early. It was well worth the wait though to listen to Sarah along with her two best friends and fellow authors, Susan Dennard (!!!) and Alexandra Bracken. It’s no secret that the Throne of Glass and Something Strange & Deadly series are two of my absolute favorites but I enjoy The Darkest Minds series as well.
I think what struck me the most about these ladies was the obviously deep connection between them. I already thought Sarah and Susan had a beautiful friendship (you must see their hilarious Twitter chats and moving book dedications) but throwing Alex into the mix added yet another level of awesomeness. I mean, not even 5 minutes into the panel Sarah was crying about how much these two women mean to her. And soon after that was it a lot of laughter, comparing themselves to Sailor Moon characters, more tears and just gushing about each other as authors and friends. If you’ve never listened to them talk, you should. I guarantee you will laugh and smile A LOT. And meeting them? They are all seriously so gracious and kind and spend time with each person who lines up to have their book signed.
Some fun facts I learned about these ladies:
- As a Sailor Moon fan myself, I appreciated that they each had their “own” Sailor. Susan’s is Sailor Jupiter (my fave too!), Alex is Sailor Mars and Sarah is Sailor Moon (obvs!)
- All three of them started out writing fan fiction. In fact, Susan used to write ’NSync and Indiana Jones crossover fanfic. (I love that little tidbit!)
- Alex and Sarah met and became critique partners through LiveJournal.
- Instead of outlines, Sarah uses playlists to chart the emotions/scenes in her books. Someone asked if she would ever share but apparently there are HUNDREDS of songs on each playlist (she has one for each book).
I’ve met both Sarah and Susan before and I felt like such a spaz back then. (I get a little starstruck, okay?) But since then, I’ve talked to them both on Twitter more plus Alexa and I have done a lot of online cheerleading for their books. So I felt somewhat more coherent this time around. But truth be told, I don’t think I’ll ever tire of them actually knowing who I am and being able to give them a big hug while I fangirl. One of my favorite things about book blogging is how it allows us little readers to connect to authors we love and admire.
Sidenote: My #MaasThirteen ladies, our scrapbook totally made Sarah cry!
Sarah will be on tour until September 13, 2014 so if you can, I strongly encourage that you go!
I really love going to events at Books of Wonder! It's just the right amount of space to be comfortable, and accommodate tons of people. Plus, they've gotten tons of my favorite authors over the years AND I've met some of my closest friends there - including you! It was seriously such a treat to see Alex, Susan and Sarah, to listen to them talk and to get to chat a bit. So fun!
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