Heartbeat Weekly (80): I met Jay Kristoff!! Awesome signings & giveaway!

 

Books I got this week

From the Maggie signing:

All books are signed!

• The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
• The Dream Theives by Maggie Stiefvater
• Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater
• The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater
• The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater (UK paperback)
• The Dream Theives by Maggie Stiefvater (UK paperback)
• Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater (UK paperback)
• The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater (UK paperback)
• The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (hardcover)
• The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (UK paperback)
• Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater (paperback)
• Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
• Linger by Maggie Stiefvater
• Forever by Maggie Stiefvater
• Book hugger (goes around the Raven Cycle hardcovers like this)

From the Jay/Amie Signing:

All books are signed!

• Illuminae by Jay Kristoff & Amie Kaufman
• Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff, paperback
• Their Fractured Light by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner
• Nevernight and Illuminae bookmarks
• Metaltown pin

May Bookish Box:

• “Words are our most inexhaustible source of magic” shirt
• Hogwarts Coffee cup
• Butterbeer bath salts
• Expecto Patronum art print
• “The stories we love best live in us forever” necklace

This was my first ever Bookish Box and I LOVE IT! When I saw that the theme was Harry Potter, I just HAD to grab one. And I was not disappointed!

May Fantasy and Sci-fi Books box:

• The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi
• Signed STQ bookmark
• STQ temporary tattoos
• Wonder Woman socks
• Hair bling
• The Butterfly Code magnet

This was my first time getting this box as well, and my first month as a rep for them! I’m so freaking proud of the fact that I’m repping for them, and I totally loved my first box. I cannot WAIT to read the book, I’ve heard SO many awesome things about it! Definitely check them out on their website!

Weekly Recap

Posts on the blog:

• [1 May] Heartbeat Weekly (79): I FINALLY MET INKY!!!!

What I’ve been up to this week:

ABSOLUTE CRAZINESS! I mean holy crap guys. I’ve barely had time to breathe this week.

Last weekend I had a wedding, and I was in it. (And covering for her at work while she’s on her honeymoon, since she’s my coworker as well as friend. I worked 46 hours this week!) I worked 7-4 Friday, then headed straight out to the rehearsal (it was in Indy, 2 hours away). I didn’t get home until 11 pm. Then, I woke up at 7 the next morning to shower, do my hair and makeup, and drive BACK to Indy and get there by 12:30 to make the final preparations. The wedding started at 2:30, and by the time the wedding party finally made it to the reception after pictures and whatnot it was almost 6. Didn’t get home til 8 pm and passed the hell out! I had a lot of fun, but it was very stressful and exhausting for me because I’m a hardcore introvert and I felt like I was on display the whole time, even if I wasn’t the one getting married. (Which is absolutely ridiculous, I’m sure everyone was looking at the bride and groom!) I was actually the first one that had to walk down the aisle because I was on the end, it was nerve-wracking x__x

Monday I worked 7-6:30 then drove straight to Cincinatti after work for the Maggie signing. Didn’t get home until almost midnight. Worked 7-1 on Tuesday, came home to shower and get ready, headed down to Kentucky for the Jay/Amie signing. Didn’t get home until 11 pm. Worked 7-7 Wednesday (Blue Ridge delivery no less, I moved about 3,000 lbs of raw dog food), went straight to visit with my parents (they’re FINALLY home from Florida! YAY!!), didn’t get home until 11 pm. Got up at 10ish on Thursday and worked 11-7. Did the same thing on Friday. FINALLY had a day off yesterday! Whew!! It’s been CHAOS. I’ve had ZERO free time to do any photography or reading, so I’m behind on my Goodreads challenge as well as all my Bookstagram photo challenges *cries*

Maggie Stiefvater signing

Like I said, I worked 7-6:30 on Monday. I knew the event started at 7, and it takes an hour to get down there, so I brought my change of clothes and some makeup and got ready at work and headed straight from work down to Cinci. I got there at 7:30, so by the time I got in the store I had sadly missed most of Maggie’s storytelling. I was able to hear some questions be answered, though! Most of them pertained to the Raven Cycle, which I haven’t read, so I kind of tuned them out. I didn’t really know what she was talking about anyway!

Maggie was absolutely hilarious! She had all of us cracking up with her storytelling. One of her stories was about the day Linger was released, and how she asked her pub to call her with the news if it hit the NY Times #1 list. It sounds totally mundane, but it was SO FUNNY. If you ever get a chance to see her, I definitely say go for it! Even if you don’t care about getting books signed, she’s fun to see.

I was kind of panicking because I bought the Raven Cycle in BOTH hardcover and UK paperback for the signing before I found out there was a book limit. The event was ticketed, so we were assigned group letters for the signing line. (And there were SO MANY PEOPLE. It was almost as bad as Marissa Meyer last month!) I had line letter F, because I bought the book at the last minute. The signing line started around 8:15, and it was 9:15 before they called group F. Which wasn’t bad, really. It took WAY longer for Marissa Meyer and I was in a sooner group! I stood in line for about an hour before I got up to the table. I managed to sneak in the whole Raven Cycle in paperback as well as the paperback of Scorpio Races (my favorite of hers), which was the one I chose to personalize. I made a comment about buying so many books and her publicist (who was handling the line) was like “sorry, only 2 books from home allowed.”

I decided to go BACK to the end of the line in hopes that if I was the last person she would sign more books for me. So I waited another half an hour, and I was THE very last person there! She very gracious and signed them all for me since I stuck it through til the bitter end. Thank you Maggie, you’re awesome!

Jay Kristoff/Amie Kaufman signing

I actually took off of work for this one. I am a HUGE fan of Jay’s work – The Lotus Wars trilogy is my favorite ever! I was super excited to meet him, you have NO IDEA. It’s funny though, because a couple of months ago he came to the US and was ONLY on the west coast, so I sent 9 books to Inky in California to get signed. Who knew, ha.

I left around 4:30, even though it said it should take a little over an hour to get there, and the signing started at 7. HUGE mistake. I hit rush hour in both Dayton AND Cincinatti (and it was pouring rain), so traffic was an absolute nightmare. It took me two and a half hours to get there!! It was right around 6 when I made it finally.

The panel was awesome! Kristen Simmons was in there, and I know her pretty well because she’s local so I see her aaaalll the time (and talk to her on Twitter too, she’s awesome!). I’ve seen Gwenda Bond before, and although I haven’t read any of her books, I enjoy her panels because she’s funny. And they were such a hilarious group! Jay and Amie were especially hilarious, and they had Aussie accents so of course that made it even better. They had such amazing chemistry together, too, so it’s no wonder they were able to write such an epic book. It’s funny because they were saying how they get mistaken for a couple a lot, but they’re both married to other people. There were some inappropriate jokes, talk of how much it sucked to be an Aussie driving over here (“How does a 4 way stop work? Does anybody actually know?”).

Jay and Amie talked about what it’s like to co-write a book. Jay said it gets very lonely writing solo – he joked about bombarding his wife when she gets home because he’s been living in his own head for the entire day. He said it’s nice to have a writing partner, because he can write some, go to sleep, and magically the next morning there’s more to the book! Kristen spoke about Metaltown a bit, and Amie said she’s got a new MG book coming out soon (I forget when though) that’s got dragon and wolf shifters that are at odds, and a set of twins is born that’s one of each side. HOW AWESOME DOES THAT SOUND?! Jay of course has two coming up, Nevernight and LIFEL1K3. Jay’s advice to aspiring writers was “People will tell you you can’t, you won’t, and you shouldn’t, but I say: *flips both birds*” and Amie said you should stay true to yourself.

There were two pretty shiny ARCs of Gemina up for grabs, but the first went to the “most dedicated fan,” aka the person who drove the farthest. Some guy had driven 2.5 hours, so he beat me by a half an hour -___-
The second ARC we played a game for. I completely forget what it was called, but it was fun! Amie stood at the front with her back to us, and we had to pick one of three options – both hands on head, one hand on head and one on butt, or both hands on butt. Everyone would pick their position, and Amie would choose one. The people with the wrong option would sit. I managed to make it through the first wave, but lost in the second. I’m totally envious of the girl who won the game!

I met some cool people, too! I was talking to someone and mentioned being a book blogger and this girl turned around and was like, “Did I hear you say you’re a book blogger, too?!” and as it turns out, it was Ali from Ali’s Bookshelf! She’s a veteran blogger like me, and actually started the same year as I did. She was one of the first bloggers I interacted with and one of the first blogs I ever followed, so it was pretty cool to meet her!

I also got a couple of business cards, one from a guy named Joe who makes gorgeous illustrations (here’s his website) – he made a Stormdancer one and gave it to Jay! – and another from a girl named Sierra who is an author and is working on a manuscript (here’s her website). I also gave Jay the Stormdancer clock I made! (I’m totally pissed at myself because I forgot to take a picture of him holding it -___-)

It was great to get to meet Jay face to face! I may have turned into a 12-year-old fangirl and embarrassed myself XD It was awesome too because when I got up there Kristen was like, “You guys probably know her, she’s on Instagram and Twitter all the time as Novel Heartbeat” and they were all like “OHHH okay yeah we know you! We just always see you as a tiny little profile picture” IT WAS SO AWESOME BECAUSE JAY THEY KNEW WHO I WAS. *flails* I told Jay that The Lotus Wars was my favorite series ever. He’s such a cool person! I love that he’s kind of a rocker and he’s totally easygoing and fun to be around. I think that ranks as one of the greatest experiences I’ve had as a book blogger, second best only to meeting Julie Kagawa for the first time!

Left: All those rumors about Jay being super tall? Fake. He actually walks around on stilts all day long. (Just kidding, he’s kneeling and he’s STILL almost as tall as me!)
Right: See he IS a giant. (That’s my HOLY SHIT HE’S SO TALL face)

Please ignore the fact that it totally looks like I’m putting Kristen’s and Amie’s boobs on display. Awkward turtle.

Kristen is on the left, Gwenda is the one with the awesome blue hair, and Amie is on the far right. I kinda wish my hair was still blue, because all the ladies had sweet colors in their hair! It’s hard to see but Kristen has a purplish color at the ends of hers, and Amie’s was true green underneath.

Adventures on Bookstagram

Exciting news for this week: I’m now an official rep for the Fantasy and Sci-fi Books subscription box!! AHHH! I’ve been wanting to rep for someone for a while, and this one is absolutely PERFECT to be the first thing I rep for because I’m such a hardcore fan of sci-fi and fantasy. Dystopian and High Fantasy are my favorite genres!

 

 

Giveaway

Finally, the part you’ve all been waiting for, right? Here we go!

There are THREE different giveaways; one for US (Shiver) and one for INT below, as well as one US on Instagram only (Stormdancer). I can’t afford to ship the signed copies INT, I’m really sorry! But I still want to include you INT peeps, so you guys can enter to win a paperback of one of the books from Book Depository. PLEASE NOTE: The Shiver paperback has been read by me twice, so there is some slight creasing on the spine.

Rules:

• MUST be following me to enter
• No giveaway accounts please!
• Any faked entries will result in disqualification from all giveaways, so please read all Rafflecopter directions carefully!
• The INT giveaway is INT ONLY! If you live in the US please enter only in the US giveaway!
• Giveaway will end June 1st

a Rafflecopter giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

What’s in your mailbox, loverlies? Link me up!

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