Heartbeat Monthly (17): May 2019 + Aurora Rising Launch

Posted by Jessi (Geo) on June 2, 2019 | 0 Comments

May haul

From the Jay Kristoff signing

I was able to get all my books personalized as well as signed, yay!

LIFEL1K3 (already owned)
Aurora Rising (missing Amie’s signature, purchased at the event)
Aurora Rising character bookmark set (freebie)
Ink & Wonder Nevernight tote (already owned)
Stormdancer art print (gifted) – THANK YOU MEGHAN!!!

Bought

Game of Thrones enamel pin from In the Reads
Nevernight “never flinch” bookmark and Aurora Rising “we the legion” bookmark from Her Paper World

Freebies

Rep stuff

May ‘Unlikely Romances’ Fairyloot (rep code = NOVEL5)

From publisher/for promo:

Sudio Tolv earbuds (LOVE them!!)
Hand burned woodmark from Burnt Edge Studio
The Candle & the Flame by Nafiza Azad (Storygram Tours)
Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson (Simon & Schuster)
City of Beasts by Corrie Wang (Freeform/Disney)

A huge thank you to Sudio, Burnt Edge, Storygram, Disney, and Simon for sending these pretties!

Gifted/traded:

Sting wooden letter opener (gifted) – THANK YOU HOPE!
Sherwood by Meagan Spooner (gifted) – THANK YOU CHRISTY!!
The Tiger at Midnight by Swati Teerdhala (gifted) – THANK YOU CHRISTY!!
DEV1AT3 by Jay Kristoff (traded)
War Girls by Tochi Onyebuchi (traded)

May Wrap Up

Books I read

Eclipse (Warriors: Power of Three #4) by Erin Hunter – ★★★
LIFEL1K3 (Lifelike #1) by Jay Kristoff (AUDIO, re-read) – ★★★★★
Aurora Rising by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman (AUDIO, re-read) – ★★★★★
DEV1AT3 (Lifelike #2) by Jay Kristoff – ★★★★★
Long Shadows (Warriors: Power of Three #5) by Erin Hunter – ★★★½
Sunrise (Warriors: Power of Three #6) by Erin Hunter – ★★★★
Three Dark Crowns (Three Dark Crowns #1) by Kendare Blake – ★
Crown of Oblivion by Julie Eshbaugh – ★★★½

Pages read: 3,063
Average rating: 3.75
Favorite book read in May: Aurora Rising audiobook
Least favorite book read in May: Three Dark Crowns

Books I reviewed

Aurora Rising launch recap

I was SUPER lucky to be able to stay the night with my wonderful friend Meghan (@bookloverinblue on Insta) for the night so that I could take a trip up to Michigan for the launch! THANK YOU MEGHAN! Without her I wouldn’t have been able to afford to go, since it’s a 6 hour drive and I didn’t have the money for a hotel for the night.

I arrived with plenty of time to spare before the signing, so I got myself a coffee and some dinner and hung out in the bookstore for a couple of hours. I found some friends in line – Liam, Bre, and Amber – and we played a Harry Potter game. It was so much fun! Thanks guys for letting me hang with your gang! I got to meet Jacquie (@alifetimeofpages) and see Natasha (@_literary_dreamer_) again as well!

The signing was FANTASTIC! Jay is always fabulous with the audience, and he and Susan Dennard were hilarious together. He was charismatic as per usual, inciting lots of laughs from the crowd and making the signing a ton of fun all around. I feel terrible that I didn’t take notes, so I don’t have any points from the discussion to mention! *facepalm*

I gave my ticket to a young man that was upset over not getting one and took a spot at the rear of the line because I had gifts for Jay (candles and a custom Eve Funko) and didn’t want to hold up the line. (Plus the end of the line is always the most fun because it’s the end of the night and it makes it more personal with no one else around!) I waited in line for a good couple of hours, but it was 1000% worth it because I got some extra face time with Jay! He recognized me again – he pretty much knows me by now (I am BESIDE MYSELF AHHH). He had asked for custom Eve and Lemon funkos (saying he’d pay me for them, like I would ever charge you for them, you silly silly man) nearly a freaking year prior, and I suck so I never got around to making them. I didn’t finish Lemon, but I brought Eve for him – I told him I was sorry it took so long, and that I didn’t have Lemon, but when I pulled Eve out his face lit up and he got excited and it just made my night!! He loved her! I also gave him an Aurora Rising candle and some Illuminae and LIFEL1K3 candles. He had mentioned in the panel that he wanted to kill off the main character in his first book (Stormdancer) and was rejected by his agent, so I asked him to elaborate – DO NOT read this spoiler tag if you haven’t read the WHOLE series!! View Spoiler »

Because I was tagging along with Meghan, who worked at the bookstore of the event, I was one of the very last people there! I got to hang with Jay for a little longer and talk about random things, and he gave me a hug before we left! Ahhhh!!

I got to see Meghan’s library in person, it’s so beautiful! We sat up talking until 3 am, oops. The next morning we went for a walk down to Lemonjello’s (pronounced luh-MONJ-ellos), which is a cute little local coffee shop. I got a delicious latte and muffins! I got to see a little bit of Hope College on our walk, it was such a cute town! I had a moment of panic where I locked my keys in the trunk of the car by accident and we had to call a tow truck to come unlock me. My dad saved the day by covering the bill, otherwise I’d have been screwed! (30 years old and daddy still bails me out sometimes, heh…) But despite that I had such an amazing time, thank you so much Meghan for your hospitality! Holland is an adorable place!