The problem with book signings...

...is that I always end up staying way later than I plan to. At least, that was the case for the last three signings that I went to. Why? Because there were so many people there that I wanted to talk to, and sadly, even what little time I did spend chatting never felt like enough.

Two Saturdays ago, I found out through Twitter (despite the fact that I do not have a Twitter account) that Stephanie Perkins was holding an impromptu book signing since she was in the area. Even though I am one of the few people in existence who has still yet to read Anna and the French Kiss (or so I've been told), I did obtain a copy of its companion, Lola and the Boy Next Door, at BEA, and thought perhaps that getting that book signed would motivate me to find a copy of Anna faster.

Stephanie Perkins

In addition to being super cool and fashionable, Stephanie is one of the nicest people ever. She took the time to chat with everyone who showed up to see her. This casual event was great because I got to meet or get to know so many new and cool people, including Rachel from Bookshelf Lust, Bethany from Bookish Bethie, Jennifer who works at Livestream (they've covered a lot of YA events lately), and a very awesome lady from Little, Brown (she's not only awesome for having graduated from Barnard!). And the cherry on top of this confection of an event was that I am now the proud owner of the very first copy of Lola that Stephanie has ever signed! How's that for bragging rights?!

The very next day, I headed on down to Books of Wonder in time for Courtney Sheinmel's launch party for her new tween title All the Things You Are. Courtney talked a bit about her inspiration for her book, read, answered a bunch of questions from the audience, and then signed away!

Courtney Sheinmel

I had the loveliest time getting to talk to so many awesome people including but not limited to: Mitali from Alley of Books, the spotlighted author Courtney herself, as well as authors Kody Keplinger, Michael Northrop, and Susane Colasanti. Of course, having so many delicious munchies around didn't hurt either, such as the cupcakes brought by Lauren Oliver or Courtney's beautiful cake:

Let there be book cakes!

Then, that Thursday, I went back to Books of Wonder for yet another YA event. This time, it was for 5 different authors: Tara Altebrando, Susane Colasanti, Sarah Mlynowski, Lisa Pliscou, and Nova Ren Suma. Each author talked a little bit about her most recent book and read, and then they all took questions from the audience.

Sarah Mlynowski and Susane Colasanti

Tara Altebrando, Lisa Pliscou, and Nova Ren Suma

Sadly, this was one of those signings that I didn't have any books to get signed because a) I've already had my copies of Sarah's and Susane's books signed and b) I don't have copies (or the space for copies of) the rest of the authors's books. So, instead of waiting on line, I got to spend all my time chatting away with people including authors Marianna Baer, Teresa Harris, Susane Colasanti, and Courtney Sheinmel, a couple wonderful people from a couple of different publishing houses, and my new friends Rachel of Bookshelf Lust and Jennifer from Livestream.

Anyway, I'm headed to a lot more events next week, so stay tuned!