Book Signings (2009-2011)

In my opinion, my favorite part of being a bookworm (besides, you know, the books themselves, the pretty covers, the characters I love, the characters I hate, and the places they take me) is meeting the brilliant people who wrote those books!

So, because of my love of books and authors and stuff I've decided to make a blog devoted to all the book signings I've been to! Including pictures and summaries of what happened!

NOTE: All future signings will be in their own separate posts!

Sarah Ockler

YA Author of Twenty Boy Summer and Fixing Delilah

I met her on June 13, 2009 at the Barnes & Noble in my local mall.

Me and Sarah Ockler

I found out about her signing when I went to the mall one night with my friends. I saw a sign and started flailing and babbling incoherently about Sarah Ocker and how she grew up in my neighborhood!

I bugged my mom to take me and I showed up with my ARC of Twenty Boy Summer, I found her in the back of the store/front of store if you come in from the mall....and I almost threw up! I was so nervous and excited! It was my very first signing.

Sarah Ockler was so nice, I loved meeting her, we talked about how she lived in Buffalo (she lives in CO now, which is sort of sad for me) and how cool it is that she was there and I was meeting her.

Max Brooks

(Adult) Author of World War Z and The Zombie Survival Guide

I met him on October 23, 2010 at the Central Library Downtown.

Me and Max Brooks

I found out about his signing when I was on my library site (which I do every day just in case!). I saw his name and the books he wrote and a light bulb went off in my head. My best friend Ariel had been bugging me to read these books for ages!

I told Ariel and she agreed to come with me even though see really couldn't care less. There was to be a speech by him on zombies and then the signing after. Well, me and Ariel were almost late because we had to take the bus downtown and our buses on Saturdays are so slow. We walked around the library and couldn't find him (we saw chewbacca and Princess Leia, comic con was also going on). I asked a librarian and she told me the event was in the auditorium. I forgot we even had one of those.

Max Brooks was well quite weird during his speech. He takes his zombie survival way too seriously and his jokes went way over my head. However, while he was signing my copy of World War Z he was super nice. I'm really glad we went.

Jennifer Allison

MG Author of the Gilda Joyce: Psychic Investigator Series

I met her on November 8, 2010 at the Crane Branch Library.

Me and Jennifer Allison

Fate lead me to this this signing! I was on facebook and out of the corner I saw the cover of the first Gilda Joyce book (which I adored btw) and was curious about why her picture was on the Library's page. So I clicked and saw the announcement for the signing! At first I didn't think I would be about to go because it was on a school day, it was at 3:30 and I had no idea where the Crane Library was. Turned out that the Library I pass every day on the bus was the library the signing was at! And my last class ended at 3! Fate, I tell you, Fate!

I went solo to this signing because it was right after school and I got there super early. It was me, the library's manager, his 15 year old daughter who loved the books, another librarian and Jennifer Allison (later about 4 little girls and their parents came and one old lady who's sister in law was actually named Gilda Joyce). I sat down and sort of just internally freaked out that Jennifer Allison was in front of me but that felt awkward so I struck a conversation with the Librarian. Turns out I sort of knew her without realizing it, but to cut a VERY long story short, I told her about this here blog and she was super impressed. So impressed in fact that she rushed up to Jennifer Alison and Introduced us!

What an experience! Jennifer Allison was amazing. She told me to write down my information so she could have her publisher put me on the ARC list for the new Gilda Joyce Book that comes out next fall. Jennifer actually read from the manuscript after her speech on her on her creative process. I found her speech so informative. She kept a journal and people watched and pretended she was an alien when she was in familiar place so she could see them in a different light. She also has a little suitcase that is Gilda's, it was so cool it had all the things that the main character loves and actually took with her when she travels in the books!

Gilda Joyce's Suitcase!

The Library set up a little surprise for all the people who went, plastic, pink, rhinestone, 50's Diva sunglasses, a particular favorite of Gilda's! After all the little girls had their pictures taken by Jennifer, and had their books signed. I went up to her and she signed my copies of Gilda Joyce Books 1 + 2. She wrote a super nice message in both of them! I really liked Jennifer Allison, this was my favorite signing so far.

Note: I have a few Gilda Joyce Bookmarks to give away that I got from the signing so if you'd like one email me!

I met the following authors at

Teen Book Festival

on May 14^th 2011 at Nazareth College in Rochester, NY.

Ally Carter

YA Author of The Gallagher Girls and Heist Society series’

Me and Ally Carter

Ally is the main reason I went to TBF 2011. She is one of my favorite authors ever. She had her own panel and I sat front row center for her first talk. She talked about the way she wrote the Gallagher Girl series and how she came up with the idea (it occurred to her during an episode of Alias). She also talked about how she grew up in Oklahoma and was inspired to be a writer for teens when her father told her that SE Hinton was sixteen when she wrote The Outsiders and lived a few miles away from them. Ally was super nice and loved my homemade “Gallagher Academy” hot pink t-shirt that I made especially for TBF!

Rachel Hawkins

YA Author of the Hex Hall Trilogy

Rachel was another big reason I went to TBF 2011. I loved her Hex Hall series so when I saw she was doing a panel on supernatural stuff with Shannon Delany I knew I had to go. She talked about how she always has loved southern scary stories. She talked about how she read a book called 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey by Kathryn Tucker Windham when she was little and she went to the book signing for it. The author signed her name and then wrote Jeffrey’s in a scary way and little Rachel, though she saw the author write it, was convinced a ghost signed her book and she thought it was the coolest thing ever!

Shannon Delany

YA Author of the 13 to Life Series

Shannon co-hosted the Supernatural panel with Rachel Hawkins and she talked about how she was the very first winner ever of the cell phone novel contest; she wrote 13 to Life on her phone and won the rights to have it published! How cool is that?

Rachel Hawkins, me, and Shannon Delany

Melissa de la Cruz

YA Author of the Blue Bloods and Au Pair Series’

I went to Melissa’s Author-2-Author panel with Elizabeth Scott because my best friend Anne is a fan of hers too! She talked about how Blue Bloods was almost a TV show on the CW but at the last minute the CW switched and made The Vampire Diaries into a TV show instead. She boycotts that show now, and I don’t blame her, that must have been hard to deal with. She also showed us the latest Blue Bloods trailer and talked about how they made it.

Elizabeth Scott

YA Author of Stealing Heaven, Living Dead Girl, Bloom (and many more)

Before TBF I had never read any of Elizabeth’s books because I could figure out where to start because she has so many out. However, the amazing thing about her is that all her books are pretty much stand alones so you can start with any of them. She talked about how she gets a story in her head and she goes with it. She also said that once a book is done she doesn’t really think about the characters anymore which I found very interesting.

Melissa de la Cruz, me, and Elizabeth Scott

A.S. King

YA Author of Dust of 100 Dogs, Please Ignore Vera Dietz, Everybody Sees the Ants

Me and A.S. King

I wasn’t able to go to Amy’s panel but I met her during the autograph session and she is pretty much one of the coolest people on the planet! We weren’t able to talk that long, but I was able to get a quick picture with her. Amy isn’t what I expected because she’s very upbeat and she rocks! I love Amy’s books because even though they tackle serious topics her sense of humor always trickles through in unexpected ways!

Kathleen Duey

YA Author of a Resurrection of Magic Trilogy

Me and Kathleen Duey

I had read Kathleen’s first book just the day before TBF 2011 so it was still fresh in my mind. I talked to her for a while during her autograph session when she didn’t have a line. We talked of many things, but what sticks out the most is that we talked about my writings and how I envied her intricate plot lines. She even gave me her email so we could follow up on the conversion. Meeting and talking to Kathleen was definitely one of the biggest highlights of my TBF experience.

Other YA Authors I met at TBF 2011, but couldn’t get pictures with:

Heather Brewer (the Chronicles of Vladimir Todd),

Julie Halpern (Into the Wild Nerd Yonder),

Josh Berk (The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin),

Eric Luper (Seth Baumgartner’s Love Manifesto),

Jackie Morse Kessler (Horsemen of the Apocalypse Series),

Melissa Kantor (If I Have a Wicked Stepmother, Where’s My Prince?),

Charles Benoit (You)

Here's some pictures of some of the authors arriving on the TBF red carpet:

(back) Ally Carter, Rachel Hawkins
(Front) Elizabeth Scott Melissa de la Cruz

Jackie Morse Kessler, Heather Brewer

A.S. King, Eric Luper

The Sixth Annual Greater Rochester Teen Book Festival was one of the best experiences of my life I can't wait for next year's festival!

I met the following authors at

Teen Book Festival

on May 19th 2012 at Nazareth College in Rochester, NY.

James Kennedy
YA Author of The Order of Odd-Fish

Me and James Kennedy

James is one of the main reasons I went to TBF 2012. I think his book The Order of Odd-fish is one of the most original, heart-warming, hysterical, strange, lovely books I have ever read and I had to meet the man who wrote it. I went to his panel and sat in the front row. During his panel he read aloud from his book, talked about his inspirations for the cockroach butlers and battle danced against a fan. He is a genuinely awesome person.
I also made a tshirt that said I was a "Proud Knight of Odd Fish" and on the back it said "Being wrong in new and exciting ways since 647 AD." When I found out he was coming to TBF I decided that I would wear a homemade tshirt and came up with the idea but I didn't know when the Order had been founded, so I tweeted him the question. He answered with 647 AD and then asked why. I told him to be on the look out for a girl in a neon green tshirt at TBF and he would understand. When I got to the front of his signing line I gave him my book to sign and he looked up at me and saw my shirt! "Oh my god! You made an Odd Fish SHIRT! *reads back* 647 AD? OH! You're the girl from twitter! I remember you! Laura, right?" I die of excitement every time I think about it. Later after his line had died down I went back and asked to take a photo with him. He leaped over the table and we took pictures with both our cameras. James Kennedy is the nicest author I have ever met and I am so glad that I made his day with my shirt because he made my life better with his book.

Other YA Authors I met at TBF 2012, but couldn’t get pictures with:

Cyn Balog (Touched)
Barry Lyga (I Hunt Killers)
Jennifer Roy (Cordially Uninvited)
Inara Scott (Delcroix Academy series)
Adam Selzer (I Kissed a Zombie and Liked It)
Paul Griffin (Stay with Me)
Julia DeVillers (How My Private Personal Journal Became a Bestseller)
Brent Crawford (Carter Finally Gets It)
Brandon Mull (Fablehaven)
Gabrielle Zavin (Memories of a Teenage Amnesiac)
Susan Beth Pfeffer (Blood Wounds)
Gail Polisner (The Pull of Gravity)
Lauren Halse Anderson (Speak)
Jenny Han (Shug)
Melissa C. Walker (Lovestruck Summer)
Beth Fantaskey (Jessica's Guide to Dating the Dark Side)
Carolyn MacCullough (Once a Witch)
Cinda Williams Chima (The Heir Chronicles)
Megan Crewe (Give Up the Ghost)
Cat Patrick (Forgotten)

Here's some pictures of some of the authors arriving on the TBF red carpet: