Sarah Dessen Signing!

Can you find me, front and center!

 So, you may have noticed that I have a bit of a thing for Sarah Dessen books ;) You can imagine how thrilled I was to see that she was coming to my favorite indie book store! I basically stalked the store until they had tickets available (I was #2 in line!) The turn out was pretty incredible as is evidenced by the picture to the right. Sarah Dessen took it just before she began. She said she had to send it to her husband so he would believe her :) There were so any people and everyone was so nice! We basically spent about an hour sitting there and fangirling about Sarah and her fabulous books! I thought I had a long drive there (about 2.5 hours) but there was a girl from Missouri! She was staying with family but still, that's dedication!



Sarah was, as you might suspect, completely delightful. Seriously, she is so sweet! She started off with a brief reading and then went on to answer questions. She talked about how her stories really start with a character and grow from there. She pulls character names form everywhere and anywhere... signing lines, magazines, anything unique! I was interested to hear that Just Listen was the most difficult book to write. It's my favorite so I'm glad she pushed through!

My new water bottle and signed books!

After questions it was trivia time! Sarah had water bottles and Luna Blu t-shirts to giveaway. Some of the questions were tricky but I SO wanted a water bottle. When she asked what company Jamie (Ruby's brother in law from Lock and Key) started I was ALL OVER IT! Making those connection graphics for Sarah Dessen Week really paid off and that water bottle was mine! I love it. A lot. More than is probably rational. Thank you Ume.com!

 

Finally it was signing time. There were so many people and Sarah was so gracious to everyone! She posed for countless pictures and talked to every single person who went through the line. I even got a hug for bringing her retractable Sharpies :) We also chatted a bit about Sarah Dessen Week! She was really appreciative and was honored by how many people took part. Yeah, basically she is just great! I am so excited to hear her speak at the BEA breakfast she's a part of and I hope to stop by the Sweetery truck to get a special Sarah Dessen Woopie Pie! 

Seriously, if you ever get a chance to attend one of her signings I SO recommend it! I can't gush enough about how awesome I think she is :) 

Me and my new BFF ;)

Yep, that's me right behind Sarah. She's holding my copy of
What Happened to Goodbye :)