Romance Author & Reader Event aka RARE 2015

Hi everyone!!

Told ya that having to do that picture slideshow would be beneficial to my blogging! Yep, I am procrastinating... I still haven't started it ^_^; The last few days have exhausted me, so I took it easy today by watching all the sporting events I could - baseball, curling, showjumping and now tennis. It just sucks that all the persons/teams I was rooting for lost :( Well except for tennis... I don't really care for either Federer or Djokovic, so may the better player win - which at this point, seems to be Djokovic.

Amy & Teri, our lovely hosts 

So yesterday was the Romance Author & Reader Event, RARE :) I've really been excited for the event and to sum it up, had a blast! First, my kudos go to Amy Jennings, Adriane Leigh and Teri Maxwell... because I can't imagine that organizing such an event is easy. The amount of work, patience and stress must be tremendous and I hope they found it was worth it all!

As I mentioned in my previous post, I didn't know many of the authors attending... and in the month that I had to rectify things, only added one author to my "authors read" list - Emma Chase ^_^;  The good news is that I loved Sustained (going to try to review it soon, I promise!) and the not-so good news is Ms Chase couldn't make it in the end due to family emergency :( All this meant that my list of authors I wanted to see what quite short: Sarina Bowen, Daisy Prescott, Laura Kaye and Jennifer Probst. As such and because I was a local, I decided to volunteer for the event and offered to help at the registration. The signing was split into two blocks: 10am-11.30am and 12.30pm-4.30pm. The first block was strictly reserved for people who had purchased VIP tickets and the second block was for both VIP and General Admission ticket holders. I initially only had a GA ticket because by the time I found out about the signing, the VIP tickets were sold-out... but since I volunteered, I was allowed in along with the VIPs :)

Elle Kennedy, me, Sarina Bowen

My first stop was of course Ms Bowen as she was the reason I attended RARE :) I think I was the first person at her table and since there was nobody else after me, was able to spend some time and chat with her. I of course gushed about how much I loved The Understatement of the Year and Him and we talked about covers and some of her upcoming projects. Already, that made my day... but while I was talking to her, Elle Kennedy showed up!! Ms Kennedy has social anxiety, so she wasn't officially participating to the signing, was only there to keep Ms Bowen company... but still, I got to meet Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy!! (I don't really know how many people at the signing realized that Ms Kennedy was present) And as a bonus, I got signed copies of The Deal and The Mistake!! That was definitively the highlight of the signing for me :)

Then, I went to see Daisy Prescott, Laura Kaye and Jennifer Probst - completing my list :) The big difference between RARE and the other signings I've been is that RARE had a lot more self-published authors. That's a good thing for everyone... However, getting their print books is a challenge. That's why most self-published authors had pre-order forms and brought books themselves. Attendees were warned that authors would have very little extra books... That made it easier for me to restrict myself :) Still, I did break down and visited a few extra authors: Alice Clayton, Leddy Harper and Tillie Cole.

Alice Clayton

All in all though, it was a good thing I was helping out at the registration, because otherwise I'd really be broke LOL. Seriously, I spent money every time I stepped into the room.

So yeah, RARE 2015 was fun :) You can get a feel of what the atmosphere was from this video interview with Adriane Leigh, A lot more relax and chill than RWA or RT LOL. I also enjoyed doing the registration because I got to see how excited everyone was. There aren't many signings in Canada and surely not this big and in Montreal, so it was awesome to be part of it :)

Now, here's my loot!

 

Gotta say, I love those badges!! They are great keepsakes! and the swag I got was from visiting seven authors... Can't imagine how much I would have brought back if I've been to all of them!

Catching up, annual BBQ and another signing event!

Alas, no review yet... but it's coming!! Soon hopefully LOL. There's just so many books I feel I should review, so choosing one is hard. Then, writing the actual review... but I figure once I've written one, it'll be like getting back on a bike, right? Right?!

Anyway, this is just another rambling post. What can I say, I like to share my life with you guys :P Although, there is some books stuff coming up later!!

First, Ames is back! Yep, she has a new blog! I was going to mention it in my last post, but forgot ^_^;; Bad, bad me... So click here to find her new digs (my sidebar link list has been updated). If you've missed her, make sure to let her know! Plus, she's written her own recap of our NYC trip, so you get to see it from a different POV! Almost like a romance novel :P

Otherwise, I've been busy settling back into a routine... which hasn't been easy for multiple reasons. I started work last Tuesday - Monday being a holiday. I was lucky, because both my boss and supervisor were on vacation, so I came back to a quiet environment... Except that I had stayed up till 1am to read Magic Shifts by Ilona Andrews. Not my smartest decision ever... Let just say I was a little tired and really didn't want to be at work.

Then, early last week, two events got my adrenaline pumping. The first one was finding out there was a book signing event happening in Montreal!! Seriously, how did I not hear about it earlier? Have I been living under a rock?! Oh wait, I probably wasn't on the right social media. Ugh. Anyway, what matter is that I did not miss it - phew. So here are the details. The event is called "Romance Author & Reader Event" aka RARE and this year, it's taking place in Montreal on September 12!! It's organized by Amy Jennings, Adriane Leigh and Teri Maxwell. Honestly, I have no idea what, how and why... All I know is that Sarina Bowen is going and so, I must be there as well!! LOL. I've become a die-hard fan of Ms Bowen last year. While Ames and I never got around to post our Best and Favorite of 2014 recap, we did discuss it and Ms Bowen was my choice for best new-to-me author and best author for 2014. Heck, I had Ms Bowen for favorite NA book, m/m book, new-to-me series as well as two other categories. And my fangirl level has only gone up after reading Him by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy which was only a few days before finding out about this signing. Talk about timing!! So there you go, I'm going to RARE 2015! There's actually going to be quite a few authors:

Unfortunately, I have not read many of them ^_^; Besides Ms Bowen, I have read one book by Christina Lauren, Daisy Prescott and Jennifer Probst. I know Emma Chase has a new release coming out at the end of the month and that one, I was planning to give it a try :) Laura Kaye is an author Leslie has recommended to me on many occasions, so now would be a good time to listen to her. And I've been curious about Tiffany Snow. Any other authors you strongly recommend, that I should absolutely read before the signing? Let me know!! Because seriously, there are many authors and I know I won't have time to read everyone! I've also decided to volunteer for the event. I think it'll be interesting to live it from the other side, especially since I'm local :P So far, I've had a lot of fun hanging out on the FB page LOL.

Also in September is a get-together with my American second-cousins. The one hosting is the one who got married a couple of years ago. Ever since her wedding, the six of us have kind of reconnected and so, we decided to get together :) She lives near Baltimore... and my sister and I debated driving or flying. In the end, because it'll be so short, we chose flying to save time. So it was finding a cheap flight with the right hours for the right price. Since 4 of us are flying in, we wanted to coordinate time and airport. So that was stressful and exciting all the same. And with me, planning a trip to the States and a book signing, it feels like I'm going on vacation all over again LOL.

Finally, this past Saturday, I once again hosted our annual BBQ. It was very laid-back this year... but it still got me stressed. No matter how many times we're having it, the fear of not having enough food is always there. Also, what should I buy, what should I not buy... and so on ^_^; And of course, we ended up having too much food as usual. I'm on my third day of eating BBQ leftovers and seriously, I cannot do it anymore!! LOL.

So that's what I've been up to :) What about you?