The time we were unsupervised

Embrace has been on my TBR list for a while. A long while. When I saw that Jessica Shirvington was going to have the release party for Entice at MGRB, I was pretty sure I was going to go.

We got up to the store early and bought books. We also got a spiffy reusable bag. After killing time, we got back to the store around 6:45 and proceeded to stand behind Jessica and her friend [handler? assistant? manager? agent?] at the coffee shop inside MGRB.

We sort of run amok in the store. Quietly, of course. *cough* LeAnna wasn't at work, so I raided the bookmark table while Hubs tried on leftover Carnival of Souls masks. A snack table was set up and we were told to help ourselves.

Jessica got there just after 7:30 as she was doing an interview. There were only a couple of people at the event, so we decided to put the chairs in a circle and chat like friends.

Jessica started taking about how she didn't plan to write Embrace. She was on a book binge and after reading one book a day for a few weeks, she decided to open up her laptop and start writing.

She had printed out over 400 pages and after storing it in a package from the ream of paper she used, she very casually told her husband that she wrote a book. From there, she talked to a colleague of her husbands [who works in media] about contacting the woman who would become her agent.

Jessica then read from Entice. She said it was hard to pick the scene to read, mostly because she doesn't like hearing her words in her voice.

After the reading, it was time for the Q&A. It started as a regular Q&A, but quickly turned into a comfortable conversation among book lovers. Topics were all over the place: from Jessica's first time on the west coast, to her writing style, to the exciting tv news announcement about Embrace, to my driving to San Francisco for an event.

We also touched on the topic of how YA has become mainstream and Jessica's theory is that young love is the reason it's so popular. Everyone can relate to young love and the choices that teenagers make, whereas if it was an adult making those same choices, people would wonder about the character's mortgage and job.

The signing started after we talked for about 40 minutes. I got my books signed and Jessica went to date them, but had to think about the American way of dating it. I told her she could date it the European way. And then she asked if people here jaywalk, that she had been jaywalking all the time and noticed that no one followed her. Hubs told her that she'd get a ticket in Santa Monica.

After she signed my books, I thanked her for coming, wished her well on the rest of the tour and said I hoped to see her again for the third book. She really is so adorable and friendly.

Annnnnnnd....

I got a couple of books signed for a giveaway. Up for grabs are a signed paperback copy of Embrace, a signed hardcover copy of Entice, 2 bookmarks and the spiffy reusable bag.

The Fine Print:
1. US Only.

2. Must be at least 13 to enter [Besides, if you're under 13, you shouldn't be reading this blog with the amount of swearing I do].

3. I'm not responsible for lost or damaged items. I don't have replacements. Rest assured, I am ridiculously anal about my books. They will be sent in safe packaging and will leave my hands as near to perfect as I can get them.

4. I reserve the right to suspend or end the giveaway at any time, for any reason and without a winner being chosen.

5. Winner will be notified by email and will have 72 hours to respond. If there is no response, a new winner will be chosen.

6. Winners are chosen at random by Rafflecopter.

I'm not going to make you follow me here or on Twitter to win. If you'd like to follow or pimp me out, that would be great. If not, that's cool too. Good luck!!


a Rafflecopter giveaway