The time Barnes and Noble told me no

I've been a fan of Tami Hoag since the late 90s.  The first book of hers I read was A Thin Dark Line and she had me hooked before I was even halfway through.  I've been reading her books ever since.  After getting on this kick of book signings, I went to the websites of most of my favorite authors to see if they were doing any events. 

Tami had a new book coming out and an book tour.  The closest she was coming to me was AZ and since it was in the middle of the week, there was no way I was getting out there.  I called the bookstore and ordered a copy of the book. 

Flash forward a few weeks... Tami gets sick and cancels a portion of her book tour, the AZ date included.  I'm thinking that it's not so bad, since I wasn't planning on going.  I would just call one of the other tour date locations listed.  One of the events was being held at a Barnes and Noble in Florida.  Having gone to several events at B&N and being a member, I thought this would be the easiest solution.

Boy, was I wrong.

When I called to place my order, I told the girl who answered that I wanted to place an order for the new book to be signed [with personalization if possible] at Tami's event that was coming up. I told her that I lived in CA and explained how half of the tour had been canceled. The employee on the phone stated that B&N doesn't:

1) Take phone orders for signing events
2) Take phone orders in general
3) Ship books out of state

She went on to tell me that if I lived in Florida, but was visiting California, she would be able to take an order to have the book signed, but I would have needed to pick up the book in store after the event took place.  I asked if that was a policy specific to their store and she said no, it applied to all B&N locations.  When I told her that I've called several other B&N's in different states to have books signed and shipped, she told me that wasn't possible.

Those were her actual words. 

Not wanting to carry on the conversation any further, I told her I would order the book elsewhere and hung up.

I ended up calling a bookstore called Murder on the Beach.  The woman who answered the phone was friendly and helpful.  Most importantly, she didn't tell me no.

I got my book in the mail yesterday.  It was all wrapped in bubble wrap and snug in a box.  It's nearly perfect.

The time I bought even more autographed books.

A Beautiful Dark had been on my to read list for a while.  I was able to hunt down an autographed copy from Books of Wonder in NYC... Ordering it was super easy and it came in the mail quickly.

I saw an ad for The Pledge in an issue of EW.  I found out that Kimberly had done a signing at a Barnes and Noble about a week prior to me finding the ad.  I called to see if they had any additional copies. 

First the girl said she didn't think so, but she'd look.  After finding one, she didn't think she could send it to me.  Once a manager told her she could send it to me, she didn't think she could take my credit card number over the phone.  What should have been a 5 minute conversation took me about 20 minutes.

However, I was able to get my copy....

While at MGRB waiting for the Marie Lu release party, I stumbled across a signed copy of Gretchen McNeil's Possess.  I had already ordered the book, so I decided not to get the autographed copy.  Of course, after I read the book, I just had to have the signed copy.  So, I ordered it from MG.

Annnnnd, when I was looking at the MG website, I found other signed books that I wanted to buy... I had never even heard of John Grisham doing any sort of signing event so when I saw that they had a signed copy of his new book, I was dying to have it.

When I went to pick up those signed books from MG, I stupidly walked into the YA section. And of course I found things I wanted to get....

Like a copy of Unearthly by Cynthia Hand. I was planning on just having the copy I already own signed when she toured for Hallowed, but that pretty purple pen just ruined me.

And a copy of Fury by Elizabeth Miles, which is on my to read list.

Just proof that I shouldn't be allowed inside bookstores unsupervised. 



The time I bought more autographed books.

One day I had to stay late at work.  With my phone about to die and no charger with me, I convinced my boss to let me leave for a few minutes to run across the street to buy a book to read.  Matched by Ally Condie was on my Wish List and the first book I saw, so I grabbed it.  And I devoured it in two days.  Quickly did a search for Ally online to see what her book tour was looking like for the second book, Crossed. 

Turns out she was doing a signing in Northern California that same night.  I called the B&N and was able to ordered a signed copy.  I also devoured Crossed and I can't wait for the third book to come out. Too bad it's released next year.

I learned about Divergent from the Swoontini site. One of the girls [I think it was Christina] was talking about how swoony Four was.  Their swoony recommendations are why my Amazon bill is so high. Although, they did introduce me to Étienne St. Clair and Adam Kent, so all is forgiven.

So, of course I had to buy it. And when I did, I had to hunt down an autographed copy.  I haven't read it yet, but I'm getting close to it.  And I'll be ready to meet Veronica Roth when the next book in the series comes out.

I feel like such a d-bag when I find out authors live in San Diego and I am just catching on to it.  Kiersten White is one of those such authors.  Paranormalcy has been in my "to read" stack for a while.  The second book in the series, Supernaturally came out this year.  Have I mentioned that I'm really behind on these things?

I ordered a signed copy of Supernaturally from Mysterious Galaxy from a signing Kiersten did back in July.  July.  Where have I been? *facepalm*