The time it was bookish mail -- 8

Welcome to another episode of Look What I Got in the Mail!  Let's proceed, shall we?

When I contacted Tellulah Darling about getting some signed copies of My Ex from Hell and My Date from Hell to giveaway during her interview post, I had also wanted to get a set for myself.  Not only did she donate the set for me to giveaway, Tellulah is just so awesome that she donated my set as well.  If you haven't read these books yet, you really need to.

 

When The Dream Thieves was about to be released, Fountain Bookstore, had an awesome pre-order thing set up with Maggie.  If you pre-ordered before a certain date, a pretty doodle of a raven would be added to Maggie's signature. So, of course I ordered a copy.  When I realized I didn't have a finished copy of The Raven Boys, I ordered one of those too. And when the copy came, I was blown away...it was more than I was expecting.

 

When I read The Infinite Moment of Us, I instantly fell in love with it.  I started stalking Lauren's website, hoping for a chance for her to tour near me at some point.  Alas, she was not.  When I saw that Kristen was going to Austen Teen Book Fest, I begged asked her to take my arc to get signed.  And since Kristen is so amazing, she agreed!

I got The Rule of Thirds from NetGalley and completely devoured it.  Seeing that Chantel was in Canada, I DM'd her on Twitter asking if there was a way to get signed copies.  She gave me the options to either send her a copy that she would sign and send back or to buy one through PayPal.  There was a bit of a shipping snafu, but eventually that pretty pretty book got into my hands!

If you follow me on Twitter, I'm sure you have seen my fangirling over A.G. Howard. Kristin from Beneath Shining Stars gave me an arc of Splintered and even though it took me some time to get to it [because it was swallowed by my TBR stacks], when I did, I was dying for more.  I may or may not have taken to Twitter and started harassing talking to Anita about Unhinged.

There is a long, detailed love story between us and I am far too lazy to chronicle it here.  I will tell you that it involves an Eggman, wine, Godiva and a not-so-secret rendezvous in Vegas. Needless to say, one day, this gorgeous thing showed up in my mailbox. Oh, and Anita gave me Jeb, I have proof.

We've established that I'm a spoiled brat and I love it. What pretties have you gotten recently?

The time it was bookish mail -- 7

I should be on my way to Arizona for the Fierce Reads tour, but I woke up feeling icky and decided not to go.  So, instead, here we are with another episode of Check Out What I Got in the Mail.  Let's look, yes?

I happened to see Sarah Crossan tweeting about a giveaway for an arc of Resist. I believe it was a giveaway of the "follow and retweet" variety and with Breathe being on my TBR list since it came out, I gave it a shot.  A day or so later, I got a tweet from Sarah saying that the winner she picked was from the UK and she really wanted a winner from the US, so did I still want a copy.  The answer was easy and the arc actually arrived on my birthday!

I had seen some authors talking about Delia's Shadow on Twitter and with so many people loving all over it, I instantly went to look it up.  I ended up getting approved for it on NetGalley and absolutely loved it as well.  After I was done, I contacted Jaime to see if she would be touring when the book released.  Unfortunately, she wasn't [at the time] and since I have little to no patience, I decided to order a copy at her launch party.  The cover is much prettier in person and I can't wait to reread the physical copy.

I got approved for The Promise of Amazing by Robin Constantine from Edelweiss, devoured it and loved it.  I was immediately on the lookout for a physical arc because it's one of those books that I need all of the copies of.  Thankfully, on the latest trip to the super secret back room at MGRB, I was able to secure one.  I may or may not have pushed Michelle out of the way to get to it.  *cough*

Anyhoo.  I contacted Robin and asked if she would be willing to sign my arc if I sent it to her and included a SASE.  She so delightfully said yes and mentioned that she was going to include some goodies.  When I got the book back, there was a thank you note as well as an awesome t-shirt with the book title on the front.

 

At this point in the blog, do I even need to express my undying love and devotion for Sarah J Maas? I thought not.  Of course, I had planned on going to her launch party for Crown of Midnight, however, there was a family emergency and I was unable to go.  When I called Mrs. Nelson's, I thought I was calling too late [it was right before the event started], but the ever so awesome staff assured me it was no problem.  And when I called back 20 minutes later to add another book? Yep, they didn't mind then either. 

I later found out from a few people who attended the event that Sarah had mentioned me [all of the flails] and when I got my book in the mail, I almost started crying.  She's so damn thoughtful and amazing and if you haven't read her books, put down whatever you're reading now and get them.

These have been some of my favorites to be added to my collection. What books have you gotten lately?

The time it was bookish mail -- 6

Well.  I've found a stash of books that I got signed and never shared, so here's another edition of Check Out What I Got in the Mail!

I was trying to clean up the nightmare that is the stacks of signed books in my bedroom when I knocked some of them over and found this little gem. I vaguely recall that Susan had announced that for a short period of time [it might have been around Christmas] she was going to offer signed copies of Angelfall. I just happened to catch her tweet about it and ordered it right away. 

Now I'm hoping she'll offer the same thing for World After.

 

I'm not even sure how or where I heard about signed copies of Easy, all I know is that I'm super happy to have one.  I do know that I got it from Tammara herself, before it was republished.  And isn't it pretty?

 

 

Underneath that book, I found my copies of Obsidian, Onyx and Opal that were signed by Jennifer L. Armentrout and Pepe Toth.  Once upon a time, a group of blogger friends and I tried to get Jennifer to Redondo Beach as part of the Daemon Invasion.  Alas, we didn't win.  However, the lovely Kassiah was going to attend the event in the winning city of Houston and she was awesome enough to get me some things signed.  Annnnnnd send me some super hot photos of Pepe. *cough*

 

Speaking of Jennifer, I read Wait for You right away when it was released as an e-book.  I read Jennifer's blog post about it getting printed and how the first 10k of pre-orders would get a signed copy.  Of course, I immediately went to pre-order, but there was no way of knowing if I was one of the people who would be getting a copy until I opened it.  And here it is....

When Leaky Con was announced, there were so many authors I wanted to go see.  Not to mention, Colleen and Jennifer.  We didn't get a chance to go, but Jennifer was awesome enough to take some things to get signed for me.   She even broke the only-one-book-per-person rule to get both of Lev's books signed for me!

 

 
Last but, never, ever least.  I pre-ordered my copy of A Darkness Strange and Lovely from the bookstore that Susan Dennard had listed on her website.  And as the release date got closer, I was eager to have the pretty finished copy in my hands.  The inner squeeing got worse after Susan DM'd me to let me know that she had signed my book and couldn't wait for me to see it.

Flash forward a couple of days after the release date.  I got a voice mail from the events manager telling me that she had sent my package out via media mail even though I had paid for UPS and she wanted to know how to get the refund back to me.  Now this isn't a problem for normal people, but for me it is: I don't get mail at my apartment.

I called her back and explained my situation.  Since I have a PO box, my apartment is listed as "vacant" and any mail I get will be refused and sent back to the sender.  It doesn't happen often, but it has happened.  She had tried to catch the postman, but wasn't able to, and with the book having a special inscription, there wasn't a way to replace it.  I just had to wait.

Thankfully, it only took a couple of weeks instead of the almost month I was expecting.  But the inscription? It was definitely worth the wait. 

I would like to think I've gotten a little better at paying attention to the pretties I order.  Have you recently found any books that you had forgotten about?

The time it was bookish mail -- 5

Here we are again for another episode of Look What I Got in the Mail! Onward, yes?

We all know of my undying love for Sarah J Maas, yes? Well, once upon a time, she went on tour with Susan Dennard, Erin Bowman and Kat Zhang as part of the YA Authors Give Back tour.  Unfortunately, they weren't coming anywhere near me.  However, Jaime & Erin were going to one of the stops and awesomely let me send them some stuff.

 Now, there is a serious back story.  Once upon a time on Twitter, Sarah tweeted this article to Susan about the mantis shrimp and how it was her new favorite animal.  After reading it, I jumped into the conversation [seriously, sometimes it's soooo hard not to jump in] and said that I liked any animal that had "murder sticks".  Sarah came back and said that she liked anything that is referred to as an "undersea nightmare". 

And that leads us to an even later conversation on Twitter about me telling Sarah that at some point, I was going to ask her to sign my book as an undersea nightmare.

Which brings us to what could be the greatest inscription ever.  Not only did Sarah sign the book as my undersea nightmare, but Susan and Sarah both drew pictures of a mantis shrimp.

I don't have an amazing story for Erin Bowman, I wish I did.  But, like I said above, Jaime & Erin were awesome to take my copy of Taken to get signed. Even Erin knows they're awesome, she mentions it in the inscription!  I can't wait to meet Erin for myself one day.

I borrowed Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea from Michelle. I instantly fell in love with River and asked April for him before I got to page 50 the story and how lyrical April's writing is. I was flailing all about it to Colleen, who told me that she had just gone to an author's dinner with April.  Not only that, but she had an extra arc... and it was signed.

I read the Goddess trilogy in a day.  I loved the story [and Henry] and Kate [and Henry] and definitely wanted to include Aimee's books to the collection.  Luckily, Aimee was just about to go on tour, so I called an indie bookstore that she would be appearing at and ordered all three books.

Unfortunately, when I got the books, I didn't get the entire trilogy.  I got The Goddess Test [book 1], The Goddess Inheritance [book 3] and The Goddess Legacy [a book of novellas set in the Goddess world].  I called the store I ordered them from and they weren't open to fixing the situation.  Thankfully, I was able to find Goddess Interrupted at a different store that held a tour stop. Now I just have to meet Aimee to get it personalized.

 

Have we all determined by now that I'm the most spoiled brat in the bunch? Wheeeeeeeee!!

What books have you gotten recently?

The time it was all bookish mail -- 4

It's time for another episode of Look What I Got in the Mail!

Do we all know my undying love and devotion for Tamara Ireland Stone? Yes, I drove up to San Francisco for the Time Between Us launch party. Annnnd since then, I've been simultaneously pushing Time Between Us on every single person I know and fangirling all over Tamara as much as I could without getting a restraining order.

Flash forward a bit.  Tamara had a giveaway for an Italian copy with a super hot cover.  That super hot cover had a shirtless version of my boyfriend, Bennett.  So, it goes without saying that I entered the contest.  Alas, I didn't win. 

A week or so after the giveaway was over, Tamara DM'd me and asked for my mailing address, that she had a present for me.  I had no idea what it was. When I got this, my head almost exploded...

Perhaps you've seen Elizabeth Richards talking about her love of owls.  I sent her a package of owl post-it notes.  Then I found some owl bookmarks.  Before I sent the bookmarks, I asked Elizabeth if I could include my copy of Phoenix to have signed.  And she's so amazing, she agreed! Check out my owl!!

It's unfortunate that I haven't met Elizabeth yet, but Penguin better will send her to SoCal eventually.

After reading Spies & Prejudice, I emailed Talia Vance and asked for an interview. After flailing about like a lunatic, of course. Not only did Talia take the time to answer my fangirling questions, she donated a giveaway copy for the giveaway. AND a personalized copy for me! 

I will have to meet her eventually because I need to get it in writing that Tanner is mine.  Never fear, I have a saved tweet.  Don't be thinking that he's up for grabs, he is most definitely not.

You might remember that I tried seeing Gennifer Albin at Festival of Books this year, but it didn't happen due to a scheduling mishap.  I was absolutely bummed out that we had already left the parking structure when Gennifer tweeted me back and said she'd be happy to meet up somewhere. 

Thankfully, Gennifer was joining part of the Pitch Dark Days tour and Jenn was going to one of the stops.  She offered to take my books with her, so I sent them off.

 

When I saw that Neil Gaiman was touring, I tried to get tickets to see him.  Unfortunately, I heard about it too late and tickets were already sold out.  Thankfully, the awesome staff at Changing Hands bookstore had a mail order option.  I am beyond thrilled to add Neil to my collection.

Who is a spoiled brat?!? It's meeeeeeee!!

What books have you gotten lately?

The time it was all bookish mail -- 3

Welcome to another episode of Signed Books I Got in the Mail...

Sarah Dessen was announced at the 2013 Festival of Books.  She also was going to be signing at the B&N in Huntington Beach over that same weekend.  I didn't want to deal with the crowd that I knew would be flocking to her, mostly because I had never read one of her books.  Thankfully, Jenn was going to be attending a Sarah event and was willing to pick something up for me.

I did send an arc of one of Sarah's books, but Hubs fucked up the address and it didn't get there.  At all.  So, Jenn came to the rescue and bought me a book! Now I can officially add Sarah to the collection.

When Elizabeth Norris announced that any pre-ordered copies of Unbreakable from Books of Wonder would receive special bonus material [including an alternate ending], I placed my order that day.  A couple of days before the book was released, Elizabeth tweeted me and said that she had just signed my book.  I didn't want to get my hopes up since BoW usually has a "no inscription/personalization" rule. 

I shouldn't have doubted her because the inscription is glorious.  Also? That means every single copy of Unraveling and Unbreakable that I own says that I have Ben. He is definitely mine. [I would later also win a signed copy of Unbreakable from Pitch Dark for participating in the Unraveling read along.] 

When Eleanor & Park was released, everyone and their mother told me to read it.  The ever so awesome Jaime offered to get me a signed copy when she went to Rainbow's event.  I think she ended up getting 11 copies or something...

Either way, I'm quite grateful she was willing to get me a copy.  The book is amazing and I can't wait to meet Rainbow myself.

Jaime also went to the Pitch Dark Days event.  I had already ordered Elizabeth's books [plus extra copies at her launch party, but that's another story] and was hoping hoping hoping that Amy Tintera would be doing additional events in SoCal.  Her launch party was at the Bookstore-Which-Shall-Not-Be-Named and I refused to go.

However, Kiera Cass hasn't been to SoCal yet... Not one to wait, I asked Jaime to get me a signed copy of The Elite.

I had gotten my arc of Invisibility signed by Andrea Cremer when I saw her at Mrs. Nelson's for the Breathless Reads tour. When the tour dates were announced for Andrea and David to promote Invisibilty, I was unable to get up to the San Francisco date. Thankfully, Colleen was going to be attending the Seattle date. I sent the arc to her and asked for David's signature to be added.

I truly have the best friends.  And who's a spoiled brat?  I am!

What books have you gotten lately?

The time it was all bookish mail -- 2

Book mail is the best mail and this post is all about signed things I've recently received!

When the Breathless Reads tour was announced, I knew I would be ordering books for the authors who were on the east coast.  I had been talking with Fiona Paul and Elizabeth Richards a lot on Twitter and those conversations led to what could be the greatest inscriptions I've ever gotten.

With Fiona, we talked about our mutual love of The Crow.  We may or may not have quoted lines to each other a few times.  When it came to my order of Venom, she told me that if her signing line was slow, she would fill her time with writing quotes from The Crow all over my book.  I said I was expecting it. 

With Elizabeth, I had just finished Phoenix and in my flails, I may have begged asked for Ash. Fiona jumped into the conversation by saying that we had to share him, and I could only have him a few days a week.

And when I opened my books, I almost died...

 

At the same signing, I was able to get Shades of Earth by Beth Revis. I met Beth last year on the Breathless Reads tour and while I'm bummed I didn't get to see her, I'm happy to complete the signed series. And I can't wait to see how this trilogy ends!!

Kimbery Derting and Lisa Schroeder did a signing at Powell's in Oregon and thankfully, Jennifer was willing to get some things signed for me. I am super excited to see what happens in The Essence and I'm thrilled to have another author to cross off the list of the Dear Bully contributors. 

  

When the Dark Days tour was broken into two different legs, Jennifer and I split them up so we could have signed copies from all of the authors.

Jennifer got me things from Lauren Oliver, Dan Wells and Claudia Grey...

  

And then at another event, Jennifer also got me a copy of Scarlet by Marissa Meyer.

Who's a spoiled brat? Oh yah.  It's me!