The time it was all bookish mail -- 1

Obviously, I can't be at all of the signings, which is a tragedy.  Thankfully, I haven't had any serious problems with various bookstores across the country when it comes to ordering for events. And sometimes, I have awesome friends or family get stuff for me....

I had been chatting with Trish Doller on Twitter about Something Like Normal [among other things].  When the time came to ask about getting a signed copy, Trish was awesome enough to give me the number to the Barnes & Noble that she works at so I could order a copy.  She did say that they had signed stock, but that she would happily personalize my book.

When the line up for Austin Teen Book fest was announced, I really thought we were going to go.  I misunderstood some of the information and thought Beautiful Redemption and Reached were both going to be released early at the event.  After I found out that I was completely wrong, I begged asked Christine to get me a copy of Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan. She also got my Dear Bully signed by Sophie Jordan.

I had talked with Kat Zhang about sharing my arc of Sever by Lauren DeStefano in exchange for cookies.  Unfortunately, with the time restraints between the both of us, I was unable to share it with her. I had plans to get What's Left of Me and as soon as I saw that Kat was signing with CJ Redwine [whose Defiance I was dying to read], I knew I'd be ordering both.

The day of the event, either Kat or CJ had tweeted a gorgeous picture of Parnassus Books, where the event was going to be held. I answered back that I was jealous that I couldn't be there.  A couple of days later, I got some lovely books in the mail and they were in the super nifty bags that Parnassus ships everything in.

When I went to Chicago for Michelle Hodkin, I saw that R.L. Stein was going to be appearing at the same bookstore later in the month.  I had asked if I could ship my copy of Dear Bully to be signed.  At the time, the events manager wasn't working, so they told me to call back. Instead, my sister and brother in law offered to attend on my behalf.  I called and ordered a copy of Red Rain, shipped my Dear Bully and waited.

On the night of the signing, I started getting text messages from my SIL.  It was their first book signing, they both had a great time.  And....they even took all sorts of pictures for me.

I'm so happy that everyone is so accommodating when calling to order books.  Sometimes, I wish they would say no so I wouldn't spend so much money.  Same goes for family members.  :D

The time all of the books had pretty covers

So obviously, a book cover is important when marketing a book. I don't remember there being such a big deal about cover pictures being released until I started reading YA books.  But, those marketing people are doing something right, because I've bought several books just from the cover alone...

The upside to living in SoCal is that LA is really close and a lot of authors come through LA eventually. However, the idea of "eventually" is one that I'm not too familiar with, I really don't like to wait.  Such is the case for all of the books to follow. :D

Illuminate by Aimee Agresti sucked me in right away. The dress, the shadow of the wings, and the model are all gorgeous. I especially love the script of the title.  I was able to get my hands on an ARC and read it in one night.  After reading it, I contacted Aimee and we started talking about tour dates.  She's always been so so so sweet about my incessant nagging.  Once I saw that she posted her first date at Fountain Bookstore, I wanted to support her, so I ordered the book. If/when I get to meet her, I'll ask her to sign my ARC.

I had seen the cover for The Selection and was absolutely hooked.  I love the colors and the dress and the everything... I had asked Kiera if she was going to be touring when the book was released and because she was pregnant at the time, she didn't think there would be too many events.  I was also able to get my hands on an ARC [thanks, Kassiah], so when I saw Kiera's events start to post, I just picked a date and ordered away...

I read The Sky is Everywhere after a swoony book reccommendation that Lo from Swoontini made about it.  These ladies have never let me down before, so I was all over that book ASAP.  As always, they didn't disappoint, it was amazing...

Anyhoo.

Since I was a bit late to the party on this story, it was already in paperback by the time I read it, so Jandy wasn't doing any sort of touring for it.  And then, one day when I was stalking Jay Asher's website, I noticed that he was going to be at an event that Jandy Nelson was going to be at.  The problem is that it was going to be nearly impossible to get to Palo Alto on a Friday...

I don't even know where I heard about Amy Plum's books.  All I do know is that the cover for Die For Me is amazing, I read that book in one sitting and immediately went on a search for her tour dates.  After seeing that none of her dates were remotely near me [sobsobsob], I picked Parnassus Books to buy from.  I ordered Amy's books and Jandy's book on the same day and then tweeted about needing a private plate or helicopter so I could get around to all of the events. 

And Amy's response was epic:

I really hope I get to meet her one day.  And both covers are just so gorgeous. I'm so in love with Paris that it's a little scary.

If only book covers would get ugly.  I bet it would save me some money.