Jane, Unlimited Event Recap!

Good morning, friends! I hope everyone had a decent weekend. I was away for most of the weekend and so I was very busy... too busy to have a review ready for today! I may post a review tomorrow, if I finish the book I'm reading. 

Today, I'm sharing my recap of the Jane, Unlimited event from the 23rd, in Fairfax, Virginia!

The Recap:

I live in Baltimore County, so traveling to Fairfax is a little lengthy, and very tricky for someone without a car. But I am lucky to have a very nice sister who was willing to drive me, and carry half of my books (I had sixteen), and stay with me at the event. She had read Cashore's Graceling Realm books too, so this event interested her.

Coincidentally enough, B-Fest was also on Saturday! So we went for 1 PM in order to catch the B-Fest fun. The B&N staff started by introducing the panel of YA authors in attendance - Mary Rand Hess, Jessica Spotswood, Miranda Kennealy, Katy Upperman, and Christina June. 

Mary Rand Hess, Jessica Spotswood, Miranda Kennealy, Katy Upperman, and Christina June.

We all played Ad Libs with a short excerpt from each of their books. And then we did the B&N trivia, which was super hard. My sister and I ended up in a close third place, but we still got some cool prizes, like The Hazel Wood tote bags and a few books. I missed out on Batman, sadly!

Mary Rand Hess, Jessica Spotswood, Miranda Kennealy, Katy Upperman, and Christina June with the Three Dark Crowns crown swag from B-Fest!

Fun fact- Christina June used to be a book blogger! Her blog was Allodoxaphobia and she was part of the YADC blogger group. Now she is a YADC author!

The staff at this B&N were awesome. They were all so nice and engaging. And they were totally cool with me bringing 16 books to the signing. I asked if Kristin Cashore had any limitations and they said she said she didn't, and they said they didn't. I bought a book from the store so I ended up with 17 books. 17! It was a lot. 

The Jane, Unlimited event officially started at 4 PM. Kristin came, accompanied by a reporter (whose name I sadly cannot remember!). First Kristin read a short excerpt from the book. Then the reporter asked some questions, and so there a discussion ensued. Kristin is so intelligent and introspective! It was amazing to hear her talk about Jane, Unlimited, her other books, and her life.

Kristin Cashore, reading from Jane, Unlimited.

Then we in the audience got to ask her questions! Some of the things I remember: Kristin is currently revising a new book. She is open to the possibility of writing new Graceling Realm books, though they wouldn't be the next project (or two) in the future. The book she is revising has been influenced by her travels to Iceland. She doesn't think about categorizing her book as "Young Adult" or "Adult", etc. Including sex in her books (specifically, the Graceling Realm books) is more about what the characters would do, rather than what the age level of the book would allow. Kristin isn't interested in doing a lot on social media, because that is time she could be writing or researching. She used to work a "day job" that wasn't writing, and she would try to be as mediocre as possible to stay at the same level and not get promoted. Which is strange and neat!

And then the signing began! There were four of us who were there for B-Fest since 1 PM, so we got to go through the signing first. I asked the other B-Fest early birds to go before me, because of my enormous stack. Behold!

She signed all of them. =) Fun fact: Kristin had never seen a UK ARC of Bitterblue before. So she said to me, "You officially have the only signed UK ARC of Bitterblue!" That was exciting. 

Everyone loved my foreign copies, and my tote bag!

 

Tote bag from Bitterblue publication time. Catalan version of Graceling.

I remember winning two of these during the Bitterblue release week/month events, hosted by Penguin Teen and bloggers. I gave one to my sister and unfortunately my original has since disappeared - it got pretty worn out so I'm sure I had to dispose of it. But luckily, Sara came to the rescue and sent me hers! I am so grateful!

Kristin was so inspiring and lovely, and I'm honored to have had the opportunity to meet her and chat. She is my favorite author and her books are my favorites!

Me, Kristin Cashore, my sister Lily.

I would like to thank Kristin for doing this tour, and for her stories. Thanks to B&N Fairfax for hosting such wonderful events. Thank you, Penguin Teen, for sponsoring this tour. Thank you, B&N, PRH, HarperCollins, etc. for the amazing B-Fest 2.0. And thanks to my sister, who was a real trooper to drive me and carry half of my books and spend the whole day doing "book stuff". She had fun!

Aaaaaand I rounded to the day off with my first pho. Thanks to my sister and her boyfriend Luke for this particular experience (and hosting me for the weekend)!

It was amazing!

That's my recap! Stay tuned for a giveaway, possibly on my Twitter or Instagram. I have a ton of B-Fest goods and an extra Jane, Unlimited ARC that is now signed. =) Have a great week!