You know, it's been a really great summer/fall with authors coming to town for booksignings. I've been keeping up with Booktour, which is a fabulous resource to find which authors coming to your area. That's how I found about this signing. It was about a month ago when I saw who would be coming to Northern IL, and I completely had a fangirl moment (in the privacy of my own home, thank God). I'd met both of them at RWA this past summer, but this was an opportunity I couldn't miss.
We had a nice dinner beforehand at Outback Steakhouse, where Shannon regaled us with amusing stories about her students (Patrick sounds just precious!) and got to the library a tad bit late as I didn't realize they were having a Q&A session with the authors. We quickly found chairs and sat back as we were entertained by Julia & Laura.
The event....
Julia being a brat...
But a rather lovable one. If you ever get a chance to meet Julia, you must do so. She LOVES to talk, and she's so funny. She's also very smart and completely mischievious.
Julia still being a brat...
Laura was a little more serious, but she definitely has a sense of humor, and some very cool ideas for future books. She sets her books later than the Regency era, so chances are we will be seeing more modern inventions and conveniences showing up in her books. Laura also mentioned that in her research, the term "girl bachelor" actually did exist back in the day her "Girl Bachelor" series is set. That's pretty cool.
Stacy dissing Julia
But not intentionally! I hate facing directly forward when I get my picture taken, so it's automatic that I turn to the side. My "best" side. (Note: my photographer - one of the librarians - didn't take the best pictures). I brought about 7 books to be signed, including my favorite Quinn - "When He Was Wicked", and my favorite Guhrke - "Guilty Pleasures" - they both graciously signed them.
Queen Bella and the authors
Michelle always looks so comfortable in front of the camera, whether it's with Julia & Laura here, or Nora, or even in bed with Fabio.
The effervescent Shannon & company
Shannon always looks so cool, even when wearing jeans. I just love her short hair, and she has such a fun sense of humor. She's definitely has strong ideas on what she likes and doesn't like in her books. It's fun to talk books with her.
The terrific trio of Michelle, Stacy & Shannon
Here we all are after our fun day. I'm so glad I have fellow romance booklovers to hang with from time to time. These ladies are a blast!
Do you have a favorite Quinn and/or Guhrke book?
Labels: Julia Quinn, Laura Lee Guhrke
posted by Stacy~ at 10/16/2008 05:05:00 AM
Looks like you had a GREAT time, Stacy! Julia is in my area tonight (Thursday) so I'm heading over to BN to see her and some friends. Looking forward to it.
byThank you for sharing the photos.
I miss Michelle! I hope she makes it to the Get Together in June again.
Lori
Looks like tons of fun! I have Laura's newest book in my TBR stack, but haven't read it yet.
byGlad to hear you had a good time. My favorite JQ is The Viscount Who Loved Me and my favorite Guhrke is Guilty Pleasures.
Sounds like a ton of fun!
Haha. The pics turned turned out great. And what a nice way of saying that I am super opinionated :)
byWonderful pictures! It does look like you had a great time!
byI've not read either of them :(.
Just when I think I've got my green-eyed monster in check, you go and have pics taken with my favoritest author EVER.
byI couldn't even try to pick a favorite JQ book. Usually when asked I pick the first one I read, which would be "To Sir Philip, With Love". You always remember your first. I have also re-read numerous times "Splendid" and "Brighter than the Sun". Oh oh, there's also "To Catch an Heiress". Carolyn is such a funny heroine. And you can't forget "Dancing at Midnight" and.......
Great pictures! I am really enjoying all of Laura's books in her Bachelorette series.
bySo I’m a little green right now :o) But it sounds like you had tons of fun!
byMy favorite Quinn is "The Viscount who Loved Me." I have Guhrke's RITA finaling book from nationals, but I confess I haven't read anything by her yet.
byThanks for sharing your photos! I saw Julia at a conference last weekend and I completely forgot to take a picture, even though my camera was dangling from my wrist. Star struck, I guess. :0
What a great time! Looks like you all had a blast! My fave JQ is Dancing at Midnight. Love, love love it! As for LLG? Hard to pick. I like them all, but I don't know about picking one in particular. I'm in the middle of reading the current one. I do like Phillip, now that he seems to be falling apart, LOL.
byUgh, I'm so jealous. It looks like you guys had a wonderful time. Thanks for sharing with us sweets and you guys look great!
byMy favorite JQ is probably, either When He Was Wicked or The Lost Duke of Wyndham, LOVED the heroes in both!
I've never read any of Laura's before but it's on my list. =)
Stace, it's always fun to hang with you and Shannon; I learn so much! Can it be Jules, that you started reading the Quinns out of order? Shocking!
byStacy, thanks for buying me the McNaught "Almost Heaven." Stacy knows how I abhor having to pay for books. I read it instead of doing work. Yeah. Thanks. Makes me wanna do W,ML, et al re-reads. You're dangerous, I say, dangerous.
Can't wait til we hook up for our next book signing field trip. :)
The pictures are great! Thanks for sharing. It looks like you all had a great time.
byMy first Julia Quinn was "The Viscount Who Loved Me" and I still like it very much but my favorite is "When He Was Wicked." I only read two novels by Guhrke so I can't really say but I liked them both.
Busted. Yes, it's true, Michelle. That is the book that not only started my adoration of Ms. Quinn, it also made me aware of how ugly my OCD is. After reading Eloise, I went to Amazon and bought Julie's entire back list because I couldn't misread again. Of course it wasn't much of a hardship. ;o)
byHow cool is that!! Awesome :)
byNo fav books--I love them all :)
I've been unable to get on your site recently. My server kept kicking me off, but I'm back!!
Sounds like you had a great time and I wish I didn't live so far away :-(
byAwesome! It looks like you girls had a great time. I love all the pictures.
by