Kami Garcia Signing @ Bethesda Barnes & Noble

 I was all set to spend the weekend reading through my giant TBR Book Pile of Shame when Kat told me about a conversation on Twitter between It's A Hardcover Life and Reading Teen about a signing with Kami Garcia in Bethesda, Maryland.

I was so excited ! Reading Beautiful Creatures is what got me back into reading YA and what eventually led to starting this blog.

Day Tripping

This photo of Georgetown Cupcake is courtesy of TripAdvisor

We left Richmond Saturday morning and had plans to meet up with Markella from Hardcover Life before the signing. The drive to Maryland was about 2 hours, but it felt like nothing.  The weather was dreary and rainy. but that wasn't going to stop us.

Even in the rain this area of Bethesda, known as Bethesda Row ,was so cute ! There were rows of shops and amazing restaurants. My personal favorite being Georgetown Cupcakes from the TLC show DC Cupcakes.

via Bethesda 365

We all met up at Quatermaine, a tiny but trendy cafe that had the best latte and hot chocolate I have ever had. They used real steamed milk and fresh roasted coffee.


The Signing

The signing took place in the Art & Architecture  section of the B&N. When we arrived we were greeted by the B&N community relations manger who made sure we had the books and plenty of swag. There were about 25 seats filled with posters, glow sticks and bookmarks; all swag sent over from Warner Bros.

The three of us arrived and hour early and took seats in the 2nd row. Also a little early was Amanda  from Literati Literature Lovers , an open genre blog started by a group book lovers. I like their modge podge of genres and reviews !

Kami Garica

Kami was not what I expected at all. For some reason I expected her to be a soft-spoken YA writer. Instead she was very blunt and passionate about her journey to publication and about the YA genre. I didn't know BC was originally a story she and Stohl wrote for fun to entertain the teens in their life. I liked how they didn't set out to be famous and  wrote just for their small audience.

As a reader I found myself nodding along to what Kami said about switching up the status quo of YA and how teens (and adult) can handle complex storytelling.

Kami was also full of great advice for writers, she doesn't sugar coat how important it is in fantasy to have a strong grasp of your world and how writing isn't all magic and fairydust.

I really enjoyed hearing her speak (I bet she's been making the circuit a lot lately) and she is one of my favorite authors now.

Takeaway

I've never been to a chained store event and I was afraid they were going to be strict and controlling. Over all it was a nice relaxed event and it made me appreciate Beautiful Creatures for how it stood out in the world of paranoraml YA, even with its faults.