I went to BookBash 2013 last Saturday and had a BLAST!! Of course, I ONCE AGAIN had to get up at 5am. What the heck is up with cons and 5am? Is it a law or something because this is the 4th con where I’ve had to get up that early to attend. Grrr.
I arrived around 7:30 at the pretty, pretty Doubletree Hilton in Orlando in order to have breakfast with Kristen Dywer, publicist for Simon & Schuster, and a few other bloggers.
I met the lovely ladies behind the fabulous blogs Martini Times and Literati Literature Lovers. We had a wonderful breakfast and Kristen gave us some freaking AWESOME swag.
A huge tote filled with books, books, and MORE books. *thud*
After breakfast, I wandered over to the hotel atrium to register and wait
for Jen from FictionVixen to arrive.
While in the atrium, I saw Kristen Ashley. Actually, I saw her butt.
It’s still counts as an author sighting and I scored one fangirl point.
Found Jen. OMG…I am actually taller than someone. It’s a miracle!!
Once Jen arrived, we got into line to wait for the signing to start.
The long, long, long line.
While in line, who do I see??? Author Penny Reid!
Funny story.
Penny was there incognito as an assistant to another author and insisted we
call her Kate. *waves* Hi Kate!! She gifted May and I (fellow Smexy reviewer)
with autographed copies of her book, Neanderthal Seeks Human, (if you haven’t read this book-get thee to Amazon NOW and buy it now. Tres funny) and informed me that book 2, Friends Without Benefits, will be out in Oct 2013.
Aleatha Romig is a hugger!! And mean ‘cause she was totally
closed mouth about book 3. Grrr. She did tell me it should release in October and that who was on the island with Claire is who we should be focusing on.
*gasp* What??? I suck at playing Clue so this was no help to me.
Next up was Alice Clayton who is absolutely delightful. And snuggly. I adore her. Her next book, The Redhead Plays Her Hand, is set to release in December. This too is a funny, funny series that I demand you buy and read if you have not done so already.
Katy Davis and Shayla Black
RL Mathewson & Sylvia Day
My Ultimate fangirl moment.
KRISTEN ASHLEY!!! *squeeeeeeeeee*
I and Jen waited almost 2 hrs in line to meet her.
I cannot believe how freaking fabulous and down to earth she is. The ultimate ROCK CHICK.
And dare I say, she has the sexiest voice. LOL
Monica Murphy, bestselling author of the fantastic NAs-
One Week Girlfriend and Second Chance Boyfriend, is an absolute GEM! She informed me that she is putting a Christmas novella starring Drew & Fable, then comes Jen & Colin’s story-Three Broken Promises. She also has a new series coming out; a billionaire BAD BOY series. The first one, Crave, is available for review on NetGalley.
She gave me this: *sniff* MARSHMELLOW!!! Don’t ask to borrow it, it shall never leave my neck.
I was so thrilled to finally meet Kele Moon and her adorable Stephen King look alike husband. We chat a lot on twitter and she is just as adorable in real life. She took a lot of time to chat with me and Jen which was awesome.
I bugged her hard about Wyatt’s book (next in her Battered Hearts series) so she gave me a copy of chapter one to read. Woohoo. She said his story should be available by August. She also let is slip that Romero’s brothers will be getting their own stories but she may do it as a spin off of the Battered Hearts series.
Prepare yourselves…below is my piece de resistance.
I had no idea Paul Marron (cover model extraordinaire) would be at Bookbash.
There was no announcements and he was not listed anywhere as a special guest. I kept seeing him in the crowd but couldn’t place him. As I and Jen were fixing to leave, it hit us. PAUL MARRON!!!!
He was very gracious in letting us both be photographed with him. All I can say is he is super polite, smells dang good, and has the sexiest accent. *swoon*
As you can see by this first pic, I was overwhelmed (eyes closed in ecstasy)and being photobombed by Karina Halle. LOL Second pic shall be saved and occasionally petted forever.
Now for the goodies. As I said earlier, I got some awesome swag and decided to share my good fortune with my fav peeps evah…YOU!
Smexy Books is giving away a VERRA nice canvas tote from Gallery Books that is autographed by almost every author at Bookbash and filled with TONS of SWAG!!
To enter: Leave a comment and let us know which author you want to meet in person. Since this bag is so heavy, we are going to limit shipping to US only. Open through July 6.
Oh Yey! Honestly, the only thing I want from authors is more books…don’t much care about meeting them. But if I have to choose, Lisa Kleypas, just to say “thanks!”
Karina Halle! Love her Artist’s Trilogy.
I would LOVE to meet Kristen Ashley! I would never have found her without the Smexy!
Tori, did you get to meet Cherrie Lynn? I loved Rock Me and Leave Me Breathless!! Seth Warren is on my top 10 hottest heros!!!! Glad to hear Alice Clayton was cool. Loved Wallbanger. Have both Redhead novels, but have not gotten to them yet.
I would also loved to meet Kresley Cole.
Yes, I did meet Cherrie Lynn and her biker dude. :P
Did she disclose if he was pierced in the right place:)?(Because of Cherrie Lynn, I have added another experience to my bucket list :))
OH WOW!!!!!!! That sounded like an awesome event!!!!! I would love to meet Alice Clayton :) I love her books and all her heroines are so much fun, I’m sure that’s the author peaking through ;) Thanks for the awesome giveaway!
Ooooh…definitely Kristen Ashley!
I have to pick just one?! I’ll say Alice Clayton but I really want to meet them all!
I’d love to meet Gordon and Ilona Andrews, but since I live in the sticks…I’m jealous of everyone you met!
Thanks for the chance to win.
Oh, it looks like you had so much fun! I’d love to meet Kristen Ashley – she seems like she would be such a blast to hang out with!
Wow you hit the jackpot with Paul Marron :). Kristen Ashley would be my pick, thanks for the giveaway!
You had fun for sure :D And omg he is so hot!
Looks like an awesome time!! I would love to meet Kristin Ashley!
I would dearly love to meet Julie Garwood, she is still my all-time favorite historical author, but I would love to meet Kele Moon, I love her stuff.
RL Mathewson & Sylvia Day! Two of my favorites!!!
Looks like a great time! I would love to see Linda Howard and Lisa Kleypas, and maybe worship at their feet.
I’d love to meet Ruthie Knox or Jill Shalvis.
Definitely Pamela Clare or Jill Shalvis.
Laura Kaye :). Thank you.
Looks like fun. Would like to meet Kristen Ashley
Kristen Ashley without a doubt.
I am going to say Tamara Webber
Ooh, I can’t wait til RWA to meet Meg Maguire/Cara McKenna. Love her on twitter, so want to talk to her in person!
Seriously, one of my top 5 goals for next year is to meet Kristen Ashley. I’m starting a “send Misty to a book con” fund this month. Hmmm..wonder if that would qualify as a Kickstarter project? :)
I think I’d chose Pamela Clare. If nothing else I’d like a chance to thank her in person for persisting and getting the last of the MacKinnon’s Rangers books out.
I would love to meet Sherrilyn Kenyon to name one but there’s a lot more that I would love to meet.
sstrode at scrtc dot com
I’d love to meet Nalini Singh…though, going from past experience, if I did meet her, I’d forget my ability to speak :)
Love your recap and pics, Tori. I would love to meet Lisa Marie Rice.
Goodness, It looks like you were it fangirl heaven for the day that got topped off with a dollop of whipped cream!!
I am wanting to meet several people but those that come to mind right now are Lara Adrian, Kristen Ashley and Aleatha Romig.
I’d love to meet Christine Feehan or Shelly Laurenston or Kresley Cole or, wait, my list is too long!
Thanks for the contest!
I would LOVE to meet Kristen Ashley!!!
I am a super FANGIRL! She writes the best heroes.
Thanks for the great giveaway!!!
Would love to meet Jill Shalvis, Robyn Carr, Rachel Gibson and Susan Mallery.
Someday I’d love to meet Julie Garwood or Lisa Kleypas. So exciting that you got to meet Kristen Ashley. She’d be on my list too. Awesome prize! Thanks for sharing it.
Oh, there are so many authors that I really want to meet in life. One that is definitely on my list though is Lynsay Sands. Her books are the ones that started my romance addiction a few years back after a back injury caused me to become disabled. Without all the great authors that share their stories with us, I would have gone crazy by now, LOL :)
I would love to meet Julie James or Jennifer Estep!
Awww, I would’ve loved to meet Penny Reid! It’s so cute that she was there incognito.
Ahhhh!!! *Squee* I am fangirling just reading your post!
I would love to meet a long-time favorite author of mine, Kerrelyn Sparks! Though I’d most likely (most definitely) make a fool of myself ;-)
Awesome post! Im so jealous! Which author wouldnt i love to meet? There are so many amazing ones! I think right now, id want to meet Diana Palmer or Laurann Dohner. Im obsessed with there books at the moment! lol Thank you so much!
And amazing giveaway! Thank you for the chance to win! :)
shadowluvs2read(at)gmail(dot)com
I went to book bash and I had a blast. Met lots of awesome authors but one of my favorite authors I was not able to meet because her line was in BFE would be Sylvia Day. I love her Crossfire books and OMG I was really bummbed I didnt get a chance to meet her and get a signed autograph of her books….Thank you for the chance to enter this giveaway. :) <3
Kristen Ashley for sure!! Love her writing! <3 Thank you for an awesome chance..wish I could go to BookBash one day.
Awesome Book Bash recap and great photos!!! I would love to meet L.J. Smith one day, since she got me hooked on paranormal books as a kid :)
Thank you for the awesome giveaway!
I would love to meet jill shalvis or Sylvia day
Sounds like you had so much fun. I would love to meet Jill Shalvis or Ruthie Knox. I love their books and follow them on their blogs. They are just so funny.
What an awesome day you had Tori! Thanks for sharing it with us. And no wonder you did not recognize the hot Paul Marron with a shirt on. I think I have dozens if not hundreds of covers with him shirtless. The abs I would recognize, the face not so much ;)
O, not entering, not USA.
Great pictures. You sure had a great time. I would want to meet everyone and read every book. Thanks for the opportunity~
That is great that you met Kristen Ashley, my current favorite author. Thanks for the giveaway, it looks like some great stuff.
I would love to meet Kristen Ashley! I just love the Dream Man and Chaos series. Next on my list is the Rock Chic series.
I would love to meet Kristen Ashley!! I actually stumbled upon the Rock Chick series by accident in January, and have read all of her library already!! Patiently waiting for new books from her to come out!!
I love your Book Bash recap!
Kristen Ashley would be my top pick.
Thanks so much for the giveaway!
there are quite a few I want to meet! Erin Kellison, Elisabeth Staab, Kat Richardson, Lisa Kessler, Ashlyn Chase… I communicate with these ladies on line all the time and would love to meet them in person :)
If I could meet an author, I would LOVE to meet Nalini Singh. I’ve enjoyed reading her books and some of her video interviews and I think it would be an amazing experience to talk to her.
I would love to meet Maya Banks! Lover her books!
I would love to meet Ilona and Gordon Andrews. I love, love, love Kate Daniels. That would be so cool :-)
There are so many!! If it’s from those you just met then Sylvia day. Others include : Ilona Andrews, Kim Harrison, Laurell K. Hamilton, Kelley Armstrong, Jenna Black my list is HUGE!!
I’ll have to work on it *winks*
I would love to meet JR Ward or Kristen Ashley sounds like she was pretty cool. Thanks for the amazing giveaway!
Meg
Megonski216 at yahoo dot com
I would love to meet Shayla Black – amazing books! So jealous – looks like a really fun event!
I have to do this by category:
PNR: Nalini Singh (a slight hair over JR Ward)
UF: Ilona Andrews ( a slight hair over Jennifer Estep)
Erotica: Cherise Sinclair ( a slight hair over Sylvia Day)
Contemporary: Kristen Ashley
Oh man, tons of authors- like others have said, Nalini Singh, Ilona Andrews, and also Julie James and Lorelei James.
I would love to meet quite a few authors.
Katie Ashley, Gail McHugh, Kristen Ashley, Tara Sevic, Alannah Lynne, R.K. Lilley, Jill Shalvis, Lori Foster, Jaci Burton, Kallypso Masters. And a bunch more. Thank you for sharing your pictures. I was visiting my homestate & family in NJ. If I was home, here on the SW coast of FL, I would have definitely been in Orlando since its only a 2hr drive. Thank you for the giveaway!
I would love to meet everyone, but at the top of my list would definitely be Kristen Ashley!
I would love to meet Stephenie Meyers. Thanks for the giveaway.
Looks like you had a great time there!
I have met so many authors already (two book conferences will do that to you) but I still have a few (quite a few I would love to meet). I want to meet Shannon K. Butcher, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Jane Porter, Karen Marie Moning, Sandra Hill, Elizabeth Kostova, Kallypso Masters, Lorelie James, Gail Carriger, Damon Suede, and the list goes on and on.
I’d like to meet Sherry Thomas, Julie James and Julia Quinn. I’ve enjoyed their books and would like a chance to thank them.
There are so many authors I’d love to meet: J.R. Ward, Jeaniene Frost, Laurie London, Nalini Singh, Lynsay Sands, Karen Marie Moning, Lara Adrian, Kresley Cole, Debra Anastasia, Maya Banks, Terry Spear, and Coreene Callahan, just to name a few!! Thanks for sharing your adventure!!
Linda Lael Miller is one author I’d like to meet. I’d want to know some of the best places to buy art supplies and such :)
Wow, I would love to meet Kristen Ashley!
I would love to meet Sylvia Day.
Thanks for the chance to win!
I would want to me Katy Evans, Shayla Black or non-author & hottie Paul Marron. He is so-so yummy.
OMG what a question!!! So manyyyyy authors I am dying to meet …. Kristen Ashley, Nalini Singh, Tamara webber, Thea Harrison ….