J'adore Anna!

So on Thursday, I did something wicked awesome.

I went to a bookstore.

Oh, that's not such a big deal, you say?

WELL STEPHANIE PERKINS WAS THERE, I SAY.

I just won the internet.

Click to embiggen, but it's a bit blurry. But lookit me being artsy and getting the bookstore sign in the photo!

For those of who you haven't heard, Stephanie Perkins is the author of ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS, a book so good that I have no qualms at all in saying that it is the best contemporary YA novel I've read ALL YEAR, possibly EVER.  (Rave review: here.)

Also: she has blue hair.

I rest my case.

If you ever get a chance to see Stephanie in person, DO. Her hair is more awesome in person. And also--she's just so great. The event was pure fun. Here's how much fun: the chocolate croissants were the LEAST cool thing about the event (which means that everything after it was so mind-boggingly cool, there's not really a term for it).

Stephanie introduced herself and the book, and entertained questions from the audience (did you know that Stephanie started writing her book based on a dream? That it started as a NaNo book? That she'd never been to France when she wrote it?). But the part I loved the best?

Stephanie reading her first chapter.

A single room can barely contain this much awesome.
Also: I have no idea why "BOOKS" is backwards on the shelf.
It bothered me all night long.

There's something magical about an author reading her own work. But Stephanie made it so much cooler. It was the way she slowed down her speech in all the right times, and the tone of her voice when she spoke about Anna's father (the entire room started laughing), and how she leaned into the mic for emphasis.

So. Wonderful.

I must now figure out how to coerce Stephanie into reading the entire book aloud and recording it for me...

So! If you've not read ANNA yet, DO IT NOW, RAWR! If you live in or near Salisbury, NC, you've not missed your chance to see Stephanie and ANNA in person.

I am cool by association.
[PS: I stole this pic from Stephanie! Her adorbs hubs was the official photographer.]

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On a different note: THANK YOU ALL for sharing your congrats about my book trailer! I'm in love with it an obsessively watch it. As soon as I polish up the last draft of AtU Book 2 and send to me editor, I plan on thanking you all individually :)

Also: EPIC CONTEST OF EPICNESS is coming ...SOON!