One of the highlights of the booky calendar for me has always been the Spring Blogger Evening hosted at Simon & Schuster HQ by the amazing Sara-Jade Virtue and the fabulous Books and the City team.
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| Sorry I didn't manage to get a pic with all of the authors on |
Our invitation had promised us a quiz with fizz, cakes and amazing new books by the magnificent seven.
When we arrived we were plied with nibbles and fizz and given a coloured sticker with our name on, we had to then find our tribe and sit together to take part in the quiz. I was in the pink team with the fabulous Maureen Stapleton who was in charge of the pen and the lovely Santa Montefiore was on our team too.
We were quizzed on various books from Simon and Schuster authors from last year and it's a good job we'd been paying attention because WE WON! Sara-Jade presented us all with Lindt chocolate chicks and bunnies and I would have taken a picture of mine but unfortunately I have eaten them all, I'm a confirmed chocoholic so please don't judge me.
Next the authors were tasked with either pitching their books to us or reading from them, some even did both and one did something completely different which I'll tell you about in a minute. After the readings each author had to tell us two truths and one lie which was hilariously confusing as some of them thought it was two lies and one truth, we then had to judge which author was the best liar and we unanimously voted for Anstey Harris who's lie left the room open mouthed in shock and the relief was palpable as we realised that thankfully it was the lie, it was so funny and SJ's face was a picture.
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Santa Montefiore talked about her book which is called Here and Now about a lady with dementia and a community that come together to share their memories of her, she said that she didn't want it t be a depressing book but instead she wanted it to be full of love and uplifting. I found the description very moving and beautiful.
Paige Toon has had me in tears many a time and her book The Minute I Saw You sounds absolutely intriguing, it's about a woman who is an optician and has to get quite close to a man who has an eye test and the chemistry is definitely there but the next time he comes in he's a shadow of his former self, apparently it was quite dark in places and Paige couldn't talk too much about it without giving away important plot points.
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Holly Hepburn's new book Coming Home to Brightwater Bay is about a woman who moves to the Orkneys and finds herself welcomed into a friendly community, apparently there is a couple of love interests including a really hot Viking type hero in the book with whom Holly has fallen in love with and so I'm sure we will too. Holly made me laugh with one of her truths which she still cringes about now, I'd tell you what it s but what happens in S &S HQ stays in S &S HQ.
Christina Pishiris was up next and she had the original idea to talk about her character as though she was writing to Reddit as part of AITA Am I the Arsehole, she explained how the boy she fell in love with was now back in the country but so was his ex and she needed to befriend the ex to get an interview with a celebrity. It was really funny.
Next was Caroline Scott with her story When I Come home Again which sounds very moving, set in the first world war, it's about a soldier who has lost his memory and an appeal is sent out to see if anybody knows him. Three women come forward, one who says he's her brother, one her son and one her husband, each claim seems genuine as certain pieces fit but also there are parts of their stories that don't fit.
Finally Anstey Harris whose previous book, The Truths and triumphs of Grace Atherton won the Sapere Books Popular Romantic Fiction award the night before at the RNA Romantic Novel Awards, talked about her book and also read a small section to us too. The book is called Where We Belong and is about a mother and son who move to a museum to stay just for the summer but whilst there they uncover secrets, the piece she read out was intriguing and had me wanting to know more and if it's half as good as her previous one it will be fantastic.
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Even though she wasn't there it was lovely to see Outstanding Achievement Award Winner 2020, Milly Johnson's new quick reads book, The Little Dreams of Lara Cliffe, was tucked away in the goody bags.
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It was lovely to meet up with so many familiar faces amongst bloggers and authors and the Books and the City team and I had a lovely time. Thanks again to Sara-Jade Virtue for the event and the super haul in the goody bag, my dog was very interested in it.
Sincerely
Book Angel x
Sincerely
Book Angel x
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