MEETING CASSANDRA CLARE

On Tuesday night I had the pleasure of traveling to Chicago for the City of Lost Souls release party and book signing with Cassandra Clare. The event was a lot of fun, the model Judson Birza from the cover of COLS and the book trailer was there taking pictures and signing autographs. They had artists on hand to paint runes. There were giveaways and prizes. My favorite part was the Q & A with Cassie. You never really know what to expect when you're meeting someone for the first time, especially someone you hold in such high regard. (Have I ever mentioned that she's my author idol? I have...well...this is awkward.) Let's just say I was more than impressed with her. She's witty (I mean, of course she is, she writes teenage characters that are downright hilarious), and personable. She spoke of personal experiences and how they ended up in her books. She gave us some tidbits that will happen in City of Heavenly Fire (What do you mean a main character will die?? Say it isn't so!!), she gave out advice to young writers.

So- I went in idolizing Cassandra Clare for her writing, I came out loving her for her personality and dedication to her fans. AND! She told us she's working on a series with Holly Black. I also am seriously in love with Holly Black, so you can imagine my excitement over this.

I only got to meet Cassie for a brief second, I was number 200 in a line of nearly 400 fans. But she spoke to each fan on a personal level, asking them questions, listening to them. I was seriously impressed with this. I hope that one day when I'm finally published that I can be half as awesome as she is.

And with my genius foresight, I got an extra copy of COLS signed by both Cassie and Judson to give away on my blog. I don't think I want this to be an ordinary contest- so if you have any ideas on HOW I should give the book away, let me know!

And now for the pictures! Don't laugh, I'm not a model. :) My thoughts about City of Lost Souls will come after the pictures. I can't guarantee that there won't be SPOILERS, so if you don't want to know what happens, don't read it!

 Here's the cover model Judson signing my books! Doesn't he look just how you imagined Jace?

 Ahem- clearly the girl next to him is not a model. (She's a writer, which explains a lot!)

And here's Cassie signing some books!

And now for the SPOILERS!! Yes that's right, stop reading here if you haven't finished City of Lost Souls.

*

*

*

*

*

*
SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! Don't say I didn't warn you.

Where do I begin with how much I loved this book? It literally had me on the edge of my seat. I laughed (A LOT), I cried, I was disgusted, I mourned the characters, I was devastated. COLS took me places I never imagined the story going.

My absolute favorite part of the book was when Jace came to Clary after killing Magdalena. It ripped my heart out to read about him falling to his knees in front of her and saying "It's me." That entire scene was powerful, illustrating their love for each other and the impossibility of Jace's binding to Sebastian.

Next favorite part? Clary stabbing Jace through the heart. Yes, I know, this is downright terrible! I can't help it though. Clary is such a strong character, and she knows that this is what Jace would want to happen, no matter the consequences. I envy her strength, her absolute conviction to do what is right.

You know what killed me even more than Clary and Jace? Magnus and Alec! I love them together, but I kind of always suspected that Alec's insecurity would be their downfall. I'm interested to see how this will all play out in the long run. Obviously Magnus has something going on that we don't know about, something with his father. Was his father a Shadowhunter? I'm also afraid that it will be Magnus who will die in COHF. If I had to bet money, I would guess either Magnus or Simon will die. I love both of them so much...I don't even want to think about it. Honestly, if I had to choose someone to die, it'd be Jocelyn. I never much cared for her or her selfish decisions.

Things that I can't wait to hear more about: Jace is on fire. And I don't just mean his looks. This whole heavenly fire thing he's got going on...that's interesting. I'm pretty sure it's going to be a major plot point. What about Brother Zachariah? He's someone we've met before in The Infernal Devices, I believe. But WHO? Simon has lost his mark of Cain. I can't see this ending well for him...I'd hate to see him die again.

Lastly- Maureen. Holy crazy bitch! She killed Camille! Yet another thing I can't see ending well. I really love how her character has evolved and suddenly become hugely important. I wonder who she will side with in the battle that's coming. My guess is the darkness, which would leave the fae, the vampires, and the dark shadowhunters on one side, and the shadowhunters, and werewolves on the other side.

Things aren't looking so great.

Those are my thoughts on COLS. If you've read it and want to further discuss, leave a comment. I love talking about this series!

All the best,
Kacey

Liebster Blawarding

The fantastically fabulous Riley Redgate has blawarded me with the Liebster Blaward (jeesh, say that five times fast!) We all know how much I heart her. In fact I think I've professed my love for her in this very blog. So, thank you Riley!

So what is this Liebster Blog Award, you ask? It's very simply this: an award to highlight new bloggers, the ones that have less than 200 followers. The ones like, um, me. After my spiel, I'm going to list 5 of my fav bloggers who have less than 200 followers in hopes that all of you out there will follow and heart them as much as I do.

So here goes!

1. First and foremost is the lovely Dawn at Write Away. Dawn is amazing for several reasons starting with the fact that she has interviewed tons of writers and posted them on her blog. It's always so much fun to read and learn about fellow authors. Also, she's sweet and nice and made of everything good. I actually don't know how many followers Dawn has, but I don't think she's going to complain about the additional traffic.

2. Next I would like to call out Missy at Missy Biozarre. She's quirky and fun and a newbie like the rest of us. She's in need of some serious love from the awesome group of people that I know follow my blog. I look forward to reading more of Missy's writing. She's got some talent, yo.

3. Here we have Michelle from Greenwoman. Michelle is the mastermind behind The Skeleton Key, a round robin blogvel that features a plethora of fantastic authors (including yours truly!). She's smart. She's witty. She's fun and entertaining. She offers great advice and says a lot of things worth listening to. So yeah...she's amazing. :)

4. Sadly, I'm falling short of being able to send you to people that have less than 200 followers, so I'm going to send you to some who have already been sent. Oh man, I'm starting to get confused. So Riley Redgate, here's sending the award back to you. I don't care about no blaward-backs (how's that for grammar??) You'll take it and you'll like it. That's right. But seriously, follow her. She's probably the most amazing teenager I've never met. Go In the Jungle with Riley.

5. Here I am again failing to live up to these blaward standards. It's not that I don't want to award people, I do! But they've all been awarded already, I'm sure, since I exist in such a tight knit community of writers. Instead, I'm going to promise you something. I am going to broaden my horizons and seek out some new writer friends. Hopefully by the next time one of these come around, I'll be better prepared. As writers we depend on this network, live for it on occasion. So I'm going to take this moment to say thank you to my friends. I seriously appreciate you.

All the best,
Kacey