BOOK SIGNING: Victoria Aveyard

Hello!

Have you read "Red Queen" and "Glass Sword" by Victoria Aveyard? 

If you haven't, what are you doing with your life?

Kidding! 

But seriously, if you haven't read it, I'm pretty sure you've heard about it or seen it in bookstores, on Twitter, Instagram, and what other social media you find bookish people on.

It's quite a popular series.

  

I'm not going to write about the books because I intend to write individual book reviews about them. But I want to share the very first book signing I ever went to.

This isn't a recent event, though. It happened last March 6, 2016 at National Bookstore Glorietta, Makati City. 

I went there alone and I was honestly really nervous becaue I didn't know anyone going to the signing. I wish I had online friends who were fellow fans of the book series that wanted to meet up with me, but alas, I am not friendly enough. 

But I did something totally out of my comfort zone as I commuted to the event place that morning: I approached a stranger who was holding a copy of Glass Sword. We rode the same van on our way to the bookstore. I saw her grab a copy of her book from her bag and start reading it. I've been wanting to tap her shoulder and ask her if she was on her way to the book signing. But then I kind of wondered if maybe she was just reading the book and was on her way to work or meet up with her friends. So I didn't talk to her then. When the stop to the mall arrived, she went down and started walking. I followed her. 

I thought to myself that what I was doing was literally stalking so I had to stop. I then walked faster and tapped the girl on the shoulder and asked nicely if she was on her way to the signing. She said she was. The relief of not having made a fool out of myself was so amazing! I asked her if I can walk with her to the bookstore because I really didn't know how book signings worked because it was the first one I have ever attended and she said sure. 

We got to the vicinity of the bookstore and was surprised to see a line so long that it snaked around the entire mall and was so close to making a full circle around the area! It was crazy. To think that it was only 8 o'clock in the morning and that the signing itself will not start until later that day at 2 o'clock in the afternoon!

When we got our number stub, I laughed at myself. All week long before the event, I kept stressing myself out how crazy I have to be for wanting to go there so early by myself. For sure not many people will be there by then. Boy, was I wrong!

Apparently, there are 500+ people crazier than me. People who fell in line earlier than me. 

After getting our number stub, we decided to go to all the 5 different bookstores in the mall. We also ate and just hang out with 2 other girls we met in line. 

I was honestly surprised and overwhelmed by the fact that bookish people and fellow fangirls are generally nice people!

Due to the fact that there were over a thousand people who arrived to meet Victoria Aveyard, my newfound friends and I got to have our books signed around 6PM. We were there for 10 hours.

But all in all, the experience was worth it! 

I got to meet new friends who fangirled over books the same way I did. We exchanged book recommendations and even made plans of going to the next book signing together and then the Metro Manila Book Fair on September!

And Victoria Aveyard is such a lovely person! She looks beautiful and she's nice. She asked me how my day was. I was super starstruck that I told her something which I can't recall now but she laughed. Glad to know I can entertain authors with my fangirl blumberings!

I know a lot of people were disappointed by all the hype surrounding the Red Queen series but I honestly enjoyed it, albeit the tropes and similarities to other novels. At this point, with all the books I've read, there aren't that many unique books anymore. Eventually you'll run into stories similar to ones you've read and loved before. 

Why hate on the new one if you enjoyed the stories it reminds you of?

Let's all just love and appreciate the authors who work hard on writing the stories that we all get to love, hate, be sad about, be happy about, and give us the chance to choose our OTPs and ship them! 

I want to go to other book signings in the future and be with my friends again and maybe meet new friends too! 

I like meeting the brains behind the books on my bookshelf.

Have you ever met your favorite author?