Launch Party Pics and Contest Winners!

Saturday was the official launch party for THE SHADOW PRINCE! It was such a wonderful day. It all started with lunch with author friends Jenn Johanson, Natalie Whipple, Sara Raasch (and husband), Courtney Alameda, and Michelle Argyle at one of my favorite restaurants. Then we went over to The King's English Bookshop where I gave a book talk (that was hopefully not a ramble-fest) and signed books for all of the lovely, wonderful people who came out to celebrate with me. After that, I headed out to dinner and dessert with my awesome family. And then I went home and crashed so hard I couldn't even make it up to my bed!

Below are some of my favorite pictures from the event--all courtesy of my BFF and great photographer, Michelle Sallay. 

 Gotta love a full house!

 Gotta love it even more when people start reading before the signing even starts

 Me--talking with my hands as usual

 Readers, waiting in line to get their books signed!

 My boys--fighting the boredom of yet another one of mom's signings! :)

 Look at that pretty book!

 My awesome sister, photo-bombing . . . something.

 Little Stella--one of my youngest fans who was excited to win a raffle prize

 Lookin' writerly

 

 Me and the most supportive BFF ever

Now for the contest winners!

The winner of the release day contest for a $25 iTunes giftcard is: Rachelle (oreo_93)

And the grand prize winner (of an iPad Mini and a character named after you in the sequel to THE SHADOW PRINCE) is: Terresa Gordan

Winners: Please email me at readbree(at)gmail(dot)com to claim your prize! Prizes must be claimed within 30 days or else they will be forfeit.

Winners and TSG Launch Party Recap

First item of business: The winner of my Dark Divine prize pack in the YA Scavenger Hunt give-away is: Crystal A.!

Email me at readbreecontests(at)gmail(dot)com to claim your prize. You have 30 days to claim your prize or it becomes forfeit and I give it to somebody else.

Right, so now on to THE SAVAGE GRACE launch party recap. I've been meaning to do a post about the launch party for almost two weeks now, but that's just how crazy it has been lately. I was nervous going in because I honestly just didn't know if anyone was going to show up.

Why, you ask? Well let me tell you.

1.) By a rather unfortunate turn of events, TSG's launch was scheduled for the same night as another local author's launch party. But not just any other local author. Brandon Mull was launching his second book in the BEYONDERS series. And if you've ever been to, or heard about one of his launch parties, you know they are nothing short of epic.

2.) This was book 3. My boys are perfect barometers of the attitude I feared. At my first launch party they were climbing all over me because they were so excited and happy for me. Now when I tell them I have another book signing I get "Do we HAVE to go?" Of course, my neuroses was convincing me that everyone else in Salt Lake was feeling the same way.

3.) Did I mention that Brandon Mull was launching his book the same night, just 20 minutes away?

So, yeah. I was a little nervous the party was going to consist of me giving a presentation to just my hubby and my slightly put out kids. However, luckily and gratefully, people actually came and fun was had by all! (at least I hope it was fun... I had fun... you guys had fun, right?) So, you wanna see some pictures?

(Look! People actually showed up! Family, Friends, and Fans. The three best F words.)

(All the lovely people who waited in line)

(Of all the times to be allergic to gluten :( Raspberry Chocolate TSG Cake! Huge thanks to The King's English for providing the treats.)

(The Six showing their love and support in coral pink.)

(Signing books for some new blogger friends at TKE. Have I mentioned how cool of a book store The King's English is?)

(Hubby, Kid Z and Kid A)

(My best friend, and the talented photographer for the event, Michelle. Love you babe, and thank you for all the wonderful photos. I wish I could have shared them all. You guys should check out her work here: MichelleSallayPhotography.com)

Oh, and I almost forgot. We had a special celebrity guest appearance that evening by the one and only Brent Sallay - the inspiration for Brent the Werewolf.

(Brent showing his sarcastic scary powers)

Huge thanks you's go out to everyone who came, The Kings English (obviously), Michelle for the pictures, Brick for procuring a slide projector and screen at the last minute for me as well as being my roadie, and of course to all my family and friends.

Now that the fun has been had, it's time to get back to business. I've got a manuscript due soon and I gotta get my butt in gear. If only I could remember how to write a book...

Upcoming Events, Promotions, and Happenings for March and April 2012

Hey all, just wanted to give you a quick list of places I'll be, and things I'll be doing for the next couple of months. I hope you'll be able to join me for some of them!

March 3rd - March 16th:
Special Price Promotion!









For 2 weeks only, the e-book versions of THE DARK DIVINE and THE LOST SAINT will both be marked all the way down to only $1.99 each! That way you can brush up (or catch up) on the storyline before THE SAVAGE GRACE releases on March 13th. (Or perhaps gift the e-books to someone who might enjoy the Dark Divine series.) But don't delay, the $1.99 price is only good from March 3rd to March 16th. I know Amazon and Barnes & Noble will be selling the books at the special discounted price, but you can also check other e-book retailers. {Edit: As of the morning of March 3rd, the price promotion hasn't started yet. I don't know why. I was told it would. I will try to get to the bottom of it, but in the meantime, check back with retailers on Sunday or Monday and hopefully it will have started by then.}

March 6th:
Finalists for the Dark Divine Fan Talentmania will be announced.

March 8th:
To celebrate the last full moon before the launch of THE SAVAGE GRACE, I will post my writing playlist for the book. Come find out what songs inspired TSG!

March 13th:
THE SAVAGE GRACE release day with fun stuff going on!
Winners of both the art and fiction portions of Dark Divine Fan Talentmania will be announced.
Winners of the door prizes for Talentmania will also be announced.

And later that evening . . .
Official THE SAVAGE GRACE Launch Party!!!
Where: The King's English Bookshop
When: 7pm on March 13th
What: I will be there to do a book talk, reading, games + prizes, and a book signing

March 17th:









Writing For Charity Conference at the Provo Library
Come celebrate Saint Patty's Day by learning about writing from a plethora of YA, Middle Grade, and Picture Book Authors--and help kids in need while your at it. This fantastic event that raises money for children's charities is going to be bigger and better than ever before. I'll be co-teaching a class with Brodi Ashton and Emily Wing Smith. Even if you've been to WFC before, you will want to check out their website to see just how much more awesome the conference is going to be this year. Click HERE for more details.


March 20th:
Book Signing at the West Jordan Barnes & Noble (in Jordan Landing)
Time: 7-9 p.m.
What: I will do a book talk and read from THE SAVAGE GRACE starting at 7 p.m. Then I will be on hand in the store until 9 p.m. to sign books.

March 27th:
Author Q&A at the Saratoga Springs Library
Join me and Brodi Ashton for a Q&A session at the library. Learn how we got published, and ask us whatever you want to know about writing, our books, or publishing. (More details to come.)

March 13th - Mid-April
Blog Tour
I'll be vising a number of blogs, answering interview questions and doing guests post. (More details to come.)

April 11th-15th
RT Booklovers Convention!
I'll be in Chicago for this fun-filled, book-loving event. I will be one of the participating authors in the YA Slumber Party and the Teen Day Party, plus I'll be signing books in YA Alley.


That's all the events I have scheduled for now, but I hope to be adding more for April and May. If you can't make it to one of my events, but would still love a signed book, you can order one from The King's English and I will sign it for you the night of my launch party. For info about ordering signed books, click HERE.

Launch Party Pictures (Part 2)

Latest Announcements:

1. Being on Blog Talk Radio last night was awesome. We even got into my vivid dreams about cheese, and my brief "perfectly-pressed grunge" phase as a teen. You can listen to the interview HERE.

2. Late Bloomer Online is hosting a chat tonight (1/6) for TDD at 7pm MST/9pm EST. http://l8bloomeronline.blogspot.com/ Come chat with me!

3. I'll be reading and signing at the West Jordan B&N on Jan 16th at 2pm.

4. And I'll be reading and signing at the Orem B&N on February 13th at 1:00. Great place to get V-day presents!

Okay, time for more pictures from the launch party. There were just too many good ones to limit to one post.

Oh, and a funny story: I took my cell phone up to the podium with me while I was speaking so I could keep track of the time . . . but totally forgot to put it on silent. I was about 15 minutes into my speech when it started ringing! At first I was like, "Who didn't turn off their cell phone?" And then I was like, "Oh wait, it's me." I picked up my phone, and not recognizing the number, I said to the audience, "This person obviously doesn't know me very well." Turns out it was one of my neighbors calling to apologize that she couldn't make it out to the launch--but she thought she was calling my home phone.

Again huge thank yous go to Michelle Sallay for these beautiful pictures:

Hubby. Ain't he cute?

Valynne Maetani sporting the official TDD nail polish

KidA insisted on sitting next to me almost the whole time and passed out free nail polish

As you can see, he was very helpful

Me and my sister Brooke. People used to ask if we were twins. I have no idea why.

Good friend Matt Kirby,
soon to be famous author when his MG book THE CLOCKWORK THREE debuts with Scholastic Fall 2010

TDD featured on the Indie Next list!!

And a couple of non-Michelle taken pictures:

Sara Bolton, Sarah Williams, and Kimberly Webb Reid

That's Emily Wing Smith sporting our new "The SIX" t-shirts we had made for the event.
And she's with readers Alana and Mary who are sporting copies of Emily fabulous YA novel
The Way He Lived.