This Saturday I (Krystal) got the chance to attend the Romantic Times Book Lovers Convention in downtown Los Angeles.  Over 300 adult and YA romance novelists were in attendance to meet fans, sign books, and hand out goodies (so, for books lovers, it’s like being a kid in a candy store, if that candy store also includes male cover models.  More on that later).

My sister and I hauled two bags worth of books to the hotel and got in line, waiting for the doors to open.  It kind of reminded me of Black Friday, with author-positioned maps handed out to help us prepare our game plan.  Good thing I had my tennis shoes on–this is serious business, people!  Fortunately, everyone was well-behaved and we made a bee line for Cassandra Clare’s table.  Now, I don’t need to tell you that Cassie Clare is in VERY high demand, especially with the recent release of City of Fallen Angels.  Her line was wrapped around the walls, so the volunteers at the convention handed out wrist bands and we were able to come back when our number was called, which wasn’t too long.

Cassie was awesome, very down-to-Earth and gracious to her fans.  I must admit to squealing on the inside when I got my MI series and CA books signed, but only on the inside. 😉   She also handed out an excerpt from Clockwork Prince (which also contained a bit of Holly Black’s third Curse Worker book, Black Heart).

Next up on my YA bookstravaganza was meeting Richelle Mead.  Hers was the only other signing we needed wrist bands for, but the line was quick, and I was up there in minutes.

Richelle’s table even had some sneak peek drawings from her upcoming graphic novel.   Insert another inner scream here–>

Big thanks to my friend, and TST UK fan correspondent (her new honorary title), Laura, who introduced me to Richelle’s books a couple of years ago.  I love and read all of her series, and cannot wait for the last Succubus book to come out in August!  If you haven’t read the Succubus series, you must!  Just be warned that they are not YA, but are fantastic.

I made my way down the first row at the book fair, which was mainly a gathering of insanely talented YA authors.  Oh, look, there’s one of them right now.  Tera Lynn Childs is the author of Oh My Gods and Forgive My Fins, a book I simply adored, and one you should definitely read.  I mean, look at that pretty, pretty cover!   Tera was also extremely nice, and even had a tiny ray gun, which I assume if for her to use on all of those who haven’t read her book yet.  🙂

Down the row I go…

Author Rachel Caine, author of The Morganville Vampires.

Melissa de la Cruz

Melissa Marr

Holly Black

Carrie Ryan

Alyson Noel

Rachel Vincent (Maybe her ears were cold?  Or she’s about to break out in the YMCA dance)

Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Sophie Jordan

Kimberly Derting (look at all the lovely fan goodies)

Me and Catherine Coulter, whose books I started reading when I was about 13.  She was super-sweet and accessible, which I wasn’t expecting in such a widely known, long-established author.  And she had the cutest heels on 😉

Heather Graham

Michele Jaffe and Colleen Houck.

Michele is such a nut.  I loved her!  I felt like she’s one of the ones you’d want to party with in the hotel bar.  Total life of the party, lol!  I started reading her books about ten years ago, and I actually didn’t know that she had started to venture into the YA genre, until my friend Andrew posted about her book, Rosebush, on Goodreads.

I am a huge fan of Lauren Willig‘s Pink Carnation series, which I usually describe as a blend of Bridget Jones and Jane Austen.  Lauren was soooo sweet and easy to talk to.  We chatted it up for quite a while, and we probably could have talked to her all day!  I love when authors, or anyone you hold in high regard, put you at ease and make you feel like you’re already friends.  Big thank you to Ms. Willig, just for being super-awesome 🙂

Oh, yeah, I promised you beefcake.  So, since this was a romance book convention, there were plenty of male cover models to go around.  They were quite popular, as you can imagine in a room full of over 1,000 women, so you’ll have to settle for the back of them.  I hear there was a “mangeant,” a male model pageant, later that night, which I’m sure you can find pictures of, if you do a little digging 😉

Throughout the book fair I was constantly handed book marks from romance authors, and I just had to share two of my favorite titles with you.

No comment.

Moving on, here is a pic of some of the stuff given away by the authors, like book marks, rubber bracelets, buttons, stickers, and that lovely little excerpt from Clockwork Prince.

These are the books I ended up getting signed, making me a very happy camper.

I had a great time at the Romantic Times book fair, and wish I could get that many authors in the same room on a regular basis.  Although, that might not be good on the wallet, lol!  I had a great experience with all of the authors I met, and they all really seemed to appreciated the fan support.  It was wonderful to realize that the authors you put on a pedestal on your bookshelf are just fans themselves who share our enormous passion for reading.

 (All photos by Krystal Van Eyk)