Smart Chicks Kick It Tour – Event Recap

Saturday was a really awesome day for me. Not only did I travel to Montréal to meet Tynga and many other Montréal bloggers, but I also got to meet these lovely ladies:

Yes! Those are the Smart Chicks (or les poulettes intélligentes as Margaret Stohl would say) from the Smart Chicks Kick It Tour. Their stop in Montréal might not have been as huge as some of their other stops (I mean, it had to compete with cities like Las Vegas!) but it was a chance of a life time I could not pass up.

The Pointe Claire Chapters was nice enough to host the event and I think they did a pretty good job of it. I mean, they had to deal with us book bloggers, taking over their area. Look at how much room we took. You can see Cindy from Cindy’s Love of Books (left), Tynga (middle) and myself (right) surrounded by piles of books, ready to be signed. It was practically a fire hazard!

Unfortunately, the authors told us that we weren’t able to take any video or audio recordings of the event because they sometimes say things that they shouldn’t. And of course, they didn’t want people to actually have proof of their “bad behavior.” One author (she will remain nameless because I don’t want to get her into trouble), even said that that if you’re an new author and you want to get published, the first step is getting an agent. Because an agent is a monster you keep on a leash whom you can unleash on the publisher or someone else when things go bad.

The authors also shared some of their book news, and some of their books-to-movies news. Of course, Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl was filmed this summer and is coming out February 13, 2013 (awesome release date, right?).

And even more exciting news is from Kelley Armstrong who told us that the first book from her Women of the Otherworld series, Bitten, will be made into a 13 episode TV series by Space! Personally, I think TV series are way better than movies because it allows so much more of the story to make it to the screen. According to Kelley, casting should begin early 2013 and the show will premiere sometimes in the fall of 2013. You can find out more about it here. Yay for Canadian television!

During the event, many books and Chapters Indigo gift cards were given away. But I was lucky enough to get this prize pack from Rosemary Clement-Moore since I travelled almost 10 hour to get to the event. Usually it takes me about 8 hours and a half to travel from my small town near Sudbury to Montreal but on Saturday, took me about an extra hour to get there. Problem was, I decided to leave really early in the morning (like at 3 am), which in theory would have been good to avoid as much traffic as possible. Unfortunately, there was an area of the highway they were repaving and I got stuck waiting for about 20 minutes. And then, sometimes after the sun rose, it truly hit me that I only go 3 hours of sleep so I decided to stop for a little break and have a good breakfast (and a quick nap). Oh, and then there’s the fact that I went to the wrong place when I got to Montréal. I had a hard time finding the Chapters that hosted the event but hurray! for my Iphone that guided me to the right place! So, for all this extra trouble, I go a Texas themed prize. I have to say, that Texas Two-Step chocolate was awesome! If I ever visit Texas, I’ll have to make sure to stock up! Thanks Rosemary!

I was really happy to get all my books signed (see image on the right). The authors were nice enough to sign all our copies. Of course, most of my books were from Kelley Armstrong. She was probably the most popular author there, since she is Canadian. I won’t bore you with pictures of all the signatures. You’ll just have to take my word for it. =D

I also bought a few books, including Enthralled, which is an anthology written by many of the authors of the tour. Melissa Marr explained to me that since this a tour organized by authors and not their publishers, the travelling expenses must be paid by the authors themselves. That’s where the idea for an anthology came from. It was published more or less to help pay for the Smart Chicks Kick It tour. I thought it was pretty genius idea.

This will definitively be a day I never forget. I’m glad we took many pictures including some with the authors. I was actually surprised how warm and friendly they all were. And I must say, Margaret Stohl was a riot! She had a quirky and hilarious comment for everything.

Thank you again to all of the people who organized this tour, especially Kelley Armstrong and Melissa Marr. Also, this event would not have been possible if it weren’t for Chapters Indigo, so thank you!

To finish off my post, here are a few more pictures!

From left to right: Lucy from Moonlight Gleam’s Bookshelf, Kelley Armstrong, Melissa Marr, Kami Garcia, Tynga, Cindy from Cindy’s Love of Books, Rosemary Clement-Moore, Emilie from Emilie’s Book World Ciara from Lost at Midnight Reviews, Stéphanie (me), and Rachel Caine.

 
Left: Tynga and myself.  Right: Kelly Armstrong and Tynga with her stack of Kelley books.

Book bloggers rule! Top (left to right): Myself, Ciara (Lost at Midnight Reviews), Tynga and Cindy (Cindy’s Love of Books). Bottom: Emilie (Emilie’s Book World), Lucy (Moonlight Gleam) and AH (Bad Ass Book Reviews)

Posted by Unknown at 14:17

 Kami Garcia, Kelley Armstrong, Margaret Stohl, Melissa de la Cruz, Melissa Marr, Rachel Caine, Rosemary Clement-Moore  11 People left their mark