Today we went to Bree's book signing at B&N. It was the site of last year's "Stella has a freaking huge tantrum and we have to leave, but I still have to wait in line to pay for our signed book while she screams" fiasco. I kind of just wanted to go solo so I didn't have to worry about Stella running around, but Brent really wanted to go and he was very good at holding my purse while watching Stella. Bree did great, and there was a huge turnout. It was also fun to see our old friend Natalie (who is a huge fan of Bree's books) and our old neighbor Lori at the event as well.
More pics on the
photo blog.
I made Brent do a little Lloyd Dobbler (from Say Anything) move so he could pose with the guest of honor.
Stella looks kind of scared in this last picture, but I still think she looks beautiful:
Our house has really been a The Lost Saint house this week. As you may know, I read...a lot. Sometimes a book a day if they are the shorter YA type. Brent (who I would have considered a greater lover of books when we got married) does not read very often anymore. So right after I finished Bree's book, Brent started, and one night we were both sitting in our bed reading. I thought it was kind of cute, and told him that he should really start reading again so we could be one of those couples that reads together before bed. His response: "I only read the novels of Bree Despain."
Then when he got home rather late from work the next day, he exclaimed: "I had all this stuff to deal with today, when all I wanted to do was come home and read Bree's book!"
There have also been loads of jokes about one of Bree's reviews in the Deseret News. The girl who wrote the review freely admitted to Bree that she had never read the first book, and only skimmed through parts of the second, but that didn't stop her from giving the book a negative review, and going on and on about how she was lost the whole time. So after Brent finished the book he wrote a very funny review of it that I broke into his email account to share so everyone can know how funny my husband is. (I don't know how I can stand it some times.)
Bree, I wanted to let you know that I read page 209 of your book. I was kind of confused going in because you seemed to start right in the middle of a sentence, and I didn't know who was saying the sentence or why. It also didn't help that you mostly referred to your characters with pronouns--how am I supposed to know who "he" and "she" are? Then the page started to make a little more sense as it progressed through a series of consecutive sentences, but then it just ended abruptly, only a few paragraphs later, in the middle of another sentence--ending with an adjective, of all things, with no way of knowing what the adjective is modifying or why I should care. Strange way to end a page, I must say.
Anyway, if it isn't clear to everyone, we are huge fans of the book and we both think it is even better than the first. We are so proud of Bree, and honored to say that she is one of our favorite people in the whole wide world!
Stella was really chatty and had a great time with Crystal and Livi. Stella is generally very shy when she is in new places, so I was surprised to hear her ask a little girl if she wanted to play with her when the girls were in the library play area. We went to lunch afterward at Cafe Rio and it was so cute watching Stella sit and have a real serious conversation with Crystal. But by far the cutest thing that happened was when we went up the glass elevators at the library. Stella and Livi both grabbed each others' hands as they headed up--it was so sweet to watch them together.
