Melissa dela Cruz 'Vampires of Manhattan' Discussion & Signing

Last night, 9/18/2014, was an exciting night of authors and books at Barnes & Noble at The Grove in Los Angeles, California. Mariah and I braved the heat and the L.A. traffic to attend this exciting event! At first, I was concerned since the B&N website stated that the event was a wristband event, which surprised me since Melissa's past events were not wristband events. However, a quick email and message to Lita (event coordinator) confirmed that the event was not a wristband event. Thank goodness...hahaha!! 

It was a beautiful Thursday afternoon to take a drive out to Los Angeles, especially for an exciting event like this, Melissa de la Cruz launches the first book in her Blue Bloods series spin-off, Vampires of Manhattan. Not only that, Melissa was joined by two amazing authors Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings, who make up the writing team Christina Lauren. To my excited delight, I found out that Margaret "Margie" Stohl was attending this event via a tweet from Melissa! Whoa! Can the night get any better when there's an amazing panel of authors speaking at this event!?! Of course, Margie attended as a fan and as moderator. I'm not going to argue with that...haha! It's always so much fun when a group of favorite authors sit in an event like this to discuss all things about books, writing, and being an author. To my delight, upon arrival, we were not the only ones excitedly waiting to sit in on this awesome event! We even met up with Chaysen, who is also a fan of Melissa's Blue Bloods series.

As we took our seats before they arrived, Chaysen brought to my attention that Tahereh Mafi and Ransom Riggs were sitting behind us. Whoa! More authors... I got even more giddy with excitement! Of course, Margie, Melissa, Christina, and Lauren...as well as all the fans in the audience...cheered them on to join the panel! Yay!

Last night was filled with an interesting and fun discussion that the entire audience, including the panel of authors, enjoyed. It was totally a fun and exciting night! Just watch the video to see how much fun this event was as these amazing authors talk books, writing, and being authors!

After all the fun and laughs, it was time for the signing! Our special guests, Margie, Tahereh, and Ransom, graciously stepped down from the stage and exited the event. As Margie left, everyone cheered and waved bye. Hence, the signing began! This isn't the first event that I have attended for Melissa's books. It is always a lot of fun and a pleasure to see (again) and chat with our favorite authors, especially to support them and their books! I even brought Witches of East End posters that I got from SDCC 2014 for Melissa to sign...She is after all the creator of the story...haha!!! I even gave her one poster since she didn't get one during Comic-Con! I was so thrilled to be giving back to one of these amazing authors! It's also very thrilling to meet new authors and learn about their books...and last night, we got to meet and learn about the books by writing team Christina Lauren!

Vampires of Manhattan signed by Melissa de la Cruz

Witches of East End posters signed by Melissa de la Cruz

Beautiful Bastard signed by Christina Lauren

Beautiful Stranger signed by Christina Lauren

Beautiful Player by Christina Lauren

Beautiful Bombshell by Christina Lauren

Sweet Filthy Boy signed by Christina Lauren

This is exactly why I love attending events like this...we learn so much about our favorite authors and books...and so much more! Every event just adds to all the fun experiences for booknerds like me...hahaha!! And, it was so much fun and a wonderful delight to have met Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings, the two amazing authors that make up the writing team Christina Lauren. I can never get tired of hanging out with Melissa de la Cruz at these awesome events! It is such a pleasure and a lot of fun with Melissa!

Jasmine with the writing team Christina Lauren!

Jasmine with Melissa de la Cruz!

View the full album at: Movies, Shows & Books on Facebook

I have to give a big shout out to Andy and the staff at Barnes & Noble at The Grove for holding these awesome events! Awesome job Andy!!! Of the many events I have attended at this B&N store...no matter how big or small...Lita and the staff have coordinated and organized these amazing events that fans can and will enjoy!  Thank you for all the work you guys do!