Fierce Reads Fall Tour Fun at Mysterious Galaxy

October 29, 2013 was the night to kick off the second leg of the Fierce Reads Fall Tour! And...my daughter and I was there with a few friends to celebrate with the featured authors!

About Fierce Reads

Fierce Reads is an online community and a brand where teens can interact with books they love and be a part of the discovery of new books. The national author tour is a major part of the Fierce Reads brand.

Get the tour information, here!

On this second leg of the tour featured these amazing authors: Ann Aguirre and Gennifer Albin with special guests Leigh Bardugo and Jessica Brody.

In addition to kicking off the second leg of the Fierce Reads Tour, it was also a big night for both featured authors for October 29, 2013 marked the release of their latest books...for Ann Aguirre, Horde, and for Gennifer Albin, Altered. 

First off, let's get a brief description of our featured authors and special guests.


Anne Aguirre

Ann Aguirre is a USA Today bestselling author with a degree in English Literature; before she began writing full time, she was a clown, a clerk, a voice actress, and a savior of stray kittens, not necessarily in that order. She grew up in a yellow house across from a cornfield, but now she lives in sunny Mexico with her husband, children, and various pets. She likes books, emo music, and action movies. She writes all kinds of genre fiction for adults and teens.

Here is her latest book release...

Book 3 of The Razorland Series

Summary on Goodreads

Gennifer Albin

Gennifer Albin holds a Masters degree in English Literature from the University of Missouri. A recovering academic, she turned to writing her own books. In her free time she sits on the National Novel Writing Month Advisory Board, laughs (and cries) with her mom writers group, and watches too much Doctor Who (if that's possible). Gennifer lives in Poulsbo, Washington with her family. 

Her latest book release...

Book 2 of The Crewel World Series

Summary on Goodreads

Leigh Bardugo

Leigh Bardugo was born in Jerusalem, grew up in Los Angeles, and graduated from Yale University. These days, she lives in Hollywood, where she indulges her fondness for glamour, ghouls, and costuming in her other life as makeup artist L.B. Benson. Occasionally, she can be heard singing with her band, Captain Automatic.

She is the author of the New York Times Best Sellers, Shadow and Bone and Seige and Storm (Holt Children's/Macmillan). The final book in the Grisha Trilogy, Ruin and Rising, will be published in 2014. She is represented by Joanna Stampfel-Volpe of New Leaf.

Her latest book release...

Book 2 of The Grisha Trilogy

Summary on Goodreads

Jessica Brody

Jessica Brody knew from a young age that she wanted to be a writer. She started self "publishing" her own books when she was seven years old, binding the pages together with cardboard, wallpaper samples and electrical tape. 

After graduating from Smith College in 2001 where she double majored in Economics and French and minored in Japanese, Jessica later went on to work for MGM Studios as a Manager of Acquisitions ad Business Development. In May of 2005, Jessica quit her job to follow her dream of becoming a published author.

Jessica now works full time as a writer and producer. She currently spilts her time between Los Angeles and Colorado.

Her latest book release...

Book 1 of The Unremembered Series

Summary on Goodreads

As the event began, each author introduced themselves and gave brief descriptions of their latest books. This group of authors were amazing and funny as they informed and entertained the audience about their books and their writings. After all the introductions and descriptions...the audience Q&A started. 

Check out the fun we had with these amazing and fun authors!

In this first clip, the first question was posed for each of the authors...


In this second clip, the Q&A continues with a question about how they prepare themselves for the fan reactions to their book series...


These beautiful ladies are amazing for creating these worlds that we enjoy reading and entertaining us with their wit and experiences, as fans asked a variety of questions. It definitely wasn't a dull moment with them. After the fun Q&A, the signing began! It was great! We enjoyed seeing Ann Aguirre again since RT Teen Day 2011 and Leigh Bardugo from the last event we met her at the other Mysterious Galaxy in Redondo Beach...and meeting Gennifer Albin was amazing fun. These ladies are so fun and hilarious to chat with! It was so totally awesome, too, that Jessica Brody is also a huge fan of ABC's series SCANDAL! I was absolutely ecstatic, but, we couldn't discuss it much since we both were behind on the episodes. Jessica and I definitely need to catch up on the episodes before any SCANDAL discussion could be had. 

The staff of Mysterious Galaxy had the signing session organized, which was awesome; this gave everyone a chance to chat and spend time with the authors. How awesome was that! We absolutely loved it since we didn't feel rushed! The staff so rocked that night! After all the signing was said and done, everyone wanted photo ops...and, yes, we did get that opportunity. But, before we started with photo ops, I asked if we could get a group photo with their books. And, sure enough everyone got there photo...it felt like we were the paparazzi...hahaha!!! All the authors were looking in every direction there were cameras..haha! Too funny! Loved every minute of it!

Ann Aguirre, Leigh Bardugo, Jessica Brody & Gennifer Albin

Ann Aguirre

Leigh Bardugo

Jessica Brody

Gennifer Albin

Mariah w/ Ann Aguirre, Leigh Bardugo, Jessica Brody
& Gennifer Albin

Jasmine w/ Ann Aguirre, Leigh Bardugo,
Jessica Brody & Gennifer Albin

Mariah's signed copy of Altered by Gennifer Albin

Jasmine's signed copy of Horde by Ann Aguirre

Jasmine's signed copy of Unremembered
by Jessica Brody

Our photo signed by Leigh Bardugo

Mariah's photo signed by Leigh Bardugo

Ann Aguirre signed our photo from RT Teen Day 2011!

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

Of course, what is a book tour without swag!!??!! Yup! Not only did we get our books signed, these beautiful ladies gave out swag! Well, we know what that means....we can have a giveaway!!! Yay!


****The Giveaway***

Fierce Reads bag

Fierce Reads Tour poster signed by Ann Aguirre,
Gennifer Albin, Leigh Bardugo & Jessica Brody

Bookmarks signed by Ann Aguirre,
Company D patches & bracelets

Crewel/Altered cards & stickers

Siege & Storm bookmarks signed by Leigh Bardugo,
Siege & Storm buttons

Unremembered sampler & bookmarks signed
by Jessica Brody

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Leigh Bardugo Discusses Books with Guest Host Robin Lafevers

After Leigh Bardugo's Fierce Read Tour, she still made time for a few signings in the Los Angeles, CA area. Hence, my excitement for her signing event at Mysterious Galaxy bookstore event in Redondo Beach. At first, my plan was to go to Barnes & Noble at The Grove, but there was a conflict with another author event...but, I'm not going to go into that quite yet. That's another post for later...haha!!

Where to start!! Friday morning, June 21, 2013, I checked out my Twitter feed, low and behold, Leigh Bardugo has been tweeting about the event! She even mentioned that she will have "swag!" Not only "swag" was mentioned, a guest host was also mentioned, Robin Lafevers, author of the His Fair Assassin series, Grave Mercy and Dark Triumph! Now, my excitement escalated another notch. Now, knowing that traffic can be a "pain in the ass," I decided to leave somewhat early...we pretty much left Coachella about 1PM.  Well, that was how excited I was..haha! My daughter and I were soon on our way to a fun night with a couple of awesome authors. 

It was a sunny and beautiful day in Redondo Beach! We made good time to Mysterious Galaxy bookstore where this exciting author event was held.  We purchased our books and patiently waited in the coffee cafe that also shared the building with the bookstore. Not only were we waiting for the authors, other booknerd friends were also on their way to this event. As time passed, fans trickled in to the store to meet these fun authors. With that said, the excitement in the atmosphere was definitely filling the store. Soon enough, the staff arranged the event area.

Soon after everyone took their seats, Leigh Bardugo and Robin Lafevers arrived. And, the event and the fun began! It was such an amazing night! Both authors enlightened the audience with so much animated discussion on their books, their characters, ideas and writing. Not only did they share their thoughts about the whole YA trend, they also discussed points of views in their stories and advice for aspiring writers. It was definitely a fun night filled with awesome information about the great books readers enjoy! Wow! What an amazing turn out! With the arrival of more fans, the event area became "standing room only" since all the seats available were all taken.

A Mysterious Galaxy author event

Leigh Bardugo and Robin Lafevers

Leigh Bardugo

Robin Lafevers

The discussion began with the "favorite character" question in which Robin Lafevers asked of Leigh Bardugo, as seen in this first clip:

As talks on books continued, the topic of the "beauty standard" in YA novels was discussed with quite a bit of amusement, as seen in this second clip:

After host questions, the Q&A continued with audience questions in the next couple of clips:

In this fourth clip, a fan asked their thoughts on possible books on their character's points of view:

For a few of the fans, whom are aspiring writers, both authors were asked for advice on what references to use on how to start writing. Another fan then asked about character being inspired by real people they know, as we can view in the final two clips:

As the discussion ended, the signing began. The staff asked that everyone in seats to remain seated so that the fans that were sitting on the floor and that were standing could line up for the signing first. It was great that everyone proceeded with the signing "in an orderly fashion." Despite the excitement to meet both authors face to face, everyone did proceed accordingly. In addition to meeting Leigh Bardugo and Robin Lafevers face to face, we were able to take posed photos with them. They absolutely rocked that night!  Leigh even had some swag for her eager fans...me included! Robin even told me that she usually has swag for fans, but it was such short notice that she didn't bring any. I could only reply, "next time at another event." And, when there is another event, especially when the third book in the His Fair Assassin series is released, we will definitely be there. I'm just thrilled that she signed my books and got a pic with her!! Yup!!! I am so a booknerd...haha!!!

What a way to have a fun Friday night!

Leigh Bardugo

Robin Lafevers

Leigh Bardugo and Robin Lafevers

Fans excitedly waiting for their turn with these awesome authors!

Jasmine and Leigh Bardugo

Mariah and Leigh Bardugo

Robin Lafevers and Jasmine

My books signed by Leigh Bardugo

My books signed by Robin Lafevers

For more photos of this fun event, go to:  

Movies, Shows & Books

Enjoy!