Super Six Sunday: Authors I've Met/Want to Meet

I'm really excited today to be participating in a new feature put together by the fabulous ladies over at Bewitched Bookworms! Inspired by Top Ten Tuesday from The Broke and The Bookish, Super Six Sunday has different book-related topics each week and asks participants to address each topic in the form of a list of six. Obviously. This week, the focus is on authors I've met or would like to meet, so below are just a handful of the authors who turn me into an utter fangirl at the mere mention of their names!

KATIE MCGARRY

(Pushing the Limits/Dare You To)

I first met Katie when she came to Columbus for a YA author panel at my local bookstore, and even while hyperventilating with excitement, I still managed to plaster a smile on my face and carry on what I hope was a coherent conversation. I don't remember it all that well, it's just a haze of happiness really, but I'm pretty sure I didn't scar her for life. A couple months later I had the pleasure of meeting up with her again for dinner while in NYC for BEA, and I fell in love with her even more. She's adorable and funny and I just need to stop talking before I embarrass myself ;-)

 (Pushy, Me, Katie, Julie Kagawa, and Danny)

JULIE KAGAWA

(The Iron Fae/Blood of Eden Series)

Dinner with Katie at BEA included Julie Kagawa, a happy surprise addition I had no idea was joining us. It's for the best I didn't know she was coming ahead of time as then I didn't have as much time to stress about being cool, so aside from a brief flustered moment I was able to rise above my awkwardness and not just stare at Julie with a dreamy expression on my face. The whole dinner was simply one giant win and definitely not something I will ever forget.

MICHELLE HODKIN

(The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer)

I unfortunately don't have a picture with Michelle, but I was lucky enough to meet her for lunch at BEA last year, and had one of those surreal moments where I looked around me and realized I was sitting in Bryant Park with my mom, my mother in law, Melissa from I Swim for Oceans and Michelle Hodkin, just chatting away with the author of one of my very favorite series. Thankfully I was able to say more than "I love Noah" to her, but I'm pretty sure it still came out of my mouth a time or two. Or four. Whichever.

ALLY CARTER

(Heist Society/Gallagher Girls series)

I wrote a whole big blog post about my time with Ally Carter here if you're so inclined to read it, but meeting her definitely deserves another mention! At the request of the fantastic people at Disney-Hyperion, I was asked to attend Ally's signing in Cincinnati and come a half hour or so early for a blogger-author meet and greet. Due to a misunderstanding on my part, I arrived under the impression it would be a group of bloggers meeting with Ally, but when I got there it was just me (and my mother in law who I drag to all bookish events). Me and Ally. Ally and Me. Alone in the corner of a bookstore. I had zero questions prepared, but Ally was so incredibly personable and easy going that I was able to shake off my initial shock and enjoy the fact that I had her all to myself for nearly a half hour.

J.R. WARD
(The Black Dagger Brotherhood)

I actually met J.R. Ward before I started the blog, but I'd been a longtime fan of her Black Dagger Brotherhood series and nearly fell out of my seat with excitement when I saw she was going to be in Columbus for the RT Convention a few years back. I'm obsessed with this series. Obsessed. I took my mother in law (of course) with me to get copies of Lover Mine (my favorite of the series) signed for me and my mom who lives out of town. We were allowed to bring our own books to the signing, so I was holding both copies as we approached the table to buy our tickets.

When purchasing our tickets, the woman informed me that J.R. was only signing one book per person. I nodded that I understood and figured I was good to go because I had two books and there were two of us there. Win. The woman at the door collecting the tickets noticed I was holding two copies of Lover Mine and once again told me that J.R. Ward was only signing one book per person. I blinked this time, looked at Cathy, looked at the two books in my hand and smiled at the woman to indicate all was well. Awesome. I went straight for J.R.'s line once I was in, and upon arriving at the back the woman trying to keep things under control looked at the books in my hands and said what you ask? You guessed it, apparently J.R. Ward was only signing one book per person. I DID NOT KNOW THAT! I finally just gave up and handed a copy to Cathy and we sat down and waited.

The signing itself was only scheduled to be I think 3 hours, and it was glaringly apparent at the 2.5 hour mark that she wasn't going to get through everyone in her line before time was up. Instead of getting up and leaving after 3 hours though, she stayed and made sure every single person that was in her line got their book signed. The people regulating the line wouldn't allow her to take pictures with anyone (understandable, there were a ton of people there), but J.R. made a point to talk to everyone instead of simply signing her book with her head down and then moving on to the next person. She was fantastic.

• • • • • • • • • •

I decided to use my sixth spot for an author I desperately want to meet (aside from Wendy Higgins who knows I adore her and am counting down the minutes until we're finally at the same event and I can hug her). This is likely someone I will never have the chance to meet unless I attend FeverCon, but I dream of coming face to face with the woman who gave me Barrons and Ryodan.

KAREN MARIE MONING

(The Fever Series)

If any of you haven't read the Fever series, I beg you to drop what you're doing and run to the nearest bookstore to pick up all 6 books (technically book 6, Iced, is a spinoff, but they need to be read in order). She writes alpha men like no one else, and I, like untold numbers of others, fell madly in love with Jericho Barrons. He's a complete a-hole, but there is something about him that's indescribably magnetic and I've read the Fever books more times that I care to admit. Even if you end up not liking him or the books, I guarantee you will walk away with strong feelings about the man.

More recently (with the release of Iced), I fell hard for Ryodan. Ryodan is in the Fever series, but he's a smaller secondary character, and is quite frankly overshadowed by all that is Barrons, but in Iced he's very much the alpha among alphas. Karen sometimes teasers her readers on her Facebook fan page with pictures of beautiful men who fans think fit the image of Barrons and Ryodan she's created in our heads. Not too long ago she posted some pictures of a model by the name of Stuart Reardon who many fans thought embodied Ryodan. I feel the need to share some of these pictures with you, as they will no doubt inspire you to pick up the books and will definitely make you want to meet the woman who wrote his character. You're welcome in advance ;-)

(photo by Gilles Crofta Photography)

(photo by Kemuel Valdes)

(photo by Kemuel Valdes)